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Marty seems pretty passionate about trolleys.  haha

Lionel has punched up their little Birney in the past couple years, changing the roof again and adding some detail parts (Johnstown 83426 is handsome), but it would be nice if they introduced some new traction pieces.  I don't know if adding Lionchief would drive sales on a product that has not substantially changed in a very, very long time, but with SS/EZ Streets you would think that the market would be ready for more trolleys.  There was certainly plenty of variety between all of the original manufacturers that we shouldn't be starved for interesting new products.

The broader question is, why haven't trolleys claimed a larger presence in O scale?  Almost all of us have a cityscape of some sort, begging for trolley service.  I think most modelers do not want to get into the scratch building necessary with overhead.  There are a couple companies that sell the electronics to get the cars to make stops, wait, and then proceed, and also sound boards but it would be nice to get all that in one package right out of the box.  To that end I do not know if Lionchief would help but maybe an activation section of EZ Streets or even an object like a fire hydrant or mailbox that could be placed on the layout and would cause the trolley to cycle through its stop/wait/go routine.  

I also have to wonder if anyone would really still require the bump-n-go feature, or if that can be deleted for more realistic looking cars.  Corgi's Birneys are nicely done and can be powered in a way that still leaves an open interior with room for passengers.  

Last edited by Montclaire

I love trolleys.

 

 I have a few.   While I run TMCC/Legacy and DCS, my trolleys are on their own line(s) as either bump and go, or constant loop.

I don't need to have any type of remote control for them that ties in to the rest.  Their simple, conventionally controlled circuitry is plenty, I think, for how most trolleys are run.

others may see it differently, but that's how my layout works.

 

I have three independent loops of Super Streets plus an elevated loop of Fastrack so I have several options to run mine, although I do not have any track bumpers to take advantage of the point-to-point action.  

I have wanted to build an all-trolley layout for a while now but I will really need to do my homework before I begin; my plan is to have several trolleys making scheduled stops at various locations, criss-crossing each other safely with most of them utilizing the same trackage through a main cloverleaf.  I know this can be done but I haven't ventured into that level of electronic control before.  I also haven't decided if I want any of these to be conventional control or if I just want to fire up the transformer and let it all go like clockwork.  

I have had a soundboard and speaker from a Lionel "silver bell" trolley in my train drawer for over a year now, and finally got around to testing it out today on a 6-18431.  Based on my results, I am going to change my response to "YES."  I do not believe that I will use the Lionchief remote, but it's worth it just to get one of these guys with RS features.  

 

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