Show us your trolley line

Hey, Lew.  That's a really niffy group of pictures. You really did get around.  Coast to coast! I was born the year you had your high school trip, but I made to Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco to ride trolleys. Great stuff, thanks for sharing.

Its a MTH Bump and Go trolley.  The 30-2545 Center City trolley is similar. It took a little bit of work to get the pole to function instead of the center rail rollers but it does now. One thing I would like to do is figure out how to get the interior lights that flicker a lot act like the trolley headlight which burns nice and steady. Not sure why that head light works so much better than the interior but I'd like to change that. Seeing this unit operate with the lights out in the room helps me to understand why MTH doesn't even mention using the pole on their nicer trolleys that have sound. Those units probably need a nice very steady voltage coming in. The overhead isn't quite as steady as the center rail. It runs okay though. I bet a fly-wheel would smooth things bit too. Maybe my next trolley will have some of these features. or none and just slowly go around which is pleasing. 8-)

Bogart

Thanks for the info.  Is the MTH pole designed to run power or is that an after market mod?  Does the spring keep the pole attached to the overhead or does it ever fall off? 

You have to make a modification yourself. It isn't very complex but it has to be done. The springs on the pole are needed to keep it up against the wire. All poles need this.

Nice set-up  Where did you get the pulley ?

JOHN G

An update on my trolley layout.  It is on a 30" x 60" table, using E-Z Streets D21 curves. Side lanes are 3/16 balsa. I rotate two trolleys, a Western Hobbycraft and a Atlas.  Another building is on the way and more 30s cars and trucks are planned.

I rode on the Liberty Belle trolley out of Norristown back in the 50's brings back fond memories. Seems like it was from an elevated station.

Charlie

North Center Street, terminus of the Corry & Columbus, as of this am, still painting and repainting to do, touching up, and wiring...

Well done!

The Corry and Columbus needs some freight service.Chick Siebert had a drawing of a Northwestern Pennsylvania Railway box trail  that was published by Underground Railway Press.I don't know if they are still around .If I can find the one I had I will send to you.the Northwestern was part of a combine of New York State trolley lines that went under  "Fast Electric Freight Lines". From Erie use the Buffalo and Lake Erie to Westfield NY and onto the Jamestown Westfield and Northwestern , then the Warren and Jamestown ,Warren Street Railway and the Warren and Sheffield and then somehow onto the Corry and Columbus.Your freight motor could be an old passenger trolley with blanked out windows and a baggage door cut into the side or a Pittman box motor which might be a little too much or the Pittman single truck work car with a coupler cut into the dash like the Great Gorge Route 84.I enjoyed researching and building interurban freight equipment.

Hello All

Alan, a Forum member, suggested that I post my "trolley line" photos so I decided to post them to this thread.  Here are some of my Philadelphia PA various era O-Scale 2 rail streetcars shown on my "EL and Trolley" System layout. My streetcars can run in 2 straight rail mode or also via the power collection from the overhead live trolley wire. I also model Trolleys (and Subway and EL Cars) from the long ago era of NY City.

So here are some photos to start in scenes around my layout and its "EL" Line.

I hope you like them !  

Regards - Joe F

WOW!!!!....sure puts my elevated and trolley lines in perspective!!  I am inspired by these pictures Joe...  I can see a lot of details that I need to add to make my attempt better...  Thanks for posting...

Alan

Spectacular! Thanks for posting, Joe.

Joe...it looks like you have catenary wire under the elevated...is that correct?

Alan

Hello Jon and Alan -

Thanks for the appreciation of my photos.

Here is a link to a Sound Video shot under my O Scale NYC EL showing two Streetcars passing by in the shadows of the overhead EL,  while operating on the overhead trolley wire, as an overhead IRT Elevated train passes by.

On the video page,  use the small square box symbol indicator to play video in full screen

I did this in B&W format to simulate the 1940's-50's film movies era

Regards - Joe F

https://www.flickr.com/photos/...et-72157643342514574

Hello again Alan

Yes and no -- it is NOT "catenary" wire as such, but rather the simpler "trolley wire" designed for streetcars with trolley poles with grooved wheels or grooved slider shoes to ride on the sides and undersides of the wire. 

Catenary wire is strung (hung) quite differently and does not require "wire frogs" as used in "trolley wire" to divert the trolley pole to the right or left diverging trolley wire at switches, where two trolley routes divert. 

That's why railroad trains running under catenary wire use PANTOGRAPHS with a very wide sprung flat contact-plate shoes for running under, against solely the bottom of, the catenary current feed wire where two catenary wires divert over switch tracks.

The ends of Pantograph "contact pans or sleds" would invariably foul and snag the span pull-off and hanger wires of the trolley wire system !

The photo attached shows the trolley wire going under my O Scale NYC EL Line and into Protector Channels to prevent the trolley pole, if and when it de-wires, from hitting the EL structure steelwork.

Regards - Joe F

Great pictures,Joe where did the gray brick roadway come from.looks great

thanks rich

Thanks for the great explanation Joe....boy your modeling is fantastic.  Can you tell us more about the layout??

Alan

Hi Matt, 

Your Trolley pictures look great, both in terms of the subject and the quality of the photos.

In the picture below you have done a great job of modeling some good looking grass or is it a rendition of sage?  That would be the dry tall grass next to the tracks.  Would you mind sharing how you modeled the clumps?

Thanks, 

In case you need a break from the hot summer weather, here’s a few scenes from my Christmas Trolley Layout.

Bill

I run 2 trolleys on one line with 2 levels....The little kids love the trolleys

Back in February I posted two photos to this thread.  Here are a couple of up to date photos showing my trolley inventory and a meeting of Industrial, Western

Hobbycraft, and Minitoy trolleys.

Lew Schneider

Hello RICH B - and all: --

I earlier posted some pics of my O-Scale Philly region old PTC and later SEPTA Streetcars.  BELOW are some photos of my many O-Scale models of various classes of N.Y. City streetcars,  some seen under or near my N Y City "EL" Rapid Transit line.

-- RICH --  as I never could find scale looking nor accurate sized mass produced cobblestone street material, especially with the proper stone count between the rails (usually around 7 to 8 blocks) - I designed and had mass-printed,  my own semi-laminated 90 weight cardstock cobblestone paving sheets !

Old weathered and worn Cobblestones can vary in shades of dark grey, dark tan and brownish hue blocks mixed together.  I also created and mass-produced  scale size replicas of various NYC street Manhole covers (NY Telephone, NYC SEWER, CON EDISON, and plain versions, etc) and those between the trolley track rails roadway drainage plates.  I just repaved the WHOLE street system on this huge modular layout a few years ago with this new material I created - a big and TEDIOUS job, especially working around the EL column bases and  under the EL and under-EL-hung trolley wire.  Glad you like the appearance.

Regards - Joe F

Love your layout, Joe. Thanks for posting more photos.

Hello again JON ---

Well, you asked for some more --- here is my modeled "slice" of mid century (1940's-50's) Brooklyn NY on just a tiny portion of the whole Layout - featuring "period" scenes Brooklyn streetcars and some of my many scratchbuilt BMT Wooden Gate Car EL Trains.  All streetcars and All Subway-and-EL trains have complete full interior details, route signs, car card ads where normally were found in the cars, and authentic exact replicas of the seats the cars had.

Regards - Joe (Frank)

 Just completed a 5 inch extension of my trolley line that replaced a piece of EZ Streets with Superstreets.  I find the EZ Streets pins difficult to work with because of their tightness.  Very hard to get those pins to thread onto the track piece. 

Superstreets track apart from straights is getting scarce, so I stocked up on straight pieces and will only need D21 curves and transition pieces for a larger layout, plus hopefully D21 turnouts.

The future is either an L shaped trolley layout using another existing hobby table or a larger layout with trains and probably a city close to the existing size.

Steve/SIRT-

Just ran across your Valentine's Day photo of an Atlantic City Birney headed for rehab. Have several ACTC/Shore Line trolleys already and would like to add a Birney if prototypical.  Were they?

While under construction...

Incredible thread...I have really enjoyed it!

Joe....most folks would have a very difficult time telling your modeling from the real thing!  You are a master sir

Alan