Late submission....
I visited the National Capital Trolley Museum today. It was their "Cavalcade of Streetcars" when anything that can run and is available is run for the public. Having attended three now, I must say each one since the first has been more and more disappointing. In the past, it was not uncommon to have 6-8 cars in service with 3-4 out on the line at a time with cars departing every 15-20 minutes. Today it was two cars running once every 30 minutes. The museum, while brand new, I think could use some help with displays - the same displays have been in use for at least 10-15 years. I don't visit often but the thought of many cars operating today got me out there. I guess it was a treat since it seems like their two Toronto PCC cars run every weekend and nearly all the time. With one in the yard and another inside, I was happy to ride something different!
I was hoping to ride the newly restored Third Avenue Railway car, just restored to service a few months ago. What a beautiful car. Love the paint job on this. It was put in the yard just after the first trip around the loop left and didn't wait around to ride it. Kind of bummed on that but what a looker it is!
I rode this little 4 wheel car - a very rough ride with a single truck!. This car was built in 1907 and is from Belgium (?). It came to run at the Grand Cypress resort in Florida to ferry golfers from the hotel to the greens until coming to the museum.
The far barn is their mechanical/restoration shop. The closest building is their display barn. Another this I don't care for is you can't see the collection until it is time for a guided tour, held, I think, once every 50 minutes. It is hard to enjoy the collection when you can't really see it outside of a guided tour where you aren't really permitted to wonder the barn. I didn't feel like waiting for a tour so I went home after about 40 minutes.
This switch was set against the car. The motorman stops at switches to be sure the points are set properly. This was not and out he came with his "wedge" to throw the switch to take the main line down through the woods, along the creek, and through the park.
On the way home, I thought it might be a good idea to build a new elevated loop on my layout. The old was 0-27. I wanted to be able to run all of my engines on all loops if I wanted to. Since the LHS was on the way home, off I went and then to Home Depot. Here is the new, 0-31 curve elevated loop.
I also bought this neat Lionel operating billboard. It has ads for San Franisco and New York. Having just recently visited San Francisco and spend any substantial free time in the Hamptons on eastern Long Island, I thought it was appropriate. It is a neat action item and is a fun addition. I'm happy I bought it.
