Trolley Suggestion

 

 

If you can find any still out there, try the Industrial Rail Trolley's that were made by Atlas.  They are not scale, but they have been decorated in a large variety of authentic paint schemes and have BOTH bump-in-go and e units.  They will also run at voltages as low as three or four volts.(although, they won't do bump-in-go at voltages that low)  The Atlas IR trolleys have directional lighting and several lights for the trolley body. All and all, a very attractive package , but you have to get them on the secondary market, as they are currently out of production.

 

Don't bother with the earlier Industrial Rail versions, they have plastic gears that are prone to strip.  There are no spare parts, so what you get when the plastic gears strip is a very well lighted diner.

 

Ed Boyle

I have a MTH bump and go. It runs well. The bumper is spring loaded so it's pretty smooth when it hits the bumper.

 

One item you may want to consider is the Bachmann On30 (O Scale on Narrow Gauge Track) Village trolley set. It comes with auto-reversing track so there is no bump. 

I just bought a set for my father-in-law for Christmas and was very impressed when  I test ran it.

But the MTH Bump-and-go trolley will not run on the Superstreets D-16 curves, just on the D-21.

 

BIll

Yep!

I have also been looking for well-detailed trolleys that can run/handle Superstreet curves. The Williams by Bachmann trolleys are very nice, anyone know if they'll make it through the curves?

Recently completed my elevated trolley line using lionel 027 track.  I wanted to use something more prototypical than a bump and go trolley.  You'll need to purchase trolley with an E unit. The one that I'm running is a Peter Witt Streetcar from Williams - you'll also need to purchase a Stop and Reverse Module:  Z-Stuff makes one:  Model DZ 1240. Look around for the Peter Witt trolley.  I found one on sale for $135.  The relay module from Z-stuff about 50 bucks or so.  My trolley runs point to point on a 10 second delay.  Way more realistic than the bump and go version.  This combination is a bit pricey and it will require a bit of patience to hook up the reverse module.  But well worth the effort, time and expense. 

 

Thanks for suggestions.  Does not need to be bump and go as both trolley lines are loops of the Superstreets, some with tight curves.  Like to look at a better trolley.  I assume the street cars won't make it around the curves?

Those Williams by Bachman do look nice, I agree.  Get one and let me know!

The mth railking PCC's will negotiate the D-16 curves slowly like a prototype.

 

Bill

I do see an inexpensive one on line.  They look really nice.  Think programable with a Z-4000?

If you can find one the Western Hobbycraft trolleys were in a league of their own.

 

Here is on on the Bay

 

www.ebay.com/itm/Western-Hobby...;hash=item20dc4dfede

 

Dale H

But that one is 2-rail.

 

HTH,

 

Bill

My Williams Peter Witt handles the D21 curves very well, even on a  few "S" turns.

I have an Atlas Industrial Rail bump and go trolley on my layout.  Runs great but the voltage must be set & locked so that the voltage stays fixed. Too low it won't bump, too high and the wheels will leave the track when it bumps.  It keeps on going like the battery bunny.

I believe Bowser made a short-wheelbase Birney trolley, but I don't know if it would go as tight as 16" curves. Might be worth checking out if you can find somebody who has one that you can test.

I believe the original poster was inquiring about trolleys that will operate properly on SuperStreets (now E-Z Streets).  That being the case, and given the very tight curves of 16" diameter and 21" diameter with that track system, one has to be very careful not to generalize the operational capabilities to even the tight O27 curves we O gauge folks may be used to.

 

My last trolley layout--a couple of years ago, with a new one planned for the near future--used D21 SuperStreets curves.  The two best operators on those curves, in my experience, were the MTH PCC and the Williams by Bachmann Peter Witt car.  The MTH PCCs, with ProtoSound and speed control, were by far the best when it came to maintaining consistently realistic speeds on this track system.

 

I also do have a lot of the D16 curves, but pretty much gave up on them for the most part because I found that most trolleys experienced an unrealistically abrupt change in speed on entering the curves.

 

I have, and have experimented with, virtually all the popular makes of 3-rail O gauge trolleys, including Lionel, MTH (all three types), Bowser, Western Hobbycraft, Atlas IR, K-Line, and the Williams by Bachmann car.  Next to the Alaska RR and the U.S. Army Transportation Corps, trolleys are my abiding passion in O gauge. 

Thanks for mote ideas.  Allan, you're a total expert!  What will work on the 16 curves?  The MTH look nice and remember wanting one when I was more active in the hobby several years ago. Never occured  to me to use bigger curves.

Thanks for mote ideas.  Allan, you're a total expert!  What will work on the 16 curves?  The MTH look nice and remember wanting one when I was more active in the hobby several years ago. Never occured  to me to use bigger curves.

Actually the MTH RailKing Bump-N-Go trolley will make the D-16 curve although it will slow slightly.  Personally I don't find this non-prototypical at all. I rode the streetcar to high school for 4 yrs and whenever we entered an end of zone loop the car slowed to almost a snails pace because of the tight loop.

 

This will give you an idea of just how tight the return loop can be so don't worry too much if your car slows on the curves.  It's prototypical.

 

Bill

They made 2 rail and 3 rail. I linked it for the pictures,which do not do the trolley justice. I have 3 of them,there are no close seconds as far as detail. The others mentioned work fine though.

 

Dale H

 

You are right - that is gorgeous!  Is it true that it is die cast metal?  How high should I go with a bid?  Only thing I know about the Third Avenue Ry is that Minnie Berkey got injured on a subsidiary tram line, and sued. Benjamin Cardozo got the case.  His famous quote: The whole problem of the relation between parent and subsidiary corporations is one that is still enveloped in the mists of metaphor" sticks in my mind.  I need this trolley.

Looks like you can still get them new?  They do look nice. 

So Bill, do you have an MTH PCC that will manage the d-16 ok?  That may be my choice. Do you have it programmed?

Yes and yes.  Tomorrow I'll send you a link to a video of my last year's Christmas layout showing it in operation.

I believe several of the Western Hobbycraft 3-rail models are still available.  At $125 each, they are a real bargain in my opinion.

I second what Allan said.  Great trolley, great price.

2 finalists, the MTH PCC and the Western Hobbycraft (looks like you can still get them new).  Anyone have luck with the Western on D-16?  For the record, the MTH bump trolley does run on the D-16, just too fast.

No, I was not able to get satisfactory performance operating the Western Hobbycraft car on D16 curves.

 

I believe I'll give some thought to doing a comprehensive overview of trolleys and SuperStreets/E-Z Streets for a future issue of the magazine since I have examples of most all the O gauge trolleys available (including a couple of Corgi models, which I failed to mention earlier).

Going through Chicago Friday and I will stop at Byrwn's Hobby store and see if they have any MTH PCC.  Like to patronize brick and mortar when possible.  I think a trolley/streetcar article would be great esp the radius that they can handle.

dochoot:

 

Video link sent to your email just now.

 

Bill

That is awesome.  Thanks!  Should share that video with others on this thread.  Well done.  Always strikes me when I see an 85 year old train running perfectly.  Not as optimistic the running condition of mine 85 years from now.

So far no one has mentioned ETS. They make a nice looking four-wheel tinplate trolley and a track system similar to Super Streets. The track is two-rail only, but the trolleys are available in either 2-rail or 3-rail. I don't know exactly what curves they are meant to handle but a layout plan in an old ETS catalog I have suggests that the ETS trolley track has curves comparable to the 16" Super Streets. There have been two recent eBay sales: one painted for a German line, no box, for $82.00 and one Colorado Springs, LNIB, for $137.50.

That's another one I forgot to mention.  I bought an ETS trolley and track (2-rail) at York a year or so ago, but have not yet done anything with it.  I'll have to remember to include it in my overview, even if it is 2-rail.  It's really more of a European style tinplate trolley, and not quite comparable to the Western Hobbycraft, Williams by Bachmann, and MTH models.

Either way, I should get credit for my springboard srimulating thread regarding a $75 purchase. But seriously, thanks for input. Looking forward to going to a nice hobby store Friday. I feel they are shrinking in number.

I ended up going to a LHS that had the Superstreets set up and they ran the PCC mth for me.  On the plus side, it does make it around the tight turns but the overhand knocked over a bunch of stuff on their layout (oops).  It made be realize the overhang would not work at all  on my set up as I have some curbs etc that it would get hung up on.  I need something small like a nicer version of the little bump trollys.

Any suggestions on trolleys/streetcars that run at prototypical low speeds?

Any MTH trolley with PS2 (including the PCCs) Western Hobbycraft (if you can find what you want), and the Bachmann Peter Witt trolley.

 

The MTH/PS2 models are equipped with speed control, which is why I would recommend them first if you want prototypical and consistent running speeds, including on curves.

 

You might also check this recent thread.

Bowser made a 2-truck Brill trolley that looks pretty good. I have no idea if it will run on D16 curves or not. If it does not, it might be possible to modify it so it does, but that would require some cut-and-try operations on the chassis. The Bowser trolleys originally had open-frame motors mounted in the lead truck. Later versions had a can motor; I would think those would do slow speeds better.

 

 

ETS also makes a nice tinplate 4-wheel trolley from a European prototype. It has a very smooth motor mechanism, but the pickup is a slider shoe rather than a roller. Again, no idea if it would run on D16 or not. This is available in 2-rail or 3-rail; the former are more common so you need to be careful when buying off of eBay. 

 

Here's a photo of my Bowser Brill trolley: