Why are there no Boston subway or street car models?

MTH released 4 PCC electric street cars from Boston between 2004 and 2011.  If you visit the MTH website product locator, search for PCC and filter on road name Boston, you will see them.  Hope that helps .

Corgi made a Boston PCC:

Rusty

Bill and Rusty,

Thanks for the info; I guess I got started looking late -- since 2015.  There's hope, as the MTH site identified a few still around. I think the Seashore? Trolley Museum was selling the Corgi models for a while, but I don't remember seeing any in Boston livery.

Encouraging news, although still no subway cars.

Thanks!

Tomlinson Run Railroad

I think they're still trying to get Charlie off of that train

artyoung posted:

I think they're still trying to get Charlie off of that train

Laughing out loud! 

TRRR

I have been waiting for the same thing for a long time now. MTH has made some PCC Boston cars and MBTA which is great but a Boston subway is way overdue. 

island modelworks has some boston kits available:

http://islandmodelworks.com/OB.html

If you are into wooden trains the MBTA store still has the blue line and commuter rail available:

https://www.mbtagifts.com/

They used to have green and red lines too but I guess they sold out of those.

It is good to see that the MTH commuter rail set includes the control car.

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

island modelworks has some boston kits available:

http://islandmodelworks.com/OB.html

PRRHorseshoeCurve,

Thanks for the photo and link!  That's definitely somethig to think about.  (Those wheels look a little odd to me but what do I know?)  Of course, I've got a model to finish already before thinking of a new one .

TRRR

Choochoo1972,

Yeah, that's a nice shop. Thanks.  Every so often I eye the subway/street car beverage coasters that they have for sale.  Except for the price, they would be great fun for a train running party at the Tomlinson Run RR.  The graphics are great!

TRRR

artyoung posted:

I think they're still trying to get Charlie off of that train

LOL... Always wondered why poor old Charlie's wife never handed him a nickel along with the sandwich as the train passed through Sculley Square Station   

Apples55 posted:

artyoung posted:

I think they're still trying to get Charlie off of that train

LOL... Always wondered why poor old Charlie's wife never handed him a nickel along with the sandwich as the train passed through Sculley Square Station   

Have you ever met Charlie?  Clearly it was part of the Mrs.' strategy!  

TRRR

The curse of the Bambino.

Interesting question. This is not the answer you are looking for but. In the mid fifties Ken Kidder was importing many  brass models from Japan. He was going to have subway cars made. I frequented Ma Websters Model train Shop on 45th Street in Manhattan. There on display was an O Scale Kidder brass Boston Subway car. ( not that a 14 year old kid could afford anyway). It was not for sale and was a display piece. They told me they were waiting for an  IRT R-17. I went to the shop often with my friend Vern buying wood and supplies for our scratch building of subway and el cars. Alas, the R-17's never did come and after a few years the Boston cars were gone never to be seen again. Bill Clouser built an O scale R-17 and an O Scale H&M K car under contract with the St. Louis Car Company. The K car was a cutaway model showing the interior. The R-7 was a full car. They were on display in the old Hudson Terminal in Manhattan. No one knows what happened to th K Car but the R-17 model wound up in a resturant in Manhattan. It still was on display last time I checked about 8 years ago.  I should go back.

The population of Boston is 655K.

The population of Chicago is 2.7MM.

The population of New York is 8.5MM.

Holding metro area populations constant and assuming the ratio of train collectors to non-train collectors is also constant, this is an issue of demand, pure and simple.

Please don't shoot the messenger.

Steven J. Serenska

Sorry, it's taken me a bit to respond. Nate, thanks for the interesting background story.  I'm impressed to read that you were scratch building subway and el cars at fourteen!

Steven, you have a very pursuasive argument.  Being a historian-type, I tend to see the history of a transit line as a "selling" point. (I'm not a big Franklin Mint fan, but they and other collectors companies seem to use that approach in some of their offerings. Say, an example of one of each representative of the item being produced.)

I'm off to Charles Ro after work today, and may discuss the MBTA engine in a recent catalog if I can locate it before I leave and the pre-order price is still available.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

The people at the train manufacturers are all Yankees fans........

bigkid posted:

The people at the train manufacturers are all Yankees fans........

Well there's only one baseball team. 27 time world champs. !

If you're willing to try some extensive kit-bashing, you could use the MTH Chicago 6000-series PCC el cars to replicate the East Boston Tunnel cars used by the MTA in the 1950s and '60s.  It's actually surprisingly close.