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 Posted - October 20 2014 : 12:58:40 AM
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THis is by no means all of my trolley / streetcar collection, but it is what I got my hands on tonight, and I thought I'd share them with you. I also did some research on a couple tonight, as I didn't know what they were, and I did find out via Ebay ( almost as good as Wikipedia  ).
Anyway, here's the pictures and comments.
Here's a picture of my overall as-found trolley collection. Now I'll split them up and identify them.
All the long trolleys are Bachmann Brill, ignore the orange one to the lower right. :) I have 3 chassis's , and two are probably junk, I may get one running out of the 3 units.
This orange trolley I can't find any ID on, it has a slanted motor, maybe a 5-pole. No markings on it that I see anywhere.
These are Mehano / RSO trolleys, only the top one is listed as RSO, the rest as Mehano, all are dummies, they have working lights, but no motors, I think these were part of the two-car trolley set that come attached.
All these bodies are Tyco, I have Nob Hill, Main Street, and Broad Street, plus some plain ones. Two run fine. I don't have enough chassis's for all the bodies, however
These two are Greenlines, they have metal chassis's and are geared. Neither will move, the motors appear locked, so I will have to take them apart and see what's jammed. I was able to ID these via an Ebay search, there's a 3rd version with a green and white body. I will be interested to see how these run.
I have the modern Bachmann PCC streetcar somewhere, and a pair of really old PCC cars with solid brass wheels and solid metal bodies, maker unknown to me. I also have a couple of AHM Boeing LRV segmented cars, one solid Los Angles version, and a couple Boston versions that are in pieces. I may have others, that I've forgotten about.  But eventually my organizing will bring them all together. I hope. Post now open for comments!
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - October 20 2014 : 05:10:03 AM
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Definitely a great collection! Do you have plans to show them on a layout?
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
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Posted - October 20 2014 : 07:43:10 AM
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Hi Jerry. very nice trollies. The orange one I know as early Mantua/tyco. I had a boxed set with the track street sections. Mine had no trolley pole, or a hole for one. On the box it was called a cable car.
* The 2 you call Greenline, I have some, and remember them as being made in japan and sold in the Silvine line of trains. Probably pictures will show up in old model railroader or craftsman magazines.
Cant Waite to see them All.
frank
toptrain
" It's a Heck of a Day " !!!
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Posted - October 20 2014 : 07:47:51 AM
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quote:Definitely a great collection! Do you have plans to show them on a layout?
Originally posted by Tyco Nut - October 20 2014 : 05:10:03 AM
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Actually, I have plans to put them on a 2x4 module for shows! I have some of the rare Mantua trolley street track ( 6 corners, no straights ), and have seen some pieces being sold on ebay for use on regular sectional track for straight streets, so I may try to combine them and get a 6 foot long city and run trolleys off the main line in the city. That's the long-term plan, I intend to maybe make a small 2' "city" on my stairway layout and run them around there, too. Or just create another 2' x 3' corkboard railroad and do nothing but trolleys. At the moment, though, I want to go through my trolley collection and get as many of them running as I can. So far, two of the tyco's are running well, the unknown doesn't, the Barchmann Brill chassis's all need work, although one motor does work but has some screeching, so I've got some work to do. I think I may just do the corkboard Trolley layout first, for fun.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - October 20 2014 : 08:07:33 AM
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Jerry , Place your buildings where you want to. Lay your track in the street. make paper cutouts of street . Get some cheep thin plywood or old paneling. make you own streets to fit toy layout. I seen it done before and you wont have to buy a few track pieces here and there and waite to build. probably will be cheaper and more original in appearance.
Just a thought !
frank
toptrain
" It's a Heck of a Day " !!!
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Posted - October 20 2014 : 09:40:17 AM
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quote:Hi Jerry. very nice trollies. The orange one I know as early Mantua/tyco. I had a boxed set with the track street sections. Mine had no trolley pole, or a hole for one. On the box it was called a cable car.
Originally posted by toptrain - October 20 2014 : 07:43:10 AM
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You just took what I was gonna tell him.  Anyway, nice collection, Jerry!
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
Edited by - kovacste000 on October 20 2014 09:40:36 AM
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 Posted - October 20 2014 : 12:12:27 PM
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 well send me the junkers I'LL get them to run
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Posted - October 20 2014 : 8:16:29 PM
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quote:The orange one I know as early Mantua/tyco. On the box it was called a cable car.
*
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Yes, when I took it apart at work today, I found Mantua stamped into the weight inside. It's VERY different than the MU-2 design. Motor bearings were bone dry, got to seriously lube this unit before it will run. I did clean up all the contacts and points, that helped, but it's barely turning over, it's so dry.
quote:
The 2 you call Greenline, I have some, and remember them as being made in japan and sold in the Silvine line of trains.
frank
Originally posted by toptrain - October 20 2014 : 07:43:10 AM
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I took apart one of the Greenlines/Silvine trolleys at work, it was also bone dry inside. The weight was showing signs of zinc pest rot, but the basic chassis frame was solid, and had no cracks. Whew! I noticed that there was a little metal man up front, pretty cool, painted even. Hope to get both units lubed and oiled tonight and see if they will run again.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - October 21 2014 : 12:43:04 AM
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Trolley update - Frank / Toptrain is correct, I took apart the unmarked orange Trolley, and on top of the weight it is clearly stamped Mantua, or I should say molded in. So that mystery is solved. With some oil and lube, it finally began making some fitfull starts and stops around my stairway loop tonight. I think it needs a bit more work. Here's the comparison between the old Mantua, and the newer version( ha ha! ) with the NU-2 motor.
The old Greenlines trolley also got some lube and oil, and it is finally moving under it's own power as well It is also a bit jerky, but with a bit of run-time, it may smooth out some. I have to keep tapping it to get it going again. But it really needed that oil on the bronze bushings to wake it up, plus the grease on the axles was hardened up and restricting movement. Will keep tweaking on them. :)
I also pulled out a couple of Tyco Nob HIll trolleys, both with power, and put them on the loop. WHOA, what a difference! One ran quietly and smoothly, the other must have fell out of the Starbucks Expresso machine. Whew! One has an MU-2 with screws, the other with rivets, so there may be some tolerance issues. Will have to probe them more to see what the big difference is.
I also rummaged in the basement for awhile, and found my N gauge trolleys, and my SEPTA Muni HO trolleys too. I found two Bachmann PCC PRT trolley shells, but they don't have any chassis's under them. Darn. I did find my powered Bachmann PCC upstairs last night, though. Will see if the shells interchange.
Anyway, here's a pic of the 3 N gauge trolleys I have.
The black and yellow one has a swelled motor, I'm not sure why. It was a club member's junkbox find. I think the other two were as well, but are in better shape. Haven't tried any of them yet. Will do so Tuesday. I'm whooped, and ready for bed now. :)
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - October 21 2014 : 12:54:02 AM
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| Very nice collection of trolleys, Jerry! I don't have any but I like them a lot!
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