Paul F.;

My layout is focused on a medium-big city transit system, with trolleys and buses on the streets, subway-elevated trains on both an el' line above the street, and linked via a connecting ramp, to a subway beneath downtown streets. I have a large caryard and shop with a 50-car capacity for the subway-elevated trains, with a seperate carbarn under construction for the trolleys.

Large city transit system:

Approx. 100 subway-elevated cars (15 retired, 10 stored out-of-service while waiting for repairs).

Forty trolleys (12 all-electric PCC's, 1 air-electric PCC, 1 Peter Witt, 7 double-truck Birney's, 6 Brill Suburban's, 4 Boeing articulated LRV's, the rest are Tyco/Mantua and AHM/IHC single trucker's stored out-of-service).

Twelve Eheim/Brawa trackless trolley buses.

Whether New York, or Chicago-based, I'd like to see either Bachmann, a Walthers/Life-Like Proto 1000, Con-Cor, or someone else make a RTR subway-elevated train in HO scale, compatible with the Proto 1000 cars (not brass, or an expensive non-powered kit), other than the usual IRT Low-V, CTA 4000, and CTA 6000. Rapid transit modelers aren't so "tunnel-visioned" (no pun intended) as to only want those cars, anymore than Southern Pacific modelers have eyes only for Cab-Forwards, Burlington Route modelers only for Zephyrs, Union Pacific modelers for Big Boys and Challengers, or Pennsy modelers for GG-1's, K-4s', and MP-54's.

For an IRT car, how about the R-12/14's built in 1948-49? Other than PCC's, nobody has made a modeler commercially available for that period after the war. Even the CTA had the 5000-series cars built then, and that's only been made available in HO scale in brass, to my knowledge. Hardly affordable for the majority of traction modelers in the current economy.

Frankly, if they were sold only as single units as opposed to complete four-car sets, a plastic-bodied RTR subway-el' car would be better than the current alternative, which is continue to load up on the Proto 1000 R-17's, and 21's. Much as I like them and have every release of them, a layout with no ther variety can be just as boring as one loaded up with only PCC's for a trolley roster, or only boxcars for freight trains.

Another alternative would be a steel-bodied, double-ended, trolley, with an arch roof, roof vents, with straight sides, similar to hundreds of these cars that ran in Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, and other medium and large US cities.

I think the current economy has a lot to do with it. With the escalating costs of manufacturing an operating model, a trolley is a lot more cost-effective, than a five, ten, or twenty-car freight train, with two diesels.

Whether a copy of a Los Angeles air-electric, or one from Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, or Brooklyn. The difference in body style between the pre-war, and post-war PCC's alone, would be a selling point. Even if nothing more than a retrofit body for the current cars.

But the SP's Cab-forward articulateds didn't share in a lot of the Harriman roads' features. Most (or almost none) didn't have Vanderbilt tenders, and some actually had a "turtleback" tender. I don't think the ICRR was big on Vanderbilt tenders either. Passenger cars seemed to be the most common equipment between them. IE: coaches, diners, baggage cars, etc.

I've had some success with a lowtech alternative. If you are dealing with a flat panel such as a wall section, place it face down on a hard surface, such as a concrete basement floor, but on top of a sheet of newspaper, to protect the features. Place another layer of newspaper on top of the panel, then a heavy weight, such as a cinderblock, on top of it all. Let it set for a day or two. This may not take the warp out of the panel permanently, but it might long enough to allow you to cement it in place, and the cement to harden, before the warpage tries to reappear. By then, the completed structure should hold all flat angles in their intended positions.

The simplest solution to isolating the parallel tracks in this crossover (or a lefthand version), is to cut through both crossover rails completetly, place a shim of plastic such as Plastruct sheet or strip in the gap on BOTH rails, epoxy the shims in place, then file them smooth to prevent derailment. Try either with an Exacto saw, or a Dremel power tool and cutting wheel. But make sure that both cuts on the rails, are completelt through, not simply notching the rails. This also work's for setting up electrical blocks, to isolate sections of the same track, but each section must have it's own power feed.

Yes they do, at roughly double the cost of the Bachmann Peter Witt. If I can get two cars for the same purchase price as I now will have to pay for one, why would I not go for the more affordable deal? That's why the prototype operators put out bids to multiple suppliers, for new carsm buses, etc. To purchase from the lowest responsible bidder. Or do you always buy brass, when an affordable plastic alternative (Bachmann or someone else's) is available?

If Bachmann can do it with or without DCC, more cost-effectively, then they get my business, just as they have for the past thirty-plus years.

Dear Mr. Bachmann;

Being a long-time owner of a fleet of PCC's and Brill Suburbans, I was tickled when the Peter Witt was released. Are there any chances in the near term, that the current all-electric PCC's might be supplemented with a pre-war air-electric PCC, on either the same chassis, or a new one similar to that for the Peter Witt's? Adding those would fill in the late 1930's gap, in my trolley roster.

Woody;
The "newest" el' cars that I have, are the Proto 1000 R-17's, and R-21's, dating from 1955-thru-57. So the station announcements and the "doorbell" chimes (also used on the current cars here in Philadelphia) would not apply. The wheelnoise come's naturally on my el', as it is built mostly open deck, like the IRT, though I also have a solid deck section, like the el' here in Philly. No "click-clack" at rail joints, as I've long ago gone to "welded rail" (all rail joints soldered and ground smooth), to eliminate electrical dead spots.

I did however, come up with a method (inadvertantly) of duplicating wheelnoise in my subway. Unlike much of the IRT, the subway tracks in Philly are laid directly on concrete, without stone ballast (crossties bolted to the tunnel floor). I duplicated this by laying the track directly on the plywood base of my layout, and built the downtown buildings and streets raised above. The layout framing act's as a "sound box" much like a guitar or violin, and magnify's the wheelnoise. With a four, five, or six-car train, it sound's quite authentic.

And confine your "careful" brother-in-law to observer status, while he hone's his small object handling skills, on items that he is willing to purchase a replacement of, in the mean time. 

Mr. Bach Man;                                                                                                 

I have a large roster of subway-elevated trains, that I'd like to add sound to. Since the main sounds they have in common with steam and diesels are whistle or air horn, coupling, air compressor, and wheel squeal on tight curves, is it possible to use a DCC decoder meant for steam or diesels, while cutting out the diesel prime mover, or steam "chuff"? For cost considerations, I'd like to use Bachmann decoders, due to the size of my car roster.

If you're referring to some Virginian electrics that resembled the Milwaukee Road's, and South Shore Line's "Little Joe's", I think they're the same units I suspect were purchased from the Great Northern. I've seen photos of them in the VGN's blue-yellow paint scheme, and believe they are one and the same.