Special Offer to IHP Unpowered Kit Purchasers...

Imperial Hobby Productions (IHP) no longer sells Bowser drives for their kits. Make your IHP unpowered shell into a complete operating vehicle. In order to encourage more traction modelers to build and finish resin-bodied kits, we are promoting a summer special with packages of Bowser drives and trolley poles and decals at special prices. Some of these shells are excellent and make great running models with a little effort. Click here for more details!

Traction Estate Sale...

Custom Traxx acquired several Saint Petersburg Tram Collection Models, Corgi PCC and Corgi Birney cars from a Central California estate earlier this year and is making these items available. As these items were all in display cabinets, there are almost no original boxes. For the complete list, click here. Contact Custom Traxx by email or by phone at 310-990-5422 for purchase and shipping data prior to remitting any funds.

The Durable and Stylish PCC Streetcar...

The PCC streetcar, after disappearing from every major North American city that proudly introduced them beginning in 1936, made a big comeback in San Francisco, California in 1995. They, along with the other historic cars operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway, have virtually stolen the spotlight from the famous cable cars, which have been a major image of the City-by-the-Bay for years, and have clearly established San Francisco as one of streetcar havens on the North American continent. Car 1056, shown at right in the colors of the Kansas City Public Service, may be the only PCC car with standee windows ever to wear those colors since no KCPS car ever had them. Car 1056 was originally Philadelphia Transportation Company 2113, having been delivered in 1948.

In 1929, the Presidents of the operators of many streetcar lines met in Atlantic City to design the "streetcar of tomorrow". They saw paved streets, the jitney and the motor bus as competition and they knew that they would have to respond. They formed the Electric Railway Presidents Conference Committee (ERPCC) and met in Atlantic City, NJ during the summer of 1929. The car that emerged from the work of this committee became known as the PCC car. Beginning in 1936 when they were introduced in Brooklyn, ridership soared on the lines featuring them. Many lines in Philadelphia used them only on weekends or Sundays, while the older cars ran during the week. Over 5000 PCC cars were built in the United States by St. Louis Car Co. in Missouri and Pullman-Standard in Massachusetts. There were basically two production models of the PCC car, the pre-World War II or "pre-war" model, also known as the "air-car", and the post World War II or "post-war" model, also called the "all-electric car". The pre-war car used air brakes and air operated auxiliary equipment, such as doors and windshield wipers, while the all-electric was as described, having no air operated equipment. Eleven surviving refurbished pre-war (air-car) PCC cars are currently assigned to the Mattapan-Ashmont line in Boston, Massachusetts and are the only pre-war PCC cars in regular service today. All PCC cars currently used on the San Francisco F-line are post-war (all-electric) cars.

Custom Traxx Business Plan...

Custom Traxx supports the HO scale trolley streetcar modeler by supplying authentic detailed decal finishing sets, heralds, destination signs and other markings for streetcars as they ran in most American and Canadian localities. We also provides a very limited number of decals for electric railway vehicles in 1:50, O and 1:24 scales. Our initial goal was to provide top quality, accurate decals for most of the HO scale traction vehicles imported decades ago by Custom Brass, Fairfield Traction Models, Model Tramway, Soho, WP Car and others for which decals either were not supplied or the supplied decals have long since deteriorated. Then we began to support professional reputable suppliers such as Funaro & Camerlengo, KND Enterprises, Miniatures by Eric, and Transit Classics by making decal sets to allow modelers to finish their quality resin traction kits. Custom Traxx also offers a growing line of traction parts including selected A-line traction repowering items, Bowser HO scale traction mechanisms, drives and parts, trolley poles by Miniatures by Eric (HO & O scale), and HO scale ORR girder rail, turnouts and crossings. Also available are special parts from other manufacturers for the operational trolley modeler. We are never "...too busy..." to talk to our customers, trolley fans, and traction modelers. We are here to assist you in getting the information that you require for your hobby enjoyment! We encourage calls at 310-990-5422 during normal business hours.

The next few months should be really great for trolley modelers. The Bowser San Francisco 'F-line' PCC should be in production as you read this as the first pre-production model was received on April 28th. The Con-Cor HO scale Pre-War PCC is also just around the corner. The Bachmann Peter Witt will shortly be available on O scale. We now are providing three resin bodied kits, the Kansas City all-electric PCC, the San Francisco "Milano" Peter Witt and the Canadian Light Rail Vehicle (CLRV) as operated in Toronto, Ontario. All three kits are provided with authentic decals and rugged proved Bowser Drives and excellent Miniatures by Eric trolley poles. The fourth Custom Traxx resin kit is in development and will be the Boston 3222-3346 series ex-Dallas double-end PCC cars. We are also developing a complete set of decals exclusively for the new brass MTS Imports, Inc. HO scale model of the San Diego (2000-2052 series) SD-100 light rail vehicle. These decals will only be available from MTS Imports, Inc.

See our catalog for the latest information. The use of DCC in the operation of HO trolleys under powered overhead wire continues to increase, and we can see no reason why DCC should not someday become the norm for traction operation. Most of the problems encountered early in the development of DCC now have practical solutions. In 2008, the Southern California Traction Club began DCC operation on their new city trolley line and they have over thirty cars equipped with decoders. See more about DCC operation with overhead wire in the Trolleyville Times and the Trolleyville Schoolhouse.

For our complete six-part catalog, click here!

San Francisco's Now Legendary 'F-Market' Line!

Originally conceived by San Francisco's Market street merchants as early as 1974, pressure from several groups forced the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) to try a Trolley Festival in 1984 with antique cars running along Market Street. These cars substituted for the cable car system which was under renovation at the time. Also, a major political party convention was also in town during that summer. The Festival was a great success and planning for the F-line accelerated. Fifteen excellent PCC cars, which had been partially rebuilt in the 1980's, were obtained for "peanuts" from Philadelphia and fourteen of them along with three of San Francisco's own 1948 double-end PCCs were rebuilt at Morrison-Knudson in Hornell, New York to almost "better-than-new" condition. On September 1, 1995, F-line operation began along Market Street from the Castro district to the East Bay Terminal. The line became extremely popular, gaining as many native riders as tourists. On March 4, 2000, the line was extended to Fisherman's Wharf via the now freeway-less and beautifully renovated Embarcadero. The above picture shows car 1056, dressed in colors for Kansas City Public Service (Missouri), on Market Street just after the F-line began operation. Car 1056 was built in 1948 by Saint Louis Car Co and originally was Philadelphia 2113 until 1992 when it was sold to San Francisco. When in San Francisco, do not miss the opportunity to ride the F-line to Fisherman's Wharf. You will not regret it. The 1947-1948 vintage PCC cars that opened the line in 1995 are augmented by some of the city's even older colorful cars, car 1 (Muni Class A, built 1912) , car 130 (Muni Class B, built 1915), car 952 from New Orleans, the Blackpool "Boat" tram or "Toast Rack" 228, car 496 from Melbourne, Australia, PCC car 737 (renumbered from 7037) from Belgium and eleven ex-Milan (Milano), Italy Peter Witt types originally built in 1928. Muni Class B car 162, built in 1914, retired in 1958 to the Orange Empire Railway Museum but reacquired in 2002, was completely restored and made its maiden voyage on April 19th. While most of the very popular 'Milano' Peter Witt cars, now all numbered or renumbered into the 1800 series, are in the orange paint scheme introduced in Milan in 1970, car 1814 is in the original Milan 1928 yellow and white scheme. Since November 2007, car 1818 has been wearing the Milan 1930-1970 two-tone green scheme. The 'Milano' cars are very simple cars, are relatively easy to maintain while giving a European air to the city. All of these remarkable vehicles are in the process of being augmented by eleven PCC cars that ran in Newark, NJ until 2001 and previously in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, MN. After both exterior and interior overhaul by Brookville Equipment Company, these PCC cars were renumbered by Muni for service on Market Street as cars 1070 to 1080, respectively. Contracts are now being prepared to rehabilitate the remaining four of the 1948 MUNI double-End PCC cars; the last PCC car built in North America, Muni 1040; and the oldest car on the property, 1912 era Muni #1 for future service. Meanwhile, progress is constant. So bring your camera, and enjoy the ride and the city. We recommend riding early in the day and boarding at the 17th & Castro terminal as the popularity of the line continues to grow beyond all expectations.

Click here to view our current catalog.