The Durable PCC "Streamlined" 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 starting 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 the center of streetcars on the North American continent.

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 the reputable suppliers 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 rarely too busy to talk to our trolley fans, modelers and customers. We encourage calls at 310-990-5422. We want to assist you in getting the information that you require for your hobby enjoyment!

The next few months promise to be great for trolley modelers. Both Bowser and Con-Cor have advertised new HO scale Ready-To-Run streetcars in prototypically correct paint schemes for delivery by the end of this year. In August a new decal set (CN-1030) was issued that allows modelers to finish models of the Lehigh Valley Transit 1000 series lightweight interurbans, including the soon-to-be-released KND Enterprises resin shell of the car 1030, ex IRR 55. The prototype shell was on display at the 2008 National Train Show last month in Anaheim, California. Custom Traxx entered the traction resin shell market earlier this year with a Kansas City all-electric PCC and the San Francisco "Milano" Peter Witt. Next will be the Canadian Light Rail Vehicle (CLRV) as operated in Toronto, Ontario. A premier decal set for the CLRV (CN-4100) was released last month and powered resin shells of the CLRV should be available prior to the end of the year. We are also developing a complete set of decals for the new brass MTS Imports, Inc. HO scale model of the San Diego SD-100 light rail vehicle (CN-2052). See our catalog for the latest information. Even large scale is getting into the act with the pre-production 1:29 scale Aristo-Craft Pre-War PCC displayed in June at the Big Train Show in Ontario, California. 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. A DCC operated trolley using overhead wire power was displayed at the Bowser booth during the 2008 National Train Show and the Southern California Traction club began DCC operation on their downtown trolley loop. See more about DCC operation with overhead wire in the Trolleyville Times and the Trolleyville Schoolhouse.

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San Francisco's Fabulous '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, 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 ex-Milan Peter Witt cars, now all numbered in 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. Early in November 2007, car 1818 emerged from the paint shop in the Milan 1930-1970 two-tone green scheme. The ex-Milan cars are very simple cars, are relatively easy to maintain and they give 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 have been renumbered for service on Market Street as cars 1070 to 1080, respectively, in the former colors of Newark, Minneapolis-St.Paul, Mexico City, El Paso (Texas), Toronto, Cleveland, Washington D. C., Birmingham (Alabama), San Diego, Detroit and Los Angeles (fruit salad) colors. Studies are now underway to rehabilitate the remaining four of the 1948 MUNI double-End PCC cars and the last PCC car built in North America, Muni 1040, for future service. 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. Originally planned for seven cars base service, as many as twenty cars are on the line at one time each day. As of September 2007, the F-line averaged over 24,000 boardings each day. This is greater than some of the light rail lines. Crowds at most stops along the line, especially at the Ferry Building and at Pier 39 in Fisherman's Wharf, can sometimes be overwhelming. Many times, any time of the day, evening or night, cars are packed almost solid!

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