Elevated Train

[filmtrain]

If this has been covered before please forgive me but...does anyone make an elevated train such as Chicago's CTA in HO?  If so, where can I get it, I have looked in all of the usual places Walther's etc..

[D.Harrison]

Put it this way....there are 100 modelers, 75 of them like main line railroading, steam or diesel; 5 like narrow gague, five like only pre world war II, 2 like Canadian, 2 like European...keep going til there's only one modeller left.

That one modeler is divided between niche interests like rapid transit, commuter versus any other odd ball trains.  Now the manufacturer has to decide who will models be made for.  Easy to see who wins and who loses.

No there are no inexpensive models of CTA equipment available in HO.  The North Shore Electroliner which ran on the "L" up til 1964 is coming from Con Cor at about $400.  NYCTA fans were lucky when Proto 1000 from Life Like did the New York IRT cars.  Walthers has said there'll be no more right now until stuff runs through the pipeline.  P1K was rumored to be interested in doing a CTA 6000 PCC car in HO scale like Mikes Train House is doing in Lionel/O scale in the Rail King Line.

So if you want CTA and don't want expensive brass....change to Lionel O scale. 

P.S. MTS wants to do the 3200 series CTA in HO brass.

David Harrison

[Jhanecker2]

It would take a good Number of different styles  to model all the cars used on the CTA  over the last fifty years .  I lived in Chicago since  1952 , and started to ride the  "EL " in  1965  to get to highschool .  To  see some of the old equipment   you  could go to  The Illinois  Railroad  Museum  at Union Illinois .  Check out  their  Webpage on the Internet.

[filmtrain]

I found a New York IRT Red Line train that will serve the purpose of my layout.  While I would like Chicago, New York will do fine as my layout is freelance.  Illinois Railway Museum is worth the trip for those who have not been there and the Rochelle Train Park is great for Railfans of the UP and BNSF.  You could make a nice short vacation out of those two spots.

[r.cprmier]

Funaro and Camerlengo has a kit that could possibly be crossed into CTA equipment.  This gives you two things:  It gives you a kit, and it also introduces you into the world of resin kits, if you aren't already there.

[Clear Block]

Interurban and commuter are hard to find.  But some manufactures have made them as previously mentioned.

the P2K subway set it nice for those wanting a typical elevated subway line, just freelance them to be what you want.
First thing I did was "MU"d the subway cars into a 4 car train set.  I used a small piece of brass cut to fit with a small hole for the coupler screw and make the clearance between the car's as real as it gets.  I have not had a problem with derailment's due to close coupling yet.

for elevated railway service if you are interested you can use brass or fine crafting wood to scratch built the actual "el" structure then use conventional track with very tight 15" radius and you'd be set.

The more detail you want the harder it would be to make it, but the more proud you will be of your self to see something look almost real.

[r.cprmier]

Clear Block;

Central Valley produces a great set of lattice-work steel that certainly can be used in this application; Micro-Engineering also makes structures useable in this way too.  CV has been a Godsend as I use a lot of Jack's product on my layout, it being pretty urban/industrial.

[Santa Fe buff]

http://www.mtsimports.com/stock2.htm

Old, but still CTA, like D. Harrison said, it is expenesive.

This one is coming out soon:

http://www.mtsimports.com/trolley.htm

There might be more models on that site, but I don't think there is...

[Guilford Guy]

http://ihphobby.tripod.com has done them in N. You can ask, and he could probably do them in HO, how soon I don't know, but maybe within the next few years. 

[Santa Fe buff]

Yeah, if only we could get bachmann to create a few things we're looking for........yeah, then life would be easy, just save a little from each check and that engine is yours, but no. Guess thats what brings in customers, having a specialty, like Con-Cor having the Areo-Train.

[Frankford el car]

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.

[paulsafety]

Assuming we have ready to run models, what type of layout would you build to run the transit equipment:
1) add a transit line to an existing urban model railroad
2) build a transit-focused layout that excludes other railroad modes (ie. long distance passenger, commuter rail, etc.)
3) build a terminal (with layup yard and shops) that terminates in a hidden staging area?

Here's a link to a video about a model transit layout based on the London Tube....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FICiRc8AdX4&feature=related

Paul F.

[Beatle (TrainBrain)]

Closest I can get to elevated is Walthers' Proto 1000 NYC subway.
http://walthers.com/exec/productinfo/920-31016
http://walthers.com/exec/productinfo/920-31015
Closest I can get to regional Chicago is Kato's F40PH.
This one's just the HO shell, but they do offer it ready-to-run.
http://www.katousa.com/images/951242.jpg

[Frankford el car]

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.

[D.Harrison]

Hey, I'd like to see some pictures of your layout.

David Harrison