I can’t say that I’ve ever been a big fan of street railways, but the trolley model built for and imported by Western Hobbycraft is certainly distinctive and should please those with a portion of their layout dedicated to transit.
Modeled after a prototype run in Johnstown, Pa., (former stomping ground of the firm’s owner Walt Cameron), the model duplicates an 11-window car. The unit has a die-cast metal shell and the tooling is clean and precise. The unit weighs a hefty 2 pounds, 10 ounces and it features a can-style motor and optional sound system.
The car has two sprung trolley poles, both of which lock “down” into place, and there are even little safety bars over the windows to help keep the car’s O gauge passengers out of trouble. On both ends you’ll find a nice “kid-catcher,” designed to scoop up erratic trolley dodgers and keep them out of harm’s way!
Although there are motormen at both ends, please don’t get the idea this car is designed to ram into a track bumper in order to reverse itself. This is a serious model, not the postwar Lionel version that requires whiplash crashes to change direction.
As with the other trolleys that we’ve recently tested, this model delivered a good speed range. Its motor rapidly responded to commands.
The QSI sound system was a nice value-added feature, but for those who prefer to simply hear the clatter of metal on metal, they trolley can be purchased without a sound system.
The Western Hobbycraft trolley runs smoothly and looks great, and may have you thinking about the possibility of building an interurban line, not just a street railway, on your pike.
I have been out of the hobby for several years and am not sure what all is out there but the Johnstown Traction Trolley is enough to bring me back in. I would like to see more accessories available for trolley layouts than were in the past, such as track, track in street, crossings, etc. Have not received my model of the original JTC yet so I am not able to rate it.