This New Orleans streetcar captures the nostalgic look and feel of big city street transit from the 1920s to the present. Made by LGB, it’s a big, impressive traction model to run or display in your den. This weather-resistant model has some great details and features, and is decoder-equipped for ready-to-run action on analog DC as well as Digital Command Control (DCC) layouts, indoors or out.
LGB is best-known for its G scale 1:22.5 proportion narrow gauge trains, but this 1:26 proportion model represents a prototype car that operates on 5′-2½” wide- gauge track.
The prototype for LGB’s model is a 52-passenger steel-bodied streetcar designed by the Perley Thomas Car Co. for the New Orleans Public Service Co. (NOPSI). Between 1922 and 1924 Perley Thomas and Brill built 173 cars of this class.
Though there were a few differences in this group of streetcars, their outward appearances were nearly identical. The cars were fitted with two traction motors, one in each truck. The first 100 cars had manual-operating doors, while the last 73 used pneumatic doors. The cars had fairly long service lives for streetcars, and a small number of the 900 series have been reconditioned and still run on New Orleans Regional Transit Authority’s St. Charles line.
The LGB model captures the classic lines of the Perley Thomas design well, and the height and length of the car closely match the dimensions of the prototype. A neat feature of the model is the manually operated bi-fold doors. The doors open when the retractable bottom step is pulled to the down position and close as the step is folded up. The roof is removable for interior access. Two seated passengers and an operator are provided.
A large black box fills what should be open space under the car between the trucks, but it’s camouflaged by the underbody details. It contains the PC board, operation selector switch, and a weight.
Our sample streetcar ran very smoothly. Two seven-pole Bühler motors, one enclosed in each truck, power the model. The two-motor design allowed our sample streetcar to climb a five percent grade without difficulty. The trucks are modeled after the prototype car’s Brill 76-E2 trucks.
The model has a prototypical speed range, and I could run the car reliably at two scale miles-per-hour! It also negotiates LGB’s tightest-radius curve (25.4″) easily. Our sample tended to rock back and forth a bit, but almost every streetcar I’ve ever ridden has had some rocking motion.
The car comes equipped with an LGB Multi-Train System decoder that can be used on both DC and DCC layouts. The interior and exterior lights can be turned on and off independently under DCC control. The decoder also reads the motor’s back electromotive force (EMF) and maintains a constant speed whether the street car is operating on straight track, climbing a grade, or moving through a tight turn.
The painting and lettering on our model was neat and clean, matching the NOPSI color scheme used for most of the life of these cars. The streetcar also comes with a sheet of route signs and schedule numbers so you can customize the car for your favorite New Orleans trolley line. – David Popp, associate editor
Price: $449.99
Manufacturer
LGB of America
6444 Nancy Ridge Rd.
San Diego, CA 92121 www.lgboa.com
Description
Ready-to-run plastic and metal street car
Features
Constant-brightness directional headlights
Detailed car interior with figures
Dual-mode decoder
Interior lighting
Minimum radius: 25.4″
12-point power pickup using eight wheels and four trackslider shoes
Two Buhler seven-pole motors
Weather-resistant construction
Weight: 6.09 pounds
Wheelsets properly gauged for no. 1 gauge (45 mm) track
Road names
New Orleans Public Service Co.
New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (NORTA)
