SIZE MATTERS , BUT NOT NECESSARILY THE WAY YOU THINK

Okay , we agree that darned few T⁴enthusiasts have the space, the time, or the funds to build and maintain a one-fourth scale (3 inches = one foot) trolley or tram, like Gordon Hatch did in those spectacular photographs displayed in previous blogs .

Let's consider less expensive, more attainable branches of the T⁴ hobby , namely, the gauges that lurk a couple of steps down in scale :

1. The scale of 1:6 (2 inches = one foot) illustrated by the industrial scale Parry's People Mover --- large, but clearly not impossible . One can utilize all the PlayScale (Barbie doll and GI Joe action figures) as passengers and street figures ;

2. A perennial favorite , 1 inch to the foot (1:12) , supported by the whole infrastructure of doll house and miniature interests --- very nice, indeed ; AND ...

3. the scale that we have skated by several times in passing , (1:16) or ¾ inch = one foot , represented ...

a. in the United States by Jimmy Sparkman, of the East Penn Traction Club in Philadelphia. Of interest, and perhaps the key to the aura of authenticity : Sparkman is, if we are not mistaken , an employee of the 12-inch-to-the-foot South Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) , AND ...

b. in Great Britain by the majority of tram modelers .

Very impressive craftsmanship and striking models in that entire genre . There is an interesting subculture involved in producing and collecting beautiful ready-to-run die-cast automobile models in that scale, together with a few supporting cast of scale model auto mechanics and other automotive miscellanea, that would make an excellent back-story for the trolleys and streetcars .

What we particularly like about Jimmy Sparkman's infrastructure is his supporting framework of aluminum (I believe they are) girders forming a very attractive trestle and roadbed structure --- realistic without the burden of cinder ballast, using the girder bridge approach that Sparkman uses .

It might even open up hands-across-the-sea cooperation with the British branch of the hobby , not a bad idea at all .

Comments are encouraged and welcome .

1:16 Scale model of the Stockport 20 by Marsden

Photo courtesy of John Prentice of the Tramway and Light Railway Society

Destructive Behavior (continued)

6. Don't bother answering eMails; less work for you and, besides, if they can't figure it out from the info on the Website, you don't want them as a customer
7. Start up a really beautiful line of models and after everyone is really hooked, discontinue them
8. Continually contradict everyone else; this will quickly establish you as an expert
9. Disrupt every forum of which you're a member with irrelevant fluff, like your mom's recipe for Christmas cookies. [Don't scoff : I've seen it done]
10. As soon as someone comes out with a model of an unusual prototype, in which --- maybe --- 20 people in the world might be interested, produce the identical model yourself. It's called "competition".

Dreams of a New Dimension in Trolley Gauges

This came to me in a creative moment. What if ... ?

Arithmetic*** Progression Models LLC announces two new series of models in its product line of international electric railway traction equipment

1. The Heritage Series : Trolleys, streetcars and trams, 1900-1950
2. The Light Rail Series : Beyond the PCC

in the following three scales :

RJ Scale --- One-inch to the foot : 1/12th full size, 4 3/4 inch gauge, named for Rod Johnston, the prototype for the "For Better or For Worse" newspaper comic strip, who developed an inspiring commercial line of railway models in that scale

PS Scale --- Two inches to the foot : 1/6th full size, 9 1/2 inch gauge, after Mattel's PlayScale models and Barbie action figures

BC Scale --- Three inches to the foot : 1/4th full size, 14 1/4 " gauge, named for British Columbia, where the late Gordon Hatch built magnificent models in that scale, which are now exhibited in a museum in that Canadian province

*** with the accent on "...met..."