2017 March Meet

Last weekend was the annual “March Meet” (the 2017 O scale meet) held in Lombard, Illinois.

The traction offerings were surprising in that there were far more than I was expecting. I saw a decent amount of Chicago Surface Lines, some Illinois Terminal, several Milwaukee Electric pieces, a bit of Chicago, Aurora & Elgin, a few Chicago Transit Authority cars, plenty of the ever popular North Shore Line, and a few others that I cannot recall offhand. I counted a minimum of four Electroliners for sale: all of them 801-802.

My main interest was a CTA 1-50 series car. Acquiring this would bring me up to a total of 3, which is what is needed in order to build a 1-50 and a 60. I arrived on Saturday morning and learned (much to my disappointment) that there was one at the show, but it had been sold “almost immediately” the previous day. Apparently these cars are hot-ticket items. The other CTA offerings were 6000 series sets. One—a flat door 6—was a brass set available for $900 while the other—a 6200 with curved doors—was an MTH model. Like their 3200 series cars, the 6000 series cars they produced are from their lower quality Railking line, are slightly oversized for O scale (they’re closer to 1:45.2), and are built for 3-rail operation. The detail on these cars is significantly better than on the 3200s.

At the end of the day, I walked out with yet another brass CA&E 450 (I have five now), the MTH 6200 series set, two packets of tie plates, a pair of knuckle couplers, and twenty four plastic brake shoes.

When MTH originally released the 6000 series sets I wanted to get an unpowered pair to modify into the “double-unit suburban car” drawn up as part of CTA’s halfhearted proposal to assume operation of the North Shore Line. The idea was that the MTH cars would be a cheaper alternative to buying and cutting up a brass 6000 set, but as these sets became increasingly harder to find, I scrapped the idea entirely. Of course, now I have a pair.

The CA&E 450 will fit in nicely with my other CA&E steel cars (four other 450s, four 400s, and two 420s). I haven’t decided on what consists to develop these into.

The tie plates are from Right-O-Way and will be used for the ties supporting the third rail chairs. Since Old Pullman went out, I’ve been looking for a replacement and have heard good things about Right-O-Way. Given that my layout will be a section of the “L,” the third rail will be a necessary aspect of the project. The initial track section will be made with flex track, but given the construction techniques employed on this section of the rapid transit system, every fourth (or fifth) tie will need to be removed and replaced with an offset tie which will support the running rails and a third rail chair. The replacement ties will get these plates to keep the uniform look of rails held in place with spikes and plates.

The knuckle couplers are made by Monarch and will serve as a test for “close enough” couplers for the middle of a North Shore train. They were six dollars for the pair.

Surprisingly, the thing I spent the least amount of money on, and the thing I wasn’t looking for ended up being the purchase I am most satisfied with. These would be the plastic brake shoes. From its inception, equipment on the Skokie Swift was provided with “wheel scrubbers” (or “scum busters” depending on your preference of terminology) to ensure positive contact with the running rails. These were brake shoes that were applied to the edges of the wheels to provide a small amount of friction to remove and prevent an accumulation of dirt and debris. Now that the catenary wire has been removed, they are no longer needed or in use. They're a tiny thing that helps make a “Skokie” car, a “Skokie” car and I had forgotten about wheel scrubbers until I saw these guys.