Tom’s Corner
Tips, techniques and commentary from Master Model Railroader Tom Piccirillo
Back in the 1960’s, when I was a teenager, I used to ride my bike several miles to view the annual model railroad show at the Central Jersey Model Railroad Club in Westfield, NJ. Although I liked watching the huge O scale steam and diesel locomotives hauling their heavy trains down the main line, I found myself highly fascinated by the operation of the model trolley cars that plied their way from one town to another on the layout . . . over, under, and around the main line tracks. I was hooked. Modeling O scale traction was to become my life-long passion. Collecting electric current from the wire suspended over the tracks in order to power the cars was the ultimate in realism, and I had to prove this could work in reliable fashion, even in model form.