Corgi 1/50 Scale Buses

[serotta1972]

Tried my hand on N Scale buses and they were awesome but always had a fascination with Corgi 1/50 buses when I used to see them at Franciscan Hobbies in San Francisco.  I'm on the hunt now for Bay Area local buses and missed out on an AC Transit on Ebay a couple of days ago.

 

My first Corgi bus - GM 4501 Greyhound Scenicruiser. 

 

 

 

 

[Wonderbolt]

Nice, its a shame that at the moment the current Corgi range is relatively small and only really focuses on UK subjects now.

[bill937ca]

I have a couple of 40s/50s New York City buses that I have had for years.  Part of a small 50s New York diorama.

[serotta1972]

If you have pictures, would love to see your 50's New York diorama.  I want to build a bus station diorama with these Corgi buses.  I just purchased and now waiting for an AC Transit Fishbowl bus that ran in the Oakland area and into San Francisco.  I'm currently bidding on a Golden Gate Transit that ran in Marin and into San Francisco.  

[bill937ca]

The buses are Corgi, the Automat is MTH, the figures are Homies and the traffic light and trash can are Bowser Selley pewter castings. The trolley tracks are Williams by Bachmann E-Z Streets, formerly K-Line by Lionel Superstreets. 

 

 

There were also operating trolley days for the dirorama.

 

 

 

MTH makes a Greyhound bus depot based on the former Greyhound depot at Evansville Indiana.

 

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/MTH-Rail-King-O-Bus-Station-Greyhound-p/mth-30-9040.htm

 

http://mthtrains.com/30-9040

 

MTH also has produced an early post-war Greyhound Sliversides bus. Tlhose ended their days in Bay Area commute service in the early 1970s.

 

 

All the time I was doing that O gauge stuff, Jeff was wondering when I was going to come back to Japanese N scale.

Edited February 13, 2017 by bill937ca

[serotta1972]

Thank you, very cool stuff. Might have to go look for that bus station and some EZ Track. If I were ever to get into O Scale, it would be with trolleys.

[bill937ca]

One thing to remember is that O gauge trains and trolleys are AC and need an AC controller.  MTH trolleys like the PCC cars have an E unit that die if left unattended for extended periods.  But the little Bump-n-Go four wheeler is analog and seems to always be available.  I think it gets reissued about every two years. Best EZ Street track option is the D21 curves, not much runs on the D16 curves.

[serotta1972]

Thank you for the information and heads up.  Just got a Corgi PCC Streetcar Muni San Francisco, I remember riding these as a kid and the destination sign is the same one that we rode from my Aunt's house to downtown.  

 

 

I got it sitting on HO Unitrack but it's not on the rails but it looks good on it.  I'm wondering if I can reguage the wheels to make it roll on HO track.

 

 

[serotta1972]

GM Fishbowl Buses - Golden Gate Transit and Trailways.  I used to see the GGT buses coming into SF from Marin County when I was young.  Still looking for an AC Transit - actually found one on Ebay and described as new but to my disappointment it was not.

 

 

I love these buses with their slanted windows and unique windshields.  Our local Muni Transit had these buses but Corgi didn't make them in that scheme.

[Welshbloke]

The Corgi streetcars are all O scale (ish - I have a feeling that the four wheel trolley they made isn't the same scale as the PCC). I think Bowser made or make a motorising kit to run them on 32mm gauge?

 

I have a couple of the trolley cars and a PCC. And rather more British lorries in 1:50, mostly Scammells and low loaders but a few others. Oh, and a load of their British OO tramcars, some of which I've motorised.

 

One thing to watch out for - they made a British four wheel tram which isn't quite OO, it's a closer match for S scale. This was sold in a wide range of liveries and body styles (it's modular, so by swapping castings they can offer a single deck car, double deck open top or double deck closed top). There is or was a power unit for HO/OO track and they don't look too ridiculous. The eight wheel tramcars are all to OO scale - I have a few Blackpool ones and two or three Felthams. I used the BEC Kits chassis range but I'm not sure if they're still available.

 

Matchbox made a HO scale diecast model of a typical Dick Kerr tramcar in the '80s, it's crude but can have a Tenshodo SPUD installed with some careful cutting. You can then detail it - I have one with brass wire handrails in place of the solid castings which were supposed to represent the railings and the safety mesh they supported, also a more realistic trolley pole.

[brill27mcb]

The Corgi PCC cars were made to 1:50 scale, but later for the 4-wheel Birney trolleys they went to the American 1:48 (1/4 inch = 1 foot) scale, since they learned that the difference mattered to American modelers (but probably not to diecast collectors).

 

Rich K.