Custom Traxx is a company that produces scale models and accessories for streetcar and traction modeling. Their flagship product is a line of 14 HO scale models of the PCC streetcars used on San Francisco's F Market Line. Custom Traxx works closely with model railroad clubs and transit agencies to produce accurately detailed models. They collaborate with other manufacturers and provide technical support for new model projects.

1. Custom Traxx ® Company Overview

8. What Does Custom Traxx Do? The F Market Line (cont’d) #Car 1050, San Francisco #Car 1053, Brooklyn #Car 1054, Philadelphia #Car 1056, Kansas City #Car 1060, Newark #Car 1062, Louisville

11. Custom Traxx: Modeler, Museum & Transit Relationships Jonathan Werner at the controls of Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority Car #3165 at Orange Empire Railway Museum Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority Car #3165 getting ready for a full day of passenger service at Orange Empire Railway Museum Custom Traxx believes the relationships between modelers, museums, and present-day transit systems can be very beneficial to all parties involved. For example, the car shown here, Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (formerly Los Angeles Railway) Car #3165 was originally built for Twin Cities Rapid Transit in 1948 before being sold to LAMTA in 1953. As “our man in the Midwest,” Jonathan Werner is well aware of some of the unique details specific to cars built to operate in the harsh winters of Minnesota.

12. Custom Traxx: Modeler, Museum & Transit Relationships Through the relationship Custom Traxx established with San Francisco MUNI during the development of the F Market PCC models, we gained the ability to gather specification data on other MUNI vehicles, such as MUNI’s Breda Light Rail Vehicle. We then shared this data with Miniatures by Eric, another model manufacturer, and well as offered technical assistance on their Breda LRV model project. Another benefit was we were granted permission to examine some pieces held by the Western Railway Museum due largely to their relationship with MUNI. This made a major difference in our plans to model the San Francisco “Torpedo” double-end PCCs. San Francisco MUNI Breda Light Rail Vehicle Miniatures by Eric’s Breda LRV undergoing testing at Southern California Traction Club’s testing facility San Francisco ”Torpedo” in Philadelphia Suburban Transit colors, F Market Line, San Francisco

13. Custom Traxx: Modeler, Museum & Transit Relationships San Francisco MUNI #1071 (Originally built for Twin Cities Rapid Transit) LAMTA #3165 (now at Orange Empire, also originally built for Twin Cities Rapid Transit) It all comes full-circle as Custom Traxx provides it’s knowledge of Minneapolis PCC cars to Orange Empire Railway Museum, which has provided vehicles to San Francisco MUNI. In turn, MUNI is in the process refurbishing several Minneapolis PCC cars while Custom Traxx partners with San Francisco MUNI to sell its current line of F Market PCC models and possibly to develop a future line of MUNI “Torpedoes.” Illinois Terminal Double-End PCC on SCTC’s layout SF MUNI “Torpedo” in Illinois Terminal Colors

14. Custom Traxx: Product Development If you are a hard-core traction modeler, you are thinking an Illinois Terminal Double-End PCC is not the same thing as a San Francisco “Torpedo” regardless of how you paint it. Enter John McWhirter, Director of Project Engineering and Development. Below, John is shown doing what he does best, which is the model railroading equivalent of “turning water into wine.” In short, John is our key person on any project like “kit-bashing” a Double-End PCC into a “Torpedo.” Here’s the calculus: Turning a Double-End PCC shell (as shown here) into one representing a true “Torpedo” means giving John an undecorated shell, a shell that has the needed doors, and his milling machine. By taking the rear door out of a Bachmann PCC shell and moving a few roof air vents, in no time at all, John has created an undecorated shell worthy of prototypical testing.

15. Custom Traxx: PCCs in more than just San Francisco Los Angeles Railway “Huntington” Car, Era 2 Shaker Heights cars running in Multiple Unit Configuration with a power bus developed by Custom Traxx Boston ex-Dallas pre-war “Air-Electric Car” Toronto PCC #1183

16. Custom Traxx: More than just PCCs For a variety of reasons, Custom Traxx categorizes the traction industry in five eras. Era 1-Four Wheel Wood Car Era (1880-1925) Era 2-Eight Wheel Wood Car Era (1910-1940) Era 3-Conventional Steel Car Era (1920-1957) Era 4-PCC Era (1936-1985) (not pictured here) Era 5-Light Rail Vehicle (LRV) Era (1975-present) Sacramento Northern Birney Car, Era 1 Los Angeles Railway “Huntington” Car, Era 2 Baltimore “Peter Witt” Car, Era 3 SEPTA PCC-II (left) and Kawasaki LRV, Era 5

17. Custom Traxx: More than just PCCs Through its close relationship with the Southern California Traction Club, Custom Traxx offers products for models across all eras of traction modeling. From top (clockwise) are shown a myriad of cars on the SCTC layout, two 1923 Philadelphia double-end Brill cars, a pair of San Francisco MUNI “Peter Witt” cars originally built for Milan, Italy, and a “Riverfront” car from New Orleans.

18. Custom Traxx: We can do freight too… Plenty of freight was moved under overhead wire. At left is a Southern California Traction Club World War II-era troop train, in which both the steam and electric locomotive are both powered. This was no easy feat, since all power had to come through the electric locomotive as both rails are grounded for overhead wire operation. Another SCTC member made the Sacramento & Northern Steeplecab shown at lower left. Custom Traxx also does shows with other clubs, and with vehicles not powered by overhead wire. A good example is the Pennsylvania Railroad Q2 steamer & coal train shown below running on the Golden Empire Historical & Modeling Society layout in Bakersfield, California.