John Grzywna and his Trolleys

[Carey Williams]

Hello O scale world

How much is known about John Grzywna and his trolleys ?

John was born 1913 in Hartford , CT

Earliest listing I found ( so far) Model Railroad Digest February 1940 with photo of a Pittsburgh and Butler car ..solid clerestory...17/64ths castings by Elmer Norman and John Grzywna of the Hartford Society of Model Engineers. ...... interesting photo pole is up assume for overhead wire ...outside 3rd rail shoes and the cars is sitting atop standard 3 rail track ..all bases covered for juice.

So who was Elmer Norman ? How many different cars did John Grzywna make ? ...... any ads ? catalogs? flyers?

From an online ad for one of Grzywna Red Arrrow Phila cars that sold ...mention is made of an ad in Trolley Talk 1958 ?...does anyone have a copy that they could please share a photo ?

Dave your Red Arrow cars ...do they have any stampings on the interior of the castings? I have a Pittsburgh and Butler combine car .. on the roof in the casting J G 1949 a bunch of other stuff also so one might assume J G John Grzywna made in 1949 or model 1949 ?

One sale of a Grzywna Red Arrow listed as from mid 60's ... so John Grzywna was active for 25 + years in the traction world ? there has to be more of a paper trail somewhere ..

Thank you
Cheers Carey

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any old motor and drives out there ?

[J. S. Bach]

Dave your Red Arrow cars ...do they have any stampings on the interior of the castings?

I just checked three of the cars and there are no markings on any of the castings.

[J. S. Bach]

I posted this on the R&T thread but decided that it made more sense here:

Grzywna never made a PCC; the Red Arrow streamliner used a body similar to a PCC but the running gear and controls were conventional. The Illinois Terminal streamliners were PCCs and the Grzywna can be converted with some filing and filling; namely removing the rear doors on each side. Oh, I have nine of them. Three are painted/powered, three are unpainted/no wheels, two are unpainted/powered, and one is unpainted/with wheels. Red Arrow had fourteen. Here are two photos of one of the painted ones:


This one will shed its improper PCC trucks and they will go under one of my unpainted bodies after said filing and filling in of doors.

[Carey Williams]

Thank you Dave for checking on your trolleys for markings ...nice Grzywna pieces ... also 17/64ths ? Cheers Carey

[J. S. Bach]

... also 17/64ths ? Cheers Carey

Yes, unfortunately. They do not mix well with the R&T PCCs. Oh well, I still like them.

[J. S. Bach]

any old motor and drives out there ?

I have seen a lot of trolley drives over the years, commercial and home-built, but never one of those. Interesting. Most of the vertical motor-mount drives that I have seen have been built-up, not a one-piece casting. Walthers comes to mind.

[bob turner]

I really regret not riding in those old cars. They ran right up into the 1980s. I saw one in Ardmore in 1980 during my Ransome Airlines days.

I do like those models. Keep the photos coming.

[Carey Williams]

Hello all ..updates on John Grzywna trolleys ..

The Red Arrow listed as made by John is shown in Louis Hertz book Collecting Toy Trains published in 1956 ..so available prior ...

Found a Grzywna flyer listing the Chicago North Shore Car and the Pittsburgh Butler cars ..with cast clerestory roofs ...so 1949 or later .. no doubt more paperwork is waiting in the woods to be found .

Pair of Grzywna Chicago North Shore cars can be seen in action by clicking the link ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10jLX4ka1Zw

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Cheers Carey