O Scale Traction

Edward Skuchas has been interested in toy trains since 6 months before he was born when his father bought him his first American Flier train set. Trolley cars and interurbans became a fascination at age 2 when a large red interurban car flew by his father’s car while on a family drive.  While in elementary school, he attended slide shows at his local historical society and learned more history about Wyoming Valley PA trains and trolleys.  Ed continued with his S gauge trains at Christmas but started playing with the newer HO gauge trains in the basement by the coal bin during the rest of the year.  During high school and college, the hobby shops started to carry HO trolley cars, and soon he focused on trolley car modeling.

Following college where he earned some engineering degrees, he moved to Pittsburgh to design submarine nuclear reactor plants.  Pittsburgh was the home to an extensive fleet of PPC trolley cars and a maze of street car routes.  Later Ed and Carla started their life together in the Philadelphia area where he became involved with the East Penn Traction Club, a pioneering multi-scale model trolley group which led the interest into modular layouts.  He continued his engineering career designing all types of power plants and industrial facilities while they raised two student-athlete children.

Ed decided to make the switch to O scale trolley cars because of the detail, operation and scratch building opportunities. Over a dozen different trolley layouts have been designed and operated in his basement.  He is currently working on a basement sized layout using modular construction. 

Over the years he identified the need for a model trolley retailer and started the Berkshire Car Shop which has supplied O scale model trolley enthusiasts with model trolley products for over 45 years.  Most recently, Ed has been pursuing the development of new model trolley designs using resin casting and 3D printing.  He recently authored model trolley articles for national magazines and OSC’s The Coupler.