Aquarium Cars

Thanks.  The Post War celebration series issue is the one that's driven by a can motor, if I am correct.  I'd like to know if anyone has one and can give an opinion, before I go out looking.  

This car, 6-16742 Gil Fin's Trout Ranch Animated Aquarium Car, is shown with a gear on the underside.  

Dan,

There was a recent thread discussing aquarium cars and lack of motor and lighting on this years releases. It may have been deleted.  However, previous cars for the most part are motor driven.  The gear driven cars are OK, but have to be moving to see the operation.  The old vibro motor ones work well but are very noisy.  Best bet is to see which one you like and hold it in your hand, if possible.  I have quite a few and they all work fine no matter how they are geared.

Grampstrains posted:

Very few aquarium cars are gear driven, most are motorized with a small can motor that is very quiet.  

Actually, I think all of the aquarium cars up to the PWC version, including all made in the 80s and 90s (and a good many made more recently as well), use gear driven mechanisms powered by the wheels turning. The exception was the no. 9308, made in 1981-84, which was powered by a Postwar style vibrator motor. With the PWC version, can motored power was introduced.

I have owned an original 3435, a Gil Finn aquarium car with gear drive, a modern version of the 3435 (Postwar Celebration) with a can motor and a 9308 with the vibro motor like the original 3435. For me the original is my favorite, as it worked great even though it was noisy. I got rid of the modern version Postwar Celebration 3435 as it started giving me problems. The gear drive Gil Finn car stopped working and I used the car for another project. Currently I own the 9308 as it looks and operates similar to the original and at the time I purchased it many years ago it was selling for much less than an original 3435. So my personal favorites are the original postwar 3435 and the 9308 aquarium cars as they are classic and seem to endure the test of time.

I have had a number of all styles of these cars. I agree with the comments others have made, for the most part. The gear driven cars will work OK, but can be problematic, with issues keeping the gears engaged, etc., and they don't operate unless the car is moving. The no. 9308 vibrator version works fairly well, but is extremely noisy, as also mentioned above.

The newer can motored versions work very well - a big improvement over their predecessors. As others have said, they're quiet, have an on/off switch, and in my experience have much smoother, more reliable operation. It's also nice that you can keep them running on a siding by themselves, like a powered accessory. I have my PWC version sitting near my Lionel aquarium, and leave it running, and along with the operating aquarium running inside the building, it makes a pretty neat effect.

Dan Padova posted:

Thanks.  The Post War celebration series issue is the one that's driven by a can motor, if I am correct.  I'd like to know if anyone has one and can give an opinion, before I go out looking.  

 

I've got the PWC aquarium car (dark green) and it works very well with the can motor. Smooth, easy operation and relatively quiet.

I've had a bunch of them & to be honest, I sold them all & bought 3 MTH ones for the kids.  The MTH ones work a LOT better & light up really bright as compared to the Lionel versions.  My kids love them!

Christopher2035 posted:

I've had a bunch of them & to be honest, I sold them all & bought 3 MTH ones.  The MTH ones work a LOT better & light up really bright as compared to the Lionel versions.  My kids love them!

1)  I can't say that "most" Lionel aquarium cars ever made are motor driven... but I can say that most/all of those built in the last 12 years or so are.  But during the LTI era & up through about 2001-2004, the ones I know of were gear driven.  I have never had a problem with that set-up.   2) I agree fully with Christopher's comment regarding MTH "action" cars (as MTH calls them).  After buying about a dozen Lionel aquarium cars over the years, I am shifting to MTH for the reasons he cites.   Superior lighting thanks to TWO LEDs in each car. Lionel still uses just one feeble incandescent bulb - mid-car - which offers little interior illumination.  Bold & crisp display of graphics.