Favorite Operating Cars & Accessories?

The magnetic gantry crane.  This was hands down the accessory that kept my kids occupied for hours at a time when they were young.  They would fill up gondolas with metal loads, run them around the layout and remove them over, and over again.  The MTH operating dump car was also big as well as the Spongebob squarepants car. They loved seeing him pop out!

Kids seem to like gantry cranes that can pick up, move and drop metal objects. They also like the bobbing head giraffe car with sounds, but it requires some modifications to work with Fastrack.

all of the milk cars  past and present

The 342-345 Culvert loader & Unloader.

Mikey

These PostWar Lionel operating accessories that my favorites:

Magnetic gantry crane (lots to do)

Bascule Bridge (cool and motor makes a great sound)

Culvert loader & unloader (everyone loves watching them)

Oil drum loader-American Flyer (fast & furious)

Sawmill (great illusion AND buzzing noise)

Fork lift loader (works great every time

Dang, I love 'em all - here is a list of the others I have:

These are my favorite PostWar operating cars:

Aquarium (noise and I had one when I was a kid)

Cop & Hobo (Both the one where the cop chases him around the car and the other where they jump on and off the "trestle)

Giraffe (I have a bunch of 'm on one train -fun to watch)

Milk car (of course)

Lionelski:

You have collected all of the favorites for mega-fun!

I like to install action accessories along with "matching" action freight cars to create unloading/reloading cycles:
   a log dump car to feed a Lionel Sawmill placed adjacent to a lumber loading accessory with its lumber car
   a barrel ramp car to feed a barrel ramp loader, with another barrel ramp car in position
         to "catch" the ascending barrels at the top of the ramp
     the Nuclear Power Station with a pair of AEC gondolas; one to deliver "fuel" to the plant and one to accept "spent fuel;"
         The AEC burro crane and the lighted toxic waste cars add to the effect.
   a coal hopper placed at the top of the coal unloading ramp, with the 397 coal loading accessory ready to "catch"
         and lift coal into a parked coal hopper. However, most coal-related accessories are "messy" and scatter coal pieces
         around the scene where they are not wanted. IMHO, that's more clean-up work than the action is worth.

Mike Mottler  LCCA 12394

@Mike H Mottler posted:

Lionelski:

You have collected all of the favorites for mega-fun!

I like to install action accessories along with "matching" action freight cars to create unloading/reloading cycles:
   a log dump car to feed a Lionel Sawmill placed adjacent to a lumber loading accessory with its lumber car
   a barrel ramp car to feed a barrel ramp loader, with another barrel ramp car in position
         to "catch" the ascending barrels at the top of the ramp
     the Nuclear Power Station with a pair of AEC gondolas; one to deliver "fuel" to the plant and one to accept "spent fuel;"
         The AEC burro crane and the lighted toxic waste cars add to the effect.
   a coal hopper placed at the top of the coal unloading ramp, with the 397 coal loading accessory ready to "catch"
         and lift coal into a parked coal hopper. However, most coal-related accessories are "messy" and scatter coal pieces
         around the scene where they are not wanted. IMHO, that's more clean-up work than the action is worth.

Mike Mottler  LCCA 12394

I do the same, Mike.

Many of the accessories are at the sidings at the Absolute Yards, with the appropriate cars ready to go.

My favorites are the gantry crane, culvert loader/unloaded and the icing depot.  I have postwar versions of each on the layout.  All motive power is MTH / DCS.

All of my accessories are Lionel, mostly Postwar.

My #1 is the gantry crane. My other favorites are the 97 coal elevator, the 38 water tower (with real water and water pump inside), the operating Dispatch board (with the big blue man), operating diesel fueling station and operating fork lift.

I have many other Postwar Lionel accessories that I am very fond of, but choose to keep in storage until such time as I may decide to substitute an accessory in storage for one already on the layout. IMO, it's best not to overload the layout with too many accessories that make the layout look cluttered. I believe that when it comes to operating accessories, less can be more.

I also have operating signals, crossing gates, and a blinking railroad crossing signal. What's nice about these is they don't clutter the layout provided one doesn't go too crazy with them.

Occasionally, I enjoy making unit trains with anywhere from 7 to 10 operating cars. For instance, I'll run an operating milk car unit train, an operating coal dump car unit train, and an operating log dump unit train.

Arnold

1  The gateman

2  The giraffe car

3  Bugs Bunny  - Yosemite Sam car

I like accessories and action cars that don’t require hands on to operate.

Fun topic

Any thing that A.C. Gilbert built.

The Vision Reefers are my favorite modern operating cars. They sound great and they aren't too expensive. I still love the classic accessories, and I plan to use a few on a future layout.

I have a practical question please.

A good number of the accessories listed above operate with a Lionel under-the-track pressure switch.

But, I have been told many times on this board that the Lionel pressure switches sold today just plain don't work or are highly unreliable.  Most even say they are total junk.

So, how are you doing it??   How are you getting these accessories to work?

Thanks,

Mannyrock

@Mannyrock posted:

So, how are you doing it??   How are you getting these accessories to work?

Isolated outside rail with relay or IR detectors are common methods.

@Mannyrock posted:

I have a practical question please.

A good number of the accessories listed above operate with a Lionel under-the-track pressure switch.

But, I have been told many times on this board that the Lionel pressure switches sold today just plain don't work or are highly unreliable.  Most even say they are total junk.

So, how are you doing it??   How are you getting these accessories to work?

Thanks,

Mannyrock

I use insulated outside rail as trigger mechanism (for independently powered Postwar crossing gates)  and Postwar switches under the track (for Postwar signal bridges and blinking RR crossing).

Blinking RR crossing is very reliable, the switches for the signal bridges need adjustment periodically. The insulated outside rail  is 100% reliable. Arnold

My favorites are:

Operating oil derrick, gantry crane, milk car, coal dump car, semaphore signal (using a length of insulated rail to activate), Walther’s crossing gates, aquarium car, giraffe car, rotating beacon, and water tank. You can’t have too much fun!

3662 Operating Milk Car and the 264 Fork Lift Platform