Fun, simple reliable accesories

While not push button, things like semaphore signals and crossing gates may be a good option. They provide animated action beyond watching the train go in circles.

If you're looking postwar, the diesel fueling station, operating dispatch board, and animated news stand all provide action at the push of a button without adding choking hazards. As the child gets older, the icing station, barrel ramp, and sawmill might also be good choices.

My son loved the log dump cars and the icing station at that age.   The log dump car was easier for him to operate but I let him manually put the ice cubes in the reefer.

Good memories.

--Greg

One thing I did for my twins when they were that age was to build a separate siding and filled it with cheap Lionel gondolas.  There are at least a dozen on the bay for 5 bucks or less right now.  I'd let my kids fill them with their toys; hot wheels, dinosaurs, dolls, whatever.  Then I'd back my "nice" engine into the siding, hook up the gondolas, and "delivery" the toys to another location. 

My vote for simple and reliable is The MTH log dump car and the Lionel AF barrel loader that works with any gondola.

I  like the crossing gates idea, I  am not sold on the log loader type of thing.  I am looking for something I don't need to reset by hand. I  will gave to look into the news stand and dispatch board. I'm not at all familiar with the diesel fueling station at all. 

Thanks for the ideas guys, feel free to keep throwing out suggestions. 

And don't forget the milk car. Iconic and reliable

-Roger

A 128 Newstand might fit the bill as a reliable fun accessory with lots a movement that a young child would enjoy.

Peter

Operating flagman is also a good one, operating switch tower, operating control tower, all fun for little guys.....

     An solid-state talking unit for a NOMA station could be be placed in a building and could provide a sound other then a horn.

They are available on ebay in a number of different announcements.

my son is 2 & my daughter is 5.  Both of them love the barrel loader, ice station & milk car.  My son also loves the 497 coal station & the log dump cars

For simple push button accessories I would also agree with the Animated Newsstand.  Lionel has made many flavors of that accessory.  There is the animated ice cream stand, passenger station and animated freight station.  All are the same accessory with different buildings and figures.

Animated Pylon is also good.  Press the button and the airplane goes in circles.

Water tower is cute.  Press the button and the spout goes down.  #38 water tower has actual water that the user can see go down.

Another one is the animated control tower.  Press the button and the men go in circles.  Animated radar tower causes the radar top to rotate.

All of these accessories provide continuous animation while the button is pressed and does not need to be reset.

Other options are the operating switch towers.  Figure runs down the steps and goes back when the button is released.

The animated gondola might be fun. Maybe park it on a short siding and wire the track power thru an on/off switch or push button. 

How about flood lights or a beacon on a push button? Another accessory that would work on push button is the Lionel oil well - the newer version, not the postwar style oil derrick.

I purposely avoided items with coal, etc because we're talking about a 2 year old. 5 or 6 those might be good, but not yet.

The newsstand is fun for a kid because of the dog running around the fire hydrant. Postwar dogs are spotted, while newer ones are white.

The barrel ramp and log ramp are both good, use them with a barrel unloading car and a log dump car and their really self contained. 

But operating cars are another good option.  I like the brakeman car; it's a boxcar with a little guy on top, he drops down before tunnels.   Also the animated gondola with the cop chasing the hobo.  the modern version is mechanical, so it's very quiet.

You can still pickup the giraffe cars cheap. Two should be enough. The Yosemite Sam & Roadrunner gondola is a all time favorite.

My son LOVED the sawmill.  Not exactly pushbutton but simple and reliable.  My wife asked him one time about getting the logs out of it after it ran and he looked at her and said:  "You can't, they're all boards now."

All these were popular with my older son too.  Haven't gotten the layout set up again since we moved to see how my 2.5 year old responds to them.