I will leave no giraffe behind......unless they are over $35.......

I hope you receive a lot of phone calls wanting to sell you these cars.

Here's another great example of why I so enjoy this forum - innovative ideas and solutions. The suggestions to create triggers for the giraffe car, especially to activate over distances, are excellent. That's the next project for the GFRR - Grandpa's Funtastic RailRoad. The photo shows the current position of the standard trigger, but also the adjacent bascule bridge. I'll deactivate that trigger (can't remove the entire unit without disrupting the glued ballast) and use some of the posted suggestions to fabricate a trigger for the entire travel through the bridge - much more interesting!

The photo also shows a King Kong type creature atop the bridge - more features of the GFRR!

Thanks,

Michael

@M.Mitchell Marmel - Hey go ahead and use my Japanese Penny Toy as a model for a tinplate giraffe car...oh yea...Make two!

Don

@Don McErlean posted:

@M.Mitchell Marmel - Hey go ahead and use my Japanese Penny Toy as a model for a tinplate giraffe car...oh yea...Make two!

  Will have to track down a couple of 'em, then...

Mitch

Not trying to knock the giraffes (they're more fun than most circus animals), just letting you know that I fellow member of my club here in North Texas has done the same idea, but using Area 51 cars. Yup, the aliens pop in and out of the car roof...

FWIW: they do not appreciate being sidelined by a fast freight. Giraffes, OTOH, are too mellow to sweat the small things.

@Homey B posted:

Not trying to knock the giraffes (they're more fun than most circus animals), just letting you know that I fellow member of my club here in North Texas has done the same idea, but using Area 51 cars. Yup, the aliens pop in and out of the car roof...

FWIW: they do not appreciate being sidelined by a fast freight. Giraffes, OTOH, are too mellow to sweat the small things.

Heh!  Photos, please; this I MUST see! 

Mitch

Yeah!   What Mitch said!   I want to see photos too!

And then I want to see photos from someone who has got a piece of rolling stock depicting giraffes who are abducting aliens!

Peter,

Please post a movie.

My elephant "giraffe" car and my Toys R Us cars:

Here is a short video showing the giraffe activated by the trigger mechanism and ducking under the tell-tale:

I have Postwar tubular track which the triggering mechanism was made for. Don't know if it works with other kinds of track.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I have Postwar tubular track which the triggering mechanism was made for. Don't know if it works with other kinds of track.

Sure does!  https://ogrforum.com/...fe-brakeman-actuator

Mitch

No Gi-raffes, but I do have a bobbing Lenny the Lion!!! What’s really great is that it doesn’t require an external activator - it has a gear on one of the trucks that drives the lever that raises and lowers Lenny.

Yon Lenny has a lean and hungry look… them cows better keep moooving Maybe some gi-raffe for an appetizer???

Super job @Putnam Division! Love it.

@Craignor posted:

Peter,

Please post a movie.

I will……just found one. Had to find one under 100mb’s

Peter

I found a video…….

Peter

Peter, I just saw this thread.  Leave it to a doctor to come up with the hospital jargon!  My wife, who is a retired RN, loves it!  She is familiar with the car...I have one.

I've posted previously but Lionel missed a golden opportunity with the new Fezziwig Reindeer car.....

Rudolph's red nose popping out of the roof would be a winner. I may have to build a prototype......

Peter- I know you have the Gi-raffes fixed in place, but a couple random cars in the consist popping up and down would be entertaining to.

All of them ducking under Tom "Santa's" disappearing layout would be fun too.

Bob

Peter

All those giraffe cars and none of them learned how to duck !

Charlie

@RSJB18 posted:

I've posted previously but Lionel missed a golden opportunity with the new Fezziwig Reindeer car.....

Rudolph's red nose popping out of the roof would be a winner. I may have to build a prototype......

Alas, Lionel beat you to it...

https://www.lionel.com/product...eindeer-car-6-36849/

Mitch

@Putnam Division posted:

I found a video…….

Peter

The uniformity reminds me of the mults Mr. Smiths attacking from “The Matrix”…

Craig, that’s great!  😄😄

@Putnam Division

Peter, didn't you have some at one of the River City 3 Railers events, granted it may have only been one. I thought one you posted last year?

Dave

You are correct.

Ran a 7 car giraffe consist with the RC3R in August at the Chesterfield County Fair and with the Trackers in Kensington, MD in September.

Peter

Dave, you remember well!  
Peter, what a difference for trains of all scales and gauges in the Richmond area since I worked there in 1976-77!  👍🏻👍🏻

@PRR1950 posted:

If everybody's replies include all of the original pictures, many would stop enjoying their read of this thread.  Further, if that action were to continue in all the other threads where pictures are quite common, the forum servers would fill up faster than they do now and increase the operator's cost.  AND, we all know what increasing costs mean, right?

Chuck

Chuck, good point.  However since my laptop is down, I’ve been viewing the forum on my iPhone & don’t know how to subtract the pics when I make a topic reply, any ideas ?  Thks, Rich

The good people of O Gauge Forum are gracing this thread with class and good taste by not piling on with too many tiresome giraffe jokes.  I want to change all that…

A giraffe walks into a railroad station to meet his wife who is coming in on the train. She greets him and says: “It sure took you a long time to arrive. And why is your head so swollen?”. The giraffe says, “Sorry I’m late, I hit every traffic light on the way here.”

@Norman R posted:

The giraffe says, “Sorry I’m late, I hit every traffic light on the way here.”

LOL!

And like I tell folks at the museum, "The only thing worse than a gi-raffe with a headache is a gi-raffe with a SORE THROAT!" 

Mitch

@jim sutter posted:

I hope you receive a lot of phone calls wanting to sell you these cars.

Jim……I think I’ve got enough……

Peter

@Putnam Division posted:

Jim……I think I’ve got enough……

Yeah, well, that's what *I* thought...

I think I have 6 variations, the orange animal transport cars are slightly larger and have the rotating mechanism that does not need the actuator arm.  I like it better.  I actually used the metal post war activator with my Gargraves track but took it off because too many of the larger engines didn't play well with it.  I plan to convert a few of these eventually to other characters/animals for giggles.  Also, an interesting point... The "Celebration" series version of this car is MUCH nicer than the others, with slightly nicer details and real sprung trucks.  OK, thanks Peter, Giraffe cars brought me back to happy place after my whining about my whining Big Boy.  I'm happy again for now.  Thanks and great thread!

Pete - I'm really enjoying this thread.

But I want you to know that help is available.  There's a brand new chapter of the GCA (Giraffe Car Anonymous) forming in your area.

Remission is possible (of course for those who want to be cured. )

George

Giraffe cars

Those cars are fun, aren’t they!  Especially for big children like us!  😃

When I dug out my Lenny the Lion bobbing head car, along with the instructions, I found  a 2002 - 2003 list of Lionel Authorized Service Centers. I would love to see how many on the list are still around, but I did notice one in particular that is no longer in business, but very fondly remembered (@jim sutter)