Least favorite train item

Mine wouldn't be an item but a feature that is missing.  I really wish MTH would add a pickup roller to their tenders.  I have numerous #5 and #7 atlas switches on my layout and unless you run these engines at a speed higher than 25 mph they stop.  

Boards...the electronic kind.  I used to collect/operate Lionel and MTH Vision, Premier, Legacy etc. The boards add a lot of capability but when they blow they are a nuisance and I don't like mailing my locos around the country.

So I got rid of 'em.  

Now everything is tinplate and controlled by simple, repairable electro-mechanical devices. Fun and easy repairs make life fun, which is where we are SUPPOSED to be with trains!

I never liked my father's Lionel "Scout." It always seemed a bit koo-koo, and was very, very fond of derailing, especially at switches, as well as on curves.

The musty, rusted, tar covered, cat littered junk that comes with the treasures...

(Note: I thrive on regular junk as it can be salvaged, kit bashed, or used as parts to breath life in to things)

Rob English posted:

So I got rid of 'em.  

I am moving in a similar direction.  I will keep most of the engines but strip their boards and simplify the controls.  I have come to *really* dislike CC and all its attendant paraphenalia.

This:

It speaks for itself. 

Trainlover160 posted:

Do you have a least favorite item?

Any of them that are broken and need work!

Oh, and that ugly monstrosity that appears in the previous post!

How can you not like a standard gauge Lionel 513 cattle car?  It’s a thing of beauty.

Least favorite.  I’m not a big fan of fastrack.  I love the command control capability but the product itself is a little cheesy.

Rob English posted:

Boards...the electronic kind.  I used to collect/operate Lionel and MTH Vision, Premier, Legacy etc. The boards add a lot of capability but when they blow they are a nuisance and I don't like mailing my locos around the country.

So I got rid of 'em.  

Now everything is tinplate and controlled by simple, repairable electro-mechanical devices. Fun and easy repairs make life fun, which is where we are SUPPOSED to be with trains!

Well said Rob.....

While I'm a nut for Christmas, with two decorated trees, each with a winter layout under them, I do not like Christmas, or other "holiday", trains. The railroads did not run special Christmas design trains back in the old days. However, I did conduct a poll among the 175 "passengers" riding in my trains, and learned that 60% of them were going home for Christmas.

My credit card statement!!

overlandflyer posted:

You may change your mind once you discover these:

Jeff Kane has the TT-100 and TS-162 adapters available, along with many of the other classic parts suppliers.

Do traction tires qualify?

MELGAR

The Lionel Freight Station. Stupid accessory and it's still on my layout. Hate it. Activate it and the figures spin back and forth. I'm waiting to find an accessory that will fit in that spot and I can take the hammer to this one. 

Roger

The Acela. Unwritten instructions...Run it for 5 minutes....take to get repaired, get it back from repair run it and it's fine. Take it out a week later..broken again. Repeat until you find someone to sell it to.

Scott Smith

Two pretty useless cars that came in my first set of trains back in the early 60’s... still have the cars for sentimental purposes, but would never run them!!! (Not my pictures)

The target car sides would rattle loose when running at anything higher than a crawl (not an easy feat with post war engines) even with the pin inserted, and despite the commercials of the day, hitting the target from one of the missile cars is next to impossible.

Hi Paul,

Funny thing, these two cars are two of my favorites. I bought the turbo car from Trainland new in the early 70s with money saved from my paper route.

Miketg

Santa Fe 3751 posted:

This:

It speaks for itself. 

I bet it will outsell a couple of the challengers in that group. 

Anybody remember the daylight?

Dave

Single Engine engine house...had to have one.  What a huge, almost worthless building to have on (my) layout.   I hardly ever park an engine inside and it takes up too much real estate.  I may have to find a use for it, even if I have to cut it up.

Cattle cars, don't have a use for them.

Lionel C & O Track Maintenance Car 6-16620..........

I raised the platform once and lowered it.  The second time I attempted to raise it, I found the plastic threads had been stripped.  Lionel made such a stupid decision to save on the cost of materials by not making the mechanism out of metal.

david1 posted:

Santa Fe 3751 posted:

This:

It speaks for itself. 

I bet it will outsell a couple of the challengers in that group. 

Anybody remember the daylight?

Dave

Unfortunately, to both comments.

Rusty

Any rolling stock item with one of two roadnames on it...as though the North American Continent only ever had two railtoads on it, ignoring rhe history of hundreds.  One of the reasons l buy little, but not willingly.

Re the thread title question....

Any engine, car, accessory of any manufacturer that has been infected with ZINC PEST!!!!!!

...especially those succumbed to the disease after replacement parts are either no longer available, or destined to be the proverbial needle-in-the-haystack object of a lifelong search.

Fie on you, dreaded pest, fie, fie, fie!!!

Anything with CHINA imprinted on them.

Santa Fe 3751 posted:

This:

It speaks for itself. 

nothing that a can of 

Krylon won't fix.

MELGAR posted:

Do traction tires qualify?

MELGAR

This has got to be the #1 useless item ever. At least in my world.

Lionel std gauge turntable: only electrics fit (small ones) and they don't need to be turned and roundhouse wont hold steam engine even if it could get situated. BUT I have them in my collection

WBB NW J Class. It was a beautiful locomotive, but the Seuth slobbered all over it,and even with the traction tires it slipped like Errol Flynn had buttered the rails. Sold it off pretty quick.

Joe Hohmann posted:

While I'm a nut for Christmas, with two decorated trees, each with a winter layout under them, I do not like Christmas, or other "holiday", trains. The railroads did not run special Christmas design trains back in the old days. However, I did conduct a poll among the 175 "passengers" riding in my trains, and learned that 60% of them were going home for Christmas.

Actually I have seen a real Christmas boxcar.  I thought it was a Coca Cola boxcar at first.   I thought it looked great.

TRACK - ANY kind!  PITA to clean, so I don't! LOL!

Lionel lighted bumpers !!

Jagrick posted:

Lionel std gauge turntable: only electrics fit (small ones) and they don't need to be turned and roundhouse wont hold steam engine even if it could get situated. BUT I have them in my collection

Since I have been into tin, this is number 1.

Locomotives too big for the consist they are supposed to be pulling. Marx E-7 Santa Fes and Unique Art Rock Island 2000s. Both waay larger than the cars they pull. 

Jim O'C posted:

Locomotives too big for the consist they are supposed to be pulling. Marx E-7 Santa Fes and Unique Art Rock Island 2000s. Both waay larger than the cars they pull. 

They both look good with Lionel aluminum passenger cars.

Steve

Apples55 posted:

Two pretty useless cars that came in my first set of trains back in the early 60’s... still have the cars for sentimental purposes, but would never run them!!! (Not my pictures)

The target car sides would rattle loose when running at anything higher than a crawl (not an easy feat with post war engines) even with the pin inserted, and despite the commercials of the day, hitting the target from one of the missile cars is next to impossible.

The exploding cars were very useful back in the day.  You could pick them up for nothing, glue them together and paint them in your favorite colors.

Santa Fe 3751 posted:

This:

It speaks for itself. 

I kinda like it, but then I've never seen one in person.

Cattle cars & their operating accessory.

Santa Fe 3751 posted:

This:

It speaks for itself. 

If that’s what I had to buy to get a tinplate 4-6-6-4, I’d take it. Paint to follow later.

Steve

I love the castings themselves; but I don't like early cast 0-4-0 tinplate where the shell is " too small", sitting high enough to look like a monster truck.

Diesels without a rounded edge. 

Instability in play of derrick cars, and propensity to swing out centrifugally.

I don't like boxcouplers

I don't like Spam