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I've been looking at new Lionel electric hand cars.  Some have an elf on each handle, some have Santa helpers on each side, some have cartoon characters.

But, none of the Ebay ads for these, and none of the front or ends of the boxes  shown in their pictures, tell whether these only run on a DC powered track, or whether they run on an AC powered track.   Pretty important to know, I think, before you shell out $60 to $100 bucks for one.

Does anybody know? (Hard to believe the boxes don't say something.)

I might want one to run on my AC powered track.

Thanks,

Mannyrock

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The instruction sheets for the modern ones call out that they can be run on either AC or DC.

As a sample, I just looked at a Charlie Brown hand car from the late 80's early 90's and also a Buzz and Woody hand car from about 12 or 15 years ago, I think.

As mack said, they are really just a DC motor with a rectifier in line with the track contact, so DC is passed to the DC motor just fine.

Also, while it isn't what you asked, the modern Bump and Go Trolleys are similar.  The ones that came with a small amount of track and a small power supply came with a DC power pack similar to those used for HO starter sets.

-Dave

Last edited by Dave45681

Uhh... no.  There was quite a few DC-only sets produced back in the 80's I believe was the time frame.

Absolutely true.  Many of the starter sets from the late 70's too (not sure when they stopped with these, but a lot of the MPC ones were like this). 

The "Workin' on the Railroad" set I had as a young kid would be destroyed by using it with AC.

-Dave

Last edited by Dave45681

John,

true to form, you are correct. However, the OP was asking about current production: “I’ve been looking at new Lionel electric hand cars”.

i saw no benefit to introducing the limited DC offerings from 40 or so years ago into the conversation.

we leave that for you to have the last say 

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