Polar Express aquarium car

Ray

I also have that on order from Ro who shows them in stock, but no word yet. 

Ben

Mine arrived from Ro about a week ago and has been circling the living room Christmas display (yes it's still up) ever since. Overall I'd say it's a winner but I really want one with fish!

A Polar Express aquarium car? Seems a bit oxymoron-ish.....

It is indeed illuminated. I'll post some pics tonight when I get home.

I thought a video might be more appropriate. You don't really see the band that "pulls" the train around in normal lighting. It seems amplified by my flashlight. I believe the band to be a strip of Super 16mm clear film whereas the Aquarium cars of the postwar period used regular 16mm. Enjoy.

banjoflyer posted:

Thanks Rich! They did a much better job than they portrayed this car with the original catalog artwork:

That goofy circle L in the middle would have made the car look bad. The finished version looks great!

 

Thank goodness for that!

Can't wait for the one with fish!

Rich

banjoflyer posted:

FlyerRich posted:

banjoflyer posted:

Thanks Rich! They did a much better job than they portrayed this car with the original catalog artwork:

That goofy circle L in the middle would have made the car look bad. The finished version looks great!

 

Thank goodness for that!

I wonder if the other aquarium car was produced without the "circle L" logo also? If any one has one please post a picture of it.

Mark

No.  Those Flyer aquarium cars shown had "Circle L's" in them because they were just mock-ups for the catalog photos.  (Just like there are no Circle L's on the Flyer "mint" cars made in recent years.)

FlyerRich posted:

I thought a video might be more appropriate. You don't really see the band that "pulls" the train around in normal lighting. It seems amplified by my flashlight. I believe the band to be a strip of Super 16mm clear film whereas the Aquarium cars of the postwar period used regular 16mm. Enjoy.

That looks nice, Rich!  Thank you for the video/photo.  Interesting that you can see the sprocket holes in the film as it passes by.    (As far as I recall, there was never anything called "super 16," but there was "super 8" film.)   I think the rotating belt in postwar & modern-era Lionel aquarium cars is wider than 16mm, though.

I believe you are correct about the width of the band in the modern aquarium cars. However, Super 16mm has been around for many years. From Wikopedia:

To some of the folks who have this car in hand, the car in the video, the wheels look to have smaller flanges than I am used to seeing, is this so, or is it just the angle of the shot?

Ray

Mark, Yea, that is what I thought it looks like, not the large Flyer flanges that l expected.

Ray

Lionel is announcing that the new production of freight cars will have redesigned trucks in the catalog they are introducing tomorrow.  I have been sent a scan of the trucks by the S Gaugian staff as I have been assigned the task of contacting Lionel about the new trucks.  These look like those trucks. 

See the springs. Perhaps the trucks are sprung like some MTH and American Models trucks. 

Back to the future.  Maybe they're going to reinstate the K-line freight car trucks that were used on K-line S-gauge box cars -- actively sprung, metal wheels, very easy rolling, quite nice actually.  Similar to SHS trucks.  

Dave

banjoflyer posted:

This is good news. AF sprung trucks with a low bolster? 

These look like friction bearing???

Here's a view of the left truck X 400%

I hope the "NEW" trucks on the "NEW" cylindrical hoppers still have the roller bearings with spinning caps.

We'll all see tomorrow!

Mark

The catalog says nothing about roller bearing spinning caps on the new trucks.  Too hard to tell on the image in the catalog.  Either it's an oversight or it's been eliminated.

What's interesting is the say they'll be easier to convert to scale, but don't give a part number for scale wheels.

Rusty

The "springs" on the PE Aquarium are molded into the plastic. I don't have another recent Flyer freight handy to compare this to. In taking these pictures, I discovered there's an on-off switch on the bottom. Who knew?

The "new" trucks are only advertised on the cylindrical hopper page.  The Aquarium and Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote cars are illustrated with the regular Flyer trucks Lionel's been using for years.

Rusty

The "Aquarium" aquarium car:

Rusty

Well I don't remember the date , probably two years back, that I ordered the American Flyer P E Aquarium car but it arrived yesterday.  I put it on the tracks and powered up to 18v, the lighting was visible but just barely, kind of disappointed. I pulled the shell off and put some aluminum tape on the top of the plastic insert, lighting is improved to satisfactory.

Ray

@Rayin"S" posted:

I ordered the American Flyer P E Aquarium car.  I put it on the tracks & powered up to 18v.  Light was visible but just barely, kind of disappointed.  I pulled the shell off & put aluminum tape on the top of the plastic insert, lighting is improved to satisfactory.

Ray

I was interested in these new S gauge aquarium cars, but shied away given the cost.   I wanted to like them, but I am glad I didn't go for them.

@RadioRon posted:

I was interested in these new S gauge aquarium cars, but shied away given the cost.   I wanted to like them, but I am glad I didn't go for them.

Yes Ron, I know these are on the pricey side, and when I saw others had received them I thought, "OH WELL". But now that I have the car l am glad l did not cancel my order. I really like the car, it's really kind of cool. Actually the PE aquarium car is the only one of the aquarium cars I desired to buy, I am hooked on the PE stuff.

Ray

@Rayin"S" posted:

I really like the car, it's really kind of cool.  Actually the PE aquarium car is the only one of the aquarium cars I desired to buy, I am hooked on the PE stuff.

Ray

Ray, has Lionel at least upgraded to LED lighting?  MTH has been beating Lionel's pants off with LEDs in aquarium cars for years now, while Lionel continues to use only one wimpy incandescant bulb, placed mid-car. 

Yes Ron, 

The Aquarium car is illuminated with an LED, but only one. That is the reason the lighting is so dim, the reflective aluminum tape above the LED makes the moving tape more visible.

Ray