Postwar remake of No. 497 Coaling Station - Dumping mode not working with 3459 Dump Car

The problem may be the accessory rails. If the coupler is uncoupling but the bin is not dumping, this points to the ground accessory rail. The coupler gets its ground from the outside rails through the wheels.  But the bin dump gets ground through the accessory shoe and accessory rail.   You need to see if you can get ground up through all the old joints. You could trying just shorting the center rail to the accessory ground rail and see if it sparks.

The accessory was wired wrong at the factory.  Lionel issued an addendum on how to fix the wiring so it worked properly.  I did the rewiring to mine years ago when it was released and it works properly.

Here is link to the Lionel support page.  At the bottom of the page is the link for the wiring corrections. 497-Coaling Station remake

@Joe Fermani posted:

The accessory was wired wrong at the factory.  Lionel issued an addendum on how to fix the wiring so it worked properly.  I did the rewiring to mine years ago when it was released and it works properly.

Here is link to the Lionel support page.  At the bottom of the page is the link for the wiring corrections. 497-Coaling Station remake

What Joe said.  Very simple fix.  I have one.

Gentlemen,  thanks for the heads up regarding coal loading station addendum.  Rewiring complete and the accessory works as designed.  I must say the task of rewiring was not easy for me, tight quarters for hands and tools at the same time.