Standard Gauge Operating Cars?

It 's funny you're asking the same kind of questions I was asking 30 years ago when I was planning my layout that never came to be. At the time I had a beautiful original 97 coal elevator and was determined to try and make it work with the Standard Gauge cars somehow. 

As far as I know Lionel never made any (automatically) operating cars in Pre-War Standard Gauge. I could be wrong about that I'm not an expert.  The 218 Dump Car operated similarly to the 219 Crane with a similar knurled brass hand wheel to a scroll and sector. I suppose you could somehow motorize that. 

The closest I came was using a 516 Coal Hopper car which has operating chutes at the bottom. They could perhaps be made to work with an on-board solenoid or magnet activated by a piece of control track similar to O gauge . There's enough space between the ties on that old track that the coal would have a pretty clear path down to a catch bin under the rails. This would be close to prototypical. From there you'd have to find a way to get it to the Coal Elevator conveyor which would require some ingenuity.  At the time I wanted to try and make it all work using "Pre-War technology"  and period components so it looked factory.  It was right around that point that I gave up the idea and sold the Coal Elevator  :-/

This is right up my alley . If you look in the history of this forum you will come across my Standard Gauge trains and train related items , Its called Another Standard Gauge Project .  I have photos of my poultry dispatch car and automatic milk car .  Fun projects .

I've seen the automatic milk car that JW built and it's awesome. Looks factory. 

That is just what I was looking for.  The automatic milk car is really great and I like the poultry car also.  I saw the poultry car a little while back, but I had not seen the milk car yet.  I was inspired when I saw your glass topped station platform back in 2018.  Ever since I started building my layout, a spot has been reserved for a similar platform.  I will get to it sometime in the next year.

As for SG operating cars, some sort of side dump gondola could be built.  SG hopper cars might empty well through the bottom dumps, especially if a car shaker was used. 

The milk car was a fun project , as were the others , but there were a lot of prototypes to be built before I got to the final stage .  I am very fortunate to have access to odd supplies that I have used over the few years since being bitten by the Standard Gauge Bug .   I took apart 3 automatic milk cars that I had from collecting O gauge to make my standard gauge milk car .  I have a few other ideas and notes jotted down for the next set of projects .  A diesel switcher is my dream project ,  then there is  an ice car ,  a merchandise car , and an unloading hopper car .  Basically just copies of the post war operating cars .  As for the stations , I have built 4,  sold the really big station to a good train buddy of mine , gave a tin roofed station to my buddy and shop owner  and kept two for myself  .   It's just my imagination running wild when I see an item sitting in my shop or when I'm out and about  and see something in the trash .  Don't be afraid to jump in on a project . I will have to search for photos of my tin roof freight stations . I do have some videos of them on YouTube .

Wow, those are wonderful.  I like the erector set pieces in the station platform, but I haven't seen much of that material for sale inexpensively.

Has anyone tried making a prewar tinplate operating milk car in O gauge from a postwar mechanism and prewar body?

Mr Fixit posted:

Wow, those are wonderful.  I like the erector set pieces in the station platform, but I haven't seen much of that material for sale inexpensively.

Believe it or not , all the erector  pieces used to build the station cost under $20.00  . It all came from York train show .  I forget what color hall it was , but there is a guy there that sells a ton of the stuff .  The more one buys the better the deal he makes  .  The glass is salvaged from old jalousie windows that were on an old back porch .  The size of the glass dictated the size of the station .