The Silliest Accessory Made...Vote

Well, realistic it was not, but the trestle set definitely helped a lot of O-gauge carpet layouts overcome some difficult limitations, so actually, I think it makes a lot of sense.

I thought the Lone Ranger gunfight and hobo chase cars, etc., were rather silly and pure piffle.  Although I must admit, they were fun nonetheless.

How can there be a "silliest" LIONEL accessory in postwar America.  He and his employees gave us this wonderful hobby.  They were never hamstrung by prototype fidelity--thank goodness.

Has to be the maiden rescue, doesn't it?

NEVER liked nor used the trestle set.

Giraffe cattle car.......

Definition of silly:  

It may be up there, but it's one of the most popular pieces on my layout when I get company.

Different people like different things. I don't like the graduated trestle either, for the reason that I'd be afraid of a derailment. I don't think it makes it silly though, since many people like it.

To me, the silly accessories are the ones that you have to reset every time you use them. Accessories such as milk cars, the Maiden Rescue, and the new coal loader Lionel has in the catalog. To me, they are silly because this makes them harder to use on a layout.

The Maiden Rescue.

I never liked the Cop and Hobo car. It seemed silly, even as a kid, to modify a boxcar so much to make use of it in an accessory.

I saw that exact support in NJ while on a Speeder excursion. I saw it after we passed through Paterson before  we reached the Hudson River.

I have to say it was the Lionel Haunted House.

Silly in that the witch gets laughs from the kids as she fly's around. And with the ghost popping up adds to the ha.

And "Silly" as in the terrible cheap mechanism sounds that seems to say I am going to break any minute.

And "Silly" as in the regular scary sounds will drive you nuts... had to get rid of it...

Silliest as in making people laugh I would think the giraffe car or the cop and hobo chase gondola . 

Silliest as in, "why would they make that, that's just silly" would be the houseless gateman that came out late postwar.  It was just a guy on a green base that moved an inch or so when the train went by.  at least with the 45/145 he popped out of his house

I don't like, collect, or buy "accessories", at least, the old, "collectible" ones. I had a few as a kid, but the style of a lot of things like Marx block signals turned me off, as unrealistic, although colors were more prototypical.  The one Lionel accessory I bought as a kid, and immediately thought was idiotic, was a giant crossing gate, that operated, but was about LGB scale.  Many other accessories, including those today, turn me off because of their, obvious to me, even as a kid, weird colors. American Flyer offended me with orange and pond scum green accessories. AF used the weird green on my whistling billboard.  (I should have, but never did, overpaint the green...as a kid I did not have the paint) I will use MTH and the smaller mfrs. scale size and realistically operating, and finished,  crossing warnings, etc. Many of those listed above, giraffe cars, etc., also flunked my "realistic?" test. I find many "silly",

but maybe am not looking at them as the toys they are.  This is my take on it, and others do as they wish.

I'd have to go with the Lionel Loading Dock from the 90's with the BIG dock and the itty-bitty H.O. scale guy with the hand-cart.

Jon

Well since Tonto literally means silly in Spanish...

My vote goes to a more recent offering...

The Diamond Chemicals Tank Car Accident

There is a tank car tipped on its side with a spilled load.  Also included are workers without HAZMAT suits and even welders adding sparks to the scene.

WHILE the car is still "leaking."  

Rusty

I think the giraffe car is a good example.  You would definitely get all kinds of animal cruelty groups after you if you really transported one that way.  Silly idea indeed!

The deal with the giraffe car is that to make it silly - as in generating a lot of laughs - you need a string of them coupled together and zipping under the telltale.  The kids love it and so do the adults.  As for silly as in stupid - I guess I can't think of any.  As has been noted - every one you can think of did sell.

Fairly prototypical for entering/leaving the HellGate bridge.

Actually the old railroad trestle in High Bridge NJ on the spur that led to an old WW2 Cannon mfg /Iron works plant looks very similar to the Lionel Trestle set.

As for the silliest accessory, my vote goes to the Atomic Reactor. Its an interesting production piece of a resurrected Lionel archive item but it looks nothing like an Atomic reactor nor does it look remotely similar to any industry or represent any business ever located on a railroad spur. The reactor is probably a very collectible piece only because it ran for one year and might have sold very poorly. You paid a few hundred bucks for a colorfully decorated and lighted basketball and there were reports of bulb heat distorting the plastic.

I love that word...piffle.

I think the wind generators were kind of silly. they looked real enough, but the cost for something like that is silly. no play value.

My favorite brother in law is really into PW.  He has just about every giraffe car that was made,even a couple doubles.  It is absolutely hilarious to see 15-20 of them in a row doing their dip !

Whatever floats your boat !

Norm

It actually ran twice in different colors.

As to bulb heat, the main red/green/yellow lights under the dome were LEDs, but I'm not sure about the blue light that illuminates the unloading trap door area.

-Dave

imo,that lionel trestle was one of the best acces. to come out. inexpensive,added alot of play value to many kids postwar layouts, nothing to break down. marx made a similar looking trestle [ black steel piers] that i use today on a couple of briges on my layout.-jim

Google Pulaski Skyway Images to see graduated bridge piers.

Many are thinking real world not with the imagination of a child. It seems to happen as you get older. This was pointed out in the Polar Express, “As they got older they could no longer hear the magic of the bell”

For Lionel the accessories were aimed at the fun factor and imagination of a child not if it was easy to use or play with. In today’s world of video games imagination is becoming lost with the young. That is sad because with imagination later in life it can take you to places like the Moon and back.

Silly, maybe now you will look back and think that it might be. But then you remember the hours of fun playing with it. Much like wow as a child I loved Baloney sandwiches then you try one now and realize your tastes have changed immensely.

Best reply!!

A user name ScaleRail asking for silliest accessory made.

Okay 

"Mr. Debussy, what is the silliest tune the Ramones wrote?"

Except he wasn't Spanish.   Those of us who know some history, especially Arizona history, know that Tonto refers to  a subset of Apache Indians.  Hence the Tonto National Forest in Arizona.   Some very early Apache translators say that Tonto could also refer to "living like a wild animal," or ,"the wild one," which is most likely how Tonto was named for the Lone Ranger books and original tv series.

Not even Fastrack attached to trestle's?

I've got a lot of Lionel accessories on my PW-style layout. None of them jump out immediately as "silliest," although I agree that the cop and hobo car may be a good candidate. That one always elicits lots of laugh from visitors.

The 128 Newstand might be a candidate?

Going by memory it is Pontiac Indian  (I have to look it up), loosely translated to "close friend."   It's been awhile.

I studied a lot of Indian history in highschool and college.  The fate of the Native Americans, as well as their rich history has always intrigued me.   I still take trips through the old pueblos in New Mexico and Arizona, and areas around Cochise stronghold in Arizona when exploring ghost towns.

Some day when I have the space again, I want to model this type of territory on a layout.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand:

It's hard to define silly.   None of my over sized, buzzing, "milk can launching" accessories has failed to elicit smiles and laughs from kids of ALL ages.