TMCC aquarium cars

I have the Whale Sounds Car.  It sloshes, does brake squeal, and has random and activated whale calls.  I always liked it.  The strip is driven by a motor set by the red dial for speed.  The light can be turned off and on as well as firing the couplers.

Depending on the price, I think it definitely has play value.

I've repaired a couple of these, they're pretty cool if you like that sort of thing.  I'd buy one if I found one at a good price.

The Aquarium car sounds just like the description above, the Shark Car plays kind of a surf music theme when it starts rolling and includes some other shark & scream sounds.

My wife picked up the Shark one several years ago at a Cal-Stewart meet for a pretty decent price.

As RailSounds said above, this particular car has "jaws" and "surf-style" music and someone saying "uh-oh, it's a shark!" in a sort of Valley-Girl style.  Also has some squealing sounds kind of like a dolphin or something similar for some odd reason, certainly isn't a sound a shark would make (not that they make sounds anyway).

It runs well with TMCC, you program it as an engine, and you can vary the speed of the sharks "swimming" in the car, as well as control the volume and the illumination, in addition to having electrocouplers.  Sound quality is okay but not FatBoy quality (a bit on the tinny side with not as much bass in it as you'd find in Lionel's higher-end steam & diesel engines) but it's not objectionable.

John,

The Tmcc shark car is one of their best operating cars in terms of "fun". We use it at shows and people really enjoy it. The music is probably from NY and the voice is his wife. If you let the car sit there and press and hold the whistle on the cab-1, it will go through the entire song till the end when Peggy screams it's a shark. Bought mine for $99 about 15 years ago. Great car!

15 Years ago ... oh my.  It hasn't really been that long, has it?

Yes, I'm afraid it has been! Did that one in 1999. And for the record, I did the music and Lani Minella was the voice talent on that product.

Rudy Trubitt

Lionel, LLC

Thanks for the info guys.  I went ahead and purchased the Whale version.  Now I may have to look for the shark one as well. LOL

I have had both the Whale and Shark car since their release.  Show stoppers for sure.  Just don't overdo them.

I bought the Whale car when it first came out, and I picked up the Shark car from Nassau Hobby early this year.

I've always been a sucker for the aquarium cars (mint cars, too).  I just scanned through my inventory.  It looks like I have 22 Lionel aquarium cars and 21 MTH aquarium cars.  I don't think I have enough power to run them all at once.   And, I'm sure I couldn't stand the noise.

Rudy,

Not as such, but I've been aware of her work for a number of years, not to mention she's a local here in San Diego

Rudy,

Thanks for clarifying the contents of the shark car. Still think it is one of best Tmcc operating cars made to date from Lionel. When the Tmcc demo group was in existence back in the Maddox and Bracey era, we used that car all the time to show multiple use of command control while running a train. A crowd pleaser!

MartyE,

I so agree with you.  I have the Visionline Cattle car, and the TMCC crane and boom car.  They add a lot of fun to a layout.  I think these types of cars, that add additional sounds to the train and animation, just add to the play value. 

Along your suggestions... How about a Legacy milk car that has a new mechanism which pushes the cans out smoothly instead of the solenoid.

The newer style operating box car which unloads the crates is really nice. Legacy control would have been even better.

For their fastrack line they came out with command switches.  How about command UCS tracks for their older operating cars?

They should also add some more sounds cars with the wheel squeal.  It makes the train sound much more realistic when you hear the metal wheels squeal as they go around a curve.

PRR use to fill their tenders by use of the drop scoop to reload water.  I bet they would be a really neat feature if Lionel could implement that.

So many untapped ideas.

I'm totally on-board with the ideas expressed in this thread!

-rudy

Lionel has already offered a milk car that offers smooth operation of pushing cans from the car to a platform, using the late K-Line's own milk car:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb8KN1VaAps  (go to 2:08 of the clip to see it in action using a regular Lionel type tinplate milk platform).

This one is another one, using the platform that K-Line originally designed:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e47xV1NP4qY

Granted not Legacy, but they do provide super-smooth operation as opposed to the traditional postwar-style solenoid snapping action.

I could go for the lounge car attendant pouring a double shot 100 proof Old Grand Dad served over the rocks.

Bill 

I'm hoping Lionel does more operating sound cars in the future, they do add a special dimension.  I have quite a few of them, the VL Cattle Car, the PFE Reefers (two sets), the Ethanol tank cars, and a couple of Hot Box Reefers converted for TMCC.  I also have a couple of the cabooses with sound.

Now I can see how these can get expensive to produce...  All those opening doors.  I was thinking on a smaller scale but all good ideas.