what is lionel's best and trouble free motorized aquarium car ?

Tiffany,

I have a ton of the aquarium cars.  The less expensive just use a gear on the truck to drive the band around the rollers.  The better ones have a motor like the vibromotor on the original car to make the band go.  This can be turned off.  If you want to be able to turn off the operation, then go with the modern, more expensive car, else go with the gear driven one.  The deciding factor might be which car is most appealing to you visually.  If you go to http://tcaetrain.org/, there is a great article by Bob Mintz on all the aquarium cars made to date by Lionel.  Also keep in mind that there are aquarium cars by K-line and MTH.

Tiffany,

I think any of the motorized ones work pretty much the same way.

Recently I was interested in the Maurice Sendak "Wild Things" aquarium car and I noticed something about them versus the MTH ones (that I have a few of).

On the Lionel cars, you can see the rollers on each end of the window on the sides of the car.  It's particularly noticeable with certain colors.  On the MTH versions, the rollers appear to be more hidden so you can't see them.  I have decided that I like the MTH cars better!

Ed

Hello Ed...........

I haven't seen you here in the forums for while !!!!!!!! How are you?  I STILL "thank you" for the realtrax and they are still good, I have put a lot of hours on those tracks and they still held up!!!. I agree that the MTH railking aquarium cars are better made as I have one of "blue marlin" version # 30-79280 and its 4 years old and still works great.  I was building a Classic Lionel F-3 freight set and wanted a to try the Lionel version to add to the set.  I kind of knew that the Lionel aquarium cars were never worked well and I don't want to spend time messing with it but hoping to find one that is trouble free.

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,2678,2003,200

Tiffany

Although my older Lionel aquarium cars that were gear-driven (when the wheels turned) worked ok, there is a big difference between those and the newer motor-driven versions. The motorized ones work very well indeed. I've even swapped one with an older gear driven version. It's also possible to leave them on a siding, and let them keep running while they're parked. Pretty neat for visitors to look at, even when they're not moving as part of a train. Lionel has also made a command controlled version.

hello breezinup......

check out the thread "Niagara 6024 Gear (plastic) goes belly up!" you can have the plastic gears. I am glad changed the gears to metal in my F-3's.

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,2678,2003,200

Tiffany

Try this link instead "Too Many Fish in the Sea".

That's good.

Back to aquarium cars, as I was saying, the motor-driven aquarium cars are really nice, and I'd recommend them. You can turn them on and off, and run them independently. I have one parked and running next to a Lionel Aquarium.

Hello guys and gals........

OK, so which is Lionel's best motorized aquarium car ? I am thinking of add this car to my F-3 set.

the woman who loves the S.F.5011.2678,2003,200

Tiffany

Still looking forward to seeing the brand new lobster car coming out soon.

Part of the Boston & Maine fright set in the 2014 catalog.

I've always loved them. Doubt there is just one best. I'd stay lighted, motorized, and explore the different looks on the wraps. I like the large schools of fish, but would grin every time the Sea Monkey car went by if I had one. 

There, is some misinformation here, I believe.  1) The motor-drive aquarium cars Lionel has offered for the last 10 years or so are nothing like the vintage vibromotor.... but use a can motor.  2)  K-Line's "aquarium car" (I believe only two were released) were aluminum body-cars with actual liquid inside a sealed plastic container with floating, plastic fish.   Very heavy!  MTH's aquarium cars are virtually like Lionel's.... but all of theirs feature motor drive. All but the most recent MTH models, however, were plagued with "belt separation" issues. 

I have a Postwar 3435 and an early MPC 9308(I think). They work well but are noisy and don't work when you are running engines at lower voltages (like more of the modern can-motored engines). That's when I use a gear-driven Lionel one or an MTH one.  It allows me to keep fish moving on a siding while a Williams engine runs on 9 volts on the Main.

Peter

I have the postwar and MPC version with the vibrotor motors, they work well but noisy.

Pick up one of the ones from Lionel's Postwar Celebration Series. They are can motored, smooth operation and quiet! They made one for separate sale, and another in the NP Freight set. You can easily find each one on Ebay. Item # 36731

I agree, the motorized Aquarium cars are the most reliable and best operating but the key to keep things running smoothly is not let the car sit to long without running them.  The film band will form to the rollers and not operate as smoothly.  Its a good idea to operate these cars on a regular basis.

Steve, Lady and Tex

There is a version with TMCC if you are interested in that.  Lionel  # 19845.

http://www.grzyboskitrains.com...-sounds-aquarium-car

Speaking of fun aquarium cars...just got the Frosty the Snowman version today with can motor operation.  The graphics are great.  I always considered the Rankin Bass cartoon a Christmas classic and this car does not disappoint.  

Haaappy Birthday!

Good to hear, Mike W.  How is the illumination on the Frosty car, though?  Is there still just one little light bulb at dead center?  The last Lionel Aq. car I got was the Peanuts Halloween version.  It has one small bulb behind the "Circle L," thus both aquarium windows are poorly lit.