What traditional style accessory do you refuse to give up?

All of them!!  Just saying... 

Agree with Erie, but in the context of the post, the postwar 282 crane. Just fun. The sound of moving, picking up a metal part from one area and moving it to another all using the controller. Just fun.

A Lionel culvert loader I modified, added lighting both interior and exterior.  It is a dependable accessory and fun to operate.

 

Steve, Lady and Tex

 

 

A whole bunch of them.  I still use the 45N Gateman, culvert loader and unloader and both the pre-war and post-war operating Gantry Cranes.

The burning switch tower is my all time favorite

 

Sunrise

153 signals and like has been said all of them.

I also like the old school Lionel bumpers that are the size of the space shuttle! I do need to get some on the layout...

 

I've got a soft spot for Rotary Beacons the airport red/green ones...don't ask me why. I've got a "modern" MTH version on my layout and despite it's hit or miss spinning (graphite powder on the goofy rubber nipple ring thing fixes it), it isn't going anywhere. Love those things and really love watching the old school rotary beacon at the College Park Aviation Museum on the roof spinning at dusk/night/early morning when I'm at the facility during National Capital Tracker displays. Not only is it cool to watch, it serves a useful purpose as the museum is on the grounds of the College Park Airport, the oldest continuously operating airport in the world. 

397 coal loader and culvert loader/unloader set will always be on my layout.

I always loved lighted accessories. Especially, Flyer and Lionel operating oil derricks.

My Hi-Rail layout has:

1. the CC culvert twins

2. Lionel sawmill

3. AF sawmill

4. AF oil drum loader

5. Lionel icing station

6. Lionel 264 lumber unloader

7. AF coaling station

8. Lionel 497 coaling station

9. 182 gantry crane

10. 350 transfer table

11. Lionel steam clean, wheel grind unit

12. 362 barrel loader

13. 364 lumber loader

14. K-Line painting station

15. 455 oil derrick

 

I love them all, but the oil derrick is untouchable. It was given to me by my best buddy as a gift for being Best Man at his wedding. Sadly, he died five years ago of metastatic prostate CA at age 55. It reminds me of him always.....and always causes a smile when I think back on all our good times.....

 

 

None of 'em...

 

They certainly have their place and they are special in their own right. We have several on our club layout but I most admire the full-scale layouts and have conditioned myself to deny the middle rail...

I like the 282 Crane and the Bascule Bridge!

Milk Car!  Any era, scale or O-27.  I love 'em.

Let that Oil Derrick bubble with pride! A great and lasting tribute your buddy.

 

Happy New Year everyone!

the 313 for sure if your narrowing it down to one

1: Marx bubbling water tower.  I added a blinking LED light on top.

 

2: A couple of postwar illuminated billboards, adjusted so they don't flash.

 

2B: Postwar Lionel billboards, scattered all over the place.  They really give a period look.

 

3: A Marx two-bulb yard light tower.

 

4: Lionel rotating beacon; the kind with the rubber drive washer, not the fan-driven one.

 

I've got a #397 Coal Loader, but haven't yet figured out a place to put it.  And unfortunately, there's no room on my rather small layout for my log ramp loader and barrel loader.

 

I have too many to enumerate, and I won't give up any of them until they pry them from my cold, dead hands. 

The one thing I use that stands out is the old Lionel block signal (you know...the one with the big red and green bulbs). It hits the "nostalgia button" in my brain.

All of them!!  I celebrate the third rail!  Toy trains forever!

 

Pete

 

 

Lionel 364 log loader. It was the first accessory I ever bought (1967) other than a lamp post. Simple one track operation. Hours of fun. My original is long gone, but I have had the great joy of acquiring a couple of nice variations. Once again except for a few lamp posts the 364 is currently the only accessory able to operate on my layout.

Like you Ron, we would not give up the Lionel lighted bumpers. I also would not part with the yellow light tower. Some of the bumpers we use and one of my lighted towers are shown in this photo.

 

 

 

The Marx 4-light tower.  I've always liked lights on a model RR.  This one, with its four big bulbs, actually helps illuminate a yard scene.

Most of the Lionel accessories actually work well in a hi-rail layout setting, like the 38 water tower, 12700 Erie Lackawanna gantry crane, 410 billboard blinker, 12767 steam clean and wheel grind, and 12749 radar tower.

 

Nonetheless, I refuse to get rid of the 362 barrel loader, 497 coaling station, 12703 icing station, American Flyer drum loader, and 12768 burning switch tower. I also still want to get the tinplate 164 log loader.

I forgot about my 787 log loader that I would not part with.  It, along with my 397 coal loader, can be seen in the following video.

 

These two accessories are at 10:15 and a K-Line milk car is at 7:34...

 

I like the Marx operating accessories, have a burning switch tower; just picked up a radar tower, which I always wanted, and have a soft spot for anything using a vibrotor motor, esp the beacon. 

I too am a fan of the lighted bumpers. I have quite a few of the accessories but the ones I would hold on to are the bridges, 213 and 313. Also my cattle car and corral as my first,and only, train as a kid came with one.

 

Pete

Hate to get rid of this guy..   He's been with me over 60 years.

Need to find the right location.

Joe 

 

 

I have my Grandfather's 92 Floodlight tower. It's majorly over sized (even for standard gauge), but it is not going anywhere.

I am building a new Hi-Rail layout and I am including all of the following in the design:

 

Lionel Icing Station
2 - Gantry Cranes
2 - 350 Transfer Tables
3 - Oil Derricks
Milk Car
Cattle Car
397 Coal Loader
456 Operating Coal Ramp
Mi-Jack Intermodal Crane
Nuclear Reactor
Swing Bridge

 

Pat B.