Which model subways have command opening doors??

Pretty sure it's just the three offered by Lionel, R27 (Green), R30 (Red) and R16 (Blue/Silver). All MTA (New York City).

Some of the MTH Premier ones have opening doors(original R32 and the DAP graffiti version of the R32, maybe others?), but are all manual I believe.

As to whether they are trouble free, I believe the hard-wire link between the cars made them much more reliable than the opening doors on the Acela models(which used infra-red link between cars).

-Dave

As Dave mentioned, Lionel subway sets are equipped with command operating doors. Very nice feature missing from any MTH subway set, the R-32 (1st release) has manual doors you would open using slide from under carriage like the M7 sets by Lionel.

As for reliability, I’ve encountered some doors on Lionel sets don’t fully open Something that can be repaired by Lionel or anyone with some know how. YouTube will be your best bet to get an idea of one in action. Can tell you the Red and Silver blue sets are hard to come by and are pricey. You'll see them now and then on eBay. Good luck.  

i know lionel make a subway with operating doors but from what i hear they do have issues and are pricy

When they work they are cool.  

I did a review on the Lionel R16 set a while back if you want to have a look. 

Excuse my voice in the video by the way

Just Lionel

I enjoyed your review, young Max Railroader. An "A" for this. Thanks. I myself possess no Lionel subways. I only possess MTH subways: ABS, LoVs, R-15s, R32s, R36s, and R142As. Too bad MTH and Lionel didn't combine their technologies to have subway trains operate from station to station announcing station stops (MTH's feature) WITH the doors opening and closing (Lionel's feature).  

I went to college and grad school in NYC in the Sixties. Subway doors that don't open, or only one half opens? Totally prototypical!

Jan

Maxrailroad posted:

I did a review on the Lionel R16 set a while back if you want to have a look. 

Those things are cool, Max! Thanks  for posting.

Ferroequinologist 1 posted:

…. Too bad MTH and Lionel didn't combine their technologies to have subway trains operate from station to station announcing station stops (MTH's feature) WITH the doors opening and closing (Lionel's feature).  

Yea, that would be great

https://youtu.be/NUKW9UpeD8U here is the R27 set. I love this set! I'm having a problem with one car not closing the doors but it's still cool. 

The sets sell for a nice asking price on eBay whenever they come up.  I think if Lionel released subway sets like these again, they would sell really well.  It's a big crowd pleasure to see and hear the doors open.

 I built a raised 3 rail loop so the grandkids can run their stuff. I figured someday I would add a subway set running around up there to add interest. Having the cars with the opening doors looks great to me. So I keep an eye open for a set that looks fairly modern, with the opening doors. Maybe an above ground NYC set or something that runs in Chicago? I can't decide. Whenever I look, there's only extra cars for sale, older sets, or the basic set without power doors.

Here's a glimpse of the raised track in the background.