The ice station was one of my favorite accessories as a young boy, and was also a favorite among my friends. Mine was "stationed" at trackside at the time, along a straightaway. I would stop the train and position the ice car alongside the station to load the ice onto the car as RadioRon describes in the preceding post.
I presently have the ice station on a side track on my current layout, and generally just leave the ice car positioned in front of the station.
