Lionel O gauge operating milk car, circa 1955

You can lower the voltage or implement a modern electronic trigger button that has rate limiting.

Note that you can wire the activation track to use a seperate power tap at a different voltage as the track.

You need to relubriccate the dash pot. Here is a recent post on this same issue:

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...r-dash-pot-lubricant

Not all milk cars had a dashpot to regulate the action. Voltage is the way to go on those.

   While the jams are a pita, it may also be a vehicle to try and teach some patience with. Your explaining a small pause will help it function more regularly by giving the next barrel time to drop shouldn't be too hard to grasp if they choose too 

  Besides that, they all seem to jam sometimes.   I'm guessing my favorite dry lube, T-9 by Boeing, on the ramp walls would help a lot. (teflon based spray dries to a very thin wax-like coating, dry but very slick. Sparse use is all it takes and it lasts too) 

It used to be a bit pricey, but you really don't need much at all when used. Sticking to just the hobby a can just may be a lifetime supply. You'll find other uses too, especially were oil/grease or graphite tend to be a bit if a mess.

There were 2 milk cars available in 1955. What specific number is the car?

AMF posted:

I have a Lionel operating milk car from 1955 that operates very well.....perhaps too well.  When "triggered", the milk man slings those containers out at a lightning speed.  No problem, until the grand children come out and press the button rapidly (when I take my eyes off of them for a split second)  Then the milk containers jam.  Yes, afterwards I open the car, release the jammed milk container, and put the car back together again for the next "session". 

My question is:  can the operation of the little milkman be slowed down without putting strain on the solenoid that moves the milkman?  This would also allow for a more "real looking" experience, and allow all the milk containers to stand up (some of them fall when flung so fast) .  Thanks in advance!

You can slow him down by cutting his wages but then he might go on strike!

The fast versions uses a magnet in the can bottom which keeps it from flying across the platform. The slow one has no magnet on the can. Mixing them can jam one I've heard, or for sure stop  a magnetic can from going deep enough onto the platform when ejected from a slow toss or allow a non magnetic can to go flying with a fast eject.

   If lettering is gone, I think you can classify the versions as a long scale car for slow, and shorter, maybe semi-scale for the fast eject. I'm not 100% sure, just an observation of memories.

Something I have done with cars that use magnet and non magnet cans, is to rub a little candle wax on the car floor, where the can actually slides. This sounds odd, but you won't believe how much better it will work.

Makes sense.  I remember rubbing candle wax on my snow sled runners when I was a kid.

Curt

I discovered this while replacing the wiring on a milk car(non magnet cans). I wiped something off the floor of the car thinking it was dried grease or something. Afterwards I couldn't get it to work smoothly as it did before. I tried all the suggested repairs, but it would not eject the cans properly, either it would shoot them out or drop onto the track, depending on the voltage. That's when I remembered the substance I wiped off the car floor. I tried to duplicate the consistency of whatever it was. As far as I can tell it was common wax. Anyway wax did the trick. I was having the same problem with another car that uses magnetic cans. Wax fixed it also. Some how it allows you to use enough voltage to push the cans out onto the platform smoothly and controlled, instead of falling onto the track or ejecting them way too fast. Good luck.

Chris A  

Wax or soap rubbed on zippers and window slides, wood and metal both; door flashing etc. ...the original non powder "dry lubes".

The operational difficulties of these kind of operating cars and accessories were a filtering process for future toy train collectors.  As children we could struggle with the operational frustrations of these kinds of items.  Maybe we should start a thread regarding our favorite glitched out items.   We stuck with them despite only temporary successes.  This fully prepared us for the DOA and glitches of our adult toys.  How many of we idiots try to fix early onset problems with our items rather than just sending them back.

I think that the launching of milk cans was a precursor to their military/space missile/rocket technology.

I think that jamming of milk cans still remains a proprietary patented secret.

Actually, I think that they were secretly made in China (further preparation for our adult frustrations). 

Alan