Operating Accessories- A thing of the past?

Good question Dennis.  For me I like animation, and have some on the layout, but operating accessories just seem like out of date toys when you compare them to the detail of today’s trains and many structures.

Lemax and Dept 56 still make operating displays and building, many suitable for a train layout.

Lemax even made some of K-Line's Operating Accessories like the rustic sawmill.

I still prefer the pre-war and post-war versions without electronics to go bad.

With 3d printers and cheap geared can motors, we can build our own.

Rich, it depends on what type of layout you want.  My original Lionel layouts from the late '70s were more scale like.  As the 80s decade was nearing an end, my interest shifted to an operating accessory packed layout.  Now that I have begun to amass Lionel trains in preparation for a future layout, my focus is on operating accessories.  

Yes, they are toys.  That's what I want to do, play with toys.  I'm not interested in building a scale layout these days.

Dennis, Lionel did reissue most of their post-war operating accessories back in the '90s.  Maybe they feel that there are enough of them still around and plenty of post-war versions also.  So reissuing them again may not be profitable.  

Lionel still makes some of this stuff. I just added the milk car to my layout this week

Not a thing of the past in this house!

Lionel is still producing operating accessories, adding sound effects for more realism and fun:

Here are a couple examples:

Gantry crane:

The sawmill, with sounds, go to 18:19 for the action:

Dan,

I agree with you everyone has their own style for their layout, I respect that.  If you want a post war style toy train layout, enjoy.

What I don’t get is with all the tech we have today with Lionel legacy and MTH DCS, Bluetooth audio, WiFi control apps, and the amazing detail on many trains today, we have operating accessories with detail and technology from the 1940’s.  There could be many very cool operating accessories with today’s tech and manufacturing capabilities but instead we get reissues from the early 20th century.

The barrel loader was pretty cool when my dad was a kid ( I am 50) but pretty lame by todays standards.

When I designed my current layout, I allowed space for the 164 log loader, 97 coal loader and 165 magnetic crane. The more time passed, the more I didn't like the fact that they take up so much space--especially the 97 and 164. I thought about it some more, and considered how little the accessories would be used, so with the help of my friend Ray, I decided to eliminate them and use the area for a 4-track yard. I'm going to keep the 165 crane on the layout, but that takes up a lot less space and can be used on a curve, unlike most of the operating accessories. 

In the end, sidings were a much better use of the space for my purposes.  The goal for my layout is running trains, so keeping 4 additional trains on the layout ready for action ended up being more important than 2 accessories I would rarely use. 

John

You have a good point, Rich.  I see that Lionel has made some, more to scale things like the cross buck and crossing gates.  However, not having followed Lionel products closely from the '90s to about three years ago, I don't know what else they've come up with that would be more scale like as far as operating accessories.  

I know they made a new lift bridge that looks really good and some animated accessories like the swing set, scrapyard with the guys cutting up an old loco and some others.  But these are all simple animations that do not interact with the trains.  

Operating accessories for intermodal container and trailer trains has not been fully explored and produced. 

The lumber mill could be made in true O scale proportions and operate in a more realistic manner. 

Andrew

The loading and unloading equipment for steel coils from gondolas has to be scratchbuilt right now. 

Andrew

Simulating the fueling and sand filling of a diesel locomotive could be made more realistic in 1:48th scale proportions. 

Andrew

If it wasn't for the operating accessories, i would probably be into H.O...

As technology becomes more sophisticated, I believe more realistic operating accessories will be the next frontier of model railroading. 

For a while in the early 2000's Lionel was producing some spectacular accessories, the vignette scenes like the lumberjacks, sly fox, rovers revenge to larger ones like the firehouse, ford dealership, bubbling water tower, carnival rides and loaders to the Mainline accessories. I think part of the reason we don't see more is the 'plug & play' functionality that Lionel is starting to incorporate. I also wonder if Lionel still has access to the tooling for most of the accessories. It would be great for them to reintroduce those accessories.

I don't think operating accessories will ever be a thing of the past in O gauge. Depending on what type of layout you prefer I think accessories will always play a significant roll in our hobby especially with new technology being introduced in some of the old classic accessories as well as new accessories introduced by Lionel & MTH. 

I'm not so much a fan of operating accessories. I'm a passenger train fan, so my RR is always operating at a financial loss. A train standing still doesn't helpthat.

Actually, I like the operating "accessories" which don't interact with the RR. Carnival items; MTH firehouse, gas station, etc.;  Lionel dealership; superstreets and bumper trolley.

At our club I tend to run the coal tipple when we have shows and I can tell you that kids (up to about age 80) LOVE it and love pushing the button which makes it operate.

So I guess it all depends..........

Gerry

After reading all the good comments here, one thing has become obvious.  Most accessories take up lots of room, making it difficult placing them in a layout with all the other stuff.  Especially true if you have loads of scenery,  IMO, American Flyer had the right idea but the MTH coaling tower that I finally installed seems scale size and fits right in. I believe that the lighting accessories, signals and towers will always be popular but if there ever is a new generation of motorized stuff, I'd like to see it less toy like and more scale size. I love the action but dislike the size. Perhaps this is why they are not more popular today.

gmorlitz posted:

 

Actually, I like the operating "accessories" which don't interact with the RR. Carnival items; MTH firehouse, gas station, etc.;  Lionel dealership; superstreets and bumper trolley.

 

I agree, but you can have that both ways. I just put operating cars up-front, on a siding, and operate them that way. Also for loading into regular cars on a siding, like from the AF Oil Drum Loader.

Viva operating accessories!

If it were not for the operating accessories I wouldn't even have three-rail O gauge trains.  Realism has no place on my layout.  My trains are toys, an escape from the real world which seems to be turning into a worse piece of bleep than ever.  Oops!  I better head out to the garage now to play with my trains and run my accessories.

Pete

ps - Happy Christmas!

I only have two left,the Lionel AF barrel loader, still on the layout and the MTH Sinclair gas station sitting on the for sale table. Don't have kids come by much anymore

Good question Dennis.  For me I like animation, and have some on the layout, but operating accessories just seem like
out of date toys when you compare them to the detail of today’s trains and many structures.
Rich

NOT True! At the "Turn of the Century" Lionel and MTH released some Realistic scale animated accessories. But those too have been placed on a hold status....

Call me a Luddite if you must, but I like the grinding of an AC open frame motor on postwar favorites like the 97, 164 and the original gantry crane. And, of course, the legendary AF oil drum loader! I can also accept reruns with can motors, but without the blasted electronics!

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

Good question Dennis.  For me I like animation, and have some on the layout, but operating accessories just seem like
out of date toys when you compare them to the detail of today’s trains and many structures.
Rich

NOT True! At the "Turn of the Century" Lionel and MTH released some Realistic scale animated accessories. But those too have been placed on a hold status....

I really want the operating McD on my layout.  Unfortunately, they always seem to sell for $250+.  I keep hoping that MTH would re-issue it. 

 I think MTH should put a modern fire engine in the operating firehouse.   There's a lot of old firehouses that are still in existence today so the building is fine.   Put a nice modern engine in there and you have a nice modern accessory!

An EXCELLENT suggestion! :-)

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

Good question Dennis.  For me I like animation, and have some on the layout, but operating accessories just seem like
out of date toys when you compare them to the detail of today’s trains and many structures.
Rich

NOT True! At the "Turn of the Century" Lionel and MTH released some Realistic scale animated accessories. But those too have been placed on a hold status....

 

I agree there are some nice animations, but I didn’t think of these are operating accessories.  Of course lots of choices and opinions.  It is what make the hobby great for all, diversity.

Operating accessories add a lot of vibrancy to a layout. Mine is loaded with these, many of which were redesigned to add additional animation over that in the original version.

The passenger platform or boarding zone where the passengers walk from the inside of the station and out to the train, then reverse, is one that has not been produced. 

Andrew 

falconservice posted:

The passenger platform or boarding zone where the passengers walk from the inside of the station and out to the train, then reverse, is one that has not been produced. 

Andrew 

I believe that there are lots of scale size accessories that could be designed that look realistic and would provide realistic action. IMO, the MTH coaling tower, loading dock and the Lionel and K-Line milk cars are good examples.  All that needs to be done is to take something from real life , add the action and don't get carried away on size.  Menard's has been very successful with realistic scale structures, so I would say that there would be a market for such. When I said that accessories may be a thing of the past, I was specifically referring to newly introduced products.

I had the PWC series magnetic gantry crane and the log loader run the through the original IC Controls AMC3000 boxes.  This was nice because you could really fine tune the voltage through the AMC to the individual motors to get them running perfectly. And run them with your Cab1. Now they are TMCC equipped but it doesn't seem they are as smooth as I could get mine, judging by the videos I've seen of the new ones. I don't know how much you can adjust the power to the motors on the new ones.  I also had the sawmill and fork lift lumber unloader.  Milk car platform, doesn't take up much space. Put that across the log loader using the same unloading track.  Gargraves uncoupling/unloading tracks.  Man that is fun.  All were early 2000 models, all worked perfectly, and all were a blast to run.  The forklift accessory was really neat.  It always went to the next board down automatically.  How did they do that?  I had the original lumberjack guys too.  Loud, but they were working hard.  Got to respect that.  Cheers.

I also like the grinding sound of the postwar accessories. That, plus their toylike quality, adds to their charm.  I like blending in postwar accessories, 022 switches and tubular track with realistic scenery, which is a hi-rail look. My modern engines (mostly MTH) look great running through my post war layout.

I am totally unfamiliar with the modern accessories of manufacturers other than Lionel.

What I am about to say may be weird, but in my experience, the Lionel post war accessories are more reliable than the re-issues of them. Never had a problem with my postwar 282 gantry crane and postwar icing station, but I have had problems with the reissues of these accessories in the early 2000s.

My layout is pretty chocked full of Lionel accessories. I can't add more without removing others already on the layout. If I had more space, I would consider adding post war American Flyer accessories, which I think also have great charm. 

My other favorite post war accessories are the 97 coal loader, animated news stand (with the dog running round the hydrant), operating fork lift, barrel loader, diesel fueling station, rocket launcher. I'm hooked on them. Also, it's a nostalgia thing.

The Department 56 Diner with the couple sharing an ice cream soda inside, is also delightful and charming.

Almost forgot one of the best: #38 water tower:

Menards has animation on some of their buildings, with the rotating vents like on the Red Owl store.   And of course the animated signage.

I have a rotating beacon on my layout, and the oil derrick with animation in the bubbling and the "nodding donkey" action.

A On30 line could be considered as an operating accessory.   Like the Bachmann highly detailed and smooth running trains.  Either as a loop or a point-to-point  line, perhaps elevated or in the mountains.   Here is a recent layout plan I have been working on, where an On30 is an operating accessory to add interest and action to a layout:

Heck no, not as far as I’m concerned!

I would agree with the point that was made about an overabundance of the older operating accessories. Case in point, I bought a 1940s vintage 97 coaling tower last spring, perfect operating shape for about $75. Lionel would probably need to charge $150-200 to make that same accessory when vintage 1940s models can readily be had for half that. Many O Gaugers see limited or no advantage in having a vintage accessory versus a modern one. The modern accessories run smoother and quieter but they're less robust and more expensive than the vintage ones.

Most people I know of do use operating accessories somewhere on their layout. See a picture of my layout's industrial sector below, I have half a dozen of them of all makes and ages. I find that the operating accessories give the trains something to do, or at least the illusion of a purpose. Coal trains stop at the coal loaders, flat cars are dropped off and picked up at the sawmill, things move and make noise so the layout seems to be buzzing with activity and progress. That's one of the attractions of O versus the smaller gauges; the trains can do stuff besides run about!

Hard to see how many are on this board, but there is the coal loader, log loader, cattle pen, milk platform, 3 gatemen, several crossing gates, operating station, and rotating beacons on this Christmas train garden. All working and in use. Running trains is fun, but it would not be a layout if there were no operating accessories! Kids really enjoy them. So do I, and I am 70 !!  Just my opinion on this.

Same accessories, different layout.

When the grandkids come over they want to play with the accessories not the trains. Their favorite is the American Flyer drum loader. I can't imagine a three rail layout without the accessories. You might as well be in two rail "O" Scale.

I had the unique opportunity recently to purchase many of the Lionel operating accessories originally manufactured in the early 1990's new still in the original shipping boxes. I couldn't pass it up the grandchildren love the interaction, noise and unusual loading actions that seems to entertain them immensely.

falconservice posted:

The passenger platform or boarding zone where the passengers walk from the inside of the station and out to the train, then reverse, is one that has not been produced. 

Andrew 

American Flyer's Guilford Station is one that I would love to see in "O" gauge.  Of all the operating accessories Lionel has ever made, I'm surprised they never made one with "people" moving in and out of a passenger car.

https://youtu.be/7p38pyX3p1s

  I thought someone did a station with a stop and a "vanishing" group of passengers? (into the platform) It may have been a custom I guess.

Maybe you could do a sports team car loading.and use vibrating field players and a coral conveted to look like a station and isle stanchions.

  That buzz of the linear vibration motors was pretty good catch all for the "exciting" din of industrial sounds  

Other toys would likely have had a clicker added .

   I think a crane, any crane, wins the "accessory challenge" via diversity in ability.  I like the culvet loader too.

  There is one item that I was thinking about last night while sitting and quietly running the Christmas Eve. passenger expesses. I was really missing the rhythmic clack of an oil derricks pump and the glowing bubbles dancing in the dark.

Adriatic posted:

  I thought someone did a station with a stop and a "vanishing" group of passengers? (into the platform) It may have been a custom I guess.

Maybe you could do a sports team car loading.and use vibrating field players and a coral conveted to look like a station and isle stanchions.

  That buzz of the linear vibration motors was pretty good catch all for the "exciting" din of industrial sounds  

Other toys would likely have had a clicker added .

   I think a crane, any crane, wins the "accessory challenge" via diversity in ability.  I like the culvet loader too.

  There is one item that I was thinking about last night while sitting and quietly running the Christmas Eve. passenger expesses. I was really missing the rhythmic clack of an oil derricks pump and the glowing bubbles dancing in the dark.

  I thought someone did a station with a stop and a "vanishing" group of passengers? (into the platform) It may have been a custom I guess.

I "think" that disappearing passenger platform was made by MTH.  It's very cool idea! 

Adriatic posted:

  I thought someone did a station with a stop and a "vanishing" group of passengers? (into the platform) It may have been a custom I guess.

Maybe you could do a sports team car loading.and use vibrating field players and a coral conveted to look like a station and isle stanchions.

  That buzz of the linear vibration motors was pretty good catch all for the "exciting" din of industrial sounds  

Other toys would likely have had a clicker added .

   I think a crane, any crane, wins the "accessory challenge" via diversity in ability.  I like the culvet loader too.

  There is one item that I was thinking about last night while sitting and quietly running the Christmas Eve. passenger expesses. I was really missing the rhythmic clack of an oil derricks pump and the glowing bubbles dancing in the dark.

Phil Klopp made his own station with vanishing passengers. When the train approaches, you see passengers on the platform; when the train stops, Phil presses a button that flips the platform (on one side are the passengers and on the other side there are none); when the train pulls away, you see the empty platform.

You can see this custom accessory on my post: Phil Klopp's Magnificent Layout & Model Train Song. I posted it in mid to late November 2017 on this Forum. 

You can also go on YouTube, type in the search box: Arnold Cribari. Then click on the video/song: Who Am I (Rollin' By).

Yes, the MTH station platform with the disappearing passengers is nice, I have one.  But I think the American Flyer version where the passengers actually move in and out of a passenger car is unique.  

Arnold, I must have missed your article.  I'll check it out now.  

Dan Padova posted:

Yes, the MTH station platform with the disappearing passengers is nice, I have one.  But I think the American Flyer version where the passengers actually move in and out of a passenger car is unique.  

Arnold, I must have missed your article.  I'll check it out now.  

Dan, I would love to get your opinion and feedback regarding my video/song on YouTube that you can access on my post about Phil Klopp and my model train song.

By the way, the TCA likes my video/song and posted it, and my article about it, on their e-publication known as e-Train.

Dan, Is that "Fly-ionel" or vintage?

I have an old City Station with sounds and station stop that is pretty cool

 It doesn't work very well with modern items though. It keeps a few volts at the track to hold the mechanical e units in "on" without reversing or dropping into nuetral and new units only need a few volts to keep rolling, so they don't ever really stop 100%, but my old trains love it.

Rich883 posted:

...

What I don’t get is with all the tech we have today with Lionel legacy and MTH DCS, Bluetooth audio, WiFi control apps, and the amazing detail on many trains today, we have operating accessories with detail and technology from the 1940’s.  There could be many very cool operating accessories with today’s tech and manufacturing capabilities but instead we get reissues from the early 20th century.

...

Every so often, we get a glimpse of what a modern-day operating accessory should look like... such as the rotary coal tipple.  And then when Lionel attempts to re-issue the accessory (years after the first production run), they reportedly can't find a Chinese manufacturing factory willing to build the thing without breaking the bank.    Sign of the times, I guess.  Barring few exceptions, either stuff gets made "cheaply" today, or it doesn't get made at all. 

Oh yes... and speaking of things being made cheaply... you wouldn't believe the hassles we went through getting accessories to work properly on my new layout.  Even something as "simple" as the 3 different Sunoco oil tank farms were a royal nuisance.  Either the lighting didn't work right, or the units didn't match up properly when creating the "back-to-back, side-by-side appearance" suggested in the catalogs when building a set of connected tanks.   The catalogs do their job creating wonderful images of "how great it's gonna be".  And then Lionel's Chinese factories crank out junk like there's no tomorrow... delivering enthusiasts a harsh dose of reality that grossly falls short of the high expectations set in the catalog(s).  Sad but very true.

By the time my new layout was completed recently, we literally had a box-load of operating accessories that didn't make it onto the layout, because they were DOA right out of the box.  The poor quality goes way beyond locomotives today.  Operating accessories are often riddled with problems ranging from complete DOA's to operational glitches that need HOURS of fine-tuning to get consistent performance.    With perseverance and a bit of luck, you can get to a rewarding point where stuff eventually works.  And then you've gotta cross your fingers, and hope things stay that way for more than a few minutes!!! 

Adriatic posted:

Dan, Is that "Fly-ionel" or vintage?

I have an old City Station with sounds and station stop that is pretty cool

 It doesn't work very well with modern items though. It keeps a few volts at the track to hold the mechanical e units in "on" without reversing or dropping into nuetral and new units only need a few volts to keep rolling, so they don't ever really stop 100%, but my old trains love it.

The American Flyer animated passenger station was not reissued by Lionel/American Flyer as far as I know. 

https://youtu.be/7p38pyX3p1s

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Dan Padova posted:

Yes, the MTH station platform with the disappearing passengers is nice, I have one.  But I think the American Flyer version where the passengers actually move in and out of a passenger car is unique.  

Arnold, I must have missed your article.  I'll check it out now.  

Dan, I would love to get your opinion and feedback regarding my video/song on YouTube that you can access on my post about Phil Klopp and my model train song.

By the way, the TCA likes my video/song and posted it, and my article about it, on their e-publication known as e-Train.

Arnold, nicely done.  

Dan Padova posted:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Dan Padova posted:

Yes, the MTH station platform with the disappearing passengers is nice, I have one.  But I think the American Flyer version where the passengers actually move in and out of a passenger car is unique.  

Arnold, I must have missed your article.  I'll check it out now.  

Dan, I would love to get your opinion and feedback regarding my video/song on YouTube that you can access on my post about Phil Klopp and my model train song.

By the way, the TCA likes my video/song and posted it, and my article about it, on their e-publication known as e-Train.

Arnold, nicely done.  

So glad, Dan, that you enjoyed the video/song. I would like nothing better than for you to share it with anyone you think will get a kick out of it.

I have a bunch of accessories on my layout. Some I have repainted or reworked a bit to make them more realistic. I think K-line had some that were more true to scale . I have their speeder house with the small turntable that my grand kids like to run. Heck I still get a kick out of them and i'm in my 80th year.

Years ago Lionel made the operation water tank, I believe is the # 138, it works like this: you fill   the tank with about 3oz.  of distilled water or so, then, you park a steam locomotive with the water hash of the tender as close as you can to the water spout of the tank and press the push bottom of the tank and you can see the water level in tank  "going down" like the tender is getting full of water, very nice accessory, a lot of people get a kick out of it; unfortunately, Lionel used a very unreliable gear pump, peace of junk, I order one about tree years ago or so, it cost me about $25.00 and it work only one week, pump works but it does not pump the water at all, I found a real miniature water pump with impeller not gear in Amazon for $.10.oo, I retrofit my tank with this pump and works great, end of the problems for ever.

Churu posted:

Years ago Lionel made the operation water tank, I believe is the # 138, it works like this: you fill   the tank with about 3oz.  of distilled water or so, then, you park a steam locomotive with the water hash of the tender as close as you can to the water spout of the tank and press the push bottom of the tank and you can see the water level in tank  "going down" like the tender is getting full of water, very nice accessory, a lot of people get a kick out of it; unfortunately, Lionel used a very unreliable gear pump, peace of junk, I order one about tree years ago or so, it cost me about $25.00 and it work only one week, pump works but it does not pump the water at all, I found a real miniature water pump with impeller not gear in Amazon for $.10.oo, I retrofit my tank with this pump and works great, end of the problems for ever.

As I mentioned recently in another post, the postwar #38 water tower using real water is one of my favorite Lionel accessories. Original water pump in mine works fine provided directions are followed: drain all water before storing it for extended period of time, use distilled water as Churu said, and periodically clean it by mixing warm water and dish washing liquid outside the accessory and cycling the warm soapy water several times through the accessory. Then, drain the warm soapy water and put in the distilled water.

The lowering of the water level when operating the accessory is very visible when a couple of drops of blue dye is added to the 7 ounces of distilled water. I only add the dye when I have an audience, after which I drain it and flush it out using the warm soapy water. When I have no audience, I use plain distilled water. I also run the accessory for at least a few seconds every day.

Accessories make a layout more fun. You can actually load or unload cargo from your rolling stock. If I ever get a new layout built, I plan to have the Rotary Coal Tipple, Command-Control Gantry Crane with Sounds, Intermodal Crane, Nuclear Power Plant, Culvert Loader/Unloader, Milk Car (still one of my favorite accessories), and a few others. The only things I want Lionel to make are a new Intermodal Crane with Command-Control and Sounds and a new Rotary Coal Tipple. I plan on using Lionel Legacy and LCS to run all my accessories.

Not for me in the sense that I have many accessories on my layout, but yes for me in the sense that all of mine are old (Postwar). Here are a few of mine:

@Rich883 posted:

Dan,

I agree with you everyone has their own style for their layout, I respect that.  If you want a post war style toy train layout, enjoy.

What I don’t get is with all the tech we have today with Lionel legacy and MTH DCS, Bluetooth audio, WiFi control apps, and the amazing detail on many trains today, we have operating accessories with detail and technology from the 1940’s.  There could be many very cool operating accessories with today’s tech and manufacturing capabilities but instead we get reissues from the early 20th century.

The barrel loader was pretty cool when my dad was a kid ( I am 50) but pretty lame by todays standards.

Aw come on.  The barrel loader was one of the first accessories I purchased with savings from my allowance.  $7.95 if memory serves.  It did not matter if half the time the barrels danced off the line and occasionally (often) did not go in the gondola, it was fun.

Personally, I get enough realism when I walk out the door in the morning.

Like the hobbyists who want to operate their layout with trains performing a realistic purpose, I provided action accessories as reasons to keep trains busy with realistic assignments.  My L-shaped layout includes:  Barrel Loading Ramp, AF Oil Drum  Loader, Oil Derricks, Culvert Loader & Unloader, Sawmill, Operating Switch Tower, Gateman, News Stand, Refreshment Stand, a Passenger Loading Platform, and a Watchman Shanty.

Because of space limitations, my modest-size industrial district can't include pieces I'd love to place there: several operating coal accessories, Forklift Lumber Unloader (one of my favorites), the ultra-cool Rotary Tipple, and the MTH Coal Loader (which I would install at the edge of my layout with a coal barge in position below).

Non-train related action accessories include:  Band Stand, several City Park pieces, Postman/dogs, K-Line Diner, and the iconic MTH city accessories (Gas Station, Mel's Drive In, Car Wash, Fire Station). I passed on the carnival rides -- no space for them. 

I placed a rotating turntable inside a Studebaker dealership building to show a Stude Golden Hawk in rotation and installed Yard Lights at the adjacent used car lot. I consider them operating accessories too. I selected lighted (but otherwise non-operating) residential buildings in suburban and downtown locations; including a repurposed Municipal Building as the office, studio, and microwave tower of KLIO-FM ("Golden Oldies for Golden Agers").

On the upper level, I placed 35 DEPT 56 North Pole Village lighted porcelain buildings, some of which are cleverly animated (such as the Naughty or Nice Detective Agency and the Polar Ice Skating Rink).

On previous layouts, I installed the Nuclear Power Station, the Rocket Launcher, the Oil Field with bubbling tubes, a Coal Ramp, and an Operating Freight Building with its two moving baggage carts.

One can't have too many operating accessories! See the attached photos.

A self-analysis of my psycho-emotional status ...
My layout is tightly fitted into an L-shaped addition to our house, which can't be enlarged. It cramps my style!  As compensation for limited space for trains, yards, a roundhouse and turntable, and more -- I have "overdone" action accessories.

Mike Mottler         LCCA 12394

Think of what could be possible if the folks at Hallmark that produce their animated Christmas decorations got in on the action!

To each his own, but I think that less can be more when it comes to operating accessories as well as other things on a layout. IMO, too much clutter on a layout can be a negative,

I have way more operating accessories than those currently on my layout. One solution can be to rotate them. In other words, every 6 months to one year, replace certain operating accessories with other structures. I recently did this by removing a few operating accessories  and putting in their place Plasticville structures and scenery.

I agree that operating accessories are charming, crowd pleasers and can add purpose to a layout. Some of my favorite layouts have operating accessories with realistic scenery. Arnold

I love Lionel post war operating accessories and currently have 17 on the layout. Culvert loader/unloader set, magnetic gantry crane, bascule bridge, coal loaders, oil derricks, rocket launcher, log loader, milk car (of course) icing station etc.

BUT, for some unknown reason, I rarely operate them. I guess I rather run trains and work on the layout

I like some operating accessories on the layout. I prefer them to be s-l-o-w-e-d down a bit now that the electronic technology is there. Make them a realistic scale size so they can blend into the scenery.

IMO MTH newer versions of classic Lionel designs were/are on the right track, no pun intended.

And of course MTH's most recent water tower which is a significant improvement over the original:

Lastly, while not an operating accessory persay. Slowing down the dump cars is good too. No catapulting load:

Thanks for sharing your modern, slowed down, operating accessories, Rick, which I had not seen in action before. Very nice.

I love operating accessories and every catalog I hope I see something new and unique, but alas I am usually disappointed.  I think they are probably a profit loss to Lionel and they most likely cost a lot to design and manufacture and then everyone balks at the prices.  So they will throw in an occasional reissue of any older accessory.   But they are what attracted to to Lionel trains.  I remember going through the catalogs as a kid.   The old 027 Lionel operating drawbridge with Bell was amazing to me as a kid.  As other have said though, they do take up tons of space.  I jammed as many as I could when I built my layout, but still had space issues.  If you enjoy Lionel accessories here is a video of just them that I made on my layout.

Enjoy!

O Gauge Operating Accessories - YouTube

I think operating accessories will always be a part of our O gauge world.  I don’t have many and wish I had room for more, but what I do have was heavily used by my kids (when they were young) and I. The absolute best one is my tinplate gantry crane. Not only does this thing have special sentimental value but practically every kid that ever visited my layout had a blast loading and unloading gondolas.  As much as I’ve veered into more realism on my layout, I will never remove this and the other operating accessories (as well as my childhood plasticvile structures). Then again, I’m the kind of hobbyist that has no problem running my beloved tinplate alongside scale model subway trains.

....from the layout I just took down.......and, many of them will find a home on the new layout......

.....you might say that I am fond of operating accessories......

Peter

Operating accessories bring great life to layouts and I am a fan. I designed and built several for my layout. The auto carrier is a favorite for layout visitors.

I still like 'em too.

@Rich883 posted:

Good question Dennis.  For me I like animation, and have some on the layout, but operating accessories just seem like out of date toys when you compare them to the detail of today’s trains and many structures.

For those who don't think postwar operating accessories are "real" enough, I'll post back a photo of a railroad track with a middle rail when I come across one.  Black "Phantom Rails" as well.

John

Currently my “The 48 Club” Super O layout is Postwar accessory focused. My grandkids and I just really enjoy all the action they provide. Currently I have the Automatic Gateman (145), Ice Depot (352), Water Tower (38), Milk Car (3362), Portal Gantry Crane (282), Barrel Car (3562) and Loader (362), Circus Car (3363), Horse Car (3356), Culvert Loader (342) and Unloader (345), Oil Derrick (455) along with several Beacons (394), Floodlights and Crossing Gate. Unfortunately I couldn’t accommodate the New Stand (128), Passenger Station (133), Freight Station (356), Coal Ramp (456), Coal Loader (397) and Coal Elevator (97) that are in storage.

Accessories to me are one of the main reasons I chose three rail O Gauge over two rail O Scale trains. Having trains as a child I always wanted a layout with "the big four" consisting of the #97 coal loader, the #164 log loader, the #182 magnetic crane and the Bascule Bridge. Additionally, the culvert loader and unloader as well as the other coal and log loaders add incredible interest to my layout. Then, you add in the fire station, car wash and drive in from MTH plus numerous K-Line and American Flyer log and coal loaders plus Gabe the Lamplighter and you end up with a lot more fun than just seeing trains go round. When kids come to see the layout they want to test their ability to use the cranes and the barrel and drum loaders. Oh, I forgot the K-Line auto dealer and the Lionel Hobby shop. More fun. So these accessories are not "scale". So what, the kids could care less. They just want to pick up that steel and put it in the gondola!

@Rich Wiemann posted:

Currently my “The 48 Club” Super O layout is Postwar accessory focused. My grandkids and I just really enjoy all the action they provide. Currently I have the Automatic Gateman (145), Ice Depot (352), Water Tower (38), Milk Car (3362), Portal Gantry Crane (282), Barrel Car (3562) and Loader (362), Circus Car (3363), Horse Car (3356), Culvert Loader (342) and Unloader (345), Oil Derrick (455) along with several Beacons (394), Floodlights and Crossing Gate. Unfortunately I couldn’t accommodate the New Stand (128), Passenger Station (133), Freight Station (356), Coal Ramp (456), Coal Loader (397) and Coal Elevator (97).

Nice collection Rich.  I like the track too.  What kind is it?

John

@Craftech posted:

Nice collection Rich.  I like the track too.  What kind is it?

John

John thank you….its Lionel Super O, the best looking track made IMHO.

I'll second that opinion Rich!

I think there are a few reasons we don’t see as many new accessories today:

1).   The emergence of scale-like layouts, which limits the market;

2). The high cost of specialized molds and tooling, which in most cases cannot be painted in 50 different road names, and

3)  The high number of them already on the market.    Postwar accessories seem to have a higher survival rate than the trains of the same era.  It also helps that many were made of unpainted plastic which  makes it easier to maintain a nice look.  For example,  most 445 switch towers and 132 stop stations I see are Excellent or will easily clean up to that level.    I recently picked up a 128 newsstand, like new in the box, for $35 on eBay.

Only a few like the 350 transfer table and 497 coaling station are hard to find in decent shape.   The 415 Diesel Fueling Station is a tougher one too.    It didn’t sell well and the metal base on most found today are rusted or badly scratched.

My favorite operating accessory is my $10 homemade turntable, and it is not "A thing of the Past" around here.  The turntable can reverse (not possible with a Transfer Table) and/or transfer locomotives to the round house.  It also is "much used" verses others comments on not using many of their accessories much.  Also by building a turntable the "hard to find" and "costs too much" comments do not apply.

It is also easy to build.  Details on OGR topic below on page 1, post 9.

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...ra-027-layout?page=1

Charlie

Love it Charlie!

I can't imagine 3 rail O scale without operating accessories, it's part of the charm for me.

The Operating Milk Platforms are the most popular operating accessories on my layout, by far.  Every time the grands come to operate trains, both Milk Platforms get a work out.  That is the major reason I added a second platform when I recently added a Wye to the layout.

Milk cars and platforms are very simple, reliable and fool proof to operate.

The second milk platform and cattle pen were added when the Wye was added in 2020.  All are close to the edge of the layout and the control panels.

Charlie

Will definitely be having operating accessories on my new layout.

I love the operating accessories, not sure I'll put them on my finally (slowly) being built layout One of the reasons I can see is that a lot of the emphasis in recent years has been on the scale side of 3 rail, and they likely feel it doesn't fit, that scale operators wouldn't be interested in an operating coal loader or water tower or whatnot, even if they were scale sized, that they are interested in realism of running the trains (and again, this is me speculating on what those running the show think).  For those who love the old accessories, there is so much out there that making more of them won't make sense. On the other hand, if they could make more reliable versions of the old accessories it might sell, some of them were pretty finicky to say the least; the old lionel accessories were interesting rube goldberg devices in some ways, the guys building them were using clever hacks of existing technology, like the open frame motor and the vibrating whatnots, done likely to be economical. With what is available today, small servo motors, and materials, you wouldn't need to recreate the old technology (note: Lionel likely did this when they reproduced them for the nostalgia market). I think to get new and improved accessories would require (to me) there being demand from those who are buying the scale stuff, for the 'toy train' side of things, I think there is just so much out there that brand new copies don't make sense there, though new accessories to go along with things like the Polar express might.

Operating accessories including rolling stock are what drew me to O-Gauge in the first place!  I have two dozen or so which will make on to the layout I'm building.

-Greg

You may be very happy with Lionel's catalog tomorrow. Ryan said that 2022 is supposed to be "the year of the accessories" at Lionel.

Mad

Should my local hobby shop have the 2021 Volume 2  catalog tomorrow?

Charlie

I think you can fit the operating accessories in a scale layout. If you have the trains move you can also have the loads, etc. move. The point of the hobby is to have fun, so I've even reverted back to shooting off the 6650 missle car at the 6470 exploding boxcar. But, you can fit the coal loaders, log stuff, milk cars in a scale layout. I'm still kicking myself over not buying that Right-of-Way chlorine car in the 90s and trying to get a culvert loader/unloader and kitbashing the culverts into chlorene and sulphur dioxide one ton tanks for a wastewater plant(I did that for 5 years as a career).

@Choo Choo Charlie posted:

Mad

Should my local hobby shop have the 2021 Volume 2  catalog tomorrow?

Charlie

Maybe; maybe not. Depends upon if Lionel shipped them to their dealers prior to launch on their website.

Contact your LHS (local hobby shop) and ask them!

@Rich883 posted:

Good question Dennis.  For me I like animation, and have some on the layout, but operating accessories just seem like out of date toys when you compare them to the detail of today’s trains and many structures.

Well said, and another way of looking at the apparent lack of operating accessories featured on hi-rail layouts is that they, with few exceptions, have not evolved in detail and realism as the trains have over the decades. With some ingenuity and imagination this static trend in accessories, and structures for that matter, could be reversed.