Hi folks,
One of my favorite pieces of rolling stock growing up was Lionel's operating searchlight car. My brother and I loved to turn up the voltage and push it around the track in a darkened room, casting life-sized shadows of the Bachmann coal tower, signal bridges, church steeples, and every other recognizable landmark in Plasticville onto the wall behind the layout.
Some years ago I switched to mostly scale-proportioned trains. I've been waiting for one of the manufacturers to bring out a "scale" searchlight car. Were there any real-life prototypes for these? If not, how did railroads conduct night operations in remote and inaccessible areas?
Let's talk about what's out there. I know that Lionel made at least three types of searchlight cars since World War II: The 11-inch plastic flatcar with a protruding console that says "track maintenance;" the depressed center version with a generator in the middle, and another one with a removable light and the cable reel. (This version gets extra points for play value!) MTH made a long depressed-center version in both plastic and die-cast. These have a hefty feel but the bulb on mine is kind of dim. K-Line also made one on a short flatcar (perhaps this was based on Marx molds?)
Whose do you think is the most realistic or plausible? Which one do you think would look best alongside scale-proportioned locos & rolling stock? Look forward to sharing your thoughts here! -Ted
