I helped a friend setup and wire 5 Lionel operating accessories tonight for our club Christmas layout display. It’s running late so it will be up for awhile as a “Winter Display” Any way I grew up envying my Uncles Lionel and Flyer sets with there operating accessories, and cool controller switches and buttons. Tonight I wired up a rotating beacon, a windmill, 3 Oil Derricks, and a Water Tower with lowering spigot. I was very underwhelmed with the quality and lack of smoothness of the accesories. First the Rotating beacon which has sat new in a box for about 8 years, barely lit up, and didn’t rotate. The windmill spins, but is very noisy, I guess I expected smoother operation from the Oil Derricks, though at least 2 out of three did bubble, and the Huge Water tower just lowers the spigot, no bubbling water or sounds. And everything was made of cheap plastic. The real nail in the coffin was the switches that Lionel must of paid about 12 cents a piece for. They look like they will hold up about a week. I guess growing up with metal ones, and feeling the heft of a Coal Loader, Talking Station, Metal gateman spoiled me or at least my memory. Next time we will be hooking up the Sawmill, Iceing Station, Barrel Loader, and Control tower where the man comes down the steps. Hopefully these will leave a better impression. My comment to my friend was that Lionel was really resting on their laurels and old reputation to sell these items. Sorry to be so pessamistic, but I had been looking forward to seeing these in actions, hopefully they will amaze the little ones, because I liked the thought or memory of them, more than the reality. Dave in Reading, PA
I have 3 young kids, and would like nothing more than to add some operating accessories to our layout. As it is, we have all of one - an automatic milk car and metal stand. The Moe and Joe wood car might be one I’d get the kids.
The reason we don’t have more is that none of them have left a good enough impression on me to warrant buying any. They seem tempermental, loud, and easily broken. I’d love to buy a log loader or a gantry crane for the kids. But to spend that much money and see them break or not perform well? No dice.
Another issue I have is that most, if not all, are repetative. They do the same thing over and over and over. That gets monotonous pretty quickly.
I don’t want to spend my train time with my kids working on or repairing accessories. It takes too much fun away from our hobby.
Jim
I’ll be a Lionel fan till my last day but. Even a lot of post war access. did not work well if at all, and the new remakes have a lot of plastic where metal use to be and very cheap motors. So sadly I must admit I agree with you…
I’m not sure I understand the complaint about repetition. ALL operating Lionel accessories are reptitious by nature and ALWAYS have been.
Now, if you want metal, heavy-duty switches, and high-torque motors, be prepared to treble the costs. A decent quality electric motor itself will cost more than most of the accessories.
I know operating acessories have always been repetitious. That get boring and loses it’s appeal after what, 5 minutes? No thanks.
Jim
Sorry, Jim. I was simply responding to the first assertion that Lionel accessories have somehow deteriorated in quality. In this respect, I don’t believe that to be true. FWIW, it seems that kids have been pretty well entertained by them for many years.
I think it is more than the accessories that the quality is not there in when talking modern Lionel!! It seems to me that Lionel is using the public for a testing grounds for their new products; case in point is the 6-23010 O gauge switches!!
Lee F.
Perhaps we need a better definition of “quality.” Are we talking reliability of operation, sturdiness of compnents and assemblies, use of certain typles of materials in construction, longevity, or some unquanitifable perception?
As I understand it, modern accessories (switches perhaps notwithstanding) are at least as good as their ancestors at doing what they were built to do, but none was ever fool-proof. Plastic vs metal has strong argumetns on both sides. It isn’t yet possible to address longevity or sturdiness, but none was ever desinged to be used as a football. It seems the comparison is against memories, and idealized ones at that.
“case in point is the 6-23010 O gauge switches”
Oy Veh…here we go again! I’ve got five of these permanently installed on my layout. They’ve worked great for ten plus years with no maintenance.
The Modern Era Rotary Beacon, #138 Water Tower, and Oil Derrick all use the same tooling and same mechanisms as the originals. The original #138 only had a lowering spout too, and had an all-plastic tank and support structure mounted to a die-cast base. JUST LIKE THE NEWER ONES.
If you want more action, you want the #38 Water Tower. Lionel has also re-released this. If features a clear outer tank, and the water level lowers once the spout goes down, rising again when the spout rises.
If your Rotary Beacon doesn’t work out of the box, apply more power. Check the beacon rotator ring to see if the Vibrotor rubber nubs are worn off. Lube with graphite.
The Ice Station uses the same tooling but with a CAN motor replacing the solenoid. It works way better than the original. Most Modern Era Sawmills use the same tooling and motor as their Post War counterparts, although some now have smoother CAN motors, spinning blades, and flashing strobes.
It seems odd to slam current Lionel production that is identical to old Lionel production for not having enough quality. Compared to what?
Jon [8D]
OOpppss…one mistake: the #138 Water Tower now uses a CAN motor instead of a solenoid.
Jon [8D]
Wow, funny to read some opinions on accessories. To me the repetition of trains going around and around gets boring. Acessories, though repetitive, can be so diverse on a layout that the boredom of looping trains easily diminishes.
Jim, get a postwar gantry crane and it will never break. Keep it lubed and tuned up and your kids will love it. Mine do.
Mike S.
I will, Mike. That accessory can be used to load and unload different things, and keep someone little amused more than some others.
Jim
Hey Kooljock1,
Do you want my old switches that I call Lionel duds, the 6-23010 & 23011, I have 5 that quit working properly. They are not Williams compatible or the switch just stopped working.
Lee F.
It amazes me how evertime I come on this board and see one puzzling post after another. Do you have any idea what your doing?
Quality? What are you comparing the quality of the products you set up to? What do you mean the lack of quality? With the exception of the windmill, the beacon, oil derricks, and water towers are carbon copies of original postwar pieces.
The rotary beacon was sitting dry in the box for 8 years. Did you read the instructions? Did you apply a small amount of graphite lubricant on beacon head to facilitate spinning like the instructions say? Did you run it at the proper voltage? Did you know that when accessories are new they are tight and benefit from running at higher voltages until they break in? How does something barely light up? Either it does or doesn’t and is dependent on the voltage the item is receiving.
I can not comment on the windmill as I never had one.
As for the oil derricks not bubbling were they getting the proper voltage? Was it even lit up? Because if the PROPER bulb is in there and burning at the proper voltage, it should bulbble. It’s simple chemistry. It’s not mechanical. All oil derricks operate smoothly from my 455 postwar to my uncataloged 12930 from 1995. It’s the same thing!
Leaving the 38 out this, the 30, 138 and modern era water towers are high quality scale like examples of a 1940’s water tower. Diecast base, plastic structure and tank. What were you expecting for the tower to jump out of the box and tap dance?
Did you have all 6 of these accessories hook up to the same transfomer? What was the coniditon of the transformer? Was this one of the cases where there were 300 trains hooked up to a 1033?
Nothing your saying makes any sense! Nothing!
Finally someone with a brain.
Thank goodness I never get bored watching my trains do the same things OVER and OVER and OVER and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. [:D]
Lee,
How can they not be “Williams compatible”? Are Williams Trains running with HUGE flanges or something? And yes, I’d LOVE to take those off your hands!
Jon [8D]
My newer accessories seem to be built about the same as my older ones. I prefer the modern ice station over the postwar version because it is quieter and reliable. The colors are better, too.
I do wish Lionel would have built the “other half” of some of their accessories:
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Need the one that unloads the ice cubes and puts them back in the ice station.
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Need the milk car loader accessory.
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Need the “board loader” for the Lionel remake of the Moe and Joe lumber car.
The “my fat hand” accessory just doesn’t fit with my layout theme.
I have not had any problems with the newer Lionel accessories. I have a number of crossing gates and signals that Lionel has made within the past decade. No problem whatsoever. I also have a number of searchlights by different manufacturers.
My favourite Lionel accessory that I have is the crane. My only issue is that you have to hold the Magnet on lever constantly, otherwise it will drop it’s load.
I also have the Coal ramp (I paid $50 for it, all it needs is a little cleaning, new sidewires, and a place for it on my layout. I also have the log ramp ($15, needs motor work and belt replaced, I have the belt, I just need to find it.)
Repetitive? Most Lionel accessories are made simple for economy and reliability. Watching trains go round and round can also get repetitive. This is why you can make your layout interactive. (i.e. the crane).
I would also like to recommend Marx accessories. I have a few crossing gates and lights, and a bell ringer, which, when power is applied, sounds like a muted alarm clock. I would also recommend the Whistling stations.
If you want variety, I would recommend some of the newer models Lionel has put out such as the Mr. Spiff and puddles the dog accessory.
You can even make your own accessories. My current bout of accrssories that are in design and construction are for a carnival on the layout.
I have had a lot of fun with accessories for my layout, and I hope that you do as well.
I only have two “modern” accesories, the Track gang and Gabe the lamplighter. I bought repros because I could not afford originals. On my layout I have 12(?) original accesories. The originals after being cleaned oiled etc. run flawlessly. The track gang and Gabe I have had to work on out of the box to work right. Now they work well, but I don’t expect them to run flawless in 50 years!
Jim