Does anybody remember this accessory? What year was it produced? How big was it’s footprint? How many tracks went through it?What did it do exactly?
Thanks,
George
Been six or seven years since I saw one. It was a big overhead crane-equipped machine shop, wheel shop, etc , for engines. Partially animated as I recall and very troublesome.
The one I saw was heavily discounted since it was unworkable and had been returned to the dealer. I think Lionel offered a “fix” but don’t recall when or how?
When this item was made I ordered (6) for the store. When I received them, I believe none of them worked. I returned some to Lionel for repair however, when they came back, they still did not work or were in worse shape them when I sent them. Luckly for me my LIONEL distributor took them back and returned my money. He told me, Jimmy these things are JUNK. I would strongly advise not buying this item regarless of the price.
If memory serves me right it was first made in 1997.
It was about 14 or 15 inches long by about 8" wide.
It had on track that ran through the middle.
There were 4 or 6 green machines that were supposed to opperate and make sounds.
That rarely happened!
There are no parts available!
Any extra ‘machines’ became flat car loads.
I only seen one though. It was on a layout and had working sounds.
The owner said he got it for $80, then disconnected the internal mechanism & adding a switch for the sounds. He addmitted that this was not fool proof though.
i got one on my layout and it works fine. there was an upgrade of some sort that was required. i added exra interior lights to better illuminate the machine action and put more people inside. i do not have it controlled by TMCC. i did have to earth ground it as it is tinplate and interferred with TMCC signals on adjacent tracks.
Lionel’s “official” reply to the problems of the Lionel Backshop accessory…
I also have one, picked it up about 6 month’s ago. Have been unable to locate an upgrade kit,Lionel has washed there hand’s of it. As per several E mail’s. It contains a mother board,harnes and a funnel for the smoke unit. I know they are out there,just have to find them. Mine came in the oridginal box and shipping container.This is a real nice building ,I believe it is worth it to make it work properly. It will take up some space on your layout.[2c] mike
A while back there was a guy who posted a circuit he made to replace what was not available from Lionel.
I do not recall if this was an “original” unit that never had the upgrade at all, or an upgraded one that failed.
I know I made a hardcopy of it, but I don’t know if it still exists on line or not. I suspect (but I don’t remember for sure) the original post was on the OGRR forum.
Oh, and there are only 3 machines. The one that looks like a vertical press is the one that ended up as a load on a 16 wheel depressed flatcar. The other 2 machines were not used on the flatcars.
I think someone already mentioned this, but the doors open on both ends when it is working properly.
Dave45681 ,do you still have that hard copy, that gives the name and address of the guy that you believe made replacement boards for the Lionel Badk Shop?
Yes dave if you do please post it or send it to my email as well. because i have one coming that was never used and comes with the upgrade board seperately as well.
clepto222@aol.com if you have the hard copy please send me one
thanks
OOOOOOOPPPPPSSSSS!!!
Sorry I forgot about this post/topic so long ago guys. Guess the Holiday season got the better of me and all.
I will see if I can dig up the hardcopy. The best I will probably be able to do is take a pic of it and forward it as a jpeg. (don’t have a scanner here or at work)
I may want to only email it to you guys, as I feel like it’s slightly uncourteous to re-post some one elses work without being able to give them proper credit. (I don’t know the guy who did it at all, I just printed it when it came about as a “just in case” precaution, like if mine ever dies)
Again, I will look for it. If not before, I will dig it out this weekend hopefully. Sorry again I blew off the original query for like 3 months ! [:0] [B)]
-Dave
thanks dave if you can you can email it to me when you find it…thanks again this will be great help incase mine dies…
Update: The good news is I found the printout, but the bad news is that the text is hard to read even on my original. I doubt it would be legible at all if I were to try to photo it.
It pretty much consisted of using 3 relays to control the shop (smoke, sounds, doors, machines) via an SC-2.
The part that is not the clearest and I am not even comfortable deciphering is where it says what color wires you need to cut from the wiring harness to connect to the relays. (the relays and SC-2 are doing what the dead/damaged motherboard would not) Of course, this is the key part.
Sorry I couldn’t come through with this.
thats ok Dave…I have a question for you though. Just got mine from someone for a good price totally new never used with shipping carton and the upgrade board and wire harness in the box in case i ever need them…
Now here comes the question. Wired it up today. and tada it workes great thank God. Only problem is as soon as i apply track power the smoke unit comes on and i do not know how to shut it off because it is not in the instructions. If you know how that would help…i tell you one thing it smokes like crazy.
Sounds like it would have been a nice accesory if it would have worked. Hope Lionel improves and fixes the problems and makes it again.
I highly dought they will do that, but, anything can happen if you let it.
steel rails