All Wet, Or A Big Splash? Lionel's

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All Wet, Or A Big Splash? Lionel's

Рет қаралды 3,646

Жыл бұрын

Episode 140: In 1959, Lionel’s design team went fishing for a new operating car design - literally. The #3435 Operating Traveling Aquarium Car used a mechanism similar to the #3444 Animated Gondola Car to create the illusion of swimming fish inside a boxcar with special display windows on each side. A Lionel Vibrotor vibrating motor triggered a spring assembly that pulled a 35mm film around two sprockets. The film contained images of undersea life and the image was backlit by a pair of light bulbs. Waves in the display windows added to the illusion of movement and rippling light while looking underwater.
Drawing power from the track, action continued anytime the power was on - regardless of whether the train was in motion. Therefore, the original aquarium car could be parked on a powered siding and still thrill layout viewers. However, the Vibrotor motor can be quite loud, and the combination of motor and lights makes these cars a power-hungry lot, so a 75 watt transformer should be considered the bare minimum for operating one of these cars - and for a trainload of them, you’d better have a big ZW transformer! These cars do have an on/off switch so they can be run without fish action if desired.
Many operators at the time thought Lionel’s design was all wet, and production ended in 1962 after a four-year run. However, time has shown the car to be a crowd pleaser and eventually the car become a whale of a hit for the firm.
Toy Train Tips And Tricks is a channel devoted to the operation, repair, history, and collecting of classic 3-rail O and O27 gauge trains made by Lionel, Marx, K-Line, Menards, and other manufacturers.
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*As an Amazon Associate and a member of the eBay Partner Program, I may receive commissions on qualifying purchases of items from the links below.**
Items mentioned in this video:
Lionel #3435 Aquarium Cars: ebay.us/qKJVTP
Lionel City Aquarium Display Car: ebay.us/UHYNkw
Lionel TMCC Command Aquarium Car: ebay.us/3pnOCq
New Lionel Aquarium Cars: amzn.to/3mejxRs
Lionel Star Trek TNG Train Set: amzn.to/3KfDRdj
Music: Vibin’ 53 by Peyruis | / peyruis
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Пікірлер: 57

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

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@franktino6676 11 ай бұрын

Mike,I have the 1996 version of the Aquarium car with the worm gear on the under belly, that was bought new in '96. My one daughter, now in her 30's still mentions " the fish car" whenever the subject of train layouts come up in conversation. She was 5 years old back then and everytime the trains were run, she had to have the " fish car " in the consist. So, Lionel was smart to continue production of it in the various mods, because it was a hit for many kids😊

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks 11 ай бұрын

Great story!

@rakhimilstead8951 11 ай бұрын

Hey Mike, I bought one of these fish cars inexpensively at York several years ago. I liked it a lot, but it lacked the "swimming" action of the original. I was able to order replacement acrylic with wavy insides from Lionel for just a couple of dollars. That simple modification made a HUGE difference! Now my fish really "swim" as the car rolls. I'm VERY happy with this inexpensive upgrade!

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks 11 ай бұрын

Great tip!

@huntercoleman460 Жыл бұрын

The aquarium car is such an iconic Lionel car.

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

Indeed!

@stevenmiller5696 Жыл бұрын

Fun car always liked it!

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

It's eye catching!

@ronalddevine9587 Жыл бұрын

Informative and fun. Thank you.

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

@waynecasey6375 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for another. Great video Mike!

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the feedback, and thanks for watching!

@paulmatulavich7321 Жыл бұрын

You would be proud of me Mike. I recently applied some of your old school ingenuity to solving a problem with an original postwar aquarium car. I purchased this car from a collector ten or more years ago, and it is mint, unrun, factory fresh beauty from 1959. Two weeks ago I finally decided to run it - only to find out that the film strip kept snagging inside the car. Imagine my frustration over a car that had never been run! Well, I carefully opened her up, and discovered that a spring had never been properly installed at the factory 64 years ago. This spring keeps proper tension on the 2nd spool, and without it, the film strip will not function properly. I hated to tinker with a collector piece, but once I slid the spring onto the L bracket, the fish swam like they were performing at Silver Springs in Florida. ( a Lionel reference). The lesson here is - even brand new postwar items fail to run sometimes right out of the box.

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing! It's true that we cannot ALWAYS blame the problems on China!

@thegoalie62 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for another great video. Also, great timing just purchased the Gill Fin's last week and waiting for it to be delivered. Wish they kept the rippled windows but now I have an excuse to look for the other variations.

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

Yes, I noticed that they brought the ripples back in some versions. I'm sure the plain is cheaper.

@chrisresor1893 Жыл бұрын

Another enjoyable vid Mike! I've seen different versions of this thing I don't know how many times over the years. I have no desire to own one tho. Keep the vids coming!

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the feedback!

@freemanconnell8134 Жыл бұрын

I have a Dahlonega mint gold car and a Johnny Lightning display car that use that shell. I was considering getting an aquarium car, didn’t realize about all the variants, thanks for the good information.

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

Cool! Thanks for watching!

@johnknippenberg-LandmarkYards Жыл бұрын

Cool vid, thanks for the info. There's those salvaged log cars and caboose, looks awesome.

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@Engine1988 Жыл бұрын

It seems that the movement of the train startles the fish. The faster the train moves, the more startled the fish get and the faster they move!

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

Indeed!

@40belowful Жыл бұрын

I never owned one of these:) must look for one.

@railchief74 Жыл бұрын

I have one that I got from Christmas back in 2010

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

There are many to choose from!

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

:-)

@railchief74 Жыл бұрын

@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks mine is the original 1959 model. the paint is a little chipped but when the lights are not on, it’s hardly noticeable

@40belowful Жыл бұрын

i bid on one but dont know if ill get it yet.

@carldebellis7310 Жыл бұрын

I actually have the 1995 version. I never knew that there was so much history behind it. Excellent video as always!

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

Thank you! The research is half the fun!

@frankmarkovcijr5459 Жыл бұрын

That is the same type of drive gear that they have for the outlaw car and the Yosemite Sam and bugs Bunny car which I have

@trainwild Жыл бұрын

Great video. I actually have the aquarium car. It's pretty cool! 😀

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

@frankmarkovcijr5459 Жыл бұрын

Actually ice believe they looked more like passenger cars than regular freight cars because your New York Ontario and Western used to periodically stock lakes in New York and elsewhere.

@georgebenson6036 Жыл бұрын

I enjoyed your video as always. You did not mention that Lionel made an aquarium building with a cargo bay for the car to be spotted. I think this was in the late nineties. I never owned one of these either, but I have considered getting one over the years.

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the information!

@willausterman3104 Жыл бұрын

I've always had a sift spot for cars like these. My first MTH product was their HO version of one of these. It died within 20 minutes and MTH customer service's response made me vow never to support them again.

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

Sad to hear.

@frankmarkovcijr5459 Жыл бұрын

LEDs with less than the amount of heat that would affect the film strip if you ran the car like a kid would all day long.

@chasesrailwaylinesrr6447 7 ай бұрын

The Lionel world trains can have anything to fish to Giraffes to the balloon target car

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks 7 ай бұрын

It's all about fun!!

@frankmarkovcijr5459 Жыл бұрын

You would think if they go to the trouble to replicate a car they would replicate such an important part like that. I thought the picture look different than my dad's car did

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

Maybe they thought it wasn't a big deal and they had clear glass in inventory.

@franktino6676 11 ай бұрын

Frank; using passenger cars as aquarium cars in '59 wouldn't have given kids the " big view " of the fish ,swimming away in 2400 series cars as did a picture window style window did by using a 6464 box car type.🚉🚂🐟🐠🐳🐋

@SOU6900 5 ай бұрын

I actually think I'd rather have the post war version over the modern era one just so I can park it on a siding and watch the fishes swim.

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks 5 ай бұрын

Just keep swimming...!

@SOU6900 5 ай бұрын

@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks 😆

@plunkervillerr1529 Жыл бұрын

Some in the hobby make fun of Marx lack of authenticity. I ask you, just how strange are those fish swimming cars.

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

That's a funny argument. Marx often only went down the silliness route after Lionel went there first (operating mail car, gateman, assorted dump cars, etc). But silly can be good, too! :-)

@frankmarkovcijr5459 Жыл бұрын

Because of the shilling money that people pay for variations like $3,500 for the aquarium car with the painted yellow porthole that spoils The hobby. The ridiculous prices demanded by collectors and shops thinking that Lionel trains are gold bullion

@franktino6676 11 ай бұрын

Frank M : Did you buy a gold bullion car yet???😂

@franktino6676 11 ай бұрын

Frank M : Did you buy a gold bullion car yet???😂

@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory Жыл бұрын

If these were real railroad cars they would likely have rocks get thrown at them by teenagers once it would stop in a large city yard, causing water to drain everywhere and likely kill the fish costing thosands in damage.

@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Жыл бұрын

Well, there ARE simulated canvases cast in above the windows. They could cover the windows for such travel. ;-)