Lionel 3424 or 19815 Operating Brakeman Car

[dsmith]

Does anyone have any experience with the Lionel 3424 or 19815 Operating Brakeman Car?  This is the boxcar with brakeman on the roof, when the car approaches a low object, the brakeman lays down.  It sounds like a cool animated car.  Is it reliable?  Does the mechanism that activates the car cause any problems when other cars travel over it?

Thanks in advance for any opinions.

[cheech]

Hi

it is a nice car. reasonably reliable. you use tell-tales with the car that are placed under the track. they come with adapters for O and O-27 heights. I wouldn't say they are fully without interference, eg, the voltmeter cars don't seem to like them....but it isn't much different than any of the other items placed in the tracks between the rails, like the cattle car corral, OTC connectors, etc. Engines don't seem to have problems with them. 

One other thing to think about is it is primarily made for tubular track. I don't know how/if you could use them with GG or Atlas tracks. Perhaps their 6097 rails product would activate the car.

Another item to look at is the walking brakeman.....this figure actually walks across the catwalk, doesn't jus fall flat... i think the number is 6-3676..

 good luck

ralph

 

[cbq9911a]

They're pretty reliable.  You need to keep the contact points where the telltale hits the track reasonably clean and keep some voltage on the track to get the car to work reliably.

[dsmith]

Thanks for your comments.