Cattle car and pen would you keep or sell

[Dr.Fu-Manchu]

The Doctor is In !!! davsachz, First : Welcome Aboard !! I can only speak for my humble self, I am fond of the cattle car/stockyard set. Ask Jerry loves trains, I sold him a reconditioned one and am going to send him a second car for parts. Yes, the set can be fussy, but if you were over fifty years old(the post war ones) you might get a tad fussy too ! Replacement cows are obtainable from parts dealers, so that is not a problem. I have repaired these items and I plan to part out some I bought for that reason so people that need a part that the dealers dont have can be obtained from me. I can also send you photocopies on the repair and care of the car/stockyard. If you decide to sell it, Email me and I will make you a trade deal on rolling stock I have.
Till My Next Missive I Remain The Humble Yet Strangly Evil Doctor !!![}:)]

[fwright]

Dave

I have to apologize for my earlier remark. I made some wrong assumptions from your original post.

The cattle car and pen doesn't need a special operating track. Two pieces of O or O27 straight track snap into the base. The O27 snaps into the lower sets of notches and bumps. You need a blade for feeding power to the sliding shoes which fits into the insulated holder on the track base. The 2 blades should have come with the set, however reproduction parts are readily available if they did not. There is also a piece which fits over top of the ground blade to raise the height of the ground blade for O track.

I generally operate mine at about 11 volts or so. More than that, and the cows go every which way. Less than than, and they won't move through the car or the pen channels. But the correct voltage will vary for each piece.

The rubber grommets where the car tray and pen tray mount to the frames often disintegrate from age. I read about replacing them with pieces of felt - that has worked well for me.

I love Lionel accessories, and as I said, the cattle car and pen is one of my favorites.

yours in accessorizing
Fred

[fwright]

Call me politically incorrect, in a crabby mood, or just sensitive about my limited hobby $$ - but why would you buy something you have no intention of displaying or operating? The artificial "demand" keeps prices unnecessarily high for the rest of us.

Big Boy summed up the status of the accessory pretty well. Mine is one of my favorites. Use it, enjoy it, fuss with it.

yours in accessorizing
Fred Wright

[Anonymous]

Yes I have three rail and I have some old what I called 5 rail operating tracks. Now I know what they are for ! I never had a car with the skids on the bottom. Dave

[thor CNJ]

I'd keep it. It's a nice accessory. Kids get a big kick out of it.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Cattle pen is a fun accessory, though it can be fussy to actually operate. The cows don't always cooperate. Repro cows are available, so that isn't a problem.

Do you have a 3 rail layout?

It isn't particularly rare, value under $100. If you don't want to keep it, there's always Ebay.

[Anonymous]

I picked up a nice condition cattle car with stockyard AS is for $35 yesterday. I little finess and it works, except I don't have cows. I debating to sell or keep. How collectible are these in VGC ? Or sell and buy more rolling stock ? Thanks for advice. Dave