Lionel coal dump car 26895

[Brady]

Bob

Yes, these have to be re-cocked.  There are several alternatives but they are more expensive:

The all-metal 3469 car, or one of the recent re-issues

http://www.postwarlionel.com/cgi-bin/postwar?ITEM=3469 

http://www.lionel.com/Products/ProductNavigator/getproduct.cfm?ProductNumber=6-26847

The 3359 twin-bin

http://www.postwarlionel.com/cgi-bin/postwar?ITEM=3359

Or an MTH car

http://www.mth-railking.com/detail.asp?item=30-79065

I think K-line did a car similar to the MTH, I'm not sure if it's in the new K-Line by Lionel catalog.

Brady

 

 

 

[brianel027]

I don't know why you guys are surprised about these cars.... it's not like they came out of nowhere. Lionel started making these spring loaded dump cars in 1961, if my info is right. They do serve a purpose at a set price point. I'm no defender of Lionel's high prices. But on the other hand, Lionel needs to make money someplace inorder to continue to pour dollars into high end, scale product new tooling - tooling that is very slim or marginal at best on profits by everyone's own admission... Lionel's, K-Line's and MTH's.

Maybe if the companies stopped pouring so much money into these marginal high end products and started putting some of those investment dollars into practcial non-scale products that do far more to grow the hobby base??? Now likely though at least in the immediate future.

The one observation I can make about these cars is that the postwar and MPC era versions of these cars are better than the Kughn-era to date versions because of the plastic being used. There are two molded "pins" on the dump frame and two "slots" on the car frame. I've had more problems with these breaking on the modern Kughn-era to date cars versus the postwar and MPC cars. I have a bunch of these MPC made cars and they're still fine. It must be there's been a change in the plastic that is being used by current Lionel versus during the past, even during the General Mills/MPC era of Lionel ownership.

But the cars with the coal dump tray are more prone to breakage of the pins and slots on the frame than the log dump cars. I'd guess this is due to the added weight from the bin and the coal load. At some point, I'll have to write an article on my fix for these cars, which I also make to the new cars as a preventative measure. Lionel could make a pretty easy fix for these cars and at one time I had a lengthy conversation about these cars with an engineer from Lionel but obviously nothing was ever done. I was disappointed that when K-Line introduced their copy version of these cars, they didn't make the needed improvement in these car frames.

[msacco]

I bought one of these for my nephew a while back and was surprised as well. they're pretty lame and I feel they are really subpar. Lionel should only make original single action jobs and if they have to, make them is plastic for cheaper starter sets.

 

Mike S.

[Dave45681]

Any modern car with the plunger shown in the middle like that will be a "one shot" as Brian explained.

Some of the new reproductions I think are going back to the rachet type operation of the PW style, but I am not 100% certain which ones.  (I think the tinplate looking repros do, don't know about others)

 

[rha90272]

Brianel - Thanks for your informative reply. I'm going back to my good-old postwar 3469 coal dump cars. which act in the manner I expect. This one will be going onto a 7-day auction on eBay within the next 48 hours, in case anyone is in the market for one.
Bob A.

[brianel027]

Bob you're not missing anything. Unless Lionel has changed the engineering of this car (unlikely since they're spending most money on lawyers and developing Legacy), it operates NOT from a solenoid, but from a spring triggered release. When you position the car over an uncoupling track and hit the button, the plunger is pulled down which then allows the spring hidden between the dump tray and the car frame, to push the dump tray up.

Yes, in order to get the tray down, you need to push it by hand. It's not a big deal to run the car with the dump tray in the up position provided it clears all your scenery items. I can tell you these cars are very popular with kids.

The early postwar Lionel Corp. version of this car did operate from a solenoid cam, but it's been years since they made the car that way. Lionel currently makes several versions of sheet metal the 9-inch postwar version dump car - one that dumps logs and another with a tray for dumping coal. Your car is the plastic version that has been the more popular and more widely made version.

The MTH Railking Dump car (I know there's one in Conrail cause I have one) operates with a small DC motor inside the frame of the car. When power is activated via the slide shoes on the car from a UC track, the dump tray moves up and down on it's own. The tray even shakes back and forth a time or two before returning down again. This might be the kind of car you want. But be forewarned, this car is rather big. Although it will clear 027 curves and the switch box housing on 027 switches, it is large. And you'll need to make some kind of new dump bin for loads to go into since the car is much longer than the standard K-Line/Lionel side track dump bins.

[rha90272]

Folks - I just purchased by mail a new Lionel Union Pacific dark green coal dump car, 26895. To my amazement, it dumps when the solenoid is activated by a control track, but it apparently must be "re-cocked" back into closed position by hand. This of course makes smooth automation of operations on a layout very difficult. Can this be true, or am I missing something? Thanks for any advice...




Bob Anderson