I was just gifted a couple of 60's Lionel HO locomotives and a bunch of misc cars including a box car that flies apart to reveal a missle launcher . Mostly heavy metal frames, couplers are part of trucks. Anybody got any general info?
Thanks
I used to have both of those. The exploding box car - there's a mechanical toggle that hold the spring loaded arm in place while you put the sides back on, but be careful flipping it off as it can be very touchy and just go off. The missile flatcar adn shoot pretty far. It was all great fun for a while, parking the box car on a siding and then bringing the missile car around and taking a shot to blow it up.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I found that the car would explode randomly after runing for awhile. Apparently vibration from moving would giggle the trigger.
Scans of Lionel HO catalogs
https://hoseeker.net/lionelhoinformation.html
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
A friend found an old Lionel HO set while cleaning out his attic. It had a small locomotive plus a giraffe car, an atomic waste car and a helicopter car. He thought he'd found a fortune. I got someone to pay $20 for it.
These are children's toys. I had a missile launcher and an exploding boxcar in O scale when I was young, too.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.