Atlas #6910 O Turntable (2)

Without a doubt, the coolest track accessory ever. I snagged 2 of these things and will put them into action once we get our new house and I've got the room for them. Each turntable is capable of storing up to 20 engines!

6-12723 Microwave Tower

I bought this in the early 90's. It just adds a little more character to any layout.

445 (6-12917) Switch Tower

This is a remake of the postwar classic, and a very good remake at that. I've this hooked into it's own port on the AIU (Accessory Interface Unit), so that I can both illuminate and activate it from the handheld DCS remote control. Pretty cool, huh?

watch quicktime video

6-12733 Watchman Shanty

Got this in the early 90's. As with many of the building that I've assembled, I put translucent paper in the windows. This gives it a little more realism. I also added a light to the inside of this shanty, which makes it look even better.

6-12714 Automatic Crossing Gate

I've got 4 or 5 of these guys.

6-12805 Intermodal Containers

I was excited to find these. The yard in back of my place has these exact containers in it all the time. What a great addition to my layout!

6-14094 Double Signal Bridge

An ebay find for around $30. Brand new, die-cast and very pretty.

Lionel Short Extension Bridge

I picked this up on ebay for a few bucks. However, since I switched to Atlas track, I'm going to have to do some surgery on this bridge to accomodate the slightly wider track that Atlas makes.

6-14111 153IR Controller

Lionel now makes these nice infrared controllers that blend seamlessly into your set. When a train passes, it triggers the controller and then any devices that you have attached to this sensor are triggered as well. 2 little knobs regulate the controller's sensitivity and duration. I've got a few of these jewels.

6-14143 Industrial Tank

Not only is Lionel cranking out good cars again, but their accesories are of great quality as well. Lots of die-cast metal on this baby. A cool feature about this tank is that it comes with a die-cast walkway bridge that you can use to connect multiple tanks together. It's not shown here, since I only have the 1 tank, but when I get a few more of these I'll be able to connect them all together to form a nice tank field.

6-22934 Mainline Walkout Cantilever Signal

Another new die-cast treat from Lionel. I can't express how happy I am that they are making some real stuff again. This is a sturdy and intricately detailed piece that will make a fine addion on the layout. It came from the factory with one of those clunky track sensors, but I plan to hook this up to one of my Infrared sensors instead.

MTH 30-1056 Hi-Tension Tower 3-piece set. (2)

I picked up 2 of the packs, giving me 6 big electrical towers to adorn the layout with. Eventually, I will have a central power plant and these will carry power lines out from there to the rest of the region. I've considered using REAL wires on these things and actually running some of my layout's power along these things. How neat would that be? I'm not sure if that's possible, but we'll see.

6-14161 Smoking Hobo Shack

Such a cool liitle layout piece. I'm going to have to find some "abandoned" section of the new layout to stick this baby in. When you power this thing up, the fireplace inside glows red, a lantern on the floor glows yellow and smoke comes out of the chimney. Of course, that's assuming you put smoke fliud in it before hand! The control knob for the lights is cleverly disguised as a log with an axe stuck in it. With all the political correctness you find these days, I'm personally amazed that Lionel is still able to get away with the term "Hobo". You'd think there'd be some lawsuit where the name would have to be changed to "Smoking Financially Challenged Persons Shelter" or some stupid crap like that. Myself, I cut right to the chase and call them poor homeless vagrants! Hehe.

6-14162 #470 Missile Launch Platform

Bought in October of 2005, this will eventually go on my yet-to-be-planned-or-built military base. It's just a cool toy, so I couldn't resist buying it. It's basically the missle launching apparatus from the 6650 missile launching car attached to a plastic base instead. This is a new item that is a reproduction of the original. The funny thing is that on the bottom of the unit, it reads:

No 470 Missile Launching Platform
Made In China
The Lionel Corporation
New York N.Y.

Kinda funny, I thought. I guess they want it to be as close to an EXACT replica as possible!

RailKing 30-9032 #197 Radar Tower

The rotating radar dish on this tower really makes the layout look nice. MTH makes such cool stuff. I've got this baby hooked into one of the AIU (Accessory Interface Unit) ports so that I can turn it on and off from my DCS remote control.