Thanks for this video, Mike. My oldest brother, now deceased, worked in the mail car on the ATSF Superchief between Los Angeles and Albuquerque. This brought back some good memories.
There was no Lionel MPC in 1988. Richard Kughn purchased Lionel's rights from general Mills in late 1986 and the name changed to Lionel Trains Inc. (LTI). As mentioned in the video, the accessory was cataloged from 1988-1991, and again in 1995.
You gotta do a video update so the bag goes in the car. Riding around on the outside unrealistic. A rectifier converting accessory power to DC might make arm work better. Common hack on solenoid based accessories.
I wonder if because the magnet can grad the bag from further away can you set the magnet far back enough to have the bag get grabbed into the boxcar door?
I was wondering how this thing works, I got one in a tote of random o and o27 gauge stuff and couldn’t figure out how it worked. Although, the swinging mechanism is broken looking at spare parts photos. (Side note) someone should place the pairing magnet inside an explosive boxcar just for fun (mail hits speeding boxcar) (KABOING!)
I like the way you think. Maybe replace the mailbag with a small Rambo figure or something doing a flying kick. Or maybe Chuck Norris. Figure swings on the pole, kicks the boxcar. Boxcar explodes.
A rare earth magnet could be mounted in the doorway of a boxcar so the bag gets loaded in the car, instead of magically levitating on the side. Either keep the door open, or perhaps some shielding inside the door when it is closed. I wonder if the shielding bags computer parts come in would work. Some just protect against static electricity but some also shield against magnetic power too. Better yet, a rare earth magnet mounted to the man that tosses the mail sack. Car picks mail bag up, drops it off elsewhere, just like a real train. I wanted one of these when I was a kid, but looking at them as an adult now, I would have hated it in the end. The mailbag stuck to the side would have bothered me back then.
Neodymium Magnets, (also sold at HF), would do the trick I suppose. They are like10X or something stronger and a lot smaller. The ones at Harbor freight come in a white tube 10pc.s they're about 1/4 inch or 5/16 dia.
And I bet you can fashion more “mailbags” so that you can do multiple transfers without stopping the train to retrieve the bag fro the train to do the transfer again….the kind of thing for your 3-d printer?
And the size of the car’s magnet will allow multiple bags to be collected on or in the car, as someone else suggested. I think I would use a double door boxcar to collect the bags.
Great video!
Thanks for this video, Mike. My oldest brother, now deceased, worked in the mail car on the ATSF Superchief between Los Angeles and Albuquerque. This brought back some good memories.
That's a great story. Thanks for sharing!
Mike -
OK, hiding the magnet inside the car s sneaky - I LOVE IT!
Cool modification, thanks!
I'm glad you liked it!
You could mounted the magnet so the bag would have been attracted thru the boxcar door to the inside. Maybe have a workman inside
Interesting idea!
The MPC version is from 1988. I got mine right after I graduated high school
There was no Lionel MPC in 1988. Richard Kughn purchased Lionel's rights from general Mills in late 1986 and the name changed to Lionel Trains Inc. (LTI). As mentioned in the video, the accessory was cataloged from 1988-1991, and again in 1995.
Very interesting.
You gotta do a video update so the bag goes in the car. Riding around on the outside unrealistic. A rectifier converting accessory power to DC might make arm work better. Common hack on solenoid based accessories.
I wonder if because the magnet can grad the bag from further away can you set the magnet far back enough to have the bag get grabbed into the boxcar door?
A lot of folks are asking that question. I guess it's possible.
I was wondering how this thing works, I got one in a tote of random o and o27 gauge stuff and couldn’t figure out how it worked. Although, the swinging mechanism is broken looking at spare parts photos.
(Side note) someone should place the pairing magnet inside an explosive boxcar just for fun (mail hits speeding boxcar) (KABOING!)
I like the way you think. Maybe replace the mailbag with a small Rambo figure or something doing a flying kick. Or maybe Chuck Norris. Figure swings on the pole, kicks the boxcar. Boxcar explodes.
Boom!
AC GILBERT actually had this in the late 1930s, and continued it in the postwar era. The Lionel one looks very flimsy compared to the Flyer unit.
I mentioned the Flyer versions in the video.
A rare earth magnet could be mounted in the doorway of a boxcar so the bag gets loaded in the car, instead of magically levitating on the side. Either keep the door open, or perhaps some shielding inside the door when it is closed. I wonder if the shielding bags computer parts come in would work. Some just protect against static electricity but some also shield against magnetic power too. Better yet, a rare earth magnet mounted to the man that tosses the mail sack. Car picks mail bag up, drops it off elsewhere, just like a real train. I wanted one of these when I was a kid, but looking at them as an adult now, I would have hated it in the end. The mailbag stuck to the side would have bothered me back then.
Interesting idea.
love this
Neodymium Magnets, (also sold at HF), would do the trick I suppose. They are like10X or something stronger and a lot smaller. The ones at Harbor freight come in a white tube 10pc.s they're about 1/4 inch or 5/16 dia.
Thanks for the tip!
And I bet you can fashion more “mailbags” so that you can do multiple transfers without stopping the train to retrieve the bag fro the train to do the transfer again….the kind of thing for your 3-d printer?
That's a great idea!
And the size of the car’s magnet will allow multiple bags to be collected on or in the car, as someone else suggested. I think I would use a double door boxcar to collect the bags.