In addition to traditional steam locomotives, diesels and electrics, Lionel developed an ingenious line of "motorized units" during the post-war period. These range from small engines, like the US Army Picatinny Arsenal switcher to a number of railroad function cars like ballast tamper cars, hand cars, fire cars and railroad tie ejectors, cleverly named "Tie-Jectors."

Probably most notable of all of these, however, are the units pictured here - the #60 Trolley and the #50 Gang Car.

We had the #60 Trolley on our Christmas layout, and as mundane as it may sound, kids could watch this car run back and forth between two bumpers for what seemed like hours on end. The beauty of the Trolleys was the flexibility you had in how to use it on the layout. You could run it between two locations by attaching a #260 bumper to each end of any track, no matter how long or short. The Trolley would contact the bumper and trigger a mechanical reversing unit. The trolley pole would swing around in the opposite direction and the Trolley would take off back down the tracks. Trolleys were brightly illuminated and silhouettes of passengers were printed on the frosted windows. Lots of play value.

Gang Cars ran on the same premise, as they could run back and forth between bumpers.The gray track worker would swing around in the other direction upon impact and the track gang would head off to another task at the other end of the tracks.

While I have only these two units on the layout, at some future time, I would like to acquire a few more of these post-war gems. Perhaps a fire car, a maintenance car or a hand car. The track cleaning car would help keep the Lionel Lines running smooth.