The Operating Horse Car No. 3356 would unload horses into the corral and the vibrator located in the corral would load them back again into the car. Lionel liked "things" that "vibrated," and they used this mechanism on many of their accessories and operating cars.

Produced from 1956 until 1960 and again from 1964 until 1966, this car came with either bar-end trucks with tabbed couplers or AAR trucks with disc couplers. There are two variations:

Variation A: Came with bar end trucks with tabbed couplers. With "BLT 5-56" date. 1956-1960 Production.

Variation B: Came with AAR trucks with disc couplers. No "BLT 5-56" date. This is the 1964 to 1966 production and this variation slightly harder to find today.

The horse car came with nine horses that were operated with the use of a OTC track lockon that was attached to the track in front of the platform. When this lockon wired into the circuit with the platform, the end doors on the car would lower and the vibrator in the platform would activate at the same time.