 The Motorized Turntable No. 375 would be issued when sales had been depressed for several years at Lionel. The steam era on the prototype railroads had effectively ended in 1959, and perhaps to reminisce, or to just offer something new to their dealers, Lionel issued this accessory in 1962. It would continue to be available for two additional years.
With the emergence of economical small motors powered by small low-voltage batteries in the late 1950’s, Lionel would incorporate these features into this basic turntable design. The small batteries are contained within the slide switch controller and like other battery installations should be checked for leakage. The controller rotates the turntable in one direction only. So if you overshoot an access track you must turn the table at least 180 degrees and attempt to line up the rails again. Lionel maintained that with a little practice this was not difficult to accomplish.
Not long after this turntable was issued Lionel would release a second instruction sheet titled, "SPECIAL INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS" in which they would insist that this turntable be mounted on a sturdy board. This sheet also instructed the user not to use grease (they suggested vaseline) on the turntable pivot, and to shim the center section with cardboard shims from 1/16 inch to 1/4 inch for optimum performance.
This accessory came with almost 60 individual parts (not counting duplicates) and to understand how these parts are used is essential to proper operation of the turntable. While many of the hardware parts can be purchased separately, it is almost mandatory that you have an instruction sheet that shows the relationship between these parts. Aside from the supplemental sheet mentioned above, Lionel made only one instruction sheet for this accessory that has both BLUE and BLACK ink on WHITE paper and is numbered 375-76 that is dated 10/62.
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