The K-Line barrel loader is a neat and inexpensive accessory that you can find for around $40. Originally sold by Marx, it lives on with a lot of other classic Marx accessories under the K-Line brand name. It's a simple accessory: the little forklift moving forward and back, depositing little wooden barrels into a waiting gondola.
Mechanically, the action is simple - when you press the button the forklift moves forward, pushing back a C shaped lever allowing a barrel sitting in a trough to roll down against the back of the forklift. When the button is released, the forklift moves back, the barrel rolls into the "forks" and at the same time the C lever moves forward, restraining the next barrel.
Press the button again, and when the the forklift shoots forward (and I mean shoots forward) the barrel is dumped into a waiting car. The cycle repeats with every press of the button until all the barrels are exhausted. Sounds simple, but sometimes when the forklift moves back, the barrel catches on the drivers area of the forklift and ends up in the poor forklift operators lap (oof!), or, the barrel rolls forward off the forks. There are three simple things you can do to tune up the barrel loader.
First I attached a shield to the side of the forklift to keep the barrel in place and stop it from landing in the cab. As a test a cut out a piece of 3 x 5 card and used glue stick to attach it.
I had intended to replace the card with a piece of plastic painted to match the forklift, but it's worked so well (and hasn't fallen off yet) that I left it in place.
Second thing I did was to raise the track side part of the accessory a couple of an eighths of an inch to keep the barrels from rolling off the front of the forks. Last, I placed the accessory on a variable voltage tap so I could set the right voltage for reliable operation, and keep those barrels from being launched across the layout.
These minor adjustments have made a lot of difference in the barrel loaders operation. Give it a try, I think you'll be surprised at how well this under-rated little accessory works.
