Examples of a model and accessories
Shown on this page is an example of a pre war piece, they were built very simple yet painted in very nice colors that still often show today. Many of the workings of these older models used a different type of motor than what you see in even the post war era, consisting of many little gears and mechanisms to get it working. The motors often stand the test of time and still work today as many people took great care of their trains over the decades as they were even expensive back then. They had very little features that you see in modern trains nowadays.
In the other picture you can see an accessory. Often hooked up to the layout of your train set with wires, a big selling point of accessories was that when the train layout was turned on they would do cool things. Such as moving people, or opening and closing doors aswell as stuff like lights and stop signs. Accessories are also very hard to come by these days from the post and pre war era as they can be easily broken and often need repair. If you are mechanically inclined you can get a piece working like new again for quite cheap!