Trolley Problem/Consistency in Ethics

[vulcanlogician]

So, after all of this, how instructive does either thought problem seem with regards to practical moralities or even consistency in morality?  

IDK about consistency, but I see thought experiments like these (and all of ethical philosophy in general) to be highly informative. As far as practical morality, the value is beyond measure. If anything, it shows people that there is more to ethics than obedience to certain societal mores.

Are you familiar with the work of Lawrence Kohlberg? He plotted a system of moral growth whereby people start with simple obedience, then move on to seeing morality in terms of societal conformity, and finally end up realizing that they must become an autonomous moral agent to be truly moral. Exercises like these are good for working that part of the brain which is necessary for high-level moral consideration.

So long as we have evangelicals pushing an ethics which resembles low-level moral iterations (ie obedience, conformity), it benefits a public discussion to talk about how best to be a fully developed autonomous moral agent.