So I have an American Flyer...

[Anonymous]

that I inherited about 15 years ago. It came to me from a great uncle, who's son had passed quite some time prior to my existance. He found out that I was into trains and sent it to me. Well I played with it quite a bit when I was young but unfortunatly, I never could get the engine to operate so I always just pushed the cars around. I still have it, some in the original boxes and I have also dated most of the set itself, post WWII. Now its been living it its box for a few years and recetly, I found me another engine to replace the one that never worked, almost the same one. Its #307, 4-4-2, "American Flyer Lines" on the tender, working headlight but its missing something my original engine has. The smoke and "Choo Choo" unit which I'll be swapping into it once I get it unpacked. I bought it off of ebay for $53 and its in awesome shape, minus the fact it needs a good cleaning and oiling. Since the rest of my American Flyer is packed at my parent's house still, I thought I'd snap a couple pics of the engine since its living in the box that the ebay seller sent it to me in.

My plans are kind of basic since it's get some sentimental value to it. I'm going to be setting it up under my Christmas tree because I also have a nice winter wonderland that goes up every year, along with my Plasticville buildings. To also accommidate the vintage of the set, I have also aquired a few set of original AC Gilbert Erector sets as well, which have been built into piers for an over/under figure 8 set with matching bridge.

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Especially since you do American Flyer!!!!  The 307 is a nice basic engine with SCC, PM, & KC.  Clean and lube it and it should go.  Congrats on a good purchase.

If you provide some info on the engine that does not run, perhaps we can get some suggestions on fixing it.

Jim 

[Anonymous]

The main reason why my other engine doesn't run is because of the electrical in it being all screwy. For some reason, most of the soldered connections in the tender and most of them in the cab have either disintegrated or just come apart. I could get it running with some parts but for now, it sits in her box, waiting for some extra time. She's also missing the trailing wheels under the cab and the smoke unit needs a new circut board on top of it. Other then that, its pretty decent still with the exception of a couple broken steps on the tender. When I get the whole deal unboxed so I can repack it better and make it so its easier accessible in my parent's garage, I'll snap some more pics.