Found Box of American Flyer S gauge trains in uncles attic

[Anonymous]

Hey Ya'll

Do I have some exiting news. I was helping my Uncle Dave (my moms side) get his christmas stuff out of the attic. I went up into the attic and handed stuff down.

After I had handed out the tree (Its 9 feet tall and in two huge parts, so i stuffed it through and dropped it, oops), ornaments, lights, garland and tinsel, father christmas and Santa Claus figurines, Yard decorations, and 3 miniatuyre twine christmas trees (One small,m one medium and one lager, tallest about 4 feet) with lights to put out in the front yard, I spyed a box.

Naturally, the curiosity got the better of me, and to my great suprise (I didn't know he liked trains, let alone my whole imedidate family, theree OK, but they arent incredibly interested), when Iopened it up, there were 4 American Flyer trains in it, with a large assortment of track, dual orange handle transformer, and 6 operating accesories.

There was an Ameircan Flyer 1954 Silver Bullet Passenger Train, a date-unknown Hudson freight set (I think 1957), An american flyer circus set, and A Santa Fe Super Cheif set.

These were in awful condition, but still run good. The siler on the Santa Fe and Silver bullet had chipped and was very dirty, The Hudson was missing it's smoke stack.

According to Uncle Dave, they went to the mountains one yaer. He was playing with his trains on the elevated deck of the cabin, when his Hudson, sitting on a siding the stopped right at the edge of the deck, was rearended br his Silver Bullet at speed (probably why the front is bent) and sent the Hudson (without a train thankfully) flying over the edge of the deck and crashed into a pile of rocks covered with leave leading him to belive it would land softly. He ran to find the Hudson moslty unbroken, but the cowcatcher and the chimney was no where to be found.

Every thing else had some thing bad happen to the exept the silver bullet, but he tried to paint the circus set red white and blue (all red with white and blue stripes). He pickled the engine in paint thinner, but didn't finish it. The cicus cars were a wreck too. That was when he dicided to give up on the trains.

I am know looking for things to replace them, but I think I'll save them and have them restored since he had them as a child and since gave them to me.

Is there anyone else interested in American Flyer here?

Nick

[lionelsoni]

Congratulations, Nick. What model of transformer is it? (Check out http://www.rfgco.com/galleries/index.html if you need to.) I have a model 30B that I use with my 3-rail trains. It and the model 18B have big orange handles that resemble those in prototype Diesels.

If yours is one of those, you may be surprised to discover that the voltage doesn't go to zero when you turn the control all the way down. You have to lift up on the handle to shut it off. Someone wrote in to CTT a while back complaining that his AF transformer wouldn't shut off. They advised him to take it to a qualified repairman! Of course, there was nothing wrong with the transformer.

[ben10ben]

I love American Flyer, although I haven't done much with mine in a while. I have an Atlantic(302), Pacific(312), and an S-I-T Hudson(322). My favorite part of them is the smoke unit, as they put out a whole, whole lot more than Lionels of the same period, and more than some engines made today. Especially the S-I-T ones, if the engine is parked and allowed to sit on the track at full voltage. My 322 is the only engine I have capable of creating a haze in the room I'm running it in.

[Anonymous]

I have a lot of American Flyer trains and accessories. I run both O and S gauge together on my layout. I, too, have a Silver Bullet set. Out of curiosity, is the Silver Bullet painted silver of chrome plated? Also, what are the accessories that you have?

That is one incredible story, Nick! Finding a whole bunch of trains like that, even if they aren't in the greatest shape, is quite a thrill! They sound like a very good project that ought to be a lot of fun working on.

[Anonymous]

I like American Flyer too. Too bad Lionel isn't doing something with the line nowadays.
It's the ideal size for a layout.

[railfanespee4449]

If I were you, Id get the sets restored. It could be the start of a new layout. From the discription, I'd have them totally rebuilt. Find a local restorer. I got my 1666 done at Red's train shop in Iowa.

[Anonymous]

Hey Ya'll

The model of transformer is a #30B.

I have a Satin Silver Silver Bullet, which is the one I was hunting before I found them beacuse I read it was glossier and had a better finish.

I am planning to take them to my local hobby shop so the man who restores American Flyer and Lonel Postwar can fix them up.

I have gotten a group of my train buddies from school (3, those are the only ones that like trains) and we are going to form a model railroad club as age restrictions keep us from the local one.

The inspiration came from the article on the american flyer show "The Boy's Railroad Club" in the march 1996 Classic Toy Trains.

We are planning to build a 6x12 foot Lionel layout as one of the member's dad collects Lionel trains as do I, my grandpas friend who likes 2 rail O gauge said he would give us all of his 3 rail stuff as well as an MTH z-40000 transformer and his equipment, and Lionel has figured prominatly in each of our lives.

However, we would like to build a hi-rail S-scale layout (maybe the same size, as we have a lot of availible space, and it was the inpiration for our club) as well.

Nick

[lionelsoni]

Nick, you hit the jackpot with that transformer. The "30" means its rated at 300 watts. It's worth about that many dollars, too, if it's in good condition.

[Anonymous]

Wow,

taht is something. It is in good condition, but I think I ight have mistaked it for a #18B, I'll
check right quick................................................................................................................................................................................. Yeap, I was wrong, it is a #18B. Sorry.

Nick

[lionelsoni]

Well, that's not too shabby, either.

[Anonymous]

Hey Ya'll

Thtas true. It works like a charm. The Santa Fe Super Cheif just had dirty aluminum, so I took a damp cloth and ran it up and down the cars, to clean the dirt and grime off them. I took a tooth pick to get the dirt out from rivets and speces the cloth didn't get into. The Super Cheif had been cleand and shines like new. After getting the dirt off, I dampened another cloth with rubbing alchohol to kill the germs from the dirt. That actually made it shine alot better. Then, I went over it again with a damp rag with a tad of soap. The trains is now sanitized, good looking, smells good, and runs like a charm.

I have the HO stuff around the tree, so They won't make an appearence under my tree this year.

Nick