American Flyer Prewar O Gauge 3200 series '36-'37 help.

[Gray Cat]

Hi all, first time poster, long time CTT reader and very long time AF S collector (35 years +). Recently my interests have turned to AF prewar O as the title states. I just purchased some rolling stock, a 3211 lighted caboose, a 3208 box car, a 3025 wrecker car (crane), a 3207 sand car/gondola and some other accessories like an AF water tower, warning signal and a few other odds and ends.. My questions are this. What would be an appropriate engine for this consist? I was told the deluxe Hudson, however it's a little too realistic looking. Is there a streamline or a brass pipe type engine that is more toy like that would be appropriate? Also is there a search light car? or did AF make ANY operating cars during this period? All my cars are the '36-'37 versions with the tab couplers. Oh and do the sheet metal knuckle couplers match up with these "latch" couplers from this period?

Thanks!!!

Happy Railroading

[Northwoods Flyer]

Gray Cat,

First and foremost  to the forum! There are a number of American Flyer enthusiasts here.  Like you I started my collecting career with S gauge and got hooked into the other gauges that Flyer produced.

"What would be an appropriate engine for this consist? I was told the deluxe Hudson, however it's a little too realistic looking. Is there a streamline or a brass pipe type engine that is more toy like that would be appropriate?"

The cars that you have were actually produced over a long period of time. The caboose, box car and sand car were all produced from 1928-1938, so you have a wide range of engines that would work. The 3026 wrecker was produced from 1936-1938.

The Hudson is indeed a gorgeous engine.

 

 

The Hiawatha also pulled these cars in 1936 and 1937.

 

 

Both of these engines bring premium prices. So depending upon your goals for aquiring an engine, there are many other options.  Here are a few:

 

The 3315 Bell ringer

 

 

 

The 420

 

 

The 3300 series of engines

 

 

The 401

 

 

The 425

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are other models as well as electric outline locomotives.

Flyer did manufacture a floodlight car in 1938 and 1939, but it has two different styles of coupler in those years and neither of them will mate with your tab and slot coupler.

This is the type X Sheet Metal coupler (known as the curley que).  It will only mate with itself and Lionel post war knuckle couplers.  It was used in 1938 and 1939.

 

The only other "operating" car that I can think of is the 3219 dump car made from 1934 to 1938.

 

 

 

There are plenty of options when collecting Pre War Narrow Gauge Flyer.  Do your research and market survey.  I hope you find an engine that you like to pull your cars.

 

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

 

 

 

 

[Gray Cat]

Thanks for the welcome and the reply Northwoods Flyer. There are some nice engines in the lineup you posted for me. The 3315 Bell Ringer looks like a nice one, I wonder if the bell would get on your nerves after a while though? The 3300 series and the Streamlines look good too. I really like the Hudson and Hiawatha engines, but they might be a little rich for my O budget (don't want to take away too much from my Flyer S budget!) I'm primarily looking to put together a Flyer O Prewar setup for next Xmas tree.

[Northwoods Flyer]

Gray Cat,

The bell ringer mechanism in the 3315 has a switch to turn it off so you can just hear the sweet sound of metal wheels on tinplate track.

Here is a site that posts quite a few of the Flyer Narrow Gauge engines, just in case you might want to see what else is out there.  Most of the styles of S gauge engines that Gilbert marketed after the war were available as 3 rail engines before the war too, so you will recognize them from your S gauge collecting. Obviously the post war engines were intended to be more scale like.

 

http://www.binnsroad.co.uk/railways/amfly/locos/index.html

 

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

[Penny Trains]

The 3200 cars are great!  I too started my AF O collection with them.  The only problem I've had with them is their weight.  I have a 3195 cast iron loco with a lot of power, but the tender can't handle the big cars.  It tips on the O31 RealTrax oval I operate on so I usually run it with Ives and Dorfan 4 wheelers.  Be sure the tender you use is properly weighted to avoid derailments.

Becky

[Gray Cat]

Thanks for the tips Becky. Big Train show tomorrow so I'll be on the lookout for an engine. So many to choose from. So far I have the Caboose and a Sand Car, the others are yet to come in the mail.. But with any luck I'll be running at least those two cars tomorrow afternoon. :0)

 

Cheers,

Pat

[Gray Cat]

Well we made it out to the Spring Thaw Meet in Allentown today. Got there at 8am and ran through the building in hopes of finding an AF O Gauge engine and tender.. we were also meeting a dealer there to trade something with. Well there were a few Engines but out of my budget for the day. I wasn't going to spend $500 on an O Engine just for a Xmas layout. So after cruising the show and not seeing much at all in the way of Flyer O engines or anything for that matter, we sought out the dealer I was to meet and do some trading with. We stopped to talk to him and WHOA right there on his table in front of me was a Flyer 425 with a Venderbilt oil type tender (if I got that right) AND he was asking 95 for the Engine, 70 for the tender.. he owed me a favor for something I bought that went wrong so he lowered the price on the pair to $125.. SOLD! Also found a superb Borden's milk car there for $80.. maybe pricey but it was beautiful (and no shipping to pay). Got the engine home and took it apart.. serviced it and it's up and running. Here's a link to a YouTube upload of the trains on the floor. I'm still waiting on my Crane car and another Box car to come in the mail. Look around there are actually two video clips of the trains. My First AF O set!! woo hoo.

PS if you like Jukeboxes I have a video of one of mine on the same site Mr Jukebox Collector

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrJukeboxCollector#p/a/u/0/Pu7rOL-IZuE

 

Cheers

[AF53]

Pat - You did good! Congrats

Ray

[Northwoods Flyer]

Pat,

You are making great progress on your "Christmas Train" for next year. The 425 and the Vanderbilt tender make a great combination and were actually cataloged that way in 1939 and 1940. The Bordens milk car looks like it is in great shape too. Nice find.

 

 I noticed that your sand car is orange.  Do you think that it might be a repaint?  Most of the 3207 sand cars were various shades of green.  The orange version is relatively difficult to find.

 

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

[balidas]

Good going! My puter, being old and slow can't do youtube. Maybe you could post a few pix tomorrow in the sunday photo thread.

[Gray Cat]

Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement.. trains are like potato chips.. you can't have just one. O no.. another obsession.

 

As to the 3207 it's a repaint. Got it for a good price and it's nice and shiny. Since this is a Christmas (maybe all year) layout I was going for colors and toy like appearance so I'm ok with repaints.

 

Cheers

[Penny Trains]

Nice snag!  Isn't it great when you luck out!?! 

On the subject of colors I know what you mean.  I have several "wrong" items that I've picked up just because they were different.  Most notably I have a Lionel 512 Std. Ga. gondola that's been repainted with Glidden peacock blue and has "517" number plates.  But how many green gondolas can you have? 

Becky

[Gray Cat]

Will do.. I'll take some pictures and post tomorrow afternoon.

 

 

[Gray Cat]

Umm.. not sure how to ad pics to this site?

[Gray Cat]

[Gray Cat]

[Gray Cat]

[Gray Cat]

Well hopefully I did this posting of pics right. As of the train show Saturday this is my AF O Prewar collection. Plans are to restore the 425 (after I have some fun running it around the floor), the Borden's Milk Car is a real beauty!, the restored orange Sand Car if fine by me, I picked up that box car for 20 bucks! and I have a really nice one coming in the mail, the caboose (3211 lighted) looks better in person, also waiting for my 3025 crane car!, got the station at the show and the signal at a train store.. you can only see the spout on the early non lighted water tower.. What fun stuff.. I love my Flyer S Gauge and will never change that, but it's an awful lot of fun running this very noisy toy like stuff..

 

BTW my 425 is pulling these cars with no problem, I'm hoping it can pull at least 2-3 more cars.

[Gray Cat]

Hi Northwoods, can you tell me anything about the differences between the 425 and the 3300 series? I just won a 3300 on Ebay.. It looks like a nice engine. Some things I see I like are the wheels look sturdier? and it has roller pickups rather than the sheet brass pickups that drag. It looks like there is a boiler glow light and I see a lever sticking up in front of the cab. Is this the reverse switch as in no E-Unit?

 

Thanks!

[Northwoods Flyer]

Grey Cat,

Congratulations on aquiring a new iron horse for your stable.  Both the 425 and the 3300 series steamers are die cast engines. 

The 3300 series was introduced in 1931 and was cataloged until 1937. Schuweiler gives it a designation of Type VIII. There are very few of the engines that were marked so it can be difficult to determine exactly which version you have. All of the 3300 series have a wheel configuration of 2-4-2.  The lever that you observe is the manual lockout for the reverse unit. Lionel called their reverse mechanism an e-unit, however that is a manufacturer specific designation.

The 425 is designated as a Type XVI boiler and was cataloged from 1938-1940. There are 4 models that used this boiler and it came as either a 2-4-2 or a 2-6-4 (your 425) or a 2-4-4

I personally like the 3300 series, particularly with the lighted firebox and the brass flag holders on the front.  Post some photos the new engine when it arrives, and enjoy!

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

[Gray Cat]

I'll definately post pics when the 3300 series arrives. I'm excited about it.. it looks like a nice one. It sure looks like there is a shortage of Flyer prewar accessories.. was Coleman laying down on the job towards the end before A.C. bought it? It looks like I have to resort to adding some Lionel prewar operating accessories to add some movement to the layout. So far have a prewar gateman, a flagman and am looking for an AF automatic crossing gate..

[Gray Cat]

Well the new pony is in the stable. It's a 3300 series. Which one I don't know, so if anyone can give a clue please do. It has a reverse lever sticking up before the cab, but the curious thing is it has a lever behind the right rear driver. This lever when pulled down drops a lever that rides on a cam of some sorts? I can't see a bell anywhere so I guess it's not a bell ringer? What would this be? It looks like it can lock the wheels? Anyway, I'm real excited about this new piper. It looks great in front of my consist.. IT also has a firebox glow red light. Was there originally some sort of shield that kept this red light going up towards the firebox or was it always supposed to light everything behind it.. track, drivers, coal car... everything. Also a pick of the crane car. I don't think I had that up last time I added pics.

[Gray Cat]

Oh I thought of another question.. I know from a friend that someone is making a retro fit smoke unit for Prewar Lionels that didn't have one. IS there such a thing for an Engine like this 3300 series? Boy Smoke would really make this engine the cats meow.

[Gray Cat]

Looks like one of the previous pictures didn't work

<a href="http://s1189.photobucket.com/albums/z440/amid80/?action=view&amp;current=20110307184825.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z440/amid80/20110307184825.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[balidas]

You do have some very beautiful pieces there! Congrats and enjoy!

[Gray Cat]

Thanks Balidas. I've been an S Gauger for an awful long time, but lately these Prewar Flyers have caught my eye. There's a lot to learn about them!

[Gray Cat]

[Gray Cat]

[cloud53]

Hi all, first time here for me. Looking to identifying prewar AF O loco, no number on it . How can I post photo ?

Thanks.

[Stourbridge Lion]

cloud53 - Welcome to trains.com!

First you need to get the photo uploaded onto an internet hosting site such as Photo Bucket.  From there you can link your photo(s) into topics.  If you need help just ask and I or someone else will walk you through it...