Flyingyankee616

[flyingyankee616]

Does anyone know the history of the Flyingyankee by Lionel

[mersenne6]

Well, for starters the prototype Flying Yankee ran on the Boston and Maine's Boston-Portland Run. The real train set was almost the exact same train as the Burlington Zephyr. American Flyer chose to call their model the Zephyr and given that there customer base was the mid-west this made sense. Similarly, Lionel went with the Flying Yankee for the Eastern markets. The 1935 Lionel Model was all chrome except the roof of the power car which was painted black. In 1936 the entire front end of the power car was painted a metallic gray with the tail part of the tail car also painted a metallic gray. The sides of the vestibule trucks on the 1936 version were painted black as opposed to the chrome finish of the 1935 set. Sometime in 1935 or 1936 there was an uncataloged version which was painted silver rather than being chrome plated, and the roof of the power car was painted red.

Of the two, the Lionel set was closer to the prototype in that it had articulated cars. The American Flyer version had close coupled cars but they were not articulated - each car had two sets of trucks. The set is a good runner, I've had mine for many years and each time I get it out for running all I need to do is give it a little oil and grease and it is ready to roll.

There is an O-27 Lionel streamliner, #1700 the Lionel Junior Streamliner, which some people choose to call the junior version of the O gauge Flying Yankee. Actually, the Lionel Junior streamliner is a model of the 1934 Gulf, Mobile and Northern Rebel designed for that road by Otto Kuhler. This streamline set was the first lightweight, high-speed streamliner to operate in the southern states.

Currently, the real Flying Yankee is undergoing restoration and the original Burlington Zephyr can be seen at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. If you type in "Flying Yankee" on Google you can find the web site with details of the restoration efforts.

[flyingyankee616]

[wow] That is really interesting,thankyou very much for the information.This is the train that got me involved in toy trains a few years ago.

[lionelsoni]

I have a single 1701 car in runnable condition, if anyone can use it.

[railfanespee4449]

what else will i need to get a working streamliner? Does anyone have the rest of the train to go with the 1701. Also, can I run the 1701 without other cars? I will take it!

[lionelsoni]

Doug Murphy (cnw1995) already asked, I'm afraid. But you can't run it with other trains anyway. It's not that great to look at. If he changes his mind, I'll let you know.

[flyingyankee616]

[^][:D] I checked-out the Restoration Group,this is something that I ever expected to see,sure is interesting. I joined their mailing up-dates list, I will get an up-date every month on the restoration. Thanks again