350 American Flyer Royal Blue

[Anonymous]

Please tell me if this train (350 American Flyer Royal Blye with wire handrails) is an O-gauge or S-gauge. Also, does anyone know what the original cars were that were sold with this engine (car numbers would be helpful)? Also, would any American Flyer vintage transformer work with this engine or would I need a certain type of transformer? Thanks for any info!!

[Anonymous]

Well, it would probably be best to post this topic in the Classic Toy Trains forum, instead of here. I'm not sure of the gauge. You see, American Flyer made a Royal Blue in O and S gauge. In 1938 American Flyer was bought out by the A.C. Gilbert Co. (famous for making Erector sets). American Flyer had made O gauge all before, so they continued to do it, but with 3/16" scale (the proper scale size for S gauge). After the war (during WWII toy production using metal had to be stopped) American Flyer started making S gauge trains. But if you have track for it, O gauge trains have 3-rail track and S gauge is 2-rail. The distance between the wheels for O gauge is 1.25 inches, for S gauge it's 5/8 of an inch. I hope this helps.

[krump]

Not more than 2 hrs ago I was looking through the Walthers 2003 (HO) reference book...there on page 77 in the Locomotives section is a "semi-streamlined Pacific" scale model of THE ROYAL BLUE locomotive
(product # 348-9851)-- Baltimore & Ohio # 5304, produced by International Hobby Corp., price listed at $99.98.
I know nothing more, just saw this posting a few minutes ago. The item I refer to is HO scale, I know you were seeking 0 or S. ... might be of some use to you though.[:)]
cheers

[cacole]

In the 1950s I had two American Flyer Royal Blue trains and they were 2-rail S-scale. If I recall, they ran on 16 volts AC. When you stopped, you had to turn the transformer's speed control on - off - on to reset a relay inside the engine before it would reverse direction. I had both passenger cars and freight cars with my two sets, but I don't remember anything about the road names or numbers on them. Any American Flyer transformer should work with them, since 16 volts AC seemed to be what Lionel and other models all used at the time.

[jfrank138]

I still have my 1949 American Flyer Royal Blue set, although it has been packed away for years. The track gauge is 7/8 inch, the the transformer maximum is 15 volts. The Royal Blue was the cheapest train in the AF catalog at the time; the tender was stamped sheet metal rather than die cast, and the engine didn't have smoke and "choo-choo". There were three molded plastic freight cars including the caboose.

(Lionel transformers put out 20 or even 24 volts, depending on model.)

[Anonymous]

I still have my Royal Blue 350 that was given to me in, I believe, 1947, 1948, 1949. The cars are a 633 boxcar, 631 gondola and a 630 lighted caboose.
Mine is 3/16 scale. I hope this helps.

RL

[Anonymous]

GOT MINE IN EARLY OR MIDDLE 40s HAS 2 FRIGHT CARS AND A CABOOSE HAS 15&16 VOLTS IS S SCALE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE VALUE BUT NOT TO SALE

[Anonymous]

Simple, if the engine has the number 350 on it and the drivers have white wall
tires on them it is "S" guage. If the engine has a 500 number on it and the drivers are black it's "O" guage. Hope this helps.