Pre War American Flyer Pictures - An Invitation

[kaycee]

Thank you gents for posting such super pictures and information.

All this is helping me 'big time' with getting my collecting straightened out. (As sure as many other folks too.)

I like to put my trains into the correct sets, what you all have been sharing here is priceless. All my reference material together does not have the details you folks have been discussing or the quality photographs.

 

 

 

[Otis B. Drinkwater]

Kaycee,

Thanks from everyone who posts here, for the compliment on the photos. 

 As far as reference material goes, I have found that in addition to the greenberg's reference guides and Flyer catalogs, that often the best source of information is other collectors.   I have answered want ads in the TCA newsletter, not because I had something for sale, but I wanted to find out what information the person looking for particular items already had.  That aspect has created friendships and helped me gain and share knowlege with others.

 I have found that collector organizations such as the TCA and the defunct American Flyer Collector's Club had great articles in their publications as well. 

With Flyer prewar there seems to be endless variations out there and I am still learning about them myself.  Therefore, the sharing of information is important.

O.

[Northwoods Flyer]

Otis,

Thanks for posting the photos of the 4 wheel cars.  Many of Flyer's smaller cars came in both 4 and 8 wheel versions.  I made a conscious decision some time ago not to collect the 4 wheel cars.  While it may not seem like it, I decided to put some limits on my collection.   I would have run out of space much sooner if I had collected 4 wheel versions of the rolling stock as well.  The photos that you have been posting of the 1107 and 1108 cars have made me reconsider that decision.  I also think that the 8 wheel cars are more realistic looking.  Realistic is a very relative term here.  We are afterall talking about toys that were never meant to be scale representations of real cars.

 

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

[Northwoods Flyer]

Christmas Wish List   1938

The American Flyer Catalog for 1938 looked much different than the catalogs from previous years.  Gone were the bright colors and reproductions of train artwork on the covers.  This new catalog was done in only two colors - black and yellow.

 

 

Back

 

 

The cover had the name "Gilbert" on it.  American Flyer had been purchased by the company that made Erector sets and moved to New Haven Connecticut.  Well that couldn't be a bad thing.

 

The inside of the catalog was very different too.  There were all kinds of new items, and the trains looked a lot different.  There were a lot of trains called HO.  If you looked you could  find some familiar items from when American Flyer was made in Chicago.

 

If you were looking for something to go with the equipment you had from previous years you might really like page 12.

 

 

The No. 1 Passenger Train with remote control looked fantiastic. The description was hard to resist....and look at that price.

 

 

 

If you got your letter written and mailed to Santa early, this is what you might find circling your tree on Christmas morning.

 

 

Look at those four gorgeous enameled red passenger cars.  The steamer looks pretty powerful and up to the task of pulling all those cars to deliver the passengers to their destinations in time for Christmas dinner.

 

 

It was going to be hard to wait until sundown on Christmas day to see the illuminated cars speeding around the track.

 

 

It looks like its time to start hinting for some more track and some switches for your birthday so that you can expand your railroad empire.

 

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

 

[Otis B. Drinkwater]

Northwoods,

 

I agree with you in that

"While it may not seem like it, I decided to put some limits on my collection. I would have run out of space much sooner if I had collected 4 wheel versions of the rolling stock as well. "

I began to get interested in Wide Gauge a couple of years ago, but quickly put a halt to that interest.  I realized that there was a lot of O gauge that I still wanted and I could not afford to buy Wide Gauge and still persue the O gauge.  So I have 5 or 6 Wide Gauge sets and a huge amount of O gauge.  One of my Standard Gauge sets is this odd 4000 set, which is reported to be an early Trail Blazer set from approximately 1927.  I found it interesting due to all of the items having 4000 plates on them.

This set was my last Wide Gauge purchase, and although I am searching for 2 additional Wide Gauge sets, I am in no rush to get them, as I have set my limits.

O.

[Otis B. Drinkwater]

A bit more on Edmonds-Metzel, the company that became American Flyer in 1910. 

 

 I am not sure when the company was founded; however, I have found patent information for various items that date to the 1903-1906 era.  The earliest patent information I found relates to a bank.  The patent application was filed November 22, 1901 and was approved January 13, 1903.  The bank was designed by a John Zimmer of Chicago and the patent was assigned to Edmonds-Metzel Manufacturing Company. 

The bank is a relatively crude item that appears to be made of steel pipestock that was cut with a bottom inserted and a removable top.  The item then appears to have been copper plated with a blackening agent applied and only minor copper dots being polished through the agent.  I know that the item was plated as a magnet sticks to the bank and the inside is not plated and a bit rusty on my bank.

 

 

My bank has a small aluminum plate that reads "Every little bit added to what youve got makes a little bit more"  My understanding is that this plate does not appear on all banks.

 

The name is stamped on the bottom of the item

 

It is my understanding that these banks were made for various banking institutions as promotional giveaways.  I only have a single bank, but a friend has multiple banks that are labeled for different actual banking institutions.  It was also reported that my bank is the large size and that there is a version that is approximately half as tall as the version I have.

It was also reported that the banks are always stamped on the bottom with the maker's mark.

[Otis B. Drinkwater]

I researched the Edmonds-Metzel company a bit more, but I have to say that the information prior to 1907 is very scarce. The best source I found was the "Michigan Alumnus, Vol 5, May 1899" It contains the following: " Jay D. Edmonds - (18)96 after graduating spent 2 years as Chief Draftsman at Chicago Screw Co. then was a Mechanical Engineer at Fischer Equipment Co., Chicago until last fall (1898), when he joined with William E. Metzel to form Edmonds-Metzel Mfg. Co. at 253 S. Canal Street, Chicago. Makers of "Perpetual Bicycle Pedal"

 

Researching the bicycle pedal I found the following on www.speedplay.com

" 1899 Edmonds and Metzel invent the cylinder bicycle pedal (Aerolite Type)"

 

I found a small blurb in a Chicago City Directory - Edmonds-Metzel Mfg, 778-784 W. Lake Street - Die Paper Cutters, no date found

 

I also found advertisements in 1905 era Popular Mechanics for their wrenches that listed an address of 163-173 Jefferson Street.

 

So they were certainly moving around a bit in the early years. 

I know that William Ogden Coleman is reported to have gained control of the company in the 1906-1907 timeframe and the address associated with Edmonds-Metzel and American Flyer Trains is 1088 Wilcox Avenue.

O.

[Otis B. Drinkwater]

Streamliners

I know that not much has been posted about streamliners in this thread, so I want to start posting some photos of streamliners, which were one of my first passions in collecting American Flyer O gauge.

I will start off with the 1936 Union Pacific City of Denver streamliner, simply because I have already photographed mine. 

This set was first cataloged in 1936, with a whistle car, which is the set shown here.  In 1937 the whistle car was removed, due to a lawsuit from Lionel over patent infringement.  I believe an extra car was added to replace the whistle car.  In 1938 and 1939 the yellow paint becomes a much lighter color.  It should be noted that there are variations of the late light yellow cars that have 6 wheel trucks and no belly pans.  These cars were sold with a steam engine, as opposed to being part of the City of Denver set.

 

 

[MomsFlyer]

I recently came into possession of my Mom's American Flyer trains that I believe were bought for her around the time she was born -- 1937.  They were kept in the attic for at least the last 40 years, but for the first time in decades, they're out, and under the Christmas Tree.  I don't know much about them, but have learned a lot by gleaning through this thread.  I will attempt to post some pictures, but apologize in advance as this is my first post.

 

From the boxes I have, it appears I have a 420 engine, 421 tender, 408 boxcar, 410 oil car, and 411 caboose.   There are 2 additional boxes without the flaps, but I believe those go with the additional engine and tender.

 

The 420 engine actually runs.

 

Any info or thoughts would be appreciated.

[Stourbridge Lion]

Cool!!!!!!!

[Northwoods Flyer]

Stourbridge Lion and MomsFlyer,

First let me say to the thread.

MomsFlyer,

Thanks for posting excellent photos of your mom's train.  You did a great job for a first post.

What you have is a complete cataloged set from 1939 in amazing condition.  Its known as the Double Header set or The Mountain Red Ball

It appeared only in the 1939 catalog;  and it appeared on the cover. The cars are doubled up, but its the train at the top of the cover

 

 

And it continues on to the back cover.

 

The set appears on page 18 of the catalog.  Its official title is No. 310 Double Header Freight.

 

 

And here is the catalog description.

 

The two engines belong together.  The catalog number for the two engines is 437, which is made up of a 420 powered engine

 

 

and a 401 dummy engine.

 

 

If you line them up as powered engine-- tender with the sheet metal knuckle coupler (known as a curley cue coupler) -- dummy engine (which has the same culy cue coupler on its front)  -- and then the tender with the die cast link and pin coupler like the coupler on the rest of the cars you will be able to run them all together.

 

 

This is the only year in the prewar era that American Flyer had a double headed set.  There are posts on pages 15 and 33 about the Double Header set.

 

You are very fortunate to have a wonderful piece of your family's history.  Since your mom was born in 1937 it looks like your grandparents got her the train for the Christmas when she was two.  I can just imagine that it will bring you and your family the same delight as it travels under the tree as it did to her that first Christmas.  Do you know any other stories about it? 

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

[balidas]

WOW! A factory double header set! That is an amazing and beautiful set!

[MomsFlyer]

Northwoods Flyer,

 

I am completely blown away -- Thank you so much for the information! 

 

I never considered it was a double header.  While photographing it last night, I did notice the dummy locomotive didn't have an engine.  I was figuring it was the original locomotive with the set, it had stopped working and they attempted to fix it, but ultimately they got a replacement.  Now I'm very excited to run the entire set together, except the tender is missing the curly cue coupling.  Although that now explains why it had a twist tie on it.

 

Any suggestions for a replacement, or another way of connecting them... besides twist ties ;-)?

Thanks again!

Steve

[Northwoods Flyer]

MomsFlyer,

You are very welcome.  It was my pleasure.

In my opinion; if the twist tie works keep using it.  I am not aware of any reproduction parts for this type of coupler.  I think that your best bet is to watch eBay.  Parts do come up for sale on occasion and I have seen sheet metal couplers for sale.  You might also consider watching eBay for another complete tender.  They show up for sale regularly. In fact there is one for sale right now, although it is priced higher than I would pay for it, and I don't think the condition is as nice as yours.  Engines and tenders are frequently sold seperately, and it appears that far more tenders have survived the years than engines.  So if you are patient you could probably find a whole replacement tender for a reasonable price.

Besides, now that you have one operating set of pre war American Flyer trains you may find yourself tempted to have more, and then you could always use another tender.  .

 

Please post a photo of the set under your tree if you have a chance.

 

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

[AF53]

MomsFlyer - to the forum. You are very fortunate to have this keepsake! Good luck with it and enjoy it.

Ray

[strainst]

Hi Northwoods Flyer and MomsFlyer

Northwoods Flyer, if you can post picture of the underneath side of the tender showing how the curly-que coupler is attached and give a length of the coupler, I may have one that MomsFlyer can have to fix his tender.  MomsFlyer can email his address directly and I will mail it to him.  Do you know if the curly-que couplers used on freight and passenger cars are the same size as the one used on the tender?

strainst

[Northwoods Flyer]

strainst,

That is a very generous offer.  I believe that there is only one size of the Type X coupler and it was used on both 9 1/2 and 6 1/2 inch cars.  Here are some photos.

 

 

 

 

Sorry for the poor focus on this last shot.

 

 

Let me quote from Greenburg's guide.

 

"The shank is a long strip of bright metal with three slotted holes; one of the slots near the coupler end engages a tab on the truck bolster, and one of the other slotted holes lines up with the center hole of the truck bolster; a rivet retains it to the car floor.  The coupler head is riveted to the shank and is free to swivel from side to side; stops on the shank limit the sway."

I'm not sure how much of the coupler is missing on MomsFlyer's tender, but I would bet its the actual sheet metal knuckle riveted to the shank.

 

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

[Otis B. Drinkwater]

I am not normally a collector of track or transformers and such, but the photos below are of some unique switches made by American Flyer c. 1925 or so.  The early catalogs include "Manual lighted switches" but I don't recall that they show the complete switches in the catalog.  These came to me recently with a set I purchased, so I thought I would photograph them and post them here, as they are in fact more interesting than the set.  The actual light holder appears to be a regular bulb holder from other accessories that just slides into the bracket and makes contact with the copper contact. 

 

 

I have also seen slightly later manual lighted switches that feature a diecast base, and of course the later manual lighted switches that feature the die cast light covers.

O.

[Northwoods Flyer]

I have posted this on another thread as An American Flyer Tale for Christmas.  I had intended to post it here originally, but the story just kept growing, and I thought it would be nice to have the photos of the Statesman set here too.

 

Christmas Wish List 1930

 

 

Petey Menardi had only one item on his Christmas list in 1930; A Wide Gauge (2 ¼”) American Flyer Train.  It had been on his Christmas List every year since he had first seen the big beautiful trains in the 1926 catalog.  Petey had made a request for a train to Santa every year, both by letter and by visiting one of Santa’s helpers at the big department store downtown.  Somehow the jolly old elf never seemed to bring a train for Petey.  Instead he got underwear, socks and pajamas.  There had been some other great items along the way, like the baseball glove and the Flexible Flyer sled.  Santa must have mis-heard him that year.  At least he got the Flyer part right.  Then last year he had gotten his fishing pole.

 

This Christmas Petey decided to take matters into his own hands.  He had been hatching a plan for 2 years.  When no train appeared under the tree in 1928 he began saving to buy an American Flyer train with his own money.  He had saved every penny that he could from his allowance and odd jobs.  He delivered papers, mowed lawns and cut grass.  He even saved most of the money that he got for his birthdays with the goal of owning one of the gleaming beauties in the catalog.  Now he had enough.  He probably could have had the money sooner if he hadn’t been tempted time and again to stop at the soda fountain in Henricksen’s Drug Store for one of their fabulous root beer floats.

 

Petey knew that Saxon’s Paint and Hardware carried trains during the Christmas season and he planned to make his purchase there.  Saxon’s had catalogs from several toy companies available long before the actual merchandise arrived.  He had gotten his copy of the American Flyer catalog there every year.  Sometime in September Petey began making daily trips to Saxon’s to inquire if the catalogs had arrived yet. It required walking several blocks out of his way on his journey home from school, but his excitement made the walk go by quickly.  Each day he would glance at the big plate glass display windows, open the door to the paint and hardware store and hear the jingle of the bell above the door.  One of the clerks would look up from where they were working and call out to him “Nothing yet Petey.”  He would walk back out of the door and head for the milk and cookies or fresh bread with butter that his mother had waiting for him as a snack.  As he walked along he would say to himself “Golly, its got to be there tomorrow.”

 

Day after day Petey walked through the door to the jingle of the bell and day after day he heard the same greeting “Nothing yet Petey.”  Then one day as Petey pushed open the door he stood face to face with Mr. Saxon himself.  With a big smile on his face he greeted Petey with two words “Its here.”  He handed Petey the 1930 American Flyer Catalog.

 

Petey stood staring at the cover for what seemed like an hour.  Then he remembered his manners and looked up at Mr. Saxon and with a gasp said “Thank You, oh Thank You so much.”  He turned and rushed out the door.  He could hear Mr. Saxon’s deep hearty laugh as he made a run for home with his precious catalog in his hand.

 

When he got to his house he bolted up the stairs to the back porch and through the kitchen door.  His mother was there in the kitchen and he panted out to her “Its here mom, its here!”  Then he flew up the stairs to his bedroom.  His mother smiled and set his glass of milk back into the ice box.  She knew it would be a while, but eventually he would be back for his snack.  It was the same every year when the American Flyer catalog arrived.

 

In his room Petey poured over the catalog, devouring each color drawing, savoring the descriptions and then imagining each item on the parlor floor.  Maybe he could keep them there even after the Christmas tree had been taken down.

 

It took Petey several days to make his decision.  After studying the illustrations, reading the copy again and again, and counting his money several times he made his decision.  It would be THE STATESMAN, Train Set #1473 with the #4654 locomotive.

 

Now he just had to wait until the stock came in at Saxon’s. He went back to making daily visits to the hardware store, checking the window displays for the big gift and toy display that always appeared there during the Christmas season.  Somewhere around Thanksgiving the display magically appeared.  There traveling around an oval of track in the window was an American Flyer Wide Gauge train set.  It wasn’t THE STATESMAN. 

It was a smaller set; THE NEW EAGLE, set #1472.

  

It looked great.  Petey decided to gather up his money and go down to the hardware store later in the week and inquire about buying THE STATESMAN.

 

It was several days before Petey could get back to Saxon’s.  Mom and Dad had errands for him to run and chores to do.  Finally he emptied out his marble bag into a big glass jar, stuffed his savings into the leather drawstring bag and headed to the hardware store to claim his prize.

 

He paused at Saxon’s big plate glass window and was a bit surprised to see that THE NEW EAGLE set was no longer there.  He pushed open the door to the sound of the familiar jingle and spotted Mr. Saxon half way back in the store.  He politely told Mr. Saxon that he wanted to buy The American Flyer Wide Gauge STATESMAN set.  “You mean that train set that was in the front window?”  Petey shook his head and showed him the illustration of THE STATESMAN set #1473 from the catalog.  Mr. Saxon had a distressed look on his face. “Petey” he said with a calm voice, “We only order a few sets every year, and we didn’t order that one this year.  And someone came in this morning and bought the set in the window for the mayor’s children.”

 

 At that moment a huge lump grew in Petey’s throat.  The merchandise on the shelves began to blur into blotches of color.  Mr. Saxon’s facial features seemed to flow together as tears began to fill Petey’s eyes.  How could this be?  Surely Saxon’s carried all of the items in the catalog.  Didn’t they?

 

Mr. Saxon looked at Petey intently.  Suddenly his eyes narrowed and he snapped his fingers.  “Petey all of those bigger trains are gone, but I think we had one left over from last year that was put in the storage room.  I didn’t remember it until just now.  Let me send Dutch up to the storage room to get it.”

 

Petey stood in the aisle with small drawers of screws, nuts, bolts and washers on either side of him.  He shifted back and forth on his feet nervously.  It seemed like an eternity but finally he could see Dutch descending the big wooden staircase at the back of the store.  He was carrying a large box in his arms.  Petey’s heart began to race.  Dutch carried the box over to Mr. Saxon and they had a brief conversation.  Mr. Saxon took the box from Dutch and walked over to Petey.  He had a smile on his face; “Petey its not set #1473, its set #1483.  Will it do?”  Petey recognized the set number.  It was the same set as THE STATESMAN set but it had the better 4684 electric engine.  There was no illustration of it in the catalog, but it had a remote control reverse unit, and it was more expensive.  Petey stood looking at Mr. Saxon, “It would be fine sir, but the catalog says it costs more than I have saved.”  Mr. Saxon wrinkled his brow.  Then he winked his eye.  “Well Petey, it is last year’s stock.  If you want it, you can have it for a 25% discount.  At that moment someone opened the front door and the bell jingled.  To Petey it sounded like the ringing of the bells in the steeple of St. Marks just down the block.

 

Mr. Saxon wrote up the sale himself.  Petey carried his prize home and took it into the parlor where he began to unpack it.  The cars looked different than the illustration in the catalog.  They had green roofs and each car was emblazoned with the name STATESMAN in two places on each side.  But most importantly, they were his.

 

 

 

 

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

 

[Northwoods Flyer]

Otis B. Drinkwater

 

 

Otis,

Those are some very interesting switches.  Do you think that they were produced at the factory?  I have never seen anything else like them, have you?

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

[Otis B. Drinkwater]

Northwoods,

These are certainly factory produced items.  They are cataloged in the c. 1924-1925 or 26 catalogs, just not shown well.  I will have to look up the page and scan it. 

 

I know of a friend asked me if I had ever seen the switches about a year ago.  He finally acquired a set about 6 to 8 months ago and I got this set last week.  One thing to note is that the non-lighted switches have a hole factory punched in the handle of the switch, which the bracket that holds the light housing is riveted by (with an additional hole also being punched/drilled for a second rivet. 

 

I am guessing that these switches are somewhat difficult to find, because the light assembly could easily be lost and I this is only the second set I have seen in over 25 years of collecting.  They came to me with a c. 1925 set, so the catalog dating that I mentioned above seems to correlate.

 

Otis

[Otis B. Drinkwater]

Northwoods,

Below is the scan of the page showing the O gauge switches from the 1924 American Flyer catalog.  Note they show only the switch handle with lighting component for the lighted switch.  This artwork for the lighting component is also shown in the 1925 and 1926 catalogs, and may be shown in the earlier 1922 and 1923 catalogs (I did not look at those catalogs). 

You can see that the artwork matches the lighting component on my switches.

 

 

Merry Xmas to All. 

[MomsFlyer]

Sorry it has taken a while to get pictures of The Mountain Red Ball under the tree, but here are a couple. 

 

I couldn’t really get any stories about the trains, but I did find out that my Grandfather was working as a machinist at Baldwin Locomotive when these were purchased.  I wonder who the trains were really bought for…

[Otis B. Drinkwater]

Here is a holiday advertisment that was featured inside the front cover of the December 1921 Boys Life magazine.

[strainst]

Neat add.  I find it interesting that American Flyer used what looks like a clockwork 120 tender but added two four wheel trucks to it and  made it longer.  The locomotive that is heading up the set on the track is unlike anything American Flyer ever made that I am aware of, but the Steeple-Cab locomotive the boy is holding was just in its second year of its release.  Overall I love the charm of the add and it would make me want a American Flyer train set for Christmas.

strainst

[Otis B. Drinkwater]

I recently acquired this interesting and unusual red 1093 boxcab locomotive.  The motor is the most interesting thing about this engine as it is a champion type steam engine motor that was first introduced in 1932 in the 915 engine and the type XVIII champion steam engines.  The Greenberg's guide to Flyer O gauge does mention this motor in variations B and C for the 1093 engine and indicates that it can also be found in the 3100 engine. 

What is unique about this motor, is that to mount it in the 1093 and 3100 engines, extra brackets were spotwelded on each side of the motor frame in order for it to mount in the cab frame.  The photos tell show the brackets, etc.

 

Now all I have to do is put new wheels on it and get it running again.

O.

[Northwoods Flyer]

1929 Montgomery Ward Passenger Set

Back on page 48 I posted a scan of the 1929 - 1930 catalog page (courtesy of Otis B. Drinkwater) that showed the American Flyer Trains that Wards was selling.

 

 

This is a close approximation of what the set would have looked like.

 

 

Wards also offered a passenger set in this catalog headed by the Motor 7011.  The picture below is again an approximation of what the set would have been like.

 

 

 

Motor 7011

 

 

Baggage

 

 

Pullman

 

 

Observation

 

 

One major difference between the catalog illustration and the cars above is that the cars in the catalog have 4 ventilator bumps on the roof while these cars are smooth.  (I have two of the passenger cars with the roofs with ventilators but I thought it would be better to show a representation of all three cars.  I am on the hunt for the third car.) The catalog cars have no steps, and the baggage car is illustrated with a curved top opening for one of the baggage doors.

 

Its a great looking set, and one day I'd love to find an actual boxed set from Wards.

 

 

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

[Otis B. Drinkwater]

Northwoods,

My boxed Wards passenger set, is identical to the cars shown in you post.  The car roofs do not have the ventilators as shown in the artwork and the cars have steps on them, with the exception of the baggage car.  I think the catalog artist took some liberties with the artwork or may have been provided with a sample that did not match the actual set that Wards sold.  

The latest cataloged set in my collection to have the roof ventilators is the 1927 Jeffersonian set.  I also have what I believe to be an uncataloged 1928 set in my collection that comes with a green 3014 that is a factory overpaint of a red/maroon lithographed 1927 boxcab body and that set has car roofs with ventilators.  I know that by 1929 the smooth roofs were being used by flyer and all of my later Illini sets have smooth roofs. 

The latest set of Illini cars in my collection has type VIII a gray painted trucks, which would date the set to 1933 or so.  This set was pulled by an unusual two tone green 3115 boxcab electric engine.

Otis

 

[Northwoods Flyer]

1929 - 1930 Montgomery Ward Catalog

I have to admit that I was born with a collector gene.  Once I start collecting something a switch is turned on in my brain and I find that I pursue all kinds of related information, and sometimes objects as well. The 1929 - 1930 Montgomery Ward Catalog is a good example.  It is no secret that I collect American Flyer Trains, and if you have followed this thread for any amount of time you can see just how much of my collecting energy has been focused there.

Several pages back Otis B. Drinkwater provided a scan of the 1929 catalog that illustrated the 7010 and 7011 steeple cabs on which I was doing posts.  It was a great addition to the information about other merchants that sold American Flyer.

 

Once he provided the scan that collector gene of mine kicked into high gear.  I "just had to have" a copy of that catalog in my collection.  I began a search of eBay and found a copy of the 1929 - 1930 Fall and Winter Montgomery Ward Catalog - Catalog  #111.  It wasn't long before one came up for auction and I won it.  I was really excited that I would be able to add some American Flyer documentation to my collection.

 

When it arrived I eagerly opened it. It has a great looking cover.

 

 

I quickly found the toy section, and the trains that were for sale.  I was surprised to find that the page was different than the scan that Otis had provided.

 

 

Instead of the two American Flyer trains that Otis's scan shows, there are actually four trains illustrated.

 

 

They include an American Flyer Wide Gauge set (A); an American Flyer Narrow Gauge set (B) which sounds like it is a Potomac Set with an extra car;  an O gauge set that is identified as being Ives (C); and another O gauge set identified as an Ives freight (D).

 

When I discovered that the pages were different I consulted with Otis and we surmised that the trains that Wards offered must have differed regionally.  A clue comes from the cover of my catalog.

 

 

 

As you can see it clearly shows the source of the catalog is Albany.  It makes me wonder where Otis's catalog was available and how many other trains may have been available at other geographical locations.

 

In any case the pages in my catalog show a variety of train items and other wonderful toys available to be ordered and Montgomery Wards would pay the postage.  It looks as if A.C. Gilbert supplied Wards with building sets called Steel-Tech, which look suspiciously like Erector sets.

 

 

 

I can only wonder where my collector gene will lead me next.

 

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

[Classic_Wax]

I am a relative to Jay, D. Edmonds...I have the original Pat paperwork given to him from The Patens office..As long as a lot of  family history,,He did invent several different wrenches,  as well as the perpetual pedal, along with this bank, It was the the secure way of the entrance slot that made this worty of him getting a pat,, And Yes the American Flyer Trains..This is the one bought off Ebay just recently, Would you be interested in re-selling the bank..or know of where I could aquire one?