I have been through some of the boxes that I packed up 3 years ago when we made our move. I discovered that I have quite a few variations of the #1096.
I believe that this is the #1096 from 1927 as it was used in Set #1102 "The Suburban"
Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby
Northwoods Flyer
The Northwoods Flyer Collection
of
American Flyer Trains
"The Toy For the Boy"
OK-- thanks for your help!
These responses were posted on trainsrfun's thread:
Hi trainsrfun,
I have both editions of the Greenberg guide and it is interesting to see that the information about your engine differs in each edition. Generally the second edition by Schuweiler has better information and uses a different identification system for engines.
There is no 616 listed in the second edition and I am not able to identify your engine. Is your engine sheet metal or die cast? It looks to be sheet metal. The illustration in the 1932 catalog looks like your engine and I think that your assessment is correct that someone cut down the side rods. The copper top of the boiler and the engine cab also have me puzzled. I've never seen that before
I have a set of cars exactly like yours that came with a different engine, which I don't think started out life together. Was your father the first owner of the of the set? I think that a good guess would be that the equipment is from circa 1932. During that era American Flyer marketed their trains through a number of store accounts and other catalog companies. I don't have access to those resources to do the research. Mersenne6 and NationWideLines are both much more familiar with that area of American Flyer production and marketing.
There is a set of cars that come with a #614 and the same green cars but with orange roofs that have rounded or square roofs. I have a set of each of those cars, and I know that Mersenne 6 has an identical set.
I'm not sure how heplful this information is but if I find out anything else I will be sure to share it with you.
Mersenne 6 wrote:
The engine superstructure and tender are identical to the engine pictured with The Dictator over on page 7 of Northwood's American Flyer thread. The motor, however, looks to be different. As for the valve gear, I agree, it looks like someone cut down the valve gear on the engine on the Flyer thread.
PS
Nation Wide Lines pointed out that the engine is a Type XVIII Variation B on pages 92-93 in Schuweiler's edition
Hello Northwoods Flyer! Would you be kind enough to look at the posted photos of my Dad's prewar AF train set? Any help you can give concerning the year the set was sold or any other information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Can you be a bit more specific about what kind of information you are looking for?
Sorry if this is redundant. I am looking for information on the offerings of American Flyer wide gauge track.
Is there a reference out there? I have been searching for a while with no luck.
Thank you in advance.
My first thought, is try Portlines Hobby Supply. They have flyer parts for both pre and postwar, and I'm positive you can get a new drum from them- not 100% sure about the other parts but if anyone has them I feel like they would.As far as those journal box covers go, you can resort to looking for a junk car at a show that you can steal some off of if you have no other choice.-Ellie
"Unless bought from a known and trusted dealer who can vouch otherwise, assume every train for sale requires servicing before use"
Hi all, what a fascinating thread and just a mountain of information!
I've recently picked up a 3/16 Royal Blue 556 set - the paint is pretty rough but the price was right.
Parts availability seems to be a maddening spectrum from easily found to unobtainium. I'm really struggling with a few parts, and am wondering if you fine folks might know where to look? Specifically seeking a new reverse unit drum (the teeth that engage the solenoid mechanism are broken), "chrome" journal covers, and the headlight/bulb socket assembly that clips to the shell.
Sorry I haven't posted here in a while. I recently bought a 1936 Hudson 1680 and whistling tender with several cars that I know didn't come with them in a set. The 3010 tank car circa 1925-28 and the 3006 log car from the same era. Both of the freight cars below are from earlier in the Chicago Flyer timeline but these are the first two complete versions I have had and they look really good. The Hudson needed some work to get running but the whistling tender worked when I bought it.
The Brigadier
The Brigadier 1931-1932 Set #1474
For a number of years now I thought that I had the Brigadier set. Now that I have the new Wide Gauge Sets book it turns out that I don't. My set just looks like the Brigadier.
My set was on display for quite a few years and has been packed away since we moved. I finally dug it out and discovered that the cars are correct.
#4331 Pullman
#4332 Observation
The engine that headed up The Brigadier is a #4644/RC (Remote Control). I have a 4644 Manual Reverse as you can see by the reversing lever sticking up through the roof.
Not only that, after closer inspection I discovered that my #4644 is actually a repaint. Oh well, now I have something else to hunt for. The WG book is a great resource.
I'm not sure why the error message is showing. I will try to quote the current post and see if it shows.
Northwoods Flyer I recently received the new American Flyer Wide Gauge Sets book by Fritz Von Tagen and Alan Schuweiler. All I can say is that it is superb. If you have the least interest in American Flyer Wide Gauge it should be in your library. I have been doing research on items in my collection and it has helped me identify several items. I now know where some of the pieces belong in sets. I have had two #4151 Pullmans in my collection for years. They have red roofs instead of the more common green roofs. I originally thought that a previous owner might have swapped out the roofs. However when I did a thorough reading of the Wide Gauge book by Schuweiler (copyright 1989) I found them listed there as a variation with NRS and a request for confirmation of their existance. In the new Wide Gauge Book on sets I found a photo of the entire set listed in the section on Uncataloged Sets on page 138. The authors identify it as the Modified Statesman Set from Circa 1932. If you have the book take a look. (I won't post a photo here because I don't have permission). Now I know what to look for to complete the set. I'll be looking through the other items in my collection to see what other sets I can assemble or complete. Thanks Fritz and Al! Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby Northwoods Flyer
I recently received the new American Flyer Wide Gauge Sets book by Fritz Von Tagen and Alan Schuweiler. All I can say is that it is superb. If you have the least interest in American Flyer Wide Gauge it should be in your library. I have been doing research on items in my collection and it has helped me identify several items. I now know where some of the pieces belong in sets. I have had two #4151 Pullmans in my collection for years. They have red roofs instead of the more common green roofs.
I originally thought that a previous owner might have swapped out the roofs. However when I did a thorough reading of the Wide Gauge book by Schuweiler (copyright 1989) I found them listed there as a variation with NRS and a request for confirmation of their existance.
In the new Wide Gauge Book on sets I found a photo of the entire set listed in the section on Uncataloged Sets on page 138. The authors identify it as the Modified Statesman Set from Circa 1932. If you have the book take a look. (I won't post a photo here because I don't have permission). Now I know what to look for to complete the set.
I'll be looking through the other items in my collection to see what other sets I can assemble or complete. Thanks Fritz and Al!
I recently received the new American Flyer Wide Gauge Sets book by Fritz Von Tagen and Alan Schuweiler. All I can say is that it is superb. If you have the least interest in American Flyer Wide it should be in your library. I have been doing research on items in my collection and it has helped me identify several items. I now know where some of the pieces belong in sets. I have had two #4151 Pullmans in my collection for years. They have red roofs instead of the more common green roofs.
Moooo!
Same me, different spelling!
Ok, 3 cattle cars - NOW we have a Flyer/Chicago cattle car drag worthy of the name!
Thanks for the post and musings mersenne,
I thought that I would repost a portion of your posting from page 7 here to keep the information together.
mersenne6 (snip) The last of the sheet metal steamers is a small uncataloged 0-4-0 which is believed to have been made in the early to middle 1930's. It was not cataloged or numbered however in the Ameerican Flyer Electric Train Special announcement for 1936 it was shown heading up set #7467RT - Electric U.S. Fast mail train which was a consist of 4 wheel mail cars, a coach and an observation. ...and this where it gets interesting. Many years back I purchased the set shown below. It came in a nondescript box with no markings. Given the time frame (well before the time of this original post) and my then general lack of knowledge about pre-war Flyer, my only interest was that it was a Flyer engine I had never seen. In light of the Fast Mail special in the 1936 pamphlet I have to wonder if this set wasn't supposed to be the freight equivalent of the Fast Mail. Since there is zero evidence of this, I'll just focus on the fact that it is a very interesting little set with no pedigree to speak of.
(snip)
The last of the sheet metal steamers is a small uncataloged 0-4-0 which is believed to have been made in the early to middle 1930's. It was not cataloged or numbered however in the Ameerican Flyer Electric Train Special announcement for 1936 it was shown heading up set #7467RT - Electric U.S. Fast mail train which was a consist of 4 wheel mail cars, a coach and an observation.
...and this where it gets interesting. Many years back I purchased the set shown below.
It came in a nondescript box with no markings. Given the time frame (well before the time of this original post) and my then general lack of knowledge about pre-war Flyer, my only interest was that it was a Flyer engine I had never seen. In light of the Fast Mail special in the 1936 pamphlet I have to wonder if this set wasn't supposed to be the freight equivalent of the Fast Mail. Since there is zero evidence of this, I'll just focus on the fact that it is a very interesting little set with no pedigree to speak of.
As you can see my set differs a bit from yours. My cattle cars have green doors.
I do have a third livestock car with a yellow door. So here is that hypothetical set with a third livestock car.
Thanks again.
I'm glad to see Northwoods is going to assemble the consist for the 7467-RT set. That will be something to see when it is finished. I provided pictures and a brief discussion about the uncataloged freight set back on page 7 of this thread and I really don't have anything more to add. As I mentioned then I do wonder if the set was supposed to be a freight version of the 7467. The only issue I have with this thought (other than the fact that I have zero evidence for the current one) is, if it was supposed to be the freight equivalent - why not 3 cattle cars?
In one of the other posts to this thread I noted Chicago was the "hog butcher of the world" and I wondered in that post why Flyer didn't offer some really impressive cattle cars in their lineup instead of the very nondiscript cars they did field. A train set made up to resemble one of the long cattle car drags that had to have been an everyday fact of life in Chicago at that time would at least have been a toy train nod to Chicago reality. I'd like to think this little set had that in mind but, as I said, this is just so much wishful thinking on my part.
strainst Thanks for showing which cars came with the uncataloged Type XXII locomotive and No. 121 tender. I have the loco/tender but never knew what cars came with them. I have owned most of the 500 series freight cars in the past. I will need to check to see if I still have these. Do you know what other cars came with this loco/tender in the other uncataloged sets? Thanks
Thanks for showing which cars came with the uncataloged Type XXII locomotive and No. 121 tender. I have the loco/tender but never knew what cars came with them. I have owned most of the 500 series freight cars in the past. I will need to check to see if I still have these. Do you know what other cars came with this loco/tender in the other uncataloged sets? Thanks
Hi strainst,
Its nice to see you back. I don't have a very good knowledge of the uncataloged sets that American Flyer put out. To my knowledge the Type XXII engine was accompanied by only two consists; the freight set that I posted above and a mail/passenger set.
The illustration of the mail set is shown below which is from information that mersenne6 sent to me from a 1936 price list.
As usual I am putting a set together to have a reasonable facsimile of the set. There are no colors given in the description however what I am putting together are some cars with "attractive colors".
Just 2 mail cars and the engine to go.
I see that you figured out how to post photos again. Posting from Shutterfly has always been simple for me. Go to your shuutterfly account. Select the photo you want to post. Double click on it to expand it. Right click. Click on Copy. Go to the site you want to post the photo on. Place your cursor where you want it to appear. Right Click. Click on Paste. That should do it.
I have found that the restoration process for my missing photos has been a labor of love. I go to the post where the photos are missing, then go to my stored photos on Shutterfly and hunt for them and then re-post them to the thread.
Your #7 is gorgeous. As you know it is listed as NRS in the Greenberg guide. What a great piece to have in your collection. Thanks for making it your inaugural photo in your return.
It has been a while since I posted a photo, so I thought I would see if I could emember how to do it and post a couple photos of one of my favorite clock work loco, an Amreican Flyer No. 7. I had no luck using Flickr which I used after photobucket stop free hosting. I do have a shutterfly account, but I don't see how copy the photo from that site to this site. Northwoods Flyer, don't you use shutterfly? Did you give directions on an earlier page on how you post pictures? What page was on, or can you go through ther process again. Thanks
I think I just figured how to post.
Little late, but Happy 14th Anniversary. This is still the best source of information on Pre-War American Flyer trains. I am so happy I found this forum and have enjoyed all of the postings. I hope you are able to finish reposting the lost photos in the earlier posts. I see my photos are still showing with the photobucket water marks. I have all of the photos in a folder on my computer and am willing to repost. Is there a way to search for my posting so I know where to insert the photos? Thanks
Thank You folks for the congratulations here online and offline too.
fife,
I am happy for the couple of dozen folks who do follow the thread and contribute. What would I do with Millions of Happy followers"
I am quoting one of my posts from last September...with an update.
Northwoods Flyer Type XXII Sheet Metal Steam Engine Mersenne6 pointed this engine out to me some time ago on ebay. I recently found the appropriate matching tender. It is an uncataloged electric steam locomotove from the mid 1930's according to the Greenberg Guide. It is described as a simple 0-4-0 sheetmetal locomotive with stamped steel drivers. I am still looking for the appropriate cars. Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby Northwoods Flyer
Type XXII Sheet Metal Steam Engine
Mersenne6 pointed this engine out to me some time ago on ebay. I recently found the appropriate matching tender. It is an uncataloged electric steam locomotove from the mid 1930's according to the Greenberg Guide. It is described as a simple 0-4-0 sheetmetal locomotive with stamped steel drivers.
I am still looking for the appropriate cars.
With collaboration from Mersenne6 and diligently watching auctions I have completed one of the uncatalogued sets that this little engine headed.
He has a great story and background information about this set that I will let him tell when he has the time to post it here. Collecting toy trains is definitely a communal activity.
I'll third it! My favorite thread EVER! Thank you to all who have contributed and particularly to Northwoods Fyer for starting, maintaining, and inspiring it!
I second that sentiment!
Northwoods --- Happy Anniversary, from one of your millions of fans...
January 22, 2008 - January 22, 2022
Celebrating
14
years
Pre War American Flyer Pictures
I was just reading through the anniversary posting from last year and am surprised at how quickly the time has gone by and by how little I have accomplished in a year. Some of the walls of the train room still need a coat of paint and I still need to add some adequate lighting. I have done a few things but I am discovering the statement made by other retirees about being busier in retirement than when I was employed is definitely a truism.
I stalled out on reposting the missing photos project. That is on my radar for the rest of this frigid Minnesota winter. Mersenne6 has done an excellent job of fixing his posts and editing/re-writing others. You will notice that there have not been a large number of postings this year. I believe that folks have found other places to participate in the tinplate area of the hobby. I see lots of postings and discourse on Facebook groups. Another thing that I consider a setback for the thread is that I can no longer tell how many folks visit the thread daily. As the number of views was closing in on 1 million the counter went haywire. It now shows tens of thousands being added in a day - not likely. I have not been able to find anyone who can tell me what happened or how to fix it.
We have lost a number of readers and posters due to death. This is perhaps the saddest part of going back and reading the 83 pages of postings. It is a bittersweet experience to know that their postings, photos and questions are preserved here. Just another one of those turisms in life. The only thing that remains the same is change.
So enough of this gloomy talk. I am looking forward to the next year with vigor and enthusiasm. There is still plenty to learn about Prewar American Flyer and many more photos to post. I am looking forward to ordering the new Wide Gauge book by Alan Schuweiler and Fritz von Tagen. That should make the cold evenings go by more quickly.
In honor of Anniversary 14 and in anticipation of the new Wide Gauge book let me post some photos of passenger sets in my collection that highlight the 14" cars that were the backbone of the Wide Gauge passenger fleet.
The Lone Scout
The Hamiltonian
The Eagle
Frontier Town
4331
4332
Have a great year of collecting.
Greg
Oh, that 12-table layout; oh, my! And the SG steam set behind the Hiawatha . . . .
Dream, indeed!
I received an email and photos from Charles Seims as well. He says
"Hello Northwoods--here are some AF photographs with a nice Xmas theme....(snip). The color photographs of the fabulous Flyer display were taken by me at the late lamented Cal Stewart train meet in Pasadena California. They date from November 2007. Feel free to use them any way you wish, and I hope your readers enjoy them."
Thank You Charles. There is a lot there to dream about instead of sugarplums.
Thanks, Northwoods flyer, for posting those for me!
Thanks, Becky. The platform was inspired by Stu Shuster's layout, which has been in CTT a couple times.
Great pics! I really like the platform too!
Here are the photos sent to me by palallin -
"Both photos show the train under our living room Christmas tree this year. while the accessories are mostly Lionel, I have my eye out for a couple Flyer pieces. Rumor has it that a lumber car may be arriving on Christmas Eve if I am a good boy. " - palallin
Thanks for sharing your photos. I'll put in a good word for you with the Jolly Old Elf.
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