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Pre War American Flyer Pictures - An Invitation

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Posted by tinplatacis on Friday, April 1, 2016 6:24 AM

Nationwidelines

 

 
Northwoods Flyer
 
Northwoods Flyer

Trivia Question #6

What is this a part of?  What year(s) did this appear in the American Flyer catalogs?

 

 

Good observations so far, but no correct answers.  Its been 13 hours since the last guess. Need another clue?

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Northwoods Flyer

 

 

 

 

 

That makes it easier, it is the other cast item that was painted yellow, which I did not think about.  It is the die cast bumper/stop that Gilbert made.  Not sure of the years cataloged, likely 1940-42

 

You beat me to that guess, although I would be inclined to say 1941, since 1940 was close.

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Posted by Nationwidelines on Thursday, March 31, 2016 8:43 PM

Northwoods Flyer
 
Northwoods Flyer

Trivia Question #6

What is this a part of?  What year(s) did this appear in the American Flyer catalogs?

 

 

Good observations so far, but no correct answers.  Its been 13 hours since the last guess. Need another clue?

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

 

 

 

That makes it easier, it is the other cast item that was painted yellow, which I did not think about.  It is the die cast bumper/stop that Gilbert made.  Not sure of the years cataloged, likely 1940-42

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Posted by rack776 on Thursday, March 31, 2016 8:23 PM

FYI i figured id pass this along to anyone here interested in restoring prewar flyer.

I spied a rough and rusty 1939 mountain red ball double header set on one of the auction sites....I wont give away the location to spoil it for some one bidding.....but i figured if anyone is looking for this set there is a project to restore out there.....youll have to study the photos to see the cars and dummy for this set...the auction does not list it as a set.

Hope it finds a good home....Jason

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Thursday, March 31, 2016 8:21 PM

Northwoods Flyer

Trivia Question #6

What is this a part of?  What year(s) did this appear in the American Flyer catalogs?

Good observations so far, but no correct answers.  Its been 13 hours since the last guess. Need another clue?

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Northwoods Flyer

 

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Posted by Nationwidelines on Thursday, March 31, 2016 6:44 AM

Longshot here, because I don't know Gilbert.  How about the prewar HO version of the switch tower?  The item is obviously cast and is yellow in color and that is the only thing I can think of that matches those characteristics.

I guess one other option is the cart on the track gang accessory.

 

NWL

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Thursday, March 31, 2016 6:37 AM

tinplatacis

A crane of some sort, probably 1939/1940?

 

Correct color and close to the correct year.  Try again. Smile

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Posted by tinplatacis on Thursday, March 31, 2016 6:23 AM

A crane of some sort, probably 1939/1940?

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 8:44 PM

Trivia Question #6

What is this a part of?  What year(s) did this appear in the American Flyer catalogs?

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Northwoods Flyer

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Tuesday, March 29, 2016 9:25 AM

NationWideLines is correct again.

The photo is of the back side of the #2218 block signal in its less common red color.

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Posted by Nationwidelines on Monday, March 28, 2016 7:09 PM

Come on, you can't come up with something harder?  Red Block signal

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Monday, March 28, 2016 12:16 PM

Nice Work NationWideLines.  The set is indeed the Iron Horse, and it appears in the 1930 and 1931 catalogs.  Thanks for the additional information on the tenders too.  It makes dating sets a bit more precise.

Trivia Question #5

What is this and where will you find it?

Good Luck!

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Posted by vintageflyer on Sunday, March 27, 2016 7:18 PM
Thanks for the info on this one! A set that I've been curious about for some time.
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Posted by Nationwidelines on Sunday, March 27, 2016 6:51 PM

Northwoods,

That set is the "Iron Horse" which was cataloged in 1930 and 1931.  In 1932, a similar but slightly different set was cataloged as the "Texan", which featured the new die cast steam engine and 4 wheel orange cars.

Your set appears to be either a very late 1930 set or a 1931 set, as evidenced by the green stripe on the tender. 

I have an earlier 1930 Iron Horse set, which features an orange stripe on the tender, which features a tender that is slightly different.  The cast iron coal load in the tender attaches from the bottom only and not the sides. 

The following two pictures show the difference between the tenders.

c. 1930 orange stripe tender

 

c. 1931 green stripe tender

In looking at the catalog artwork for this set, one can see the orange stripe tender in the 1930 catalog and the artwork was likely re-used in the 1931 catalog.  I am not sure the reason for the changes in how the coal load was mounted, but I suspect that is the reason that the color of the stripe was changed.  I know that the orange stripe tenders with the coal load mounting from the bottom only are not as common as the green stripe tenders, with the coal load mounting screws through the side of the body.

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Sunday, March 27, 2016 4:38 PM

Trivia Question #4

What is the name of this train?  What years did it appear in the American Flyer catalog(s)?

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Northwoods Flyer

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Posted by Nationwidelines on Saturday, March 26, 2016 9:38 PM

Northwoods,

I know of at least one more color variation for the semaphore and that has a blue base with tan mast. 

I am not aware of any other accessories that feature the round raised base.  I know some of the later accessories, including the double lamp post and later bellringing warning sign, have a rectangular raised base. 

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Saturday, March 26, 2016 3:29 PM

In his last post NationWideLines mentioned that Flyer used the round red bases to raise a number of accessories for the Wide Gauge line.  That got me thinking about the number of accessores where the round bases were used.  I posted about ringing bell danger signals earlier on the thread. There are three that I have in my collecton that have the round raised bases. All three have brass plates on the base.

I checked through my collection and found four different accessories that make use of the tall bases. (Its actually 3 different accessories but two different colors of the double lamp post.)

As you can see there are three different colors.

Three of them have brass tags.  The double street lamp with the green standard and the red base has a decal.

I have two examples of the green lamp post and both of them have decals, but they are punched for the brass tags.

Are there other examples of accessories that have the taller base?

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Wednesday, March 23, 2016 6:57 AM

NationWideLines,

Excellent deductions. It is indeed found on a round sheetmetal base.

Specifically it is from an accesory with a green sheet metal pole.

That is part of a 2210 double arm lamp post.

Schuweiler does not list this variation in his Wide Gauge book. 

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Posted by Nationwidelines on Tuesday, March 22, 2016 1:52 PM

I would guess that label is on a sheetmetal accessory that has a rounded base to raise the particular accessory mast to a higher level for standard gauge.  The base is punched for brass plates, but has the label, so that would put its production to some time around 1932 or after. 

I suspect it is probably a bell ringing signal, but they used the red round bases to raise various accessories, so one really cannot say for sure. 

 

 

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Tuesday, March 22, 2016 7:11 AM

Let's see how you folks do on this one.

Trivia Question #3

Where will you find this label?

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Monday, March 21, 2016 10:14 PM

Thanks for your replies folks.

The photo is of The Dixie Queen

The set is headed by a #3105

The set appears in the catalog in 1930 and 1931.

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Posted by Nationwidelines on Monday, March 21, 2016 7:21 PM

I agree with vintageflyer in that it is the Dixie Queen set.  I am too lazy to look up the years it was in the catalog. 

I know the Frontenac set was the same but in green. 

I believe the Bluebird set from that era was in blue/green

 

The Dixie Queen is one of those sets I am searching for a nice example of.  I have the set, but it is only so-so and is not as nice as my Bluebird or Frontenac set from that era.

 

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Posted by balidas on Monday, March 21, 2016 12:19 PM
I would also say The Bluebird altho I wouldn't know the year.
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Posted by vintageflyer on Monday, March 21, 2016 8:17 AM

The Dixie Queen. 1930, 31?  Oddly enough, the Bluebird was a blue/green color those years. 

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Posted by Jack Derby on Monday, March 21, 2016 7:04 AM

Bluebird, 1931

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Monday, March 21, 2016 7:01 AM

It didn't take long for someone to answer the first trivia question.  Lets try another one.  This time it has 2 parts.

Trivia Question #2

What is the name of this train and what year(s) did it appear in the American Flyer catalog?

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Northwoods Flyer

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Sunday, March 20, 2016 9:24 PM

balidas

 

 
Heymrd1313

Power Station Platform

 

 

 

 

Northwoods Flyer, in answer to your trivia question, I would say here.

 

Nice work Balidas, you have a good eye, and it didn't take you long either.

It is the door on a #90 station

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Posted by tinplatacis on Sunday, March 20, 2016 4:49 PM

Yes, I was mistaken. Not owning one myself, I have heard the wording he used used to describe zinc pest, and assumed that that was likely, given that many manufacturers used cast frames.

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Posted by balidas on Sunday, March 20, 2016 10:02 AM

Nationwidelines

You are correct and the person making the original post was mistaken.  The only parts on the engine that would be affected by "zinc pest" would be the roof mounted cast headlight (if your engine is the 1928 or later version, I do not recall) and the drive wheels (which I do believe need to be replaced). 

 

Mine does have the cast headlamp. The shell seems pretty solid still but the contact inside is missing. The geared drive wheels are crumbling so I figured it's best to replace all 4 at the same time.

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Posted by balidas on Sunday, March 20, 2016 9:52 AM

Northwoods Flyer
 
balidas

 

 

What is that bar on the botton at the other end? Is that a manual dierctional control?

 

 

 

balidas,

Your assumption is correct.  The square bar protruding from the motor is a manual reverse.

 You can reverse by hand or use the special accessory that American Flyer designed for the purpose.  Below is a series of photos showing its use with a 3115, which also has the manual reverse mechanism.

Good luck with your 3113.  I assume you hope to restore it to running condition.  There are replacement wheels available.  Hennings is starting to offer the line of wheels and parts that Model Engineering Works originally made and marketed.

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Northwoods Flyer

 

 

Ah look at that. Interesting. Yes, absolutely I'm going to restore this to operating condition. It's a beautiful piece. I was also thinking to go ahead & replace all 4 wheels at the same time. Thanks!

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Posted by Nationwidelines on Sunday, March 20, 2016 9:52 AM

You are correct and the person making the original post was mistaken.  The only parts on the engine that would be affected by "zinc pest" would be the roof mounted cast headlight (if your engine is the 1928 or later version, I do not recall) and the drive wheels (which I do believe need to be replaced). 

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