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Pre War American Flyer Pictures - An Invitation

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Posted by Nationwidelines on Wednesday, June 3, 2020 7:11 AM

JonEddy

 

Well I guess the whistle motor went out. I did try changing the brushes and either I caused a short in the motor armature or it was just giving its last couple of turns when I tried it earlier. If I can get that fixed it does look like the fiber gear is going out on it too. A couple of the gear teeth are worn down. Does anyone know if they make replacements or is it the idler gear for an Ogauge Engine, if so where? I didn't see them on Hennings or Train Tender's sitesSad 

 

       Jon

 

I don't know of anyone who has reproduced the fiber gear for the whistles.  

NWL

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Posted by JonEddy on Tuesday, June 2, 2020 10:30 PM

Nationwidelines

It came with both a freight set and a passenger set.  Yes the motor uses the same brushes as the engines.  Check the whistle motor gear, I believe it used a fiber gear and they go bad sometimes.

NWL

Well I guess the whistle motor went out. I did try changing the brushes and either I caused a short in the motor armature or it was just giving its last couple of turns when I tried it earlier. If I can get that fixed it does look like the fiber gear is going out on it too. A couple of the gear teeth are worn down. Does anyone know if they make replacements or is it the idler gear for an Ogauge Engine, if so where? I didn't see them on Hennings or Train Tender's sitesSad 

       Jon

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Posted by JonEddy on Tuesday, June 2, 2020 7:29 PM

Nationwidelines

JonEddy,

The tank car in the last picture looks to be from 1930 and is much earlier than the rest of your set.

NWL

 

Thanks, for confirming that one was older. It looks like a previous owner may have touched up the base of that tank too. I tried testing the tender like you suggested, the motor turns but not very fast. I'm going to take a look at the brushes and clean it up and see if it helps. I'll also take a look at the gear.

     Jon

   Jon

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Posted by Nationwidelines on Tuesday, June 2, 2020 6:51 PM

JonEddy,

The tank car in the last picture looks to be from 1930 and is much earlier than the rest of your set.

NWL

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Posted by JonEddy on Tuesday, June 2, 2020 5:57 PM

Northwoods Flyer

Jon,

What cars did you get with the Hudson?

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Northwoods Flyer

 

I got the whole freight set, I just wasn't sure if I had the right cars with it because I got a couple of freight car sets with the same style of couplers. The only difference was the style of truck and color variation. I thought the tanker car(last pic) was from this set but it has a different style truck than the others.
 
 
 
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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Tuesday, June 2, 2020 11:21 AM

Jon,

Here are the sets headed up by the Hudson from the 1936 catalog.

What cars did you get with the Hudson?

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Posted by Nationwidelines on Monday, June 1, 2020 6:44 PM

JonEddy

Did the 1936 version with the whistling tender come in a freight set or passenger set only or both? I tried testing the whistle with my transformer on a wheel and the forked trip and it hummed. Does it use the same brushes as other O-gauge motors?

    Jon

 

It came with both a freight set and a passenger set.  Yes the motor uses the same brushes as the engines.  Check the whistle motor gear, I believe it used a fiber gear and they go bad sometimes.

 

NWL

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Monday, June 1, 2020 4:31 PM

Narrow Gauge

The Oriental

Set #1337   1928 -1929

3112 Medium Boxcab

Notice the doors on the baggage car

A previous owner installed some opaque material in the windows on the coach and the observation.

I like the looks of the window material

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Posted by JonEddy on Friday, May 29, 2020 5:49 PM

Did the 1936 version with the whistling tender come in a freight set or passenger set only or both? I tried testing the whistle with my transformer on a wheel and the forked trip and it hummed. Does it use the same brushes as other O-gauge motors?

    Jon

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Posted by JonEddy on Thursday, May 28, 2020 3:04 PM

Northwoods Flyer
Hi Jon,

As you know the Hudson (Type XII engine) was cataloged from 1936 to  1939. The catalogs from 1937 to 1939 are posted online in their entirety.  If you Google American Flyer catalog 1937 you will see this entry.

Search Results

Web results

American Flyer Trains 1937, page 6 | AC Gilbert Catalog Archive

I believe that all of the Prewar Gilbert catalogs are posted there.  You will get a good idea of the sets that the Hudson headed up.

I can probably post some photos from the 1936 catalog. Is there a particular set you are looking for?

The passenger sets are my favorites.

 

Hi Northwoods,
    The set I got was a freight set, or at least when I bought it it had a freight set with the tender and engine. Thanks for the info, I'll see what i can find in the online catalogs.
 
    Thanks,
        Jon
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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Thursday, May 28, 2020 9:19 AM

JonEddy

Hey Northwoods do you have any catalog pages for the 1680 Hudson with the set options? 

   Thanks for any info.

           Jon

Hi Jon,

As you know the Hudson (Type XII engine) was cataloged from 1936 to  1939. The catalogs from 1937 to 1939 are posted online in their entirety.  If you Google American Flyer catalog 1937 you will see this entry.

Search Results

Web results

American Flyer Trains 1937, page 6 | AC Gilbert Catalog Archive

I believe that all of the Prewar Gilbert catalogs are posted there.  You will get a good idea of the sets that the Hudson headed up.

I can probably post some photos from the 1936 catalog. Is there a particular set you are looking for?

The passenger sets are my favorites.

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Northwoods Flyer

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Posted by Nationwidelines on Wednesday, May 27, 2020 5:26 PM

To test the whistle, just use power wires from your transformer and connect one to the split fork power pickup on the tender and the other to one of the wheels on the tender.

It should run fine on 3 rail track, but not sure about going through switches.

 

NWL

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Posted by JonEddy on Tuesday, May 26, 2020 6:47 PM

Really, I remember reading about the whistle in the thread a while back. I thought that was only on the 9900 Zephyr's. Can this tender run on the three rail system without hurting anything? Anyone know how to test the whistle to make sure it works?

Nationwidelines

JonEddy,

That is the 1936 only whistling tender for the Hudson.  It requires special 4 rail track to make the whistle work.

Lionel sued for patent infringement, so the whistling tender/coaches appeared only in 1936.  In 1937 Flyer brought out the whistling billboard.

NWL

 

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Posted by Nationwidelines on Tuesday, May 26, 2020 6:04 PM

JonEddy,

That is the 1936 only whistling tender for the Hudson.  It requires special 4 rail track to make the whistle work.

Lionel sued for patent infringement, so the whistling tender/coaches appeared only in 1936.  In 1937 Flyer brought out the whistling billboard.

NWL

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Posted by JonEddy on Tuesday, May 26, 2020 10:47 AM

Hey Northwoods do you have any catalog pages for the 1680 Hudson with the set options? I posted some pics above of the Hudson I picked up. Can you tell me what the tender has wired up? It looks like a nother set of brushed underneath. Was this a whistling tender or something else? 

   Thanks for any info.

           Jon

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Sunday, May 24, 2020 7:55 AM

Thanks NWL.

I should have checked my photo archive.

Correction made.  I deleted the statement in my original post.

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Posted by Nationwidelines on Saturday, May 23, 2020 9:34 PM

Northwoods Flyer

Wide Gauge

Tender #4671

It uses the Ives casting that American Flyer got in the bankruptcy sale.

 

Northwoods Flyer

 

 

That is not the "Ives Casting" tender

The Ives Casting tender looks completely different, see below.

 

NWL

 

 

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Posted by Penny Trains on Saturday, May 23, 2020 7:19 PM

What a drop-dead gorgeous machine!  Big Smile

Trains, trains, wonderful trains.  The more you get, the more you toot!  Big Smile

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Saturday, May 23, 2020 4:57 PM

Wide Gauge

Here is the Brass Piper that came along with the "Ambassador" tender above.

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Posted by Nationwidelines on Friday, May 22, 2020 8:59 AM

I have seen a wide gauge tender with Ambassador plates before.  I suspect they were there from the factory, as opposed to being installed during a repair.

NWL

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Thursday, May 21, 2020 4:25 PM

Wide Gauge

Tender #4671

I recently purchased a number of pieces of Wide Gauge American Flyer equipment from a hobby store that was closing. There were a number of pieces that I didn't have and I purchased what I thought were some common pieces to fill the holes in my colection.  I didn't have a great deal of time to examine all of the pieces and I packed them up and put them into storage.  I have finally had some time to examine what I bought.

At first glance this looks like a common #4671

 

Those of you who are more alert than I was at the time I bought it know that the tender usually has an "American Flyer Lines" brass plate or decal on the sides. Mine has an "Ambassador" brass plate on each side. (Think 11" red Narrow Gauge passenger cars). I went scrambling to my Greenberg Guide to find out if it is legitimate. Greenberg does not list it as a variation.  

I went back to the tender and did a closer examination.

The top of the tender matches the photo in the Guide.

The bottom of the tender shows it to have the 4671 stamp.

And something else...

It is difficult to read but this is the "Sold as Shopworn" stamp that usually appears on items that were sold from the store in the factory.  Its hard to know the whole story but for some reason Flyer was using up some old brass plates on a tender sent back for repair, or sold through the factory store.   

Does anyone else have an "Ambassador" Wide Gauge tender?

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Monday, May 18, 2020 12:45 PM

Wide Gauge

Lone Scout   Set #1494    1929 - 1930

Here is the entire set.

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Posted by JonEddy on Sunday, May 17, 2020 8:06 PM

Here are more pics of the tunnel and lights I got. It is a Cascade 4267, the tunnel has been played with a bit and is missing the telegraph poles on top. There are several cracks like someone stepped on top of the tunnel, has anyone ever repaired paper mache or should I keep it original?

 

 

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Posted by JonEddy on Saturday, May 16, 2020 2:00 AM

Some pics of the 1680 Hudson and Tender, which works! Only thing missing is the firebox bulb. Also a few of the other O-gauge Flyers I got:

 

No photo description available.

This one I didn't see any marking on it any where, it does have a ringing bell inside the cab though which I had seen in this thread as a 3308.

   JonEddy

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Posted by JonEddy on Friday, May 15, 2020 7:55 PM

Northwoods, I found a heck of a deal in a local ad for someone selling old trains. Everything on this retangle of track I got from this ad. The guy threw in the box with all of the lamps and accessories and the tunnel with the trains. The table is what I've been working on while in quarantine.

    Jon

This is a Hudson right?

This one was hard to see:

 

 

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Friday, May 15, 2020 9:37 AM

Wide Gauge

#4252   Observation  (1929 - 1931)

American Flyer  Lone Scout Set

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 11:15 AM

Wide Gauge

#4251 Pullman  (1929 - 1931)

American Flyer Lone Scout Set

 

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Monday, May 11, 2020 8:36 AM

NWL,

Thanks for the heads up on the color variation. I will have to keep my eyes open for an example.  Perhaps it will be that the cars with truss bars will be different in color from the cars I already have.

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Posted by Nationwidelines on Saturday, May 9, 2020 5:21 PM

Northwoods,

Actually there are also two variations of the lithography (and I don't know if they vary with the trusses or air tanks or not).  One variation is a more greenish color to the lithograph and one variation is a more blueish color to the lithograph.

NWL

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Posted by Northwoods Flyer on Saturday, May 9, 2020 9:33 AM

Wide Gauge

#4250 Club  (1929 - 1931)

American Flyer  Lone Scout set

This is another set that I bought early in my collecting career. It is also from a printed list and there were no photos. I probably would not purchase it today, however it is a place holder until I find a nicer set.

There are only two variations of this car; this one with brass air tanks and one with gray truss rods.

It has lots of nice brass and plenty of tags. Its been packed away for several years and when I took it out I discovered that it is missing one of the brass doors.  Anyone have one to spare in their parts box?

At least with the door missing you can see what the underlying lithography looks like.

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The Northwoods Flyer Collection

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American Flyer Trains

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