American Flyer are magic words to a collector of vintage toy trains. Many of us can remember from our childhoods that neat train set that Santa Claus brought at Christmas. Many will even recall the smell that the transformers made as we loaded as much as we could onto our freight cars & watched as they moved around the track. We even had tunnels that our trains passed through. And the thrill when we changed tracks along with our dismay when we were involved in a monumental train wreck.
Some of us never grew out of trains & are still playing with them in our basements, designing layouts, buildings, trees, & even parks.
The American Flyer was a very special toy train & really became popular in 1937 when they were bought out by the A.C. Gilbert Co. They had been around since the beginning of the century & had even been partners with Lionel in the acquisition of the Ives Company, also makers of great toy train sets.
In the late 1950's American Flyer started producing the 2 rail "S" guage rail system & their locomotives & freight cars were unsurpassed by any of the other train makers including Lionel. The detail that went into the making of the American Flyer train set was just incredible & second to none.
American Flyer were bought out by Lionel back in the 1960's & are still being made. A model railroad today which includes an American Flyer train set from the 1950's is highly collectible! You can still find some of those old antique trains from the 1940's & 1950's, but you have to hunt very well to locate them. Flea markets, garage sales, church sales, are all great places to check.
Model trains became less popular during the 1960's because of the space age, but they have now re-surfaced & are more popular than ever, being highly sought after collectibles. But today, the kids that are playing with them, are often much older & most of them are now retired!
What a wonderful thing it is, to be old & gray, & pondering, as your American Flyer moves around the track! Oh well, should we put another tree over there & expand the parking area, perhaps paint that bridge a different color & add some livestock along the tracks?
Happy railroading everyone!
