Another item that was made prewar and continued over postwar with differences was the 596 Water Tank. The prewar version that I have is painted a glossy tuscan color with a wooden spout.
One of the most collectible prewar American Flyer Accessories that was also made postwar is the animated track gang. The prewar version would have cloth covered wire.
Lionel had the good sense to reproduce this hard to find and expensive accessory item. Their reproduction is pretty much spot on. At this time I do not have the original but am running the reproduction for effect.
Another accessory that doesn’t turn up often. The No. 2 prewar trestle bridge…
Here is the Prewar Switch Tower in brown and yellow. This one needs a set of windows, looks like some kids were throwing stones!
When collecting rare trains like these prewar Gilbert American Flyer trains sometimes you have to take a piece regardless if it’s in pristine condition or not. You just don’t know when you will find another. If you are lucky enough you can upgrade later to a better one. For now I’m glad to have this tower.
Here is the Ringling Bro’s and Barnum and Bailey version of the prewar Whistling billboard. Another distinguishing feature of prewar is the hairpin springs on the motor brushes. Postwar used the female spade clips to hold the springs in.
Here are some different baggage and passenger cars. Some variations.
All red baggage
Red with white doors. note that red with white doors has dark lettering in the American Flyer Lines decal
Royal Blue type with white doors
These cars came in green also and gray… there were whistles in some. I’m looking forward to some more pictures with variations and perhaps a whistle car or two.
Tinplate Passenger cars. These passenger cars came in both lighted and unlit versions.
There was a series of deluxe pullman cars that were cast. They were sold with the Pennsylvania K5, the Hudson and the 534 RDC 4-8-4 Union Pacific set or they could be purchased as kits to be painted and assembled at home. Kit no 521 for the baggage and 524 for the Pullman. From what I understand it is very hard to find one of the cast Pullmans without some form of rotting or warping due to zinc pest.
Die Cast rolling stock. All of the cast cars were available in kit form (K designation before part no.) or assembled from the factory.
Here is a selection of the entire lineup of the diecast freight cars. (with the exception of kits and variations)
All of them in a row.
Die Cast 506 Beano Box Car
Die Cast Virginia 508
Die Cast 510 Missouri Pacific Stock/Cattle Car
Die Cast Texaco Tank car 512
Die Cast Wrecker car no 514. Frame is cast with sheet metal crane cab.
Die Cast Gondola 504 the gondola uses the same frame as the crane and cattle car if zinc pest has gotten to it you can replace it with the frame used on a postwar tank car. Some of the early ones were cast but without the four holes at the corners
Die Cast UP caboose 516 (usually found in sets with the 4-8-4 UP Northern)
Die Cast NYC version of the 516 Caboose (usually found in sets with the NYC Hudson)
Let me offer my congratulations on a great start to your thread! [bow] I have only a smattering of the prewar Gilbert production, and as you have mentioned it is scattered throughout the PreWar American Flyer thread. It will be nice to have all of it gathered in one location. Thanks for starting this thread and for being an enthusiastic host.
The 3/16" O gauge line is fascinating because it was produced for such a brief period of time and the variety of equipment produced is limited. Its also a little sad because it marked the end of Chicago Flyer production and a much more toy like feel to the trains. I collected S gauge Flyer for at least 20 years before moving into the prewar trains, so its fun to see the predecessors to the S gauge line. It makes you wonder why Gilbert didn’t continue some of the items after WWII. Its hard to chose which I like more.
Your photos of your collection are excellent and you have been able to obtain some really excellent examples. I have watched your videos on Youtube and they make me want to run some Gilbert era equipment on the Blueboard Central. I’d be interested in seeing some additional photos of your layout too, it really captures the era in which the 3/16 line was produced.
Back a page you posted a photo of the 556 Royal Blue combination catalogued in 1940 and 1941. This is the example I have in my collection:
Thanks Northwoods Flyer. Of course your thread is the inspiration for this little Gilbert slice of trains.!
Thank you for posting the pictures of your two torpedos side by side or rather nose to nose. I’m really excited to see what this thread will bring. There is so little information about these trains.
Again I find it interesting that with the 553 there is no mention of 3/16" on the catalog page. It is described as O only. The 3/16" logo was apparently reserved for the “Tru Model” trains. The 553 doesn’t sport a known wheel configuration which makes it more toy like, so it looks like it might have been a lesser priced or entry level train that still has the look of the new 3/16" gauge trains.
Yours looks like a fine example. Does your Royal Blue have a chugger tender?
Cabooses. The little red caboose deserves a post of it’s own. There are variations. They came lighted and non lighted.
484 caboose with black railings
484 caboose with white railings
484 with lights
Here is a strange 484 I came across. This one has a caboose base that is punched out for a chugger unit… I’m not sure if a caboose ever came with this option or if this was a mistake. But is certainly is curious.
This is in fact a scale model like other Gilbert 3/16" models but of a relatively little known prototype.
The Reading railroad was an early user of Atlantic type locomotives but the great majority were of the Camelback type, since that was the easiest way of incorporating the wide Wooten firebox used by the Reading.
However, in 1915, an experimental 4-4-4 was built in the P&R shops as class C-1a which placed the cab behind the large firebox. A total of four were built but the rear bogie proved unstable at speed and the locomotives were rebuilt in 1924 with a single trailing axle, and the firebox was reduced from about 12 feet long about 10 feet 6 inches long which improved the steady running of the locomotive. They were reclassified as class P-7sa (the “s” indicating superheating).
That history does give the option to a collector whose “Atlantic” is missing the trailing axle to put a bogie in that location, and still have a prototypically correct model, if not one that had been produced by Gilbert.
I guess we all have our story on how we got into a phase of a hobby. Here’s mine,
As my collection began to grow I wanted to build a set from every decade of American Flyer. In choosing a set from the 1940’s I chose one from 1941, after all it is the year my wife’s parents were born and how could she say “no”? I bought a 1941 catalogue and found on ebay a complete set. No. 4103 Crusader Freight Train.
That’s were I got the “bug” for S scale (3/16") O gauge Flyer. So here is that set and later I will add more, even though some will have already been posted.
Catalogue from 1941
Locomotive # 565
Tender # 564C ( “C” stands for chugger but doesn’t sound great)
Thanks for the post Ray, great to see them sitting on the rails.
Here are some shots of my “Tayle-Chase” railroad… It is a little pike, still a work in progress. I had the idea to make it as much like it might be seen back in wartime or immediately after WWII.
Lichen, bottle brush trees and spray flocked trees. Very period.
Track gang working on a loose rail as a Union Pacific freighter rattles by.
Pages out of the 1940 catalog. I will add more as I scan them. These catalogs are an invaluable source of information. If anyone has 1938,1939 and 1941 it would be great if you could add to this part of the thread. In the meantime I’ll be looking for each one of those catalogs
After I convinced my wife it was a good idea that building a set from the year her mother was born (1941), The set I posted earlier, I sold her on the idea to build one the year her dad was born, also 1941. Am I lucky or what!
Here is “The Red Arrow Passenger Train” . Set number 4110 in the 1941 catalogue.
Ray, I have a chugger unit mounted on a tender base for the K5 that I want to put under my tender. I tried it once and it seems that the flat screw on the large gear is rubbing on the inside of my tender shell. I don’t see and warp at all in my tender shell. I wonder is there any relief cutout in your tender shell, or is your screw really thin and flat, possibly a different screw than used on the Atlantic?
Gray Cat - When I took it apart months ago everything ran fine it’s just that the leather washer wasn’t pushing enough air. I might have to drill it out and reverse it. But I know that I won’t get the time to work on it until February. I guess that’s part of the fun in our hobby, working on these 70 year old trains. Depending on the outcome I do find it a good thing.
Today I added a few photo’s of new acquisitions. In order to try and keep some sort of semblance of order I edited earlier posts to add the photo’s and descriptions.
Thanks for looking and I’m really looking foward to some more input on these rare and beautiful prewar American Flyer (Gilbert) trains.
Thanks for posting this David, I didn’t realize until now that this is an interactive catalog link showing pages of the various catalogs. Good point of reference.
