Hi to all, I have an american flyer rare 1957 uncataloged #21004 loco and slant back tender with rocket freight set including rare car carrier w/ blue semi and all 5 cars also rocket launcher car, red caboose and the gondola being the key piece for me! I found this set when i painted apartments for a living, someone left it in a closet minus the track, but w/ the 100 watt t.f.! It even had the original boxes,i couldn’t believe someone could forget such a beautiful train set, i had one simalar to it when i was a child(my dad sold it!) I put it in my closet and it remained there for about 10 years, i didn’t think i would be able to find track for it, but ebay has ample supplies of s-gauge stuff !
About 2 months ago I purchased some track, built a 4x12 foot layout, cleaned and lubed her up and she runs perfect, she even still smokes and chug chugs loudly! I wanted to add steam whistle sounds to my layout, but the original ones are all stationary ( not a good effect for a layout) not to mention pricey as i am on a budget ! So one day i had an epifany, several months prior to this while garage saleing i puchased a battery opperated large round train clock w/ sounds for 25 cents , it makes steam,bell,whistle, and chug sounds! this clock had 2 seperate batterys 1 for clock and 1 for sound , which was perfect ! I took the clock apart, removed clock mechanism( it is the switch for sound), hourly sounds as you turn the clock setting knob, and since you don’t have power to the clock you can turn it to activate !
There are 2 different positions as you turn it, when you hear it click it turns on sound , goes through all sounds and stops or keep turning it to just where you think it will click and it will remain on until you finish turning it to where it clicks again! I also removed the computer board and speaker ( becareful with the wires very delicate), it was all to large f
Was that one paragraph? I got 1/3 of the way and gave up…
David B
Nice tutorial, and [#welcome] to the forums!! Why not post this at the Toy Train forum as well - you’d be suprised at how many folks run A F trains, as well as getting tips back from them. Again, nice job!![:)]
Hi!
Welcome to the Forums!!!
May I strongly suggest that you post this on the Toy Train forum! Not putting them down, for I have a large Lionel postwar collection, but the folks on that forum have interests similar to yours. The folks on this forum are interested primarily in scale model trains.
I understand your excitement in writing about trains. I’m 64, and have played with trains since I was 8 or 9, and still have all that excitement in me. But, may I suggest that you cut your posting down to about 1/4 or less in size - and use paragraphs. Believe me, folks just won’t read something much longer than that, and will forget what they read if they did. You will get significantly better responses with “to the point questions” or comments and proper spacing.
I spent 40 years writing stuff for major oil companies, and had to learn the “rules” in the above paragraph the hard way.
Hey, in any case… ENJOY !!!
Mobilman44
Sorry , i fixed that problem!
Thank you for the compliments and i posted on toy train forums!!
Hey i’m not a profesional writer ,i just love toy trains! If people forget what they read that fast they have a serious problem! This doesn’t have to do with just American Flyer, it can be for any train! I’m no youngster as i’m 46 years old, and had toy trains all my life!