American Flyer HO 200 help needed

[Yellow_Tank_Car]

I recently picked up a 1938 version of the American Flyer 200, a HO New York Central 4-6-4. Looking at it closer however there are a few things different than all the other 1938 200s out there on the internet, and was hoping someone could tell me waht is going on, as I’m not a “serious” American Flyer collector.

The main things I noticed were the front truck was attached via a drawbar, not a screw through a slot in the center of the truck. Second, the tender chassis has a flat bottom, not a peaked one like others. Third, the tender trucks have brass plates under the axles, where as others only have brass pickup wipers. 4th, there is a lever protruding through the coal to manually cycle the reverse unit, and the hole looks to be cast into the shell, not drilled out. And fifth, there is no “made by A.C. Gilbert” cast into the tender deck behind the water hatch.

Some other miniscule things I noticed are the handrails in the loco are all the same height on the boiler, normally the last support on the firebox is higer up on the boiler side compared to the others. These two could absolutely be from a previous owner and probably are: a maroon cab roof, and a pipe across top of boiler at rear of smokebox.

Photos:

And reference photos as to what a normal one looks like from the Gilbert HO index and an old eBay listing:

[AmFlyerTom]

That looks like home made work to me. One thing to keep in mind that in 1938, in addition to the #200 engine, the 4-6-4 Hudson was sold as a build it yourself kit as part of three different kits. These were the #HO-10 Freight Kit, the #HO-11 Passenger Kit and the #HO-1 Hudson Engine Only Kit. Who knows what creative mods might be used when assembling these kits.

[Yellow_Tank_Car]

would the castings have been that different between the ready to run version and the kit?

[AmFlyerTom]

In my opinion the shells should be the same, but there are some detail differences not attributable to a home customization. All the 1938 Hudsons I have seen, not a lot, look like the pictures on the HO site.

[Woke_Hoagland]

I think one test would be whether the kits have the A.C.Gilbert on the tender deck.

Both the lead and trailing trucks of the locomotive look ‘factory assembled’ to me; the lead truck is riveted to its pivot bar, and the trailing truck has a cross-rivet of a kind usually made only by machinery. On the other hand the bars themselves look cheaply made of strip.

[AmFlyerTom]

The 1938 Hudson was sold as a kit as well as fully assembled and as part of several sets.

[TheChallenger]

I have a 31005 and I’ve learned that you can definitely benefit from some weights on that rear truck, they are very much prone to derail.