Hello,
Has anyone had a sucessful layout with both American Flyer and Lionel/Marx? I am going to put one together, and I am looking into building a couple of crossovers where my Flyer track will cross over the Lionel/Marx track without having trestles and the like.
Thanks
Welcome to the Forum! Sure they have - I’ve read about them over the years in CTT and some Kalmbach layout books - there have been ones with both Amer-Flyer in S and in O along with Lionel or other manufacturer’s in O - some of it was deliberate - for selective compression of more distant trains - and some of it just for fun. Can’t wait to hear more about your progress.[:D]
(I think you’re talking about crossings, not crossovers.)
One thing to keep in mind in designing these is that, unlike a 3-rail-3-rail crossing, at least two of the frogs will have to be insulated, since you can’t connect both American-Flyer rails to outside rails of the 3-rail track.
I’ve considered it, especially because the majority of my stuff is O27 (and will stay that way) and O27 is basically 1:64 scale like AF S gauge.
I’m told that at one time Gargraves (or possibly someone else) made dual-gauge track with four rails so you could run either Lionel/Marx or AF on the same track.
Once I’ve decided for certain how the layout I’m going to build next is going to look, I may put a loop of AF track on it, independent of everything, or a loop of dual-gauge track that I’ll make myself out of discarded Lionel or Marx tubular track. AF track had a diameter of 40 inches, but I’ve read that AF’s Atlantics can negotiate a circle of track with a diameter as small at 20 inches. I won’t test my luck that much.
I’ve also heard of people re-gauging common AF locomotives to O gauge, basically turning them into O27 locos. To some people I’m sure that’s heresy, but it’s a way to get stuff that Marx and Lionel never made.
At any rate, I think mixing AF, Lionel, and Marx is a good idea, however you end up doing it. All three companies made stuff that looks good together.
People often use S gauge in the Background and O gauge in the foreground to force the perspective making the layout seem larger (deeper). The Lionel Showroom layout in Michigan was done this way.
I run both S and O gauge together on my layout and they mix together quite nicely.