THE FAUX-FLYER FROLIC
My "American Flyer" Experience

Yes, I'm what you might call a serious modeler.  So what the heck am I doing with those tinplate toys?  Well, once upon a time I was a kid.  And even half a century later, that kid still hasn't entirely let go.  It's like this...

Episode I

I got my first electric train set for Christmas in 1950, just after I'd turned six.  It was a basic American Flyer S-gauge set-up, comprising a simple loop of track, a Reading 4-4-2 #303 locomotive and tender, two freight cars, and a caboose.  I probably got more mileage out of this than any other plaything, until I got my first bike.

The next year, a baggage car and a few coaches showed up, and I had passenger service.  Over successive Christmases and birthdays, the loop of track expanded and moved to a permanent site in the basement, the freight fleet expanded to nine cars, and VIP passengers could opt for Pullman service in an open-platform observation car.  Another locomotive (Pennsylvania K-5 4-6-2 #313) and more coaches were acquired second-hand from one of my dad's friends.

About the time I turned 10, we moved across town, and the train layout moved from the basement of the old house to the attic of the new one.  At age 11 or 12, I began riding my bike to the local railroad yards to watch the real trains, and it occurred to me then that my S-gauge toys were rather crude-looking.  Equipment available in smaller HO scale looked much more realistic, being both more accurately proportioned and better detailed.  So I traded in the American Flyer and started over in HO, and have been in that scale ever since.

Intermission

A four-year break in my model railroading pastime was imposed by my enlistment in the army, during which a certain young lady and I met and subsequently committed matrimony.  After my discharge from the service, we moved into an apartment for a few years until we'd saved enough to afford a down payment on a house.  The dwelling we chose was ideal.  It had a splendid 1,200-square-foot-basement, and was located just half a block from my favorite hobby shop.  (The above-ground part wasn't bad either.)  In the years since, a few layouts have been planned, partially built, and then (except for the current layout) replaced when a new concept occurred to me.  A small, portable layout, also in HO scale, was built to run under the Yule tree, ostensibly for the amusement of our daughter and our cat.

Still, when I attended model train shows each fall, I felt drawn to the American Flyer swap tables and operating layouts.  There was still something about that clunky toy stuff that claimed some child's corner of my heart—and I'd like to think it wasn't just the sharp ozone smell from the old open-frame motors!  So, for a few years I entertained the idea of acquiring some used Flyer equipment to replace the HO under-tree layout.  But there was always some reason to put it off—not the least of which being the practical difficulty of locating parts for equipment that had been run to death by kids and then stored for years in dusty basements and attics.

Episode II

Then it struck me.  To get the American Flyer ambience, I needn't buy (and refurbish and maintain) antique equipment, or even change from HO to S gauge.  I could simply use HO models of the same engines and cars after which the Flyer toys had been patterned.  And when the little loop of track goes back into storage after the winter holidays, any equipment that conforms to "model" (or at least "high-grade toy") quality can continue in operation the rest of the year on the permanent basement layout.  That being both the much less daunting and more affordable option, I took the plunge.  So here's the "Faux-Flyer" roster (posed on the big layout for easier viewing) as of 2009:

American Flyer S-Gauge (1:64) Equipment	"Faux Flyer" HO-Scale (1:87) Equivalents
Unit Type Roadname Number	Photo	Manufacturer Roadname Number	Comments
locomotive and tender New York Central J-3a 326		Rivarossi (high-grade toy) New York Central NYC 5405	A close look-alike for Flyer's NYC Hudson engine (except for no "whitewalls" on the drivers).  The unit is well proportioned, but lacks some fine details and has oversize wheel flanges.  It was purchased used but in the original box.
stock car Missouri Pacific 929 (dark red)		Rivarossi-Lionel (medium-grade toy) Missouri Pacific MP 53180	From an HO toy train set (originally MKT "Katy"), repainted and lettered for MoPac.  Much of Rivarossi's early output was crude, apparently developed from fuzzy photos and guesswork instead of from prototype drawings and specifications.
gondola Texas & Pacific 931 (green)		Rivarossi-Lionel (medium-grade toy) Michigan Central MCRR 15317	Another car from the same HO toy train set; T&P decals are currently unavailable, to the best of my knowledge.  (Though I have a T&P gondola on my roster, it's a quality model I'd rather not subject to our cat's playful instincts.)
box car Seaboard "Silver Meteor" (oxide red)		A. C. Gilbert (low-grade toy) Seaboard SAL 514	Toy car produced by Flyer's own manufacturer.  Oddly, when designing its new HO line, instead of tooling up from prototype specs, Gilbert chose simply to downsize its S-gauge toys.  Note oversize door guides, goofy rivet patterns, stick-on herald, lack of corner steps.  At least the trucks were decent!
tank car Gulf 5016 (aluminum) or Mobilgas 956 (red)		Mantua (high-grade toy) Mobilgas SVX 1443	I doubt this paint scheme is authentic, but the "Pegasus" trademark is a satisfactory stand-in for the Gulf emblem on Flyer's aluminum-colored tankers.  (Besides, Mobil underwrites PBS programming, so we're happy to give their philanthropy a little plug!)
depressed-center flat car Erie 7210 (blue-gray)		Bachmann (high-grade toy) Erie ERIE 7268	Flyer's 12-wheel flat car was loaded with a single enormous wire reel, whereas the Bachmann car came with an industrial transformer.  I lettered the car using a prototype photo for reference.
refrigerator car Illinois Central 923 (orange)		Athearn (budget model) Mars "Snickers" TMX 1063	Flyer-style '50s-era plug-door reefers are scarce in HO.  So, I've substituted a Mars "Snickers" wood-side reefer, which I'd bought for holiday service long before hitting on the idea of emulating Flyer equipment.
flat car with six-log load Chicago & Northwestern 42597 (blue-gray)		Athearn (budget model) Chicago & Northwestern C&NW 200339	A blue-box kit (originally Conrail), which I repainted and lettered using a prototype photo, and to which I added a strapped-on load of six large pipes (rejecting Flyer's curiously smooth and varnished "logs," though mimicking their general size and shape).
hopper car Lehigh New England (gray) or Baltimore & Ohio 801 (black)		Athearn (budget model) Baltimore & Ohio B&O 427971	One of my regular fleet of blue-box offset-side hoppers, done in B&O's early billboard scheme.
caboose Reading 930 (red)		Varney (early model) unlettered	Closely resembles Flyer's Reading-prototype centered-cupola steel caboose, a tidy design also used by the Western Maryland, another B&O subsidiary.  I've left it unlettered, so it can pinch hit on any railroad during a caboose shortage.

Choice of the locomotive:  Though I was never lucky enough to own a Flyer Hudson (Flyer's next-to-top-of-the-line steamer), I'd lusted after it in my small boy's heart.  To be sure, there are HO models of the NYC Hudson on the market.  Yet none in current production have the particular configuration of the Flyer engine—cylindrical feedwater heater, Box-Pok drivers, and 12-wheel tender.  But the older Rivarossi model matches that configuration exactly—and it can operate through 18-inch radius curves!  In addition, my nostalgic interest in the Hudson applies to the prototype as well.  Along with Mohawks and Niagaras, Hudsons were daily visitors to my hometown until the Central completed dieselization in 1956.  Schlepping my trusty black suitcase, I sometimes rode the Ohio State Express—often pulled by one of those big J's—on my homeward trips from vacationing at my grandparents' home in the 1950s.

Equipment modifications:  The HO equipment comes in a variety of forms: toys and models, old and contemporary, kit and ready-to-run, as-is and modified, inherited, purchased new or used, and even scrounged from the junk box.  All couplers have been upgraded to Kadee (or equivalent) on all equipment not already so equipped.

Painting and lettering:  When redecorating a car, so far I've been using prototype colors and lettering, rather than the sometimes bizarre American Flyer schemes.  For example, in the real world, C&NW's flat cars were mineral red, and Erie's were black, both with white lettering, whereas in Flyer's world, both cars were blue-gray with black lettering.  Also, to my knowledge, real Gulf tank cars were painted either black or orange, never aluminum.  In the case of the gondola, however, I might make an exception.  Since the gon I have is just a low-quality toy anyway, I've been thinking of redecorating it in Flyer's green, rather than the prototype black, if I can lay hands on an appropriate T&P decal set.

Structures:  There are currently only a couple of buildings on the portable layout: a passenger depot and a Cape-Cod house.  Both are from Bachmann's Plasticville line, which is somewhat undersize and distinctly toy-like, in keeping with the layout's purpose and character.

Snow cover:  To get the snow effect, I painted the layout surface flat white.  I then sprayed the entire layout (including tracks and building rooftops) with a light coat of flat white, which I subsequently over-sprayed with glitter.  When this had dried, I sanded the paint off the tops of the rails to allow for electrical pickup by the trains.

The past in the present:  The "Faux-Flyer" freight roster is now more or less complete, including a representative of each of the seven basic Flyer freight car types (but excluding variants such as covered hoppers and multi-dome tankers).  As it turns out, the under-tree loop's passing siding accommodates only six freight cars between the locomotive and caboose, so I can swap a couple of cars every few days for variety.

Hey, under the tree, this stuff could actually be mistaken for American Flyer (or Lionel)—if you don't look too closely!

Update:  We have passenger service for the 2010 holiday season!  In keeping with my "hand-me-down" theme for the toy layout, I acquired two Athearn streamlined passenger cars from an estate liquidation booth at a local model train show.  The observation car is an acceptable representative for Flyer's "Washington," and the postal car is a close-enough substitute for the "Columbus" baggage-club combine.  Both cars are shown below, behind the Hudson at Haydn Place depot on the big layout.  It remains to procure a "Jefferson"-wannabe coach for the consist.

streamlined postal and observation cars AF "Columbus" and "Washington"		Athearn (budget model)	Although the camera's wide-angle lens makes these cars appear acceptably long, they're actually "shorties" for use on small layouts.
locomotive Baltimore & Ohio EMD GP-7 740		Athearn (budget model)	Flyer made a Geep, but its trucks were grossly oversize and its tanks absurdly compressed.  While the Athearn unit isn't strictly to scale, its concessions to miniaturization are much less glaring.

With the Hudson now in charge of "the varnish," the freight equipment will be hauled by the modified and re-motored Athearn GP-7 that I rescued from the discard box.  I don't know if Flyer's Geep was ever offered in B&O's snazzy four-color passenger paint.  But if it wasn't, it should have been!

Since the Geep is shorter than the Hudson (by about the length of the steamer's tender), I can now add another car to the under-tree layout's freight drag...

...with a centimeter or two to spare!

The Yuletide Express arrives for 2010!  The Geep waits for the express to clear the switch before departing with the morning freight.

The future of the past:  The little railroad appears to have reached its rolling-stock capacity.  I hope eventually to install lighting in the passenger cars and the caboose, and perhaps in the structures.  I'd also like to enlarge the layout just a bit, perhaps with upper and lower level tracks, so that both trains can operate simultaneously.

Perspective:  The "Faux-Flyer Frolic" is a holiday diversion.  My main model railroading interest still lies in the big cellar layout, which is still in a discouragingly underdeveloped state, in serious need of buildings, scenery, and circuitry of all sorts, plus from-the-ground-up construction of a point-to-point branch line for a more hands-on operating experience than the dual-track mainline loop allows.  But that's the fun of a hobby like this one.  There's no hurry, no schedule—unless you choose to operate on a timetable or hold yourself to project deadlines.  You do whatever you want to do, whenever you feel like doing it (and can afford it).  You can sidetrack your main operation at any time for as long as you like, in order to indulge a whim or fancy (or even work).  No one will holler at you or dock your pay.  After all, a hobby is supposed to be a fun, leisure activity—not a second job!

 

Sites for Those Who'll Settle for Nothing but Genuine Flyer

My Flyer Trains (Chuck)