MyFlyerTrains.org

I have something special to announce to you today, The American Flyer Factory Service Manual online! If you are like me, you have seen these service manuals for sale for hundreds of dollars and been unwilling or unable to purchase one. The manual now posted on this website is over 400 pages in length, and has been compiled from several factory service manuals. These manuals were used in actual Gilbert American Flyer Service stations, and are 50 years or so old. Some of the pages are are thus faded, torn, have finger prints, and even have notes that were hand written on them by the service technicians!

Recently, American Flyer collector Bob Conner loaned me for scanning a one foot high stack of original Gilbert paper, much of which is not currently posted on this website. This service manual is the first fruit to come off that tree, and I hope you enjoy using it as a resource. Scans are clickable to change their size, and if you are working on a particular engine or accessory, you might try printing out the scan and taking it right to your work bench!

I am very pleased to finally be able to bring this to you, and stay tuned for additional new Gilbert paper scans in the very near future! Thanks Bob!!!

Chuck

MyFlyerTrains.org welcomes a number of new “S Friends”, who have migrated their photo albums from s-scale.org. Paul Yorke, who has generously hosted train photos there for many years, has decided to close down his photo albums. If you are currently hosting your photos at s-scale.org, you have only to email me and request that your albums be transferred here. I will transfer your photos, and email you a password to your new site. It is that easy!

I would also like to point out that the photo hosting services of MyFlyerTrains.org are always free, and there are no limits to the size and quantity of train related photos that may be uploaded. Also you can rest easy, as I back up the photo albums on a regular basis.

I invite reader of this site to click on “Albums” in the above menu bar, and explore the many new albums of train photos.

Chuck

When I got back into American Flyer in 1998, I had already been involved heavily with computers for 20 years. I thought about how I could make a contribution to the Flyer hobby, and came up with the idea of scanning the Gilbert Catalogs and putting them online so that everyone could access them. In 1998, I had 30mb of website space, that cost me nearly $15 a month. This was not even enough space to put up one catalog. It took some years for price of hosting space to drop, but in 2002 it was finally a practical project. I scanned the catalogs that I had, and all of the catalogs that my friend Tom had, and that started the site. To get more content, catalogs were loaned to me by people from as far away as South Africa! I scanned them all and returned them to their owners. Some of the catalogs I just had to buy to scan.

The 1946 catalog was a hard one to find in really good condition. Finally I got one on eBay for around $125. When it arrived, I was shocked to see how big the catalog was! It was so wide it hung off the flatbed scanner by inches. I tried to find a bigger scanner that I could afford to buy, but no luck. I even put the catalog on the floor with a camera above it mounted on a tripod, but the results were poor. Finally I decided to try scanning  each catalog page twice, and hand splice them together, and this worked. This is also the reason that the scans of the 1946 catalog have had the vertical lines top to bottom, just left of center.  (These vertical lines also make my scans of this catalog easily recognizable!) The original 1946 catalog took weeks of work to get online, but it was worth it.

Now, the 1946 Gilbert catalog has been refreshed. I used my panoramic photo stitching software to splice the two halves of the pages together, resulting in scans with no vertical lines! The largest photos are line free, the intermediate sized ones on facing pages are still the old scans that were hand spliced, so they still have the lines.

Chuck

I have completed updating the 1946 Gilbert Catalog which introduced the Amercian Flyer S Gauge Trains. The scans have been updated to HR (higher resolution). To access the HR scans, you simply click on the thumbnail for the page you want. If you want the old lower resolution scans, you click on the Text Link below the thumbnail. All 1946 catalog scans are now clickable. Click on the HR image and you get the standard resolution facing pages view. Click on an image in facing pages and you get a HR view. This sure does make it nicer to read the tiny print that this particular catalog had.

I hope you enjoy the “refreshed” 1946 catalog. I intend this to be the blueprint for all of the catalogs, which in time will be refreshed as well!

Enjoy… Chuck

First the ugly, the webmaster of a commercial website, has copied many of the A. C. Gilbert Catalog scans from MyFlyerTrains.org to his own website, and posted his own copyright notice on them. These photographs are the property of MyFlyerTrains.org, and of the people who submitted their scans for publication here. Anyone can photograph the statue of Liberty and use the photo, but if you take my photo of the Statue of Liberty and use it without my permission, then you have committed a copyright violation.

I of course have the original scans of these catalogs, and they are much larger (300 dpi) than the ones currently posted on this website. Each catalog page has minor flaws, creases, folds, dots and so forth that make it easy to identify that the scans are the same, but beyond that, as I said, I have the original high resolution scans. I would rather not dwell on the ugly right now…

Skipping to the good, I have decided to upgrade the catalog section of the website to higher resolution scans, I call them “HR”. Server space is plentiful and as the years have gone by, many of you have gotten larger and higher resolution monitors that can handle scans a fair amount bigger. Also the growing use of DSL and cable modems have made larger file sizes practical. If you still need the smaller scans, they will of course also be available.

Now out with the bad. Because of justified concerns of piracy, the new larger scans will have a very light MyFlyerTrains.org watermark. I will do my best to see that the watermarks do not get in your way, and they will be subtle enough that you may not see them without looking for them, but it is the only way I can put higher resolution scans on the website. As in the past, if you or your train club wants a page or two for non-commercial use, I will be happy to provide a limited number of scans without the watermarking.

The first HR catalog will be of the 1946 catalog. In my next website article I will describe to you what it took to make the original catalog available to you, and explain the improvements that the new jpegs will have. The process of upgrading the 1946 catalog is expected to take a couple of weeks, and I will announce it when the upgraded pages are available for viewing.

For many years I have enjoyed bringing to you the A. C. Gilbert Catalog content. As I upgrade the catalogs, I will be also adding other Gilbert paper to the website as time permits.

Again, thanks for each and every time you visit MyFlyerTrains.org!

Chuck

On April 23rd more than one hundred A. C. Gilbert enthusiasts met at the Reliance Fire Hall in York, Pennsylvania. Many interesting Gilbert items were displayed, but the real treat of the evening was the unexpected exhibition of a painting that once hung over the Fireplace in the office of A. C. Gilbert! This artwork depicts a family gathered around a railroad bridge being constructed from an Erector set. A likeness of this scene was used in 1915 Gilbert Erector advertising, and the painting is mentioned on page 112 in the A. C. Gilbert autobiography, THE MAN WHO LIVES IN PARADISE.

The painting was  the work of artist James Hamlin Gardner-Soper who was commissioned by A. C. Gilbert to paint it some time prior to 1913.

While currently owned by a Gilbert collector in Delaware, the painting will be going on tour later this year, but I do not have any information as to exactly where and when it is to appear. Should I get further information, I will post it here. You can view many other photos taken at the meeting in the photo Albums section of this website.

Chuck

A special event takes place on Thursday evening during every York Train Show, The Flyernut Meeting. Formerly known as the Gilbert Get-Together, over 100 like minded people who are interested in Gilbert trains and toys attend. This is a “show and tell” session during which attendees display unusual Gilbert items, which are often accompanied by interesting stories about the A. C. Gilbert company.

Though many of the things shown are American Flyer Trains and toys, don’t be surprised by some of the other Gilbert issues shown at the meet, like hair dryers, electric fans and interesting Gilbert paper.  This is a twice a year treat that I highly recommend. This spring’s meeting will be held at 8:30 PM Thursday night April 23rd, at the Reliance Fire Hall (yes the same fire station that had so many tables of Amercian Flyer for sale during the premeet.)

Speaking of the Reliance Fire Hall, don’t forget to take in their 100 or so tables of American Flyer for sale Monday through Wednesday. I had a big grin on my face when at my last visit to the Fire Hall sale, I overheard the fellow next to me complaining that the whole place only had American Flyer! A great moment for a usually out numbered Flyer guy! Admission to both of the events is free, so come one, come all!

Chuck

A Oct 2006 Flyernut Meeting attendee explains some Gilbert Paper.

Click  to see photos taken at several of these events!

Trainz.com has the Lionel American Flyer UP 6-48063 Docksider Switcher for $79.99 (List $109.99) while supplies last. This is a savings of 27%.

Pufferbelly’s has LIONEL AMERICAN FLYER #6-48343 GREAT NORTHERN (GN) BOXCAR, BLUE for $18, normally $60 while supplies last. This is a savings of 70%.

Portlines Hobby Supplies has the Lionel Flyer Piggyback Unloader #6-49818, with Monon Flatcar new in the box for $49 while supplies last. This is a 30% savings off the Lionel retail price of $69.99.