American Flyer: Difference between revisions

'''American Flyer''' wasis a popular brand of [[toy train]] and [[modelRail transport modelling railway|model railroad]], originally manufactured in the [[United States]] in the middle part of the 20th century.

Hafner's friend, [[William Ogden Coleman]], gained control of the '''Edmonds-Metzel Hardware Company''', a struggling hardware manufacturer in Chicago, in 1906 or 1907. Hafner and Coleman began producing toy trains using Edmonds-Metzel's excess manufacturing capability after Hafner was able to secure $15,000 worth of orders. By 1907, two American retailers, [[G. Sommers & Co.]] and [[Montgomery Ward]], were selling Hafner-Coleman aka Edmonds-Metzel trains. In 1908, Edmonds-Metzel adopted the American Flyer brand name for the trains, and by 1910, Edmonds-Metzel was out of the hardware business and changed its name to '''American Flyer Manufacturing Company'''.

In December, 1937, W.O. Coleman sold American (Chicago) Flyer to Alfred Carlton Gilbert, a former Olympic pole vaulter who first made a name for himself in the toy industry earlier in the century when he created and manufactured Mysto Magic sets for youthful magicians. Circa 1913, his [[A. C. Gilbert Company]] also became the makers of [[Erector Set]] metal construction toys, which were 'inspired' by the English-made [[Meccano]] sets of which it was a U.S. distributor. The two toy magnates were just finishing shooting on Gilbert's game reserve in New Haven when Gilbert casually mentioned he was thinking about manufacturing toy trains. Instead, Coleman said he'd give his struggling American Flyer Co. to Gilbert in return for a share of the profits. Gilbert quickly agreed.

Gilbert soon moved the company from Chicago to [[New Haven, Connecticut]], and re-designed parts of the product line. The initial changes included substitution of the 'slot & tab' couplers with link and pin semi-automatic ones on the higher priced 10" freight cars and steam engine tenders. Three significantly detailed & overall scale length O gauge steam engines were introduced in the 1938 catalog: Atlantic (4-4-2), Pacific (4-6-2-) and an 0-6-0 switcher. The years 1938 through 1941 saw the production of Gilbert's "Tru Model" 3/16" O gauge trains. The engines offered in this line were fairly accurate scale replicas of the locomotives they were modeled after. AnA Reading Lines Atlantic, Pennsylvania K5 Pacific, a NYC Hudson, a PennsylvaniaB&O Torpedostreamlined steamer (Royal Blue), a UP Northern (4-8-4) and an NKP 0-8-0 Switcher. This line would later become the postwar 3/16" scale or S gauge line with two rail tracks. Also, its HO product line was introduced in the 1938 catalog. The design of the initial version of the HO track was significantly different from that of typical electric trains: the rails were mounted on lithographed roadbed.

During Summer, 1942 Gilbert (as were many manufacturing companies) was compelled by Federal wartime restrictions to cease manufacturing (and even servicing!) its electric train and other metal consumer products. It did not again publish American Flyer catalogs until 1946. The manufacturing hiatus offered the company the opportunity to further differentiate theits products from those of the market leaders (by sales volume) Marx and Lionel. By Summer, 1945 it was able to resume limited manufacturing of the 3/16s scale O gauge trains. While it did so, the same sized products were re-engineered to run on much more realistic two rail (with a "T" profile rail) track. The fine detail of the diecast engines, tenders and cars that had debuted in the '39 catalog reappeared. The engines and tenders continued to be made of diecast metal, but the cars' bodies were made out of plastic. Two pages of the spectacular 1946 catalog emphasize the running advantages of the lighter cars. Ironically, they soon realized that they had to add weight. Metal car bottoms & chassis were necessary to prevent the too-light cars from tipping over. The 'link & pin' automatic couplers that had been introduced on the 3/16s O products were reduced in size, with plastic replacing the [[sintered]] metal of the originals. They too, later had metal weights added because they would fail to descend to the locking position needed for cars to couple. The chugging mechanisms of the premium O gauge tenders were redesigned to also generate smoke, which was conveyed to the engines' smokestacks via a black rubber tube that protruded out of the rear of the cab so that it could connect to the front of the tender.

[[Image:Americanflyer21160.jpg|thumb|left|300px|This American Flyer S gauge 4-4-2 (Atlantic type) steam locomotive and tender dates from 1960. It is descended from the O gauge version #565]]Although popular, American Flyer was always the second-ranked brand to Lionel in terms of market share at the high end of the market. With [[Louis Marx and Company]] dominating the low end and a handful of other brands relegated to theentry low endlevel of the market, Lionel and American Flyer shared premium status. A rivalry emerged between both companies' fans that continues today.

Under the new ownership, the A.C. Gilbert Co. continued to struggle, although the new owners took a more aggressive approach to advertising and marketing than when the firm was headed by the more conservative A.C. Gilbert. It manufactured a wide variety of poorly designed and poorly conceived toys (dolls, racing sets, games) that sold slowly, if at all, and was nearly overwhelmed by store returns of defective merchandise. Gilbert took an especially hard hit when a majority of a poorly designed and manufactured red James Bond 007 slot car racing set flooded back as returns after component failures. [Because of the number of returns, these sets are rare and very collectible, some selling "pre-crash' for an average of $10001,000 on eBay]. Additionally, the company sold many of its toy line products to discounters with a "100% sale guarantee." When the merchandise didn'tdid not sell, it ended up back in Gilbert's warehouses. The company discontinued the American Flyer train line in 1966 and finally declared bankruptcy in 1967.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.shifrin.net/trains/History/history.htm |title=New Page 2 |access-date=2009-07-15 |archive-date=2010-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221131714/http://www.shifrin.net/trains/History/history.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In May 1967, [[Lionel Corporation]] announced it had purchased the American Flyer name and tooling even though it was teetering on the brink of financial failure itself. A May 29, 1967, story in ''The Wall Street Journal'' made light of the deal, stating, "Two of the best-known railroads in the nation are merging and the Interstate Commerce Commission couldn't care less". Former Lionel treasurer Robert A. Stein said Lionel did not initiate the deal; both companies had farmed out their accounts receivable departments to [[ArthurWalter Heller & Co.]], who initiated the transaction. While various accounts published over the years valued the deal at $150,000, Stein's recollection was that Lionel simply liquidated $300,000-$400,000 worth of American Flyer inventory for Heller in exchange for the tooling, which, by some accounts, sat unused and neglected in a parking lot for some period of time. Lionel Corporation never manufactured American Flyer trains.

However, winds of change are blowing. Each year since 2002 Lionel has increased the number of American Flyer offerings, a sign the demand for 3/16" S gauge is growing. In late 2004, Lionel finally debuted a new steam locomotive—a highly detailed, [[2-8-2]] Mikado in multiple road names. Utilizing all new tooling and issued under the American Flyer name, the Mike is the first original American Flyer steam locomotive design since the late 1950s. Complete with TMCC (Lionel's proprietary wireless remote control technology) and a superb sound chip/system (TrainSounds), the Mikados proved to be a hot seller and their success has led to future similar issues. In late 2006, Lionel began delivering an updated remake of its largest steam locomotive, the famous 4-8-4 Northern, as well as a gray Union Pacific Northern with smoke deflectors (elephant ears); both new versions have digital sounds. Due in late 2006 or early 2007 is a new high-detail Pacific (4-6-2) with both TMCC capability and RailSounds. Additionally, Lionel has just released, in 2006, the first newly tooled passenger fleet. These heavyweight style cars are neither a refashioning of older Flyer designs nor a repurposing of Lionel 027 rolling stock (as some earlier Lionel/Flyer freight cars had been.) Also in 2007 Lionel started to sell American Flyer track, the popular 19" radius curve remaining unavailable to this day. Due lateIn 2008, isLionel released an American Flyer Big Boy with TMCC and Railsounds.

The license to manufacture the track had been held by Maury Klein, whose K-Line brand of 0 gauge trains competed against Lionel in the toy train renaissance of the 1980s and 90's’90s and into the 21st. century. When K-Line fell upon hard times in recent years, it was purchased by Lionel LLC, who then got the Flyer track as well as the tooling for two 0 gauge locomotive designs; the UP Big-Boy and the C&O Allegheny. Both of these engines had been tooled to 1/60th. scale so that 0 gauge operators with small layouts and narrow radius curves would be able to enjoy what would otherwise be behemoth engines. Their closeness to 1/64th. scale, however, made these engines naturals for development into the American Flyer Line, particularly since Lionel already possesses tooling for these locomotives in their 0 scale product lines. After considerable delay the company finally delivered the Big Boy in December 2009. No offering has yet been made as to the Allegheny, though collectors and aficionados hold out hope that a sell-out success with the current offering will stimulate the company to proceed further.

{{Reflist}}
* [http://www.rfgco.com/history/ American Flyer Trains History]

==SeeExternal alsolinks==

* [httphttps://www.eliwhitney.org/newcatalog/museumcontent/-gilbert-project/-collections/american-flyer-trainswelcome The Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop page devoted to American Flyer Trains], part of the museum's A. C. Gilbert Project

[[Category:Defunct companies based in Chicago, Illinois]]

[[Category:1900s establishments in Illinois]]

[[Category:History of Chicago, Illinois]]