Modest Flyer fleet

Nice!  Love the old lithography on these.

I like those cars and have looked at a few of them in the past. I can't decide how they would look with a Marx engine pulling them though. Any chance of you posting a picture of two of that, preferably with a wedge tender?

Thanks,

J White

J White,

Running them with Marx was my intent when I got the first two cars, but these little 6-1/2" beauties are too tall to run with Marx.

Not only will they not couple, they are way taller than most Marx locos too...

Sadly, the only way I can see to run these cars with Marx is to modify something. I think the AF cars would look better with Marx prewar type A trucks under them, or maybe the type B "scale" trucks, but These cars are too nice to butcher up like that.

You could modify a Marx tender, a less sacrilegious option perhaps.

I have a wedge tender with prewar Lionel trucks and coupler that I use for my Lionel tin behind a modified 898. With a tab and slot coupler slightly bent upward and the taller trucks I can pull these AF cars with that engine. This height difference was my main reason to build my fake prewar electric loco for these cars.

I just use a paperclip to connect Marx & AF slot-n-tab couplers together.  It isn't pretty, but when the train is running around the track, you don't notice the paperclip...

Nice cars... I love that Railway Express car!

A paperclip! Wow, that's almost too simple. LOL. I'll have to try that.

But then again there's the body height differences too. Perhaps it's something left over from my scale days, but I don't like the looks of a train where the cars are way taller than the loco.

Very nice Andy. I'd modify a marx tender as you mentioned. I'm pretty sure I have a spare Wedge gathering dust if you need one. As far as the height difference....maybe do a baggae type car or something that is in between the heights?

I can understand the esthetic concerns over the height difference... but after you run them a while, it will grow on you! 

Paperclip adapter coupler:

AF 1120 and a Marx Wedge Tender:

Please note that I only run on spring power, those of you who get power from the middle rail might want to take a bit more care with the paperclip than I did! 

Thanks for posting the pics with the Marx gear. I bet a Marx Joy Line frame would get the heights a bit closer, but a paperclip or some sort of sheet metal adapter would be easy enough to fabricate too. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for a set of these. If I remember right the last ones I looked at were blue. I think I would rather have a non red set, as I have quite a few red 6" tin Marx passenger cars already.

Thanks again,

J White

Picked up the Observation to complete the train. It arrived today.

nice Andy!

Jason,

You could always get them in

orange (the Oriental Set)

or blue

or brown

or orange with American Flyer livery

or Milwaukee Road livery

You could also mix them up in a train.  In the early 1920s  Flyer advertised their Rainbow Line.

Greg

Northwoods Flyer

Andy,

Nice job on completing your passenger set.

Here's an example of the Rainbow consist

I love those cars, Andy and Greg.

Here is a Marx tender, modified as has been mentioned.  It uses a Lionel tender drawbar bent to the right height.

Also, another solution I found was an early Lionel 4-wheel tender that has the drawbar at the usual lower height and the coupler at the higher level.

BTW, I agree with the sentiment of not modifying the AF cars:  There are thousands of Marx tenders around.  

Edit:  Robert, I missed your photo, as we were posting at about the same time.  It certainly shows the rainbow aspect.  Very nice.

Though the AF coach shown is 4-wheel, I should think your 8-wheel ones would be about the same height.

My newest Flyer.

Steve