Thanks for posting the additional picture, it is nice to have them. Your brother is using the transformer that was packed in the set. It was a #1 1/2 50 W. It was marginal even without powering the lights in the track switches and controller box. From the purchase date the set would have either been a new 20320 or a leftover 5620T from 1956. Marketing was different in those days, the 1958 sets would not be in the stores until mid 1958.
I mentioned an uncoupler for one of the buttons since the set included one. The 283 Pacific was definitely made with plastic engine and tender shells. The engine chassis was metal.
I am very fortunate to have all my original trains with the original boxes. switching to HO must have been common. In 1956 my dad bought us a Gilbert HO set so from Christmas of 1957 through 1959 we had HO layouts. Today I have all the Flyer and my brother has all the HO, but he bought Flyer for his kids layouts when they were young.
The nice thing is for those of us who are interested it is easy to acquire duplicates of our childhood trains.
