OK I agree I already posted to this thread today, but I could not resist another subject area. Robert S. Butler posted some really neat Hafner baggage cars including one for "Adams Express" that I had never even seen before. What continues to draw my interest though is the close connection between Hafner (Mr. Hafner was one of the founders of American Flyer but left in 1914 to start his own toy company) and American Flyer cars of about the same period. So here are a few examples that I have of 4-wheel baggage cars.
Here is the earliest I have and it dates from about 1918 through 1920. You can see it strongly resembles the configuration that Robert labeled as the more common Hafner Overland Flyer car including the "American Express Co logo" in the white squares. This car also has a 5 panel litho door as does the Hafner car only it is 3 over 2 instead of 2 over 3 but otherwise the doors appear very similar. It has no mention of an RPO.
Later, around 1920, we have the AF 1205 baggage, which has now lost some of its similarity to the Hafner car. The roof has a more rounded end and the door (although hard to see) is now 6 panels. In addition, the logo now reads, "American Flyer Electric Service" but it continues to be labeled "Express Baggage" and it continues to have an absence of any mention of an RPO. Yet at this point there is still some resemblance.
One final variaton of this car dates to much later, around 1934 and its lithography is very different and the door is just smooth green sheet metal, no panels. We now have a clear designation that the car represents an RPO but we have the absence of any of the earlier logo's and at this date it does not mention "Express Baggage".
Well who knows, it seems clear that at least in the early years American Flyer and Hafner where Mr. Hafner himself was clearly a key part of both organizations for some time, shared (knowingly or not) information and maybe even parts. Later, they drifted further apart.
Have a good weekend everyone
Don
