Fond Gilbert Flyer Memories

At that time, all my friends had Lionel, and curiously, when I got back into the hobby in my 30's, I chose Lionel and some Marx!

Oh, and I once took a trip with my uncle from Grand Central Terminal on the New Haven Railroad to visit the A.C. Gilbert factory in New Haven!

Art, Did you ever visit the Hall of Science near the corner of Broadway and Fifth Avenue? I never made it, but it sure must have been something.

My first childhood set was The Mountaineer from 1956, bought second-hand by my father around 1962. I still have most of it, including the 283 Pacific that headed the train:

Lost the caboose somewhere along the way, but I replaced it with a C&NW version thirty years later.

Later I lost my way, going N-gauge for a number of years before stumbling into prewar tinplate. Miss the S-gauge.

Good memories, mate...thanks.

PD

@Tinplate Art posted:

Oh, and I once took a trip with my uncle from Grand Central Terminal on the New Haven Railroad to visit the A.C. Gilbert factory in New Haven!

I used to hang out in the Grand Central Terminal  in the mid 1950's- mid 60's and on the commuter and long distance trains platforms and saw some great sights.  The smell of steam, ozone, oil, dank (damp, heh) air -- and hissing of moving trains,  lightening flashes of arcing 3rd rail; shoes over long crossovers and whining of various traction motors of slowly moving trains.  An almost magical place -- and all with the then very dim platform (incandescent bulbs) platform lighting.  I remember scenes like this when the old Terminal looked like a REAL railroad Terminal with real classic trains !

PS:  Check the OGR Subways Forum section -- I replied to your post there about BMT EL Gate cars ---  Regards - Joe F

Back in the day the rivalry between Lionel people and Flyer people raged. Lionel sold more about 2 to 1. Presently I'm on the peaceful mission of incorporating both in my collection. Peace, my friends!

Nice memories!  My first electric train belonged to my cousin.  A Flyer 302 Atlantic and 3 green passenger cars with hook couplers.  He gave it up when he went to college.  My Mother did not like the smell of the Flyer smoke, so it was set up only briefly.  She thought it was going to catch fire because it smoked very well.  Mom has been gone for a few years now but every time I smell Flyer smoke or hear of Flyer memories that sad but good memory comes back.  Even though I have made the switch to Lionel, I still have the Flyer set and great memories. Thanks so much!

Dave

I really loved the aroma of that wonderful AF smoke, and fortunately so did my mom and dad! My layout was in our semi-finished basement. That smoke fluid has been much imitated, but never quite duplicated.

One of our neighbor ladies in Woodhaven, Queens worked as the switchboard operator at the GHOS. On one occasion, she arranged for a friend and myself to get a special tour of the GHOS, which included a visit to the sales display layout on an upper level not open to the public. We also got to see some new products to be released later that year! And to run some trains on that layout.

Oh, and thanks to that fine lady, my parents were able to get her 40% discount on the brand new A-B-A five car North Coast Limited set, which I believe retailed for $80, which was a little out of my parent's reach at that time.

Thank you for sharing these wondrous memories. Magic!  

From the description you had a real treasure trove of Gilbert items, Art. I did not have nearly as many, just two trains and some accessories. Fortunately I still have all mine including all the OB's and set boxes.

I have a lot of fond memories on running to the train board on Christmas morning. I wanted to see what Santa brought. One year my father put the train board in my bedroom. One year it was in the guest bedroom and a few years it was in the basement. Dad was like me. We always wanted it bigger.

Our Gilbert Flyer family Christmas layout from 1956 ---

Bob

Great picture Bob of some great trains..

Bob, that is a fantastic layout, hard to believe that is 1956!

Bob: An impressive layout and trains!

I had always wanted a train, and when I was six years old i received an all aboard Champion set.  This was in 1969 after they went bankrupt, so I am sure they got it for me because it was cheaper than Lionel (they had 6 kids to buy for).  It was set up in the dining room floor, and I found it while sneaking downstairs at about 5 am.  The lights were off and all I saw was this large thing in the floor that a had a lump on one end.   I carefully touched the lump and it moved a little, so I bravely turned on the lights and saw it there in all it's glory.  The lump was a tunnel.  I turned off the light and went back to bed.  When I woke up again, everyone else was up and they had the train running.   That flyer smoke smelled great!

I still have the set, but the panels took a horrible beating along with the light poles and trees.  The engine finally gave up the ghost, but I still have it.  Had to glue up cracks in the panels and replace light poles and other accessories, but the set is largely intact.  I thought there were some pictures of it, but I cant find them.

I have since expanded my Flyer collection, but this set is my favorite.

Kelpieflyer,

Nothing beats the smell of original American Flyer smoke.

Amen to that! :-)