Gilbert Caboose True to Prototype

Cool

Gilbert got it "right" with most of the Flyer product line.  The "Northeastern" caboose is one of the best.

Only near the end with the Casey Jones 4-4-0, F9's and Old Time stuff did the product suffer.

Rusty

Oh, but the doors and decks aren't painted black in the Gilbert version!  The smoke stack is too wide, the railing is too large, and the brake wheel doesn't have see-through spokes!  And those horrible link couplers!  I'll bet that those rivets are too large too!  Gaaaak! (read with a ton of snark...)

Gotta love what old A.C. did.

Jerry

Snowbound in Wayne, MI.... still

I think it's time for your second first cup of coffee, Jerry.

Rusty

As a kid I always gravitated towards S gauge American Flyer. The proportions, the track, and the passenger trains just looked more realistic.

When my father was going to buy our first train set in 1952, he looked at both American Flyer and Lionel. he told me years later that American Flyer looked, to his viewing, as more realistic than Lionel's, especially with AF's two-rail track. My two youngest kids were brought up correctly with recognizing AF's virtues, too.

Tim,

Your dad and mine must have gone to the same school.  That was exactly what my dad said, and I thank him for it!  Not that the three rail stuff is all that bad.  Heck, they're all nice, it's just that I MUCH prefer S.  And my three guys are following the same two rail path.  My two year old grandson already knows how to operate a floor layout featuring a Hudson and three heavyweights.  One of the first things he wants to do when he comes over.  Gotta raise them right!

Rusty,

With all the sn*w falling today, a second, and probably third cup of coffee is definitely called for.  I've been in my hobby room trying to finish and paint a few projects that have been in the process way too long. 

If any of you guys are ever in SE Michigan, look me up.  We can always toss back a few "coffees" while training....  Perhaps visit Greenfield Village where I work.  One of three steam trains is usually running, and I can get us a ride.... gratis!

Jerry Poniatowski

Digging Out in Wayne, MI

Jerry, good to see you posting. Your post on the caboose cracked me up. With the snow and predicted below zero tonight we Southeast Michigan people have a right to be a little feisty. 

My Dad also bought me Flyer instead of the 3 rail stuff. I think it was because his brother was big on Lionel  but I'm glad he did. But back on topic I always liked that the Flyer trains except for the later items as Rusty outlined were close to scale. And you are right the rivets on the caboose are too big. Kidding. 

Don't feel bad, we got our weekly Wednesday snow this morning and I still had to go to work.  35-40mph on the semi-slick and snow-packed Illinois Tollway, watched a pick-up truck pirouetting about 300 feet in front of me about halfway to work.  All that at 4:30 in the morning.

I would have preferred staying home and think about all the projects I have waiting (including scalifying a 930 caboose) but I sorta got used to getting paid.

And all that lovely snow was waiting for me when I got home, except it was wetter and heavier.  Toro-Toro-Toro...

Rusty

Jerry, I agree with your comments about three rail guys. Some of my best friends are... Oh, never mind! I have known Jim Policastro for many years and he told me that when he was a kid, he liked AF better but his dad pushed him into Lionel since the family had it already. Thanks for the invitation: we poles have to stick together!

Tim,

Since I live in Michigan, does that make me the North Pole?....

And by the way, the invitation to either the Museum or Greenfield Village is open to anyone on this forum.  The Museum has a great C&O Allegheny, in addition to some great historic locomotives.  You can actually climb into the cab.  The feeling those engineers must have felt!

Jerry,

Thanks really go to my friend Bruce Melville who took the photo.  He's got a collection of about 100 cabeese in a variety of scales.  Even though his layout is high-rail 3-rail O, he started out with a 3/16" Flyer set that ran on O Gauge track.  My first set was the Silver Flash.  Then I migrated over to HO and back to S when I found SHS and American Models.

You're a little further North than me, but today it feels like it's the North Pole here on Ohio's North Coast!

Always great to hear from you, Jerry.

Mike A.

That's "Erie", how right the Reading caboose looks.  Thanks for bringing this to our attention.