Faux-Flyer

2009-2010: The "Hand-Me-Down" Phase The Faux Flyer project is initially conceived as a minimum-budget operation. Where possible, I use equipment that I have on hand, or can obtain cheaply at auctions or swap meets, more or less as-is except for standardizing couplers. I want to represent, in HO scale, each of the main types of freight and passenger cars made by American Flyer between 1950 and 1957. In 2009, I concentrate on the freight fleet. American Flyer's freight car line included eight basic types: box cars, flat cars, gondolas, hopper cars, refrigerator cars, stock cars, tank cars, and cabooses. I'm able to scrounge HO representatives of most of these from my junk bin and from the previous Yule-tree collection. These include toy-grade and low-model-grade cars from my own and my grandfather's collections, which is for various (mostly aesthetic) reasons unsuitable for operation on the scale-model layout in the cellar. This satisfies requirements for a box car, a gondola, a hopper car, a refrigerator car, a stock car, and a caboose. I purchase a new tank car and flat car to round out the freight fleet, and load the flat with a load of six pipes to generate the general look of Flyer's "log car." I check all equipment for proper rolling qualities and convert all couplers to Kadees.
Gilbert-HO SAL "Silver Meteor" box car (original, from discard box)	Athearn C&NW flat car with pipe load (relettered from CN, new kit)
Rivarossi-Lionel MCRR gondola (original, from discard box))	Athearn B&O hopper car (redecorated, from main fleet)
Athearn TMX "Snickers" refrigerator car (original, from discard box)	Rivarossi-Lionel MP stock car (redecorated from original MKT, from discard box)
Mantua SVX "Mobilgas" tank car (original, from main fleet)	Varney caboose (from discard box)
Except for the Gilbert-HO "Seaboard" box car and the Varney caboose, most of these cars don't look much like American Flyer cars, either in physical detail or in the road names they bear. But for the time being, all I'm after is a general ambience, not details. For motive power, I purchase a used Rivarossi NYC Hudson on eBay. It's sort of a toy-model crossbreed with good detail, but with noticeably oversize wheel flanges typical of European models of the 1960s. An HO model of New York Central's class J-3a Hudson, it closely resembles American Flyer's S-scale model of the same locomotive. After a couple of minor repairs, a lube job, and a run-in, it's ready to go. The only problem is that, behind this big engine, only seven of the freight cars will fit on the passing siding of the little under-tree layout. So, I just swap a couple of cars every day or two for variety. The full freight train poses on the big cellar layout.
American Flyer had made standard-design passenger cars, available in either green or red, since the 1930s. But in 1950, Flyer introduced a four-car streamlined set, comprising a baggage-club combine, a coach, a vista dome car, and a round-end observation car. In 2010, continuing the "Hand-Me-Down" theme, I acquire a couple of Athearn streamliners: an r.p.o. (railway post office) car and an observation car, from an estate liquidation table at a swap meet. The following year, a coach joins the set. Unfortunately, only two of the streamliners will fit behind the Hudson on the tree layout, so the full passenger set can operate only on the main layout. Since I now have two trains, I need another locomotive to haul one of them. So, back to the discard box. Here I find an Athearn GP-7 in Baltimore and Ohio's passenger colors. When new, the Athearn model had had a dynamic brake pod and a winterization hatch. I had removed these in order to install the roof-mounted "torpedo boat" air tanks and three-chime horn appropriate to passenger-service Geeps used by the B&O. This engine had been removed from service when I acquired a more accurately scaled Kato unit. Athearn GP-7 in its original Baltimore and Ohio passenger scheme. (As on some other railroads, B&O had its early Geeps configured to run long-hood forward.) However, here's a matter of practical consideration. There isn't room to run the full eight-car freight train behind the Hudson on the tree layout. But because the GP-7 is shorter than the 4-6-4 steamer by about the length of the latter's tender, the Geep can comfortably haul the full freight train without spilling over the bounds of the passing track. Meanwhile, the Hudson looks mighty sharp heading up those silver streamliners, despite their two-car limit on the tree layout. So that becomes the going plan. Since the Geep is shorter than the Hudson, I can now add the eighth car to the under-tree freight drag... ...with a centimeter or two to spare!

2011-2012: The "Prototypes" Phase An upgraded fleet stretches its legs on the big cellar layout. With the Faux Flyer equipment transplanted to an environment that's both less hazardous and more brightly illuminated, it occurs to me that this hodge-podge of cast-off cars might be replaced with better quality models of the specific prototypes of Flyer equipment. I could, for example, replace the Lionel-HO toy Michigan Central gondola with a finely detailed Accurail model of the Texas and Pacific car modeled by Flyer, but in prototype black rather than Flyer's coach green. And that composite "Snickers" reefer has got to go. And I'd love to lay my hands on a gray LNE hopper car, if I can find one. And, of course, that now lone toy Seaboard box car will be way out of place with model equipment. So...
These hand-me-downs...	...are replaced by these models of prototypes...	...on which these S-gauge American Flyer cars were based.
Gilbert-HO #514 box car; "Silver Meteor" SAL (original, toy, r-t-r)	Roundhouse box car; "Silver Comet" SAL 38575 (original, budget model, kit)	AF #642 / 942 Seaboard "Silver Meteor" box car
I hadn't used or photographed the Athearn (budget model) flat car in its original Canadian National livery. I'd simply relettered portions of the car for a CNW prototype before building the kit, so, it was already in "prototypes" mode from the outset.	Athearn flat car, CNW 200339 (relettered, budget model, kit)	AF #628 / 928 Chicago & Northwestern "log car" 42597 (Photo: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org)
Lionel-Rivarossi gondola, MCRR 15317 (original, toy, used)	Accurail gondola; T&P 17834 (original, high-grade model, kit)	AF #631 / 931 Texas & Pacific gondola
Athearn offset-side hopper, B&O 427971 (redecorated, budget model, kit)	Accurail offset-side hopper, LNE 13328 (original, high-grade model, kit)	AF #632 Lehigh New England offset-side hopper car (Photo: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org)
Athearn composite reefer, "Snickers" TMX 1068 (original, budget model, r-t-r)	Trainline plug-door reefer, "Chief" SFRD 3468 (redecorated, budget model, used)	AF #647 / 947 Northern Pacific plug-door refrigerator car
I hadn't photographed the Lionel-Rivarossi stock car in its original MKT "Katy" colors. And in this time period, I know of no available model that closely resembles Flyer's composite "cattle car" design. So for now, I simply give the toy a Mo-Pac prototype paint scheme and number.	Lionel-Rivarossi stock car; MP 53180 (redecorated, toy, used).	AF #629 / 929 Missouri Pacific "cattle car" (Photo: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org)
Mantua tank car, "Mobilgas" SVX 1443 (original, toy, r-t-r)	At this stage, I've been unable to locate a car more closely resembling Flyer's Gulf tanker, so I retain Mantua's Mobilgas car. American Flyer did produce a Mobilgas tanker (#958) in 1957, but it was red with white lettering,, not silver with black.	AF #629 / 929 Gulf tank car GRCX 5016 (Photo: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org)
Varney caboose (undecorated, budget model, used)	Though barely a decade less ancient then the American Flyer car it represents, the Varney model is of acceptable model quality. So it is retained as the prototype model for this car. However, for the time being it remains unlettered, so that it can serve as a backup any time there's a caboose shortage on any railroad in the house.	AF #630 Reading caboose (Photo: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org)

2013: The "Flyer Look-Alike" Phase Everything new is old again! I should point out that there are limits to this "look-alike" plan. A car or locomotive already decorated and numbered for a desired prototype is left as is. But when I redecorate a car specifically for the Faux Flyer roster, in most cases I apply (as nearly as I can duplicate them) Flyer's colors, road name, lettering, and numbering. Exceptions include units representing S-gauge equipment lettered for "American Flyer" or "American Flyer Lines," which are mostly locomotives and passenger cars, as well as maintenance-of-way equipment (which I don't include in my Faux Flyer roster). These are to be lettered for the prototype railroad (if decals are available). As to numbers, locomotives (of which there are only two) receive prototype numbers, but passenger cars are numbered according to Flyer's practice.
Locomotives
Despite that I never owned one, American Flyer's Hudson has a double appeal for me. On Flyer's steam roster, it was a coveted prize, second only to the stupendous Union Pacific class FEF-1 4-8-4 "Northern" type. The Hudson also represented one of the real locomotives that daily charged through my home town. And on a few occasions they faithfully hauled me home after I'd been visiting my grandparents in Cincinnati, until the Central retired the last of its steam power in 1956. American Flyer #321 4-6-4 "Hudson" type, New York Central class J-3a (Photo: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org) Rivarossi 4-6-4 "Hudson" type, New York Central class J-3a 5405 (original, low-grade model, used) The Rivarossi Hudson wears its original paint and lettering, except that the cylinder heads are changed from silver to black. I don't think the engineer was standard equipment on this model. However, he came with this pre-owned engine, and is welcome to stay as long as he enjoys the job! There were several variants within the prototype New York Central's sub-class J-3a. The most obvious of these were between streamlined or unstreamlined versions, and between 14-wheel "centipede" or 12-wheel conventional tenders. Additional options included Scullin-disk or Box-Pok type driving wheels, and rectangular or cylindrical feedwater heaters. NYC's number 5405 was an unstreamlined engine with a 12-wheel tender, Box-Pok drivers, and a cylindrical feedwater heater. This combination was the prototype for both American Flyer and Rivarossi models.
The "Flyer look-alike" project poses a problem for my Baltimore & Ohio GP-7. My research has revealed that American Flyer did not produce any Geeps in B&O paint. So, since I'll sometimes be running it on the big B&O layout in the cellar, I need to find a road name in which Flyer produced its Geep that might credibly be found on B&O rails during the early 1950s. Looking at the target production years of 1950 through 1957, I find that Flyer's Geep was produced in Chesapeake & Ohio, Texas & Pacific, and Union Pacific road names. The T&P and UP were western roads completely outside B&O territory. And the C&O, though it was in B&O's area, was also a bitter rival, and not likely to be sharing trackage with B&O except in limited interchange service. This leaves one possibility: the Electro-Motive GP-7 demonstrator, the first color scheme in which Flyer offered its Geep when it was brand new. GM had produced three GP-7 demonstrator units, numbered 100, 200, and 300, which toured many American railroads between 1950 and 1954, the B&O probably among them.
American Flyer had a reputation for good quality modeling (by the standards of the day). In 1950, the company introduced models of two new diesel locomotives: an Alco PA- PB set that lived up to this reputation, and an EMD GP-7 that did not. Aesthetically, Flyer's GP-7 was horribly botched, starting with the trucks, whose gross oversize might have been attributable to mechanisms borrowed from the larger Alcos. From this key error of geometry, there ensued a cascade of other errors in an apparently panicked attempt to compensate. And to add insult to injury, Flyer's paint scheme was a crudely stingy reduction of the prototype's strikingly handsome markings. Still, these units performed well, and in the 1950s Flyer sold a fair number of them to an uncritical consumer base, to whom Geeps were a brand new and thus not yet familiar phenomenon. Flyer's early GM units were typically included in short work-train sets; the later C&O, UP, and T&P units were packaged with military and freight train sets of up to six cars. American Flyer #370 EMD GP-7, General Motors demonstrator Athearn EMD GP-7 demonstrator, GM 300 (modified, redecorated, budget model, r-t-r) For this project, my old B&O Geep is de-modified from passenger service, and directional LED headlights are installed. Added details, color scheme, and numbering conform to the prototype GM 300. Athearn's GP-7 suffers from the distraction of a slightly wider than scale hood, necessary to accommodate the open-frame HO motors of the 1950s. The result is that the Athearn unit's "chisel-nose" ends have a curiously blunt appearance. But this minor deformity is insignificant compared to Flyer's bungled attempt to replicate EMD's then-newest product. So, in this case, the "Flyer look-alike" effort is set aside, in order to create a model that looks, not like Flyer's, but as Flyer's should have looked. Paint: Polly Scale flat aluminum; Modelflex B&O royal blue Decals: Microscale 87-1003
Passenger Cars
Athearn's HO streamlined passenger cars provide a visually pleasing and adequate, if less than perfect, match to American Flyer's four-car streamliner set. Compromises include the following: Athearn does not offer a streamlined baggage-club combine, so I've substituted a postal car as an aesthetic stand-in with a similar window-and-door pattern. I initially resisted the temptation to run a vista-dome car behind the Hudson, since, like most eastern U.S. railroads in the 1950s, the real NYC didn't operate domes. However, since the Flyer look-alike scheme now rules, I've relented. American Flyer's early streamliners were all lettered for American Flyer Lines. There being no "American Flyer" decals in HO scale, I've chosen to letter the Faux Flyer passenger fleet for New York Central (corresponding to the Hudson loco), but have applied American Flyer's car numbers. All coupled up and hitched to the Hudson, this four-car streamlined set makes a nice approximation of American Flyer's Pacemaker passenger set K5351W, introduced in 1953.
These Faux Flyer HO models...	...represent these American Flyer S-scale items.
Athearn streamlined 60' RPO (railway post office) car, NYC 660 (decaled, budget model, used)	AF #660 streamlined baggage-club combine "Columbus" (Photo: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org)
Athearn streamlined 70' coach, NYC 661 (decaled, budget model, used)	AF #661 streamlined coach "Jefferson" (Photo: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org)
Athearn streamlined 70' vista dome car, NYC 662 (decaled, budget model, used)	AF #662 streamlined vista dome car "Hamilton" (Photo: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org)
Athearn streamlined 70' observation car, NYC 663 (decaled, budget model, used) Decals: Microscale 87-1352 (all streamlined passenger cars)	AF #663 streamlined observation car "Washington" (Photo: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org)
Freight Cars
These Faux Flyer HO models...	...represent these American Flyer S-scale items.
The following" two units were manufactured either by or for Gilbert-HO, and are used without modification, except for installation of Kadee magnetic couplers for operational compatibility.
Gilbert-HO #514 40' steel box car, SAL 514 "Silver Meteor" (original, low-grade toy, r-t-r) Its conspicuous crudeness (e.g., grossly oversize door rails, lack of corner steps,etc.), compared to other Faux Flyer equipment, might eventually send this Gilbert-HO car back to the discard bin, now that a more compatible (B&O) box car has been finished.	AF #642 / 942 Seaboard "Silver Meteor" box car Except for the difference in roof-walk design (metal grid on the HO car, wood-plank on the S), car numbers, and of course their actual sizes, the superstructures of these Gilbert box cars are otherwise virtually identical—right down to the weird "missing middle" rivet patterns in the side panels to the left of the door,
Gilbert-Varney #500 36' tank car, GRCX 5016 "Gulf" (original, budget model, used) Note that the Gilbert-Varney HO car has black tank ends, dome cap, ladders, and handrails, whereas these components on the American Flyer S-gauge car are the same aluminum color as the rest of the tank.	AF #625 / 925 Gulf tank car, GRCX 5016 (Photo: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org) The Gulf tank car was one of the few American Flyer cars that displayed both a prototype car number and Gilbert's unit number. As far as I know, no prototype Gulf tank cars were ever painted aluminum; most, if not all, were black.
The following HO models have been selected to resemble American Flyer S equipment, and redecorated in Flyer's (in some instances non-prototypical) paint schemes and with Flyer's unit numbers.
Train Miniatures 40' box car, B&O 633 (redecorated, budget model, kit) This unusual ARA car, with Youngstown doors and Dreadnaught ends, is reasonably similar to the American Flyer box car. However, since there was no prototype for the brown-over-white paint scheme on the real Baltimore & Ohio, it took a while to find an appropriate set of decals for it. Consequently, this was the last freight car added to the Faux Flyer roster. Paint: Polly Scale light freight car red; Modelflex antique white Decals: Champ HN-99; Microscale 87-2	AF #633-w / 933-w Baltimore & Ohio box car (AF also produced a #633-r B&O box car in red with white lettering.) (Photo: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org) Although this car resembles some of the ARA box cars run by the real B&O, the prototype box cars were typically painted in varying shades of oxide red with white lettering, or in a few cases in the flashy Sentinel and Time-Saver schemes—never in brown-over-white. This color scheme was entirely concocted by the toymaker. It was also skimpy on markings: no reporting marks or loading data.
Athearn 40' flat car with log load, C&NW 42597 (redecorated, budget model, kit) Paint: Polly Scale CSX gray Decals: Microscale 90002	AF #628 Chicago & Northwestern "log car" 42597 (Photo: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org) The CNW flat car was one of a few cars that displayed prototype car numbers instead of American Flyer unit numbers. It displayed little else, aside from reporting marks. Prototype CNW flat cars were oxide red with white lettering. (That they ever hauled stained wooden dowels is probably as fictitious as the gray color.)
Mantua 40' 11-panel gondola, T&P 931 (redecorated, budget model, used) Paint: Polly Scale sylvan green + engine black mix Decals: Microscale 87-183, 90051, 91111	AF #631 / 931 Texas & Pacific gondola Prototype T&P gondolas were painted black with white lettering. The dark green was the toymaker's choice, presumably to add a bit more seasonal color to Christmas-tree displays. Flyer at least saw fit to print loading data on this car.
Athearn 34' 2-bay offset-side hopper, B&O 801, with coal load (redecorated, budget model, kit) Paint: Floquil engine black Decals: Champ HC-77	AF #801 Baltimore & Ohio hopper car (Photo: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org)
Trainline 40' plug-door refrigerator car, NP 647 "Main Street of the Northwest" (redecorated, budget model, used) Paint: Polly Scale light freight car red; Modelflex UP armor yellow + reefer orange mix Decals: Microscale 87-488	AF #647 / 947 Northern Pacific refrigerator car The NP reefer was, to my eyes, one of the most strikingly good looking cars in American Flyer's early freight fleet. I never owned one. But now I have an HO look-alike.
Trainline 40' composite stock car, MP 929 (redecorated, high-grade model, r-t-r) This is the only high-grade model in the Faux Flyer fleet, since it was the only model available that conformed acceptably to Gilbert's design—never mind that the diagonal bracing goes in the opposite direction! Paint: Polly Scale mineral red + caboose red mix Decals: Microscale 87-189; Westerfield 8801	AF #629 / 929 Missouri Pacific "cattle car" (Photo: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org) An early version of the Flyer stock car had prototypical slots in the sides, whereas the only open slots on this one are in the doors. My guess is that the manufacturer decided to close the slots, either because slotting increased production costs, or because a slotted body didn't have enough strength to withstand use as a toy.
Varney centered-cupola steel caboose, RDG 630 (redecorated, budget model, used) The faithful old caboose now has updated paint, lettering, and interior lighting. Paint: Polly Scale caboose red, armour yellow Decals: Microscale 87-883	AF #630 Reading caboose (Photo: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org)
Most early American Flyer equipment was lettered in a uniform G O T H I C font, even though most prototype railroads of the time used R O M A N lettering. In decorating the Faux Flyer equipment, I've used prototype lettering styles, since they're what's available to modelers of prototype equipment.
Additional Equipment
My cellar layout has numerous pieces of equipment which, while not exact matches to American Flyer units, are sufficiently similar to preserve the effect. While there's no room for them on the Yule-tree layout, they can be added to double the length of the basic eight-car freight train when it's running on the big layout. With only half of its wheels powered, Flyer's Geep would have struggled to move a nine-car train (considering Flyer axle bearings were not the low-friction needle-point type common in HO), but my Athearn GP-7, with all eight wheels powered, can haul a longer train with confident ease.
Erie 7268 with transformer load fills in for Flyer's 12-wheel depressed-center flat car 7210 (#636 / 936) with wire reel load. (The flat-side design of the Flyer car is actually closer to the Erie prototype; to my knowledge, there are no HO models of the Erie 7200 series cars.) Central of New Jersey PS-2 covered hopper subs for Flyer's #624 / 924 "cement car," a stock offset-side hopper with hatch roof added. (Although installing hatch roofs on outside-braced hopper cars was fairly common back in the days when covered hoppers were still experimental, the structurally weaker offset-side design was seldom if ever used for cement, which is denser than coal. Thus, I'm reasonably certain Flyer's offset-side kluge had no real-world prototype—which would explain why there are no commercially available HO-scale models of such a car.) Lehigh & New England hopper 13328 shows up Flyer's gray #632. Chesapeake & Ohio gondola 36002 does a capable impression of Flyer's #911. (I might eventually add a pipe load.) Great Northern box car 50324 does the latest decaled version of Flyer's #913 proud. (Earlier versions of the Flyer car had a monochrome version of the herald painted on.) (Photos of untagged American Flyer items [right]: http://www.thegilbertgallery.org) In 1956 and 1957, American Flyer added several new road names and colorful paint schemes to its existing car fleet. Some of these find close approximations in my model roster, which can be temporarily pressed into Faux Flyer holiday service on the cellar layout. Among these are: AF #980 Baltimore & Ohio "Time-Saver" box car (blue and orange) AF #982 Bangor & Aroostook "State of Maine Products" box car (blue, white, and red) AF #984 New Haven "NH" box car (vermillion) AF #989 Chicago & Northwestern refrigerator car (green and yellow) In 1958, American Flyer switched from its long-standing three-digit numbering practice to a five-digit scheme, which looked vaguely more realistic, but still did not use actual prototype car numbers. By this time, however, I was looking to replace my American Flyer equipment with HO scale, so this is the cut-off point for my Faux Flyer effort.