Hi everyone, hoping someone can point me in the right direction here. I am in need of a full set of wheels for an American Flyer 3195 cast iron locomotive. These are a die cast nickle rim & two have the steel gears. I don't see anyone making these new but wasn't sure if I might just be missing it. Or does anyone have a spare set they might sell? I appreciate any help, thank you.
Mark
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have you tried Hennings?
Thanks Steamer...I do have an email in to Hennings because I was aware of the Model Engineering connection, hoping to hear back from them soon and I'm sure I will. They have 5 different wheel sets for Flyer on their site and it looks like their AO-1001 might possibly work, although in the photo's it looks like the gear has been cast right into the wheel. I don't have a clear explanation why, but I was told it needs to be a steel gear. I posted thinking for certain someone here has been through this before and might educate me a bit on these....
Thank you....
Mark.... I went through the same thing about 5 years ago. My original wheels were in poor shape with small spider cracks all over the place. I talked to a vendor at York about them and sent the engine to him for repair. I don't know where he found the wheels but it took almost a year before I got the engine back. Unfortunately the man who repaired my engine has passed away so I have no idea where he got them. Have you contacted Robert Barth? He repairs old A.F. and may be able to help you. Last time I knew his number was 724-736-0488. Good Luck...
Jay
Thank you Jay, I appreciate your advice. I actually sent my loco out to Brasseur's 2 1/2 to 3 months ago. I called today for an update and talked with Brian. He told me they have been keeping an eye out. I wasn't aware this problem even existed or I'd have been watching out for them long ago.
This loco is kind of special to me so I just thought I'd post looking for idea's. I will call Robert to see if he has a spare set. I don't want to rock the boat, Brasseurs have been good to me so long as they have my loco I'd prefer they fix it. Perhaps Robert or someone else might understand that.
Thank you so much for the idea's guys. It really is appreciated. This is a pretty common American Flyer loco, I'm a little surprised they haven't been made before, but I know it is not a cheap or easy process...
I might add this....if anyone has a need for this type/style of wheel, post! By all means post, and down the line a little ways, assuming they have never been made and it sounds like they haven't, perhaps someone would step up and take the project on...I'm good for half a dozen sets!
At one time David Trickel had some available. At present, no-one has made these wheels. I have been told that Hennings is planning to do a run of these type of wheels this summer.
That would sure be great news Chuck if Hennings did a run of them, I'd stock up for the future....I was not aware of David before you mentioned him. I have looked up an old post and found reference to his contact info and have sent him an email. I will post if this is a part he carries. Many thanks...
Most of Trickel's parts are soft castings. Great for cosmetic restorations but not especially running.
I did hear back from David this evening and that's exactly what he told me Steve....I'll check in with Hennings tomorrow during business hours...
mtj54 posted:I did hear back from David this evening and that's exactly what he told me Steve....I'll check in with Hennings tomorrow during business hours...
I buy regularly from Trickel, I'm just cautious what I use the parts for.
steve
Hi!! This is Harry. I could not find reference to an AF # 3195 in my Doyle AF book. We are working on producing a wheel mold set for the AF "O" steam wheel w/ wrap - a - round rims and gear lug this summer. I am not the brightest child on AF & Ives trains, so you guys have to bare with me on a lot of these parts and what they fit.
Mark: I just did send a reply to your e-mail. My wife and I celebrated our 53rd wedding anniversary yesterday at the Strassburg Railroad. Eric at the "Choo Choo Barn" also gave us a behind the scenes tour of the shop and display layout. We had a great railroad day. Harry 
Good morning guys...
Harry, Happy 53rd Anniversary! I'm going on 29 yrs now married and have yet to spend my anniversaries doing anything train related, you're a lucky guy!
I just replied to your email, and sent a few photo's. Anything I can to to facilitate the process of making this style wheel I'd be more than happy to help!
Have a great day everyone...going to be a long stormy day here in the midwest. Not a good day to move a son home from college like I am about to do...
Hi Harry, you can google American Flyer 3195 and see the type of drivers that are needed. The later version is available. Chicago O American Flyer (not to be confused with Gilbert AF),has several different sets of steam wheels which are confusing sometimes. The type that are needed are open spoke and have a different gear on the geared wheels that the later solid type. The wheels came in both black and orange.
For reference here are a few photo's...
I would purchase 20 sets if these were made. I have both steam and electric locos that have crumbling originals on them. Both types are the steam loco wheel with rod lugs. And yes, please paint them orange!
I'm with Rob and the others - I too could use at least 10 sets of these wheels in both orange and black. This wheel is on #3195, #3198, 3195X, 3190, and 3180. Both 3195 and 3198 are in orange and the others are in black.
They are also on Steeple Cab & Boxcab electrics like 3110, 3105 and 3107 (Bluebird and Frontenac) and more besides.
Thank you all for the info. I will keep you advised when we get started on the mfg. Harry
Awesome Harry!
Hi everyone...quite a bit of time has passed, and I have talked with Harry a few times in the last year or so regarding his wheel. While I haven't spoken to Harry for a few months I get the impression he's not really any closer to having this part made. That's not a complaint, quite the opposite, I'm familiar with the uphill battle he faces on a part like this.
A random thought hit me and I thought I'd just throw this out there.
Harry has mentioned that tooling for these wheels would be around $10,000.
Harry, I'd step up & commit to giving you $500 towards that tooling....and perhaps you'd consider selling me a dozen sets at a lower cost...
I realize that doesn't get you a lot closer....but if we kept this post alive and 9 others stepped up and did the same thing, I'm thinking we would all benefit from that....we'd get a whole lot of loco's up and running and you'd add a new part to an already impressive lineup.
Let me know if I'm on the right track here....how about it guys, forego the purchase of one modern locomotive and throw in with Harry and we'd all be helping the hobby as a whole, not to mention our own collections. This all depends of course if Harry would even consider this....and if there is enough of us to step in and help....
I know you mentioned in another thread Harry that "what we need is a maybe retired machinist to make the molds as a "love of trains project " at 1960's prices" but I'm not at all confident that person is out there...
mtj54 posted:....Harry has mentioned that tooling for these wheels would be around $10,000.
...
i do not mean to be a know it all... frankly just the opposite in this case, but could you or anyone else break this $10,000 down to something more itemized?
This might help understand tooling costs
Sorry to see you're still dealing with this issue Mark. As I know first hand it can be very frustrating. Like you my 3195 was more a sentimental piece as it had been in my family since new as I was very scared I would never see the engine again after sending it out. I seldom run the engine anymore as I can't keep the 2 front leading wheels on the track even on wider radius track. I'm not 100 % sure but I think my grandfather added these to the engine as he was a toolmaker. I have yet to see a 2-4-0 # 3195 engine. I have attached an ad for this train set from the 30's. I wish you luck in your journey finding wheels..
Jay
I will join the chorus of people searching for prewar Flyer parts. I don't need engine wheels(got real lucky at York) but need 2 sets of side rods for 2-4-2 engines. (Trickle's catalog #A03308) These are the ones that operate without steam chest mounted guides but have the extra linkage. I will try to post a picture if anyone might have any for sale.
MEW "update".
We have been working very hard 'upgrading' the wheel tooling and 'rim' tooling in particular. We now have all of the existing tooling in production that we know of. We just recently found out that some of the wheel molds could possibly have the centers interchanged w/ other molds to make yet more versions. I had found a few 'raw' castings in stock of the most sought after wheel we are missing the mold for. The most exciting one is the AF "O" steam wheel w/ the 'wrap-a-round rim' using the steel gear. I contacted Barry, the former owner, and he thought the mold parts to make should be there somewhere. Just this past week, we sat down w/ the caster and might have found the combination of parts to produce. Still not 100% sure, but there is hope.
If this doesn't work out, the former mfg. of wheel molds for "BOWSER MFG Co." has been located, and I met w/ the owner. He has agreed to a very reasonable price range to make the molds. The rim is the same as the "O" electric wheel, so no additional cost will be needed there. It is now just a matter of time, preparing the conversion at the caster, and hopefully running a couple of shots. Either way, I would hope to have wheels within a couple of months. P.S. We have cast a little over 10,000 wheels in the last 2 years !!! Lionel, A. Flyer & Ives. Says a lot. That's call for now. Harry
lv 601 posted:Sorry to see you're still dealing with this issue Mark. As I know first hand it can be very frustrating. Like you my 3195 was more a sentimental piece as it had been in my family since new as I was very scared I would never see the engine again after sending it out. I seldom run the engine anymore as I can't keep the 2 front leading wheels on the track even on wider radius track. I'm not 100 % sure but I think my grandfather added these to the engine as he was a toolmaker. I have yet to see a 2-4-0 # 3195 engine. I have attached an ad for this train set from the 30's. I wish you luck in your journey finding wheels..
Jay
Thanks Jay....Pretty much the same thing here.....this particular locomotive I am trying to re-wheel was my dad's, one of the very few toys he had when he was a kid. Entire train set is absolute mint condition with the exception of those loco wheels. I just had this other 3195 loco returned from Brasseurs who had it for 1 1/2 years but they couldn't find replacements for it. But I was never worried, they do a great job, and they'd of never lost it, they just didn't have access to these parts and I know Brian who does the repair work there tried. No worries though, I'm a patient person and I'm sure I'll get where I need to get sooner or later....
It would even be interesting to see an exact list of every locomotive Flyer made that uses these wheels....that alone might help Harry decide to go forward with the project. It'll take someone a lot smarter than I am though to figure that out! It was mentioned above that the Flyer Boxcab's used the same wheel and I purchased one of those but turned out the wheels on that were 1/4" smaller in diameter...so the hunt continues :-)
Harry Henning posted:MEW "update".
We have been working very hard 'upgrading' the wheel tooling and 'rim' tooling in particular. We now have all of the existing tooling in production that we know of. We just recently found out that some of the wheel molds could possibly have the centers interchanged w/ other molds to make yet more versions. I had found a few 'raw' castings in stock of the most sought after wheel we are missing the mold for. The most exciting one is the AF "O" steam wheel w/ the 'wrap-a-round rim' using the steel gear. I contacted Barry, the former owner, and he thought the mold parts to make should be there somewhere. Just this past week, we sat down w/ the caster and might have found the combination of parts to produce. Still not 100% sure, but there is hope.
If this doesn't work out, the former mfg. of wheel molds for "BOWSER MFG Co." has been located, and I met w/ the owner. He has agreed to a very reasonable price range to make the molds. The rim is the same as the "O" electric wheel, so no additional cost will be needed there. It is now just a matter of time, preparing the conversion at the caster, and hopefully running a couple of shots. Either way, I would hope to have wheels within a couple of months. P.S. We have cast a little over 10,000 wheels in the last 2 years !!! Lionel, A. Flyer & Ives. Says a lot. That's call for now. Harry
I think we were typing at the same time Harry, you're a faster typer though :-)
Harry, I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate this, and I'll follow along close as I can and be the first in line to purchase several sets from you. (Then I'll start sending you loco's to fix!) I can't imagine how you keep it all straight and I know a lot of these parts you'll do with the hope it pays off in the end, but I also know you're going into it not knowing for certain if that'll be the case or not. A HUGE THANK YOU from northern Illinois here!
Great news!! My caster just called and they have just run some samples of the AF "O" steam wheel that uses the wrap-a-round rim. I am checking out tomorrow. Need some in-put in the meantime. If any of you folks can measure the wheel axle and rod hole sizes, that would be great. I can probably have these available within a month. I already have the rims in stock. Harry
Harry...I'll do one better than that, how about I just send you a locomotive....that way I won't mess up any important measurements on you! That truly is fantastic news!....My email and phone number are in my profile and if you want that loco in person I'll get it on the way tomorrow....Thanks!
Harry Henning posted:
Holy Cow...Santa came early!
Harry, I also thank you guys for all that you've done to help the prewar community out! Ive bought 200-300 of those 10000 wheels!!!
I just returned from my caster. This is what we have: Turns out the mold pieces could be assembled to make the wrap-a-round wheels, but the set will have the gear cast onto the wheel, instead of the separate steel gear 'peened on' version. The cast on gear is the same diameter and teeth configuration as the steel gear. I am wondering weather AF produced both ways, or if this was MEW's version only. The end result is that the cast version will work. Comments please. Harry
Not being into O gauge Flyer my only thoughts would be regarding the cast in gear on the wheel, will the material be hard enough to be slow wearing and will it be central so that the gear driving it will not bind if it isn’t true?
I have some new old MEW drivers with cast in gears. Have had them for years. Not sure what they fit but would happy to sell them if they will fix someone’s loco’s.
Steve
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