Brief American Flyer Video

"The only model trains that run on two rail track".  But the PAs only had four wheels on the six wheeled PA and EP-5 trucks.....LOL

Dan Padova posted:

"The only model trains that run on two rail track".  But the PAs only had four wheels on the six wheeled PA and EP-5 trucks.....LOL

Pretty weak Dan 

I once visited Tom Miller’s home in Oregon while on an NMRA Convention layout tour. He had a large outdoor 7-1/2” layout featuring two scales, 1-1/2” to the foot representing standard gauge (with a live steam Big Boy loco), and 2-1/2” to the foot for narrow gauge, with several Colorado live steamers. The outdoor layout was very large, complete with tunnels, grades, and trestles. There were several trains running, carrying passengers on rides on the cars. He had shops with machine tools for each scale, and he also had a large indoor G scale layout in it’s own building. The G layout featured custom mountain scenery by Joel Bragdon of Bragdon Enterprises (the lightweight foam rock casting company). By the time I got to see his Flyer layout, I was in deep sensory overload, and unfortunately I don’t remember nearly as much about it as I would like to. I saw on the web that he had the property up for sale a couple of years ago, complete with all the layouts, and I often wonder if he sold it. For what was there, the price seemed quite reasonable, though way out of my reach.

Check out the property & video here: <http://www.uniqueestateforsale.com/>

Bill in FtL

A very nice, clean layout: just wish they had used the first 36 seconds for something other than the old "Boy's Club" intro.

Mark in Oregon

Strummer posted:

A very nice, clean layout: just wish they had used the first 36 seconds for something other than the old "Boy's Club" intro.

Mark in Oregon

I thought it was kind of clever, a way to tie in with the tradition.  Although yes, it would have been nice if there was more footage of the layout.

Anybody notice the AM F-units near the end?

Rusty

I did!...thought those looked a little "non-Flyerish"... 

Mark in Oregon

Agreed a little longer would have been nice. One of the magazines (S Gaugian maybe) did an article on the layout many years ago.  I would have liked to see more of it. Pure Flyer style layouts have a certain charm.

I believe it was on a mezzanine above his highly detailed Fn3 layout. Isn't Fn3 what the 3 foot narrow gauge modelers  who run on G gauge rail call themselves?

I have the DVD.  It’s pretty good.  It was made right before Legacy hit Lionel’s S gauge line.  In the video he has a TMCC Mikado, and a Flyonel (no TMCC) first issue northern.  It lacks the progress (insert sarcasm here) S has had over the past decade.  There is some AM and SHS but very little.  The layout is a really nice clean Gilbert-esk example.  There is a solid 25-30 minuets of running footage at the end with no comment.  There is also brief footage of Miller’s amazing outdoor live steam and indoor narrow G gauge (I forget what it’s called). Tom is definitely a man of some means to beable to have all this cool stuff. 

As a matter of fact, I just got a flyer for TM video that has this DVD on sale, I think for 9.99.  

Ben

There are many videos on YouTube of Tom's layouts. Here is an overview of his property when he had it for sale.

https://youtu.be/_VdCrHztInA

FlyerRich posted:

Dan Padova posted:

"The only model trains that run on two rail track".  But the PAs only had four wheels on the six wheeled PA and EP-5 trucks.....LOL

Pretty weak Dan 

But true.....LOL

Dan Padova posted:

FlyerRich posted:

Dan Padova posted:

"The only model trains that run on two rail track".  But the PAs only had four wheels on the six wheeled PA and EP-5 trucks.....LOL

Pretty weak Dan 

But true.....LOL

The missing wheelsets on the Flyer PA's and EP5's is far less noticeable than the presence of the third rail...  (BTW, I grew up with Lionel...)

Rusty

Here's a Flyer PA with all its wheels and also running on "real" 2-rail track!

Come on, you Flyer guys just can't get over the fact that Lionel outdid American Flyer.  Heck, Lionel even bought American Flyer and was gracious enough to continue the line.....LOL

All of the above is said in jest.  We all know that whatever kind of trains we like to play with is OK with the rest of us.