I started with a Lionel set, but this was in 1993 when Flyer was basically gone. My Grandpa probably would have bought me an American Flyer set if he could have gotten a new one. To this day he prefers Flyer. He gave me his childhood Lionel set (265E), may aunt and uncle's Marx set (Monon Diesels) and Lionel (202), but he won't give up his Flyer set!
Flyer S gauge, circa 1950s for me and my younger brother. We ultimately had four sets and eight pair of switches which constituted a pretty reasonable empire in those Eisenhower days. In my neighborhood in Philly, it was about even for Flyer vs. Lionel, but with a minority slice of Marx thrown in. Still have my first set, a 4901T, in very good shape ... boxes and all. The first picture below shows our Philly basement layout from 1955 and the second picture is of our suburban 1956 layout. Of course, our father had a huge hand in all of this. The trains were a great vehicle for Dad for teaching me basic wood working and wiring skills.
Bob
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Neither, I was strictly a Marx kid. My first set was Christmas 1976 Marx Illinois Central Gulf deisel work train. I still have it in pristine condition.
I had Lionel 027 & O gauge trains for a few years before I got American Flyer trains. The Lionel trains are 3 rail track, and 3 rail switches. The American Flyer in the 50's & 60's were 2 rail track, even 2 rail switches. For most years the engines were AC operated. Sometime near 1991 there were a couple of DC (Lionel engines)operated 3 rail engines for 027 track.
Lee
Bob Bubeck posted:Flyer S gauge, circa 1950s for me and my younger brother. We ultimately had four sets and eight pair of switches which constituted a pretty reasonable empire in those Eisenhower days. In my neighborhood in Philly, it was about even for Flyer vs. Lionel, but with a minority slice of Marx thrown in. Still have my first set, a 4901T, in very good shape ... boxes and all. The first picture below shows our Philly basement layout from 1955 and the second picture is of our suburban 1956 layout. Of course, our father had a huge hand in all of this. The trains were a great vehicle for Dad for teaching me basic wood working and wiring skills.
Bob
phillyreading posted:I had Lionel 027 & O gauge trains for a few years before I got American Flyer trains. The Lionel trains are 3 rail track, and 3 rail switches. The American Flyer in the 50's & 60's were 2 rail track, even 2 rail switches. For most years the engines were AC operated. Sometime near 1991 there were a couple of DC (Lionel engines)operated 3 rail engines for 027 track.
Lee
Bet you had a lot of fun with those two fine layouts!
WOW! Lot of MARX guys. Altered the topic to include you!
Started with Marx (windup and electric) than Lionel and for a short time HO.
My best friend had American flyer at Christmas only, where I had a Ping-Pong table in the basement and I made different track arrangements all year. Cousins on both sides of the family had Lionel (which I have now). There was a man at the far end of our row of homes that would put up Lionel at Christmas also a man at our church would setup Lionel at Christmas time at his home.
Still have my original Marx and Lionel.
Redball 342
Marx set at the age of three, followed the next year by a Lionel set then another Marx, it not not survive except for a caboose and then another Lionel set when I was seven
c.sam posted:Interesting in that this relatively small sample (so far) it shows that quire a few of us had American Flyer. It's a shame that they went out of business and never regained their former popularity. In many ways, S scale IS the perfect scale with it's in between size but was overtaken by O gauge back then...
Actually, Marx bodies are or are close to S scale!
