Maintenance of Pre-War American Flyer Switches

Cannot tell you what to do, as I simply don't use switches with my prewar Flyer trains.  Best suggestion, is find one that is not working very good and drill out the rivets.  Then at least you can see what the guts look like.

I have heard that some of the standard gauge Flyer switches have die cast gears inside that go bad.  Hopefully the O gauge switches do not have any cast parts inside.  If there are any cast parts, which turn out to be bad, I suggest moving on to another switch, as nobody makes parts for the Flyer O gauge switches.

NWL

The ones I have use metal tabs folded over on the edge to hold the bottom on, any chance yours are like that?  My biggest problem is they are causing me a bunch of derailments.  Not sure if it is to short flanges or just mis alignment of the points.

Here are the ones I've been messing with.

I have both the electric and the manual ones, manual in the picture above.

Prewar Flyer 0 gauge switches are might be best described as inconsistently operating sheet metal sandwiches that are often variable from the point of manufacture. The principal source of problems is related to the open frog (failure to lock in place and align properly with the points, variance in gauge, etc.). They appear to have the most problems with Lionel and less so with Flyer. Interestingly, Gilbert 3/16" scale O gauge trains generally are very forgiving of wayward prewar Flyer turnouts as long as they throw.

I have four prewar Flyer remote control turnouts of Gilbert manufacture incorporated in my prewar layout which have continued to operate well in service over an extended period of time with another good pair held in reserve just in case. "Operate well" is defined as they work reasonably well with much prewar, postwar and modern Lionel 0; MTH Kughn Era and LCT tin; and (of course) with Coleman and Gilbert 0. They are included in the track plan in part to have an unusual feature as part of the layout, in part because Lionel switches are incompatible with prewar Gilbert which I like to run and whose die cast latch/link couplers short on the Lionel frog design, and in part out of shear cussedness. One can remove the bottom sheet metal plate after straightening the tabs and set one's self up for an interesting winter's night work, but folks might find that exercise ultimately frustrating. My solution (cop out, if you will) to the problem is to purchase ones that are reasonably priced and that appear to be in good condition with the recognition that half of the ones purchased will be problematic and set aside.

Have fun!

Bob 

I have six electric and four or so manual "sheet metal sandwiches".  The manuals work well.  I'm trying to get the electrics working.  Three work very well and that matches Bob's idea that your doing OK if 50% work.  The other three work, but hang up some times related to the linkage between the solenoid and the moving section.   The linkage is articulated and that seems to be part of the problem. When some of these hang, it can be made to work by moving the linkage to one side with a tool through the slot.  One of the switches that is working well has a metal part added that seems to serve to keep the linkage in line.  This idea could help the ones that hang up.

I did take the bottom plate off of two by bending the tabs as Dennis mentions (though on some, these are soldered).  The sections of the linkage pivot on rivets that are worn and sloppy.  A previous owner soldered one of the joints on the two I opened and it is not clear if that is helping or hurting.  I am debating un-soldering to see what happens and replacing rivets. 

The solenoid is under a metal housing secured with many rivets.  I have not drilled these out yet but will.  Looking in through the slots, it looks like there is a cast gear in there. 

I have not tried running anything yet, so am uncertain about gauge variance and derailments.

Interesting winter project

Bill

I assume we are talking about O gauge switches here. Both the wide gauge and the narrow gauge flyer switches have a small cast gear.  The wide gauge have cast a housing for the workings, the narrow a stamped steel housing, but both have the cast gear.  I have found that you can drill out the eyelets or rivets easily enough.  I usually reassemble with small machine screws.  Real small, like number 4 or so.  In my experience, it is the linkage that is to blame for most of the problems.  Cleaning and lubricating can help.  My main issue is generally that once thrown, it does not lock properly.  Good luck.