Need some help IDing this train and a good parts store for the engine

What you have is American Flyer #9915 "Aeolus" Streamline train.  The tags are missing, which didn't help, but I figured it out by searching the Patent numbers on the bottom.  Five of the patent numbers all showed up with different peoples names associated with American Flyer.  It dates to 1935, and you will have to search for AF Aeolus, to see what you can find.  It is pretty rare, and the price in original condition is over $1k.

Good luck with your search.

Teledoc,

Thank you. I searched a couple of the patent number but I found like train whistle, electric motor ect. Maybe I should have done all of them in hind sight.

Once again thank you very much.

Dan

Dan,  What I did was copied all the patent numbers to a sheet of paper, and then searched each one indivually.  The were listed with different people's names, but all of them showed it was eventually American Flyer.  That narrowed it down to who the maker was, and I did a search from there with American Flyer Streamliner, and saw a photo with a caption with "Aeolus".  Looked that up, and found it to be # 9915.  Took about half hour to find it.

I did a quick breeze while I was on my phone taking a break when I was trying to get it running and figured that it was all patents for the motor part itself and nothing to do with the train as a whole. I obviously should have brought the numbers in and did a full search. I feel kind of stupid that it was that simple but heh I atleast learned something.

It looks to me like someone repainted it with a brush...

EL CLASSICO,  The black on the engine is definitely paint, but the shell itself is cast aluminum.  The tags on the side of the engine and tender are missing, and filled in with black paint.  It was only made one year, 1935, and quite rare.  Only value I found so far was a listing on Traincity where one sold for $1375.  It is an American Flyer 9915 "Aeolus" molded with the engine & tender together in a single mold.

My father admitted to repainting it when he was young. He said it was in semi rough shape and he wanted it to look better than what it did. TELEDOC helped me ID it and I am in contact with someone that is seeing if can get me in touch with another person that can get the decals for it. I know it might lose some of it vale but I really want to restore it back to original condition.

I already restored the accessories that he had gave me so I figure that I might as well do the engine and cars too. My dad was super happy that I found out what the train was and he's ecstatic that I am taking the time to restore everything. I want to be able to hand this down to one of my kids when the time is right.

be sure and share your progress!

here's an old thread with details on what may be the motor in your engine and a cool photo of the real Aeolus. Nice train you have there.

Steamer,

I will try to remember to share. At worse case I will share after I get some pictures and videos to my father.

Dan,  Glad that you were able to get some more info on the train.  If you have intentions on stripping the paint, I can suggest using "Castrol Super Clean".  It comes in a purple jug, found mostly in auto departments, and the cheapest place to buy is is Walmart.  It is a high strength de-greaser for the most part.  I have stripped many Lionel shells, for restoration using Super Clean.  I use it full strength for stripping, and pour it into a 'spackling trough', the kind you would use to put spackle compound into, to use with a wide spackle trowel.  I bought it at HD, cheap plastic one, and it seems to be the right size to fit my locos in.  I have had some bodies strip in about two hours, using an old toothbrush to scrub all the paint off.  Let is soak for as long as it takes, get all the paint off, and then rinse it in warm soapy water, and then let it dry.

Other people I know have used "easy off" oven cleaner to strip paint, with the same results, but your body is aluminum, and I don't know what effect the Easy Off would have with aluminum.

If you do decide to use Super Clean, it can be used quite a few times before it loses its potency and has to be dumped.  It's safe to just pour down your drain, and wash it off.  I personally swear by it, when I strip a shell for repaint/restoration.

Good luck, and keep us posted with progress, and the smile on Dad's face.

TELEDOC,

Well I did the idiot thing and used a brass brush not even thinking about soaking it so I am "happily" (not really) sanding and buffing out all the scratch marks. I am kind of glad because I am making some of the edges more sharper and buffing out some of the usage marks in it too.

She is beautiful so far and it reminds me that not everything was made perfect back in those days. It has a couple pits and some small air pockets from the mold but to me that is what gives it character.

Dan

Alright everyone,

I did some restoration on it. I tried a Testor paint which was recommended for the "bullet" train that was close to what the Aeolus was painted but when it dried it looked super dark and dingy. I said I wanted to restore back to original but for now I just polished it up and kept all the sand paper and a fine Scotch Brite pad to do a full restore later when more money is available.

The side stickers/decals are being the hardest to find so far and it looks like I need to have them custom made from vinyl but I will cross that bridge again later. I found the front one but I need to wait for the guy to get back from a train expo to get them.

Here's the promised pictures of it.

What I started with minus the rails ect.

This is what it looked like painted the initial grey in good lighting.

In less lighting it looked really dingy and dark. Worse than this:

I might try Testors "aluminum" next time (lower right). The color I used is the "silver" in the upper left. I did use enamel and maybe that makes a difference.

Here's what it looks like polished up and assembled:

I am open to suggestions for color matching the paint and what type of paint to use for the full restore.

I found an interesting sold item listing on ebay for this engine and car set. They are some of the best photos of it in possibly close to original condition that I have found.

here's the photos  edit: sorry-click on the listing photo and it opens a gallery.

My choice of color for the engine would be aluminum over a gray primer. I don't think it was ever a shiny finish.

An interesting point in the listing was the description of the cars. The seller stated that they were cadmium plated.

A great piece of model train history.

Moonman,

It wasn't a shinny finish but I did it to keep it protected for now. It's a very basic buffing compound that can be easily removed to keep it from oxidizing.

This is the best picture I found for a almost complete Aeolus.

This is what I am using besides one other for a comparison picture.

I like the polished look myself.

Steamer,

Same here. It adds a modern feel to this classic train. Despite how cool it looks my intentions were to restore it back to original form.

here are some from the listing

Moonman,

I have yet to find these pictures online. Do you mind pointing me to this listing? I am digging deep on trying to get this thing 100% correctly restored.

If you click on the link above, in blue letters, it should take you to the old listing. Scroll down. Then when there, select the displayed photo it opens the gallery.

here's the item number: 141813112606

In looking more closely at the loco, it looks as if it were touched up in an artistic fashion. It's too neatly worn. Some areas are brighter than others, but the metal is not showing through. It will be tough to find an original. I was poking around in the TCA museum records and came up empty. I looked on the Hall of Science site, but most of those are postwar trains. The handrails are not bent from picking it up.  it's still a nice example, as yours will be.

Moonman,

It's history and has been passed down 2 generations to me so I plan on passing it down to my next generation in my family. Even if I restore it, it should still be worth some money regardless because these things are few and far these days.

From my research I have only seen another 7-8 of these in the online world. 2 were at an auction house, I saw one on display somewhere (at a museum I am assuming), 3 more for sale on eBay and 1 for sale in Russia. I have seen a few different pictures in forums that I am going to assume is a new or different one each time for now.

There is a reason I put "American Flyer 9915 "Aeolus" Streamline - trying to restore this is like finding a unicorn in the wild" as my signature because it's very hard to find anything about it at all. I'm just as ecstatic about the history of the Aeolus as I am trying to restore it. I am starting a book of information so I can include it in the box I have for the train so everything I found and have done to it can follow it for the rest of its life.

From Moonman's post, with the link to the auction, the seller is sadly mistaken that it is chromium plated.  If it were, it wouldn't have rust.  Chromium is phased out because of it's toxicity, for plating, but you will find it in NI-Cad batteries.  I think the seller is just trying to add some misguided "Fluff" to the description, as a selling point.  Yes, the Aeolus and the matching cars as a set are rare, so the "chromium plating" isn't necessary.  Just my $.02

Here is a link to TCA Western website, for American Flyer, and not much is said about the Aeolus, other than it was made in 1935.  Nothing about the other cars is mentioned, but just so you can check it out.

http://www.tcawestern.org/af.htm

IIRC, several years ago, Ed Boyle did a Collectors Gallery on your train after he bought one. You might get ahold of him.

TeleDoc posted:

From Moonman's post, with the link to the auction, the seller is sadly mistaken that it is chromium plated.  If it were, it wouldn't have rust.  Chromium is phased out because of it's toxicity, for plating, but you will find it in NI-Cad batteries.  I think the seller is just trying to add some misguided "Fluff" to the description, as a selling point.  Yes, the Aeolus and the matching cars as a set are rare, so the "chromium plating" isn't necessary.  Just my $.02

Here is a link to TCA Western website, for American Flyer, and not much is said about the Aeolus, other than it was made in 1935.  Nothing about the other cars is mentioned, but just so you can check it out.

http://www.tcawestern.org/af.htm

Teledoc,

It's not chromium, he said CADMIUM. It's the cad in Ni-Cad batteries. Cadmium is a by-product of zinc processing as it is hard to find naturally. It's used for plating bolts and hardware, aerospace, aviation and such. It's an aluminum casted engine, no rust,  but, if you look at the photos of the cars, there is no rust on the bodies. So, yes it does qualify as a hazmat until it is finally plated on something. They mix dyes in the plating to achieve certain colors. It naturally is a yellowish brass look. Silver is a color that can be made.

It made sense to me as A.C. Gilbert was a science guy. The use of cadmium at that time would have been cheaper than chrome or nickel and just as effective. heck, he had scientists help him make a Radioactive Lab Toy kit with actual radioactive material included.

Regardless, the history is tough to find on this train or early manufacturing information. One could easily test the coating if you got you hands on a set of cars.

The engine definitely appeared to be painted.

I went through a lot of TCA main online library. Slim pickins'.

Dan,

I get it. That's why my interest is piqued and I am spending time on research. I am following the lead of the Standard gauge and Dorfan guys. You need to find an original in a museum or collection and then compare all else that you find. Old toys that survive have been maintained and painted(like yours) through the years.

Then, you best determine what is as close to original as possible. The color match has to be done by taking an original to a professional paint shop and having them match the color with the equipment. You can get close from photos, but there's a lot of variables in taking the photo and then viewing it on a screen or print to arrive at the actual color.

I commented on the shiny look previously because it's looks like the casting marks are buffed out of it. AF didn't take the time to do that.

Dan,

if you are airbrushing the coatings on, you may want to take a look at Tru Color paints. They have a paint chip sample for Aluminum that looks very close to the color of the engine. It's airbrush ready, but I would still use a primer first to get it to adhere to aluminum.

Moonman, I didn't realize I typed chromium, when I truly meant cadmium.  The brain said one thing, the fingers typed another, so sorry for confusion.  The Aeolus I looked at, using your link, does in fact show rust on two of the passenger cars, and it isn't from a camera shadow.  Using your link, it brings up the auction.  Tell me if I'm wrong about the rust, because I see it clearly in two photos.

Moonman,

Some of the casting marks did get buffed out. I wasn't thinking when I stripped it and used a brass wire wheel so I had a ton of scratch marks to smooth out. I tired to keep as many casting marks as possible and in the most important areas like around the head lamp, by the windows and some of the edges but some of the scratch marks were quite obvious that it was done after it was made so some of the casting marks went with it.

It's a sad mess up on my half but looking at a bunch of different pictures the casting marks around the lamp and windows were the most obvious cast marks besides the entire backside of the train and seam on the top of the tender.

Moonman posted:

Dan,

if you are airbrushing the coatings on, you may want to take a look at Tru Color paints. They have a paint chip sample for Aluminum that looks very close to the color of the engine. It's airbrush ready, but I would still use a primer first to get it to adhere to aluminum.

 

I don't have air brush equipment so I plan on using spray cans. I bought Rustoleums professional aluminum primer that seems to work really good so far and it costs less than most of the model primers I looked at that said metal but didn't list any.

TeleDoc posted:

Moonman, I didn't realize I typed chromium, when I truly meant cadmium.  The brain said one thing, the fingers typed another, so sorry for confusion.  The Aeolus I looked at, using your link, does in fact show rust on two of the passenger cars, and it isn't from a camera shadow.  Using your link, it brings up the auction.  Tell me if I'm wrong about the rust, because I see it clearly in two photos.

Hey, teledoc. been busy with stuff. I was really focused on the car bodies. I saw the rust on the roof tops and the vestibules on the ends. it's tough to determine what went on. My guess would be that this train has had some restoration work done on it, hence why the seller didn't say "original".

When you look at these compared to Lionel trains that were played with from this time period, these are a in really good condition.

I can't tell if the rusted areas are from something rusting that was touching it (like a pile of track in a box)or from the coating being nicked or scraped. What the coating actually is...well, the cadmium plating does seem a little far fetched, but possible. After all, A.C. Gilbert was an interesting guy.

Somewhere, we'll find out how these were finished and perhaps see an original.

Dan13 posted:

Moonman,

Some of the casting marks did get buffed out. I wasn't thinking when I stripped it and used a brass wire wheel so I had a ton of scratch marks to smooth out. I tired to keep as many casting marks as possible and in the most important areas like around the head lamp, by the windows and some of the edges but some of the scratch marks were quite obvious that it was done after it was made so some of the casting marks went with it.

It's a sad mess up on my half but looking at a bunch of different pictures the casting marks around the lamp and windows were the most obvious cast marks besides the entire backside of the train and seam on the top of the tender.

It will still be cool. If I can rub it in a little more, there are methods to take off dad's paint and leave the paint/coating underneath. But, that train has left the station.

That primer will be perfect. You'll still have a rare piece, nicely restored.

*****UPDATE*****

I found the last set of decals I needed and I am going to get stripping it again and start the full restoration process.

Dan