I found this old American Flyer 3013 Engine at a train show this past weekend. I wasn't really looking to buy an engine but I thought it looked cool and it was so cheap I couldn't pass it up. A few tables down, I found a set of green American Flyer cars from the same era. They didn't match the blue engine, but a bargain is a bargain. I think I spent more on gas getting to the show than it cost to get this set.
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Very Nice, you have a splendid little set there and since it came at a bargain price so much the better. Your layout looks very good. Thank You for sharing the pictures with us
Frank
that's a great find! I'd love to pick up some Prewar Flyer.
Those are really nice. It is always hard to pass on a good deal.
Bob
You have a lot of nice "Tin", there.
Richie
great find very cool 
Very nice indeed.
Jim
MBA,
Now that is a way cool Tin Flyer, real nice find!
PCRR/Dave
you're gas must be really expensive. no deals like that at my local train show. of course, only 2 in the area all year but still. very nice. i like the blue and green together...works for me!
you're gas must be really expensive. no deals like that at my local train show. of course, only 2 in the area all year but still. very nice. i like the blue and green together...works for me!
It was a 2 hour drive to get there.
Sure it matches. It's all brightly-colored pre-war tinplate. Beautiful!
I love it. It looks like you've made use of Erector parts on your layout, too. Nice.
I love it. It looks like you've made use of Erector parts on your layout, too. Nice.
Yes, that is an Erector set I found and I tried to make a tower and a crane from the set. I like any toys that are metal/tinplate. I want to keep my layout free of plastic and wood toys as much as I can.
nice finds. really like the look of the 3013, great blue color.
I think that you got a great deal on the 3013 and the 3 cars, and they look and fit perfect on your layout. The more I looked at your pictures, the more detail I noticed - you have some great accessories and detail there. Your erector set crane (including what appears to be the brown twine "cable") brought back memories of one I had very similar to that as a kid when I ran my Lionel and AF trains on my attic layout.
Most unique! Much of what you see on this forum is P/W O gauge and seldom do you see anything like this. In an time prior to the popularity of plastic these were the trains and that's when Flyer was making O gauge equipment. As for train prices; the market is saturated, the audience is aging, and prices on most of the used stuff is dropping like a lead balloon.
you're gas must be really expensive. no deals like that at my local train show. of course, only 2 in the area all year but still. very nice. i like the blue and green together...works for me!
The dealers in your area must not be selling very much and are going home from the shows with it all. In NJ the used market is overflowing with trains, many selling at give-a-way pricing. Sad as it may be, many of the senior collectors are dying off or experiencing poor health. Estate sales, collectors retiring/relocating/downsizing/selling is common and liquidation sales are often found. More trains for sale and fewer buyers will be coming to an area near you very soon.
Very nice find. Be careful however, you may find that the acquisition of a few pieces of American Flyer tinplate may lead to wanting more.
Just in case you decide to add to your purchases: You may already know that your 3013 engine appeared in the 1927 American Flyer Catalog
It headed up a matching set of lithographed blue cars in a set called The Bluebird
Here is what the set looks like. The only difference is that the blue cars from 1927 do not have brass journals.
Northwoods Flyer
Your green cars, painted in authentic "automotive enamels" were shown in the 1934 catalog.
The set is known as the Lone Scout
The cars are numbered 1213, 1214, and 1217.
The set is headed up by a sheet metal steam engine
Have fun with your trains. You have some nice examples of equipment from the Pre War era. I fear that you have been infected with the tinplate bug. Its a wonderful disease. 
Northwoods Flyer
Those are some nice Flyer trains! The only prewar Flyer set I have is a Blue Streak, it has a 2-4-2 steam loco with an automatic air whistle, and four passenger cars. Bought it at an antique show, the Big Flea when it was in Allentown. Paid a bit too much for it, but the condition and the set box are what made me pull the trigger.
Your green cars, painted in authentic "automotive enamels" were shown in the 1934 catalog.
Greg, where did you get all of those great pictures? Is this part of your collection? Thanks again for sharing. I was really curious about the history of the set.
-Matt
Matt,
Yes the photos are of items that I have in my collection. I've been suffering with the affliction of collecting Pre War trains for a long time. Just let me know if you would like additional information about any Flyer trains.
Greg
Those are some nice Flyer trains! The only prewar Flyer set I have is a Blue Streak, it has a 2-4-2 steam loco with an automatic air whistle, and four passenger cars. Bought it at an antique show, the Big Flea when it was in Allentown. Paid a bit too much for it, but the condition and the set box are what made me pull the trigger.
Luke,
Is this what your Blue Streak set looks like? I checked through my photos and I realized that I don't have a photo of any of my steam engines with the mechanical whistle. I borrowed this photo of a Blue Streak set from Google images.
The engine has no trailing truck in order to make room for the whistle mechanism. The Blue Streak is an uncataloged set sold through retailers. It comes with several different styles of tender.
This is a photo of one of the Blue Streak passenger cars in my collection.
I also have a set of Blue Streak cars with 8 wheels, but I am not sure that they are original factory issue.
You are fortunate to have a set in its original box.
Greg
Greg, is the loco a 401 variation? I have seen at least five different versions of the 1121 tender as well, including 8-wheel with brass journals, 8-wheel with the plain slotted trucks (like your last 1122 picture) and 4-wheel smooth top tenders. A nice set similar to your blue streak, but with a smooth-top decaled 1121 tender 4-wheel sold over the weekend for $257.00.
Jim,
Yes, the engine is a variation of the 401. In my experience not very many of the whistles work any more, and when they do they are usually drowned out by the sound of tinplate wheels on tinplate tracks. There are some versions of the sheet metal Hiawatha that also come whith the mechanical whistle. I'm going to have to go through my tenders to see how many variations I have. I don't think I have seen one with the brass journals.
Greg
Northwoods Flyer
Jim,
These sheet metal cars are very simply made and the parts are interchangeable. The bodies are held to the frames with a number of tabs that are part of the car and slide into the frame and are held in place by bending them over. That is one reason why I think that a previous owner may have married the bodies and frames of my Blue Streak cars with the 8 wheel trucks.
As I look at your tender the one thing that makes me suspicious is the green frame. It would have been very easy for a previous owner to make a swap with the frame of a green passenger car like the ones Matt shows in the initial posting for the thread. In that way the original owner could have had a tender that matched the trucks of his cars and it would have had a green frame to match the color of the passenger cars.
Its also possible that Flyer made it that way originally. They were notorious for using up items that they had on hand. Being that these were not actually part of a cataloged set Flyer may have been using up what they had on hand to meet a price point for one of the retail stores that they supplied sets to.
We may never know for sure, but its fun to theorize how it came into being. But in the mean time its a nice looking tender, and more versatile.
Greg
Northwoods Flyer
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