Prewar American Flyer Set

I am a postwar S gauge person but can get you started. The 1218 was cataloged from 1920 to 1925. Catalogs are online at https://clintjefferies.com/catalogs.shtml. Take a look at the 1221 and 1217 sets in the 1921 catalog. The book by David Doyle covers prewar AF wide and narrow gauge but it is long out of print. I believe a new book on wide gauge was recently published but I am not aware of one covering AF narrow gauge.

Good Luck with your search,

Jake,

It appears that your trains pictured above are the trains offered in1922-23 as trains Nos. 1227 or 1228 which consist of a No. 1218 electric profile engine, a No. 1105 (numbered1200) baggage car and two Nos. 1106 (numbered 1202) coaches that are lithographed with the design on your trains.  Below is the page from the 1922 and 1923 catalogues with your outfit pictured in the two lower illustrations on the page. Others may have still more to offer in terms of info. Hope this helps.

Bob

  I picked up the same set at auction a few months back. It runs OK but I will repaint the roofs on mine.

Thanks for the info and the additional resources guys.  That was exactly what I was hoping to find!

Jake, there is a Greenbergs Guide on American Flyer O....  First One  is

1. ISBN-13   978-0897780148  Circa 1987

Second one is:

1. ISBN-13   978-0897781794   Circa 1997  This one is the defacto standard.

Both are long out of print but there is 5 of #2 on eBay as of this note.

I have a similar set, I love having a train 100 years old running around my layout. I had AF as a kid but I sold them when I moved out of state, I could kick myself for selling them, but someone gave me this 1218 set and now I'm happy to have some AF back in my Lionel tinplate collection. I am missing a roof on the 1206, if anyone has a spare I would be interested.