Size of FAO Schwarz NYC Flyer Layout

Which F.A.O.Schwarz NYC ? Where?

Please.

The pictures are at americanflyerdisplays.org. The picture from the Buckage collection is very high resolution allowing the track section joints to be seen. Extrapolating from the visible track the width of the track appears to be 80", adding 2"for each side the layout would be 84", or 7' wide. I might be off a bit but feel that 7' is pretty close.

There were some great layouts in all the big stores  in the late 1940's through the 1950's and beyond. Schwarz was great place. Besides Flyer and Lionel , they had Marklin and if I remember right, Twin Trix. I would  go through the Gilbert Hall of Science the Lionel showroom all year, but especially during Christmas.  I saw Gilbert mainenance workers trouble shooting layouts from time to time.FAO Schwarz was the classiest and Macy's the largest.

Herb Wasserman

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the estimate on size.  I guess I was in the ball park guessing at between 6 feet and 8 feet.  It looks like a great layout and something that could be built fairly easily. 

LionelFlyer

Although not an american Flyer collector, Going to that page mentioned above it appears the FAO Schwarz layout

http://americanflyerdisplays.o...tore/fao_schwarz.htm

and the Sibley Dept Store layout are very similar- with the exception of elongated sidings in the front.

http://americanflyerdisplays.o...sibley_nts_video.htm

Those two layouts are similar. The Schwartz layout is slightly larger and has a loop of Gilbert HO in the top center. The Sibley layout details are well known and reproductions of it have been built.