Will O scale 2-rail to day run, on American Flyer 2-railtrack?
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No. AF track is narrower.
American Flyer is S Scale, 3/16" to the foot. O Scale is 1/4" to the foot.
Rusty
Short answer: No.
Longer answer: No, American Flyer track is a smaller gauge than O scale track.
S scale is about 3/4 the size of O scale. The track gauge (width) is much narrower. And traditional O scale 2 rail is really scaled to 5 feet instead of 4 feet 8 1/2 inches. So typical O scale track is even wider than expected.
@Tom Tee posted:AF made three rail 0 gauge track before WWII, I do not know if they made 2 rail 0 gauge.
S gauge and 0 gauge, as said, are two different widths of rail separation gauges. However that was not your question.
Instead of S scale you used the term American Flyer, AF made 2 rail HO trains in the 50's. Those early 2 rail AF trains will run on today's 0 scale 0n30 narrow gauge track. (Only shared to muddy the water)
Here's the original question: Will O scale 2-rail to day run, on American Flyer 2-railtrack?
Hate to break the news to you, but HO has NOTHING to do with the question above. The question is about modern O scale 2 rail. Will it run of AF 2 rail track.
Simon
I understand two of my kids are attorneys they make simple s*** difficult
LOL
It is July. Nobody is doing any modeling, choosing instead to comment on this kind of stuff. Like me.
I am going to reverse course and install some air compressor lines on an AN Pacific.
I think AF made 2-rail O-gauge track for its O-gauge trains sold pre WW2, in which case O-scale 5-W (1-1/4") might run on some sections, but probably not through switches. It would be similar to Gargraves 2-rail O-gauge, which would also have the switch problem (wheel tread too narrow, etc.).
Actually, there's listing on e-Bay for what is said to be AF 2-rail O-gauge track (banked curves). They're only 27" radius, so that severely limits the O-Scale equipment that could operate through them.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ameri...Trains-/143611383149
@B Smith posted:I think AF made 2-rail O-gauge track for its O-gauge trains sold pre WW2, in which case O-scale 5-W (1-1/4") might run on some sections, but probably not through switches. It would be similar to Gargraves 2-rail O-gauge, which would also have the switch problem (wheel tread too narrow, etc.).
Actually, I can confirm this, I bought a 2 rail O scale AF set around five or so years ago.
Can you post some pictures? American Flyer did not make any 2 rail O gauge engines. If there are some, those engines would have been modified to run on two rail track.
@AmFlyer posted:Can you post some pictures? American Flyer did not make any 2 rail O gauge engines. If there are some, those engines would have been modified to run on two rail track.
People seem to be getting confused on this issue, so as a collector of prewar American Flyer, I will try to clarify what Flyer did in the early years.
Edmonds-Metzel Manufacturing Co., which would change its name to American Flyer Manufacturing Co. in 1910, began making O gauge 2-rail windup sets in 1907. So American Flyer did in fact make 2 rail O gauge engines, they just happened to be windup engines and not electric engines. American Flyer made 2-rail windup track and sold it with sets through the mid to late 1930s. American Flyer introduced its first electric engines in 1918, which were designed to run on 3-rail, o gauge track.
Here is a picture of a 2-rail American Flyer O gauge engine. Note the windup key.
When AC Gilbert gained control of American Flyer in 1938, the production of windup American Flyer sets ceased and 2-rail, O gauge American Flyer sets were no longer made.
AC Gilbert continued to make 3-rail O gauge electric sets in the prewar era and introduced his 3/16th sized trains in 1940? which were initially designed to run on O gauge, 3-rail track. In the postwar era, the 3/16th sized trains were changed to have the motors being made to operate on 2-rail S-gauge track.
As many of the previous posts note, the O gauge trains are of a different gauge than the S gauge trains and unless the motors are modified, the O gauge trains will not run on the S gauge track, because of different wheel spacing between the rails and a different means of getting power to the motors.
NWL
Well, if the issue is O scale Electric trains, the answer is, they won't work on the Old American Flyer track either, most likely. All the windup trains would have no reason to insulate the rails from each other to provide both sides of electrical circuit. Marx also made windup trains that ran on O guage track and probably some others too.
As far as I know, the type of motor was not the issue to making smaller trains. It was the motor size. As could be made smaller, S Scale and HO became more and more viable. All early motors were AC to I think requiring some sort of reversing system if the user wanted to run them in both directions.
As for Wiring, 2 rail pickups are theoretically the same, regardless of scale. My O scale 2 rail is wired the same as the HO models my buddies have. For straight DC, a wire from a pickup on each side to each of the motor brushes - polarity reverse. In both HO and O steamers which I am familar with, the locomotive generally picks up from one rail, and the tender from the other and a wire connection is made from the tender to the loco. In Diesel models, both pickups must be in the same unit, so generally some sort of wiper system is used on one side that has insulated wheels.
I am not familiar with S, but I don't understand what different means of getting power to the motors is involved. There are only 2 rails, so there can only be two sets of pickups. Now if the motor is series wound, then some sort of reversing device has to be between the motor and the track.
Nothing made in the last 4-5 decades in HO or O 2 rail scale that I have seen, has had series wound motors. DC permag motors became the accepted practice. Prewar, and early postwar there were still things made with series wound motors.
Thanks for the picture. Correct, I was not thinking about the large number of windup engines American Flyer made.
Postwar S gauge and Postwar three rail O gauge engines mostly used series wound universal motors. There was a device included to change the direction of current flow through the armature relative to the field, reversing the direction of the motor rotation. Lionel called theirs an E unit, Gilbert called it a reversing unit.
For 2 rail O scale, Atlas O, Gargraves, and Micro Engineering make track. Gargraves is a little higher. they use the same rail I think as they do for 3 rail, which is designed for higher flanges. Atlas makes only one height size. Micro engineering makes 2-3 different height track I think.
Does any body really think the OP is thinking of using 114 year old track?
Rusty
Since the OP has not visited this forum since August of last year, I doubt he will see any of these posts made in 2021. But by all means, carry on.
There was some sort of new one today that got me started.
@B Smith posted:I think AF made 2-rail O-gauge track for its O-gauge trains sold pre WW2, in which case O-scale 5-W (1-1/4") might run on some sections, but probably not through switches. It would be similar to Gargraves 2-rail O-gauge, which would also have the switch problem (wheel tread too narrow, etc.).
what is "5-W" ? is that another one of the many terms used to describe NMRA O gauge?
5-W: I think that's what the 1 1/4" 5' gauge most of us use is called now. Or maybe OW5(?)
Mark in Oregon
