Twice a year, the Eastern Division of TCA (Train Collector's Association) holds a large train show/train meet in York, Pennsylvania. This is advertised to be the largest train show in the world. I once heard someone say that if I was looking for a particular toy train and couldn't find it in York, it probably doesn't exist. That may have been an exaggeration, but based on my experience, it is not too far from the truth. The last one that I was at filled three fairgrounds size buildings, one for dealers and manufacturers, and two buildings for TCA members who had trains, accessories, etc., to sell or trade.
The most recent York train show was held on October 18 - 20, 2007. While it may be necessary to be a TCA member in order to attend these events, for anyone who is genuinely interested in toy trains it is well worth the small cost of TCA membership in order to attend the York show once in a while. My guess is that it would be easy to find someone to sponsor a new member at the show. More information can be found on their web site http://www.easterntca.org. Anyone traveling a distance to attend this should probably make hotel/motel reservations in advance, because these shows are well attended. RVs are welcome too, with advance registration.
Pre-WW II American Flyer Trains
Most people think of American Flyer trains as S gauge trains that run on two-rail tracks with rails about 7/8 of an inch apart. These trains are made to 1/64th scale, or in other words one foot should be equivalent to 3/16 inches on the model, smaller than typical O gauge trains. Surprisingly, prior to World War II, the A. C. Gilbert Company made toy trains in O gauge dating all the way back to around 1905 when they first manufactured what I would call a wind-up train. Then in 1925 they also began selling what they called "Wide Gauge" trains that were roughly the same size as Lionel's Standard Gauge trains of the same period.
It is not easy to determine the potential value of prewar American Flyer trains. I looked and found a couple of such items that had sold on eBay, but this wasn't sufficient, in my opinion, to draw a conclusion. As far as I am aware, there are no current price guides that include prewar AF trains. It appears that even though prewar AF trains are relatively rare, there are few people who are interested in buying them. If I was a dealer and had such a train, I would price it somewhat higher than an equivalent Lionel item, but I would not expect it to sell easily. If I had such a train that was in excellent condition, I would definitely take or arrange to send it to an auction house that specializes in toy trains and is able to advertise widely. Prewar AF trains in poor condition are probably best included in a larger lot of AF trains, accessories and parts.
I am indebted to Waldo Otten for telling me about an excellent article on American Flyer trains written by himself and Robert J Osterhoff. Anyone who would like to know more about American Flyer or the A. C. Gilbert Company might want to look at Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Flyer .
Ooops . . .
An AuctionBytes article that I wrote some time ago http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y202/m07/abu0075/s06, has a table comparing the more common toy train gauges. One of the entries that I listed as "Foreign OO gauge" indicated that these trains would likely be somewhere between S gauge and O gauge in size. That was based on information I had received from a source that I believed to be reliable. So I was surprised recently when I saw a British train set clearly marked OO gauge, but it was in fact the same size as HO gauge trains, much smaller than I had expected. Live and learn. That entry in the table should just say, "Size and scale varies by manufacturer."
About the author:
Chuck Conley, a member of the Train Collectors Association, is Digital Equipment early retiree. He has had an interest in Lionel trains since he got his first set at the age of 10. Put on the "back burner" for many years, his hobby was rekindled about ten years ago when he and his wife Esther began attending auctions in the MetroWest Boston area and sometimes found very desirable trains. Although he admits that some of the new trains are impressive, he still favors the postwar variety, including his first Lionel. Chuck and Esther live in Framingham, Massachusetts, and often work together putting things on eBay (not just trains). Their eBay ID is "nepacer". Feel free to write him at nepacer @ aol.com.
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