Anyone who’s an aficionado of pre war American Flyer  trains knows the joys and intrigues caused by the lack of manufacturing documentation. This information gap pertains to pieces made by Gilbert, or by the preceding, original, owners in Chicago. Ironically, what’s been uncovered dates from just about FIVE YEARS AFTER the start of the manufacturing hiatus that was compelled by wartime priorities.  It’s from almost two years after they resumed manufacturing in late 1945.  Prior to being provided with copies of the following documents, I’d not known of ANY surviving pre-war parts lists.  Kudos and thanks are due to Mike Nickel who uncovered these, and selflessly provided them for posting in this website. 

 Mike’s primary train interests are: 3/16s AF & Marx,  AMT, American Model Toy, KMT and Kusan 3 rail O gauge.  Contact me if you want to communicate with him.

 At least several times  I’ve heard and read that Gilbert ‘abandoned’ their 3 rail customer base.  I presume that many of those who had committed to their delightful 3/16s 3 rail trains felt put out by no post war  revival of that format having occurred.  For those who suffered the widespread ‘metal rot’ problems, (assuming that the symptoms arose by 1946) their product loyalty had been eroded.  I can easily imagine the consternation of AF loyalists who nevertheless plunged into S early, only to get ironically zapped by the failure of the new plastic materials.

 The ‘Nickel list’, dated June 20, 1947 clearly demonstrates that Gilbert was endeavoring to continue supporting owners’ 3 rail 3/16s trains.  Interesting facts and questions arise from the list.  First is the continuing reference to the elusive 574B and 575B bell ringing 0-8-0 Nickel Plate switchers.  That they still referenced them five years after last being catalogued raises the hope that some were indeed made and shipped! Another is proof to those who still doubt the authenticity of 559s and 531s that have rubber tires:  their part number was PA 9506.  Yet another is the certification that the jargon that they used for what we call “e-units” was “remote control unit”.   

There are editorial quirks in this document.  They are redundancies of complete sections, and ambiguous section titles.  For example, “diecast car parts” appears three times.  Two are identical.  The third obviously pertains to the chugging tenders.  On page 4, two prices are given for the XA 9731 armature: $2.00 if ordered for the tender, and $1.00 if ordered for the 490 whistling baggage car.  Is one a typographical error? There’s a mysterious distinction made between the wheels and axles  used for the ‘steel’ (conventional?) cars and tenders, versus those specified for the 490.  I’ve examined a good number of 490s and have never noticed a proprietary wheel or axle on any of them.  An unfortunate omission is reference to the rare and self evidently superior machined wheels and axles occasionally found on some of the diecast freight and passenger cars.  Other items that are not included are the center rail pickups for the locomotives and cars.  In the case of the latter, complete center rail pickups (the type that straddle the axles and the type that snap into the truck frames) are also omitted.  So are the shoulder screws used on the diecast cars’ trucks, and individual wheels and axles for the engines’ pilot and trailer trucks. 

Note that drive wheels and trailer trucks are not mentioned for the spur gear Northern and Hudson.  Even the DC relay (XA 9300) doesn’t refer to them.

 I am deducing from this list that these not merely leftover parts.  Assuming that the drive wheels made from corrupted metal 5 – 7 years prior were already exhibiting symptoms of ‘metal rot’, then they had to be providing newly made replacement wheels.  Or, the material failure had not yet become known.

 I regard this as a first chapter in a quest to collect parts information of their 3 rail products.  If anyone can provide additional documentation (i.e. originals or copies Of other parts lists, copies of dealers’ orders, etc.), then that data would be added to this document. Obviously,  “PA” numbers can be collected from those parts on which the dies contained that information.  I’ve not yet undertaken that list.

 The original flimsy translucent pages were printed on both sides.  The images were imported into Photoshop.  I thereafter spent hours doing extensive touchups.  This included ‘unbending’ the convex upper left corners because the old staples were not removed.   No editorial changes were made.

Art Shifrin, Feburary 12, 2005  

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