Large American Flyer Freight Stations 1926-1941
Jul 20, 2024 2:38:23 GMT
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Post by af3020 on Jul 20, 2024 2:38:23 GMT
Large American Flyer Freight Stations
American Flyer first cataloged their large lithographed brick freight shed in 1926. The catalog number was 95. The identification "Flyer City Freight Station No. 95" was part of the lithography on the ends of the station.
1926 Catalog Illustration
Station end lithography
The station, without any changes, was cataloged in 1927 but in color.
1927 Catalog Illustration
The Station
#95 was not illuminated but it had opening doors and freight platforms front and back.
1928
In 1928 Flyer upgraded the #95. It was now cataloged as #97, however, no changes were made to the end lithography in 1928 or at any other time during the 1926-1940 production run. The end label was always "Flyer City Freight Station No. 95".
The upgrades for 1928 consisted of a lithographed tile roof with a dormer with three windows and, according to the catalog, an interior lamp.
1928 Catalog Illustration
In all my years of studying these freight stations I’ve never seen one with an interior light. What I have found are stations with a punched-out section in the base which looks like an opening to permit a placement of a small porcelain lamp socket and its associated bulb.
The problem is I’ve never found one of these stations with the punched out section complete in its box so I don’t know if the 1928 version of this station was supposed to include a separate light socket or if the punched-out section was for something Flyer decided not to pursue and the 1928 version just had a lamp socket riveted to the interior station base. What I do know is all of the other stations Flyer advertised with having an interior lamp did not come with the punched out section – they had a simple light socket riveted to the base complete with connecting wires.
1929
The 1929 catalog states the station now has an exterior lamp. However, the catalog used the same picture as the 1928 catalog which does not illustrate the light. I’m almost certain the station pictured below is a 1929 product. The box matches the style for that period, the interior reveals the punched out section of the base as mentioned above, and it also features riveted wire connections for the exterior light. The light itself is painted green with a white painted reflecting surface.
Station Interior
1930-1935
Flyer used the same catalog picture as before and the text remained as it was in the 1929 catalog. Somewhere along the line Flyer quit painting the lamp fixture and just provided it in a brass finish.
1934 the catalog had the same picture but the text indicated the station now had lamps front and back.
1935 the #97 was dropped from the catalog.
1936-1939
In 1936 the station returned but was now referred to as the "New Freight Station Set." It retained the catalog number 97. Collectors often refer to this version as "the long base #97."
The station/crane platform assembly joined the railroad infrastructure sets American Flyer had introduced in 1935 (The Station Set (#237), The Crossing Set (#236), and the Water Tank Set (#235)).
The positioning of the station on the base meant there could be no rear platform or door. The rear of this station was the same lithography as the front so the boxes and plows were still there but now they looked like they were floating in air. The door opening was just an uncut lithographed brown/black blank square.
The long base 97 was cataloged from 1936-1939. There were a couple of changes in base colors, decal treatment on the side of the crane and the chimney color. The lamp bracket was simplified from the clamped arrangement on the earlier #97's to a single piece with the lamp and a riveted bracket which was nickel plated. This change positions the light such that it almost covers the freight station door.
Probably the most interesting contradiction one finds between actual production and the catalog illustration is the crane position which can be either on the left or right side of the station.
The changes in crane location would suggest the holes for fastening the crane and station to the base had to have been punched first and then fed into the press for edge bending. It is clear the sets with the crane on the left are just a matter of incorrectly feeding the metal sheets for the base into the bending press. If the sheets are flipped before feeding the base sheets into the edge bending press, the hole pattern for station left/crane right becomes station right/crane left (it should be noted this left/right shift can be observed in other Flyer stations with an asymmetric build such as the small #234 passenger station).
Over the years I’ve seen almost as many right-hand crane sets as left-hand ones in all of the various base colors. My guess is the position of the crane relative to the station was not a big deal on the Flyer production line. As long as the bases could be used to make saleable product it was all good.
A.C. Gilbert bought Flyer in 1938 and moved it to New Haven. The parts inventory from Chicago was such that for the first couple of years Gilbert turned out trains that were a mix of new Gilbert tooling and old Chicago components.
The #97 was listed in the Gilbert Flyer catalogs for 1938 and 1939.
1940
By 1940 it is obvious from the catalog illustrations Gilbert had used up a great deal of the parts from Chicago but still had inventory that needed to be used in product. What this meant for old #97 was it became a blend of Chicago and New Haven parts and was listed as "No. 98 Freight Station with Crane."
Catalog Illustration
The catalog illustration suggests by 1940 Gilbert had used up all of the lithographed tile roofs and the old Chicago cranes. Thus No. 98 sported a new Gilbert mint green roof and a Gilbert crane.
As an aside it should be noted that, based on surviving examples like the one below, it looks like Gilbert first ran out of Chicago cranes and then ran out of Chicago lithographed roofs.
1941
In 1941 Chicago freight station parts appear to have been exhausted. The freight station became #612 and it was a 100% New Haven product.
1941 Catalog Illustration
American Flyer first cataloged their large lithographed brick freight shed in 1926. The catalog number was 95. The identification "Flyer City Freight Station No. 95" was part of the lithography on the ends of the station.
1926 Catalog Illustration
Station end lithography
The station, without any changes, was cataloged in 1927 but in color.
1927 Catalog Illustration
The Station
#95 was not illuminated but it had opening doors and freight platforms front and back.
1928
In 1928 Flyer upgraded the #95. It was now cataloged as #97, however, no changes were made to the end lithography in 1928 or at any other time during the 1926-1940 production run. The end label was always "Flyer City Freight Station No. 95".
The upgrades for 1928 consisted of a lithographed tile roof with a dormer with three windows and, according to the catalog, an interior lamp.
1928 Catalog Illustration
In all my years of studying these freight stations I’ve never seen one with an interior light. What I have found are stations with a punched-out section in the base which looks like an opening to permit a placement of a small porcelain lamp socket and its associated bulb.
The problem is I’ve never found one of these stations with the punched out section complete in its box so I don’t know if the 1928 version of this station was supposed to include a separate light socket or if the punched-out section was for something Flyer decided not to pursue and the 1928 version just had a lamp socket riveted to the interior station base. What I do know is all of the other stations Flyer advertised with having an interior lamp did not come with the punched out section – they had a simple light socket riveted to the base complete with connecting wires.
1929
The 1929 catalog states the station now has an exterior lamp. However, the catalog used the same picture as the 1928 catalog which does not illustrate the light. I’m almost certain the station pictured below is a 1929 product. The box matches the style for that period, the interior reveals the punched out section of the base as mentioned above, and it also features riveted wire connections for the exterior light. The light itself is painted green with a white painted reflecting surface.
Station Interior
1930-1935
Flyer used the same catalog picture as before and the text remained as it was in the 1929 catalog. Somewhere along the line Flyer quit painting the lamp fixture and just provided it in a brass finish.
1934 the catalog had the same picture but the text indicated the station now had lamps front and back.
1935 the #97 was dropped from the catalog.
1936-1939
In 1936 the station returned but was now referred to as the "New Freight Station Set." It retained the catalog number 97. Collectors often refer to this version as "the long base #97."
The station/crane platform assembly joined the railroad infrastructure sets American Flyer had introduced in 1935 (The Station Set (#237), The Crossing Set (#236), and the Water Tank Set (#235)).
The positioning of the station on the base meant there could be no rear platform or door. The rear of this station was the same lithography as the front so the boxes and plows were still there but now they looked like they were floating in air. The door opening was just an uncut lithographed brown/black blank square.
The long base 97 was cataloged from 1936-1939. There were a couple of changes in base colors, decal treatment on the side of the crane and the chimney color. The lamp bracket was simplified from the clamped arrangement on the earlier #97's to a single piece with the lamp and a riveted bracket which was nickel plated. This change positions the light such that it almost covers the freight station door.
Probably the most interesting contradiction one finds between actual production and the catalog illustration is the crane position which can be either on the left or right side of the station.
The changes in crane location would suggest the holes for fastening the crane and station to the base had to have been punched first and then fed into the press for edge bending. It is clear the sets with the crane on the left are just a matter of incorrectly feeding the metal sheets for the base into the bending press. If the sheets are flipped before feeding the base sheets into the edge bending press, the hole pattern for station left/crane right becomes station right/crane left (it should be noted this left/right shift can be observed in other Flyer stations with an asymmetric build such as the small #234 passenger station).
Over the years I’ve seen almost as many right-hand crane sets as left-hand ones in all of the various base colors. My guess is the position of the crane relative to the station was not a big deal on the Flyer production line. As long as the bases could be used to make saleable product it was all good.
A.C. Gilbert bought Flyer in 1938 and moved it to New Haven. The parts inventory from Chicago was such that for the first couple of years Gilbert turned out trains that were a mix of new Gilbert tooling and old Chicago components.
The #97 was listed in the Gilbert Flyer catalogs for 1938 and 1939.
1940
By 1940 it is obvious from the catalog illustrations Gilbert had used up a great deal of the parts from Chicago but still had inventory that needed to be used in product. What this meant for old #97 was it became a blend of Chicago and New Haven parts and was listed as "No. 98 Freight Station with Crane."
Catalog Illustration
The catalog illustration suggests by 1940 Gilbert had used up all of the lithographed tile roofs and the old Chicago cranes. Thus No. 98 sported a new Gilbert mint green roof and a Gilbert crane.
As an aside it should be noted that, based on surviving examples like the one below, it looks like Gilbert first ran out of Chicago cranes and then ran out of Chicago lithographed roofs.
1941
In 1941 Chicago freight station parts appear to have been exhausted. The freight station became #612 and it was a 100% New Haven product.
1941 Catalog Illustration
