Buy anything new lately?

Denny and Keith, you both added some really nice freight cars to your layouts. 👍

Healey36 - OK, now that you have the earlier version of the #214 you will have to be on the lookout for the "New" #214 which was introduced in 1936




 What is interesting is the picture of the older version of #214 was used in the consumer catalog for 1936 while the text below that picture described this one.  Flyer did issue paper for retail customers which correctly illustrated the New #214 but the illustrations are very small and are essentially line drawings.

Very cool! Is the bell still manually operated in this version, or had they electrified it? The “house” here looks similar to the one that came with the Erector sets.

Healey36 -  the bell on the New 214 is manually operated - you activate it by pushing down on that chromed piece of metal.  If you wanted an electric bell on a watchman's shanty in 1936 your choice would have been the New #2004



The shed has about the same dimensions as the Erector Set but the litho and the window and door pattern are completely different.  It is worth noting when Gilbert bought American Flyer and transferred everything to New Haven he kept this version of the shed and used it on a number of Flyer accessories offered under his name.

As an additional collection thought - once you have tracked down the various watchman shanties you might want to think about looking for the "mirror image" stations. Such as the two below.





There are a number of Flyer accessories that have this feature.  Based on everything I've seen and read these kinds of stations are a result of feeding the raw bases into the bending press upside down.  My guess, again based on what I've seen and what I know about manufacturing, is the steps in base formation at Flyer consisted of taking the raw sheet, cutting and punching the holes for the tabs and then feeding the cut bases into the machine that would bend the edges.  If the station was asymmetrical in any way the result would be as seen above.  In this case, the station is offset on the base with the "waiting platform" larger in front than in the back. 

  The most obvious version of this kind of flipping can be seen in the long base #97 freight shed with the crane on one side.  Depending on how the base was fed into the bending press you can have the crane on either the left or the right hand side of the freight station - the catalog indicates the "right" way is to have the crane on the right side.  Again based on what I've observed, this must have been a common problem and one management didn't think was worth trying to fix because left vs right stations of all types show up with almost equal frequency.

Right Side



Left Side



  ...and no, the base colors have nothing to do with the crane position - the bases came in several different colors.

af3020 , your collection is epic, many pieces I've never actually seen before (except in books, and often not there either). The combination watchman's tower/crossing gate is new to me...another I've never seen. The stations with the adjacent crane turn up around here quite often, although they frequently look like Dad backed the family wagon over them. Certainly a great piece to acquire when a nice one turns up.

I have just the one suburban station, a late version. It's not in the greatest shape, a bit of corrosion which I've tried to stabilize:

 

Flyer made so many great accessories, and in so many variations. Maybe not so many as those guys in New Jersey, but still a decent number.

Went to the local show this AM with a personal pledge to leave with NOTHING...yeah, that never works out. Found this near-pristine little 3/16-gauge "O" 3553 tank car by Marx. I just couldn't leave it there.



The crowd's a bit younger than York (although you might not know it to look at that photo), but then most of the patrons are not collectors; rather, they are looking for stuff for their Christmas "gardens". All three buildings were packed with stuff, although probably a third of it was HO, another third Flyer S. Lots of 12-n-under kids too, as they get in free. 

York Toy Show a week from today...that's going to be ugly, lol.

I am going back and forth with the configuration.  My next layout after Christmas is going to be Easter and I think it is just going to be a full 72" circle.  I wish I could have been more organized for this Christmas and tried a new size.  The 4'x8' is wonderful but time for a change.  You can only do so much with that size.

Don't have an original, but I have Schylling's clockwork version purchased for my daughter some 25 years ago:




Finding an original in good shape is a great achievement. Most of the originals I've found are pretty rough, the Mickey/Minnie made from some sort of composite material that breaks down over time (or eaten by varmints). This repro saw a lot of play-time on the layout.