American Flyer: Unboxing Set

Here I unbox a nice set #20305 Flying Freighter. This set is for one of my Uncle Ray Mohrlang’s great grandchildren for Christmas. I,ve been asked to provide a few sets the family and this one will be a fine one for a little one to run around the tree this Christmas and for years to come. As they grow older I hope to provide more accessories and trains for them from Rays collection if they get the model railroading bug. Now I have four more sets to go through so I hope to unbox and show each of them before sending them off to the kids for Christmas. Happy Holidays and have fun running those American Flyer trains!
As always, for more information about American Flyer and the A.C. Gilbert Company check out American Flyer Displays and History at www.americanflyerdisplays.org and www.myflyertrains.net. Also checkout and subscribe to the many American Flyer enthusiasts putting in the hard work to bring you awesome American Flyer videos right here on KZbin. Thanks for watching.

[@johnfroio4910]

Such a nice set!!

[@ronalddevine9587]

Lucky recipient. Sharp looking engine. Runs nicely, too.

[@HallofScienceWest]

I’ve been very lucky on a lot of these sets as they are almost like new and need very little servicing to get them running. This is one of those and shows how far a little drop of oil and some elbow grease can go.

[@paulmatulavich7321]

WOW - What a sweet little set. Is the rubber ballast still available for purchase, and if so, from where? Thank you Sir!

[@MygrandpasTrain]

I have 2 CNW Baldwins. One 355, one 5 digit. The former has a bad motor (you may know the motors go bad in these with heavy use) so I have plans for that one. The latter took a lot more work to get going again. Someone slathered grease on the trucks with a trowel. That was a mess to clean up. The power truck on it was so worn that the axles shifted around and wobbled in the metal frame. I replaced the whole assembly instead of re-bushing. I found a parts donor locomotive. Now it runs great! These are great little engines. I also took a broken 806 caboose and painted it in CNW colors to match the engine.

[@HallofScienceWest]

I have one that I did the can motor conversion on. It works really nice, but the springs on the bronze pickups are worn out and need to be replace. That engine is in my videos of the Erector turntable I scratch built.

[@track1219]

I have a Texas and Pacific Baldwin from the late 50s I believe. Never ran great. Buzzy. E unit unreliable. Disconnected E unit, runs forward only. Wired field and brushes in series. Runs cooler and quieter.

[@stevenallen9613]

I believe this set along with all Gilbert sets came with track. It would have been a simple circle, or included 2 straight track. The locomotive was a notoriously poor running locomtive.

[@RichardTrotter1961]

@stevenallen9613, I think the catalog shows a circle of track. But I was having trouble figuring out where it fit in the box. There doesn’t seem to be enough room to fit a box of track with the transformer and trains. They aren’t the best runners for sure. I did do one of the can motor conversions on one and it works much better. Highly recommended.

[@HallofScienceWest]

@paulmatulavich7321, There have been several people who reproduce the rubber roadbed. I would say the best place to start looking is at Portlines Hobbies online. www.portlines.com. He specializes in American Flyer and S-Gauge.

[@ddrusa]

The good old days when trains are made in the usa not china

[@Tool-Meister]

The Gilbert American Flyer Baldwin locomotive is THE most poorly designed and built AF loco I ever owned. Mine was new Christmas 1955. I’d attempted to compensate for its shortcomings with a myriad of fixes. My success was marginal at best. Much of my AF collection was stolen July last year. I replaced my Gilbert Baldwin with the Lionel AF version of the same locomotive. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! There’s nothing about the new Lionel AF Baldwin that’s not significantly improved compared to the original. The new Baldwin runs smoothly, doesn’t randomly change direction, and pulls a much larger consist. I like the Lionel AF Baldwin so much, I purchased a second one in a different road name!

[@HallofScienceWest]

They are definitely a little “coffee-grinder” as I like to call this style of motor and gearing. The can motor conversion available from Portlines and S-n-S Trains helps the older Flyer Baldwin, but the Lionel American Flyer version is quite spectacular with the addition of their Flyerchief and Railsounds system.

[@Tool-Meister]

Agreed with regards to Port lines solutions . I’ve used their products for years. I had considered one of their half-speed motors for the Baldwin but was concerned there were too many other issues so that the new motor was throwing good money after bad…. For now, I remain pleased with the Lionel AF FlyerChief Baldwin. I hope it will be compatible with the upcoming BASE3 system! It teases it will turn the FlyerChief engines into nearly a LEGACY type engine with CAB3 operations. Only time will tell…

[@HallofScienceWest]

I have too much invested in making the vintage stuff run, but it’s nice Lionel is making an effort to produce S -Scale Flyer with modern components.

[@Tool-Meister]

@@HallofScienceWest Actually, Lionel is only making a token effort. I’ve only purchased ONE “new” engine ever. Everything else has been old store stock, long out of warranty, many “owned but never run, or outright used and/or abused. I’d owned my “transition” Southern Pacific Daylight set for for over 20 years, but never even taken it out of the boxes for inspection. The Same goes for my 35 year-old UP Pony Express ALCO passenger set. Both of those sets are “pure” Gilbert with no Lionel enhancements other than Lionel RailSounds ALCO B units. The RailSounds B units are very nice AND provide horns for those two trains. About 5 years ago, I decided I was going to use them, or sell them. I finally got to the Southern Pacific Daylight and UP Pony Express ALCO sets this past Christmas season. It was so exciting to see them operate. You can see the SP Daylight on my KZbin channel. Tip of the day: I find altered sine-wave Lionel transformers make better smoke output than AF transformers. The bonus is they have built-in horn/whistle/bell activation for the Lionel AF engines and B-units. If you’re interested, I’ll research which Lionel transformers are of that design. Keep up the good work on the Gilbert trains! Well cared for, they can serve MANY generations of users.

[@HallofScienceWest]

@@Tool-Meister Thank you. It’s all about having fun with those trains old or new. 👍