Discover The History Of The American Flyer Train Series
The American Flyer is likely the most well known of all model train series. They did reach their peaks around the 40′s and some other peak in the 60′s, they had been around for much longer then that. Their popularity is also very famous nowadays too and they are, I feel they are going to be around another 100 years!
A toy maker in Chicago addressed as William Hafner, in the very early 20th century built a model train developed on a clockwork motor, actually for the use in toy cars. By about 1905 how ever he made up his mind to put them into use in model trains as well. Luckily he did, the model cars sold no where near as well as the trains.
William Hafner and his good friend had the same name, William Coleman approached a small manufacturer of hardware, Edmonds-Metzel. They used this organization to start making trains in 1907.
They were first marketed under the name of Edmond Metzel trains, because they were so hot on demand they required a new name and they came up with the name of the American Flyer. This occur around 1910. Even the name of the hardware enterprise they were using had likewise changed it’s name to incorporate the American Flyer name in it.
They started selling like hot cakes for some reasons. They were quite cheaper then some other popular makes of model trains at the time and because they were also quite a bit more practical then more budget style model trains of the time.
Mr William Hafner left the organisation around 1913. He used the money he had already made and built up his own firm. Colemans American Flyer Trains. It did well for quite some time around the first world war. There were no competition because of the war. Right before the break out in 1938, the founders son with the exact name,took over the business after his father pass away in 1918 traded the American Flyer to a organization called A C Gilbert Company. Gilbert already had experience in making toys, but had never done so with trains.
At the same time he also moved the corporation from Chicago where it was created to New Haven in Connecticut where he lived. He also started to drastically re design the American Flyer and turned it into an S-scale model train in 1939. This scale is a modification of the popular O scale or model which was then the leader on the market.
The S-scale was much tinier then the O-scale and this made it more famous with enthusiasts as it needed less room to setup a proper track. The scale is 1:64, substantially smaller then the O-scale yet still very detailed and accurate.
He also made another change in 1946 that amended the realisticness of the American flyer more so. Model trains, electric model trains at that time had been run on 3 rail tracks. Not realistic. He changed it so they ran on 2 rail tracks, much like their huge counterparts. These tracks had 7/8th inches between each rail. This made the trains operate better as well.
How ever, television was starting to take hold at this time also. This distracted numerous from their hobbies they would commonly spend their extra time on. Likewise at this time, discount chain shops came into play, discounting train sets that companies like A C Gilbert could not compete with. in 1962, Gilbert traded the American Flyer to Wrather Group. This organisation produced toys as well, but usually on a large scale and tended to produce poor quality as well. Sales of course fell through the floor and in 1967 the organisation went bankrupt.
A major toy train maker and the market leader at time, Lionel Corporation bought the American Flyer. This organization itself was having difficulty with finances too and they also went bankrupt in 1969, so they sold off the rights to the American Flyer to another manufacturer, General Mills.
This firm, General Mills, started trading some of the designs of the original designed Gilbert American Flyer, it however sell everything it bought from then Lionel Corp to Kenner, who then in turn sold the firm to a man named Richard Kughn. This happened in 1985.
Mr Richard Kughn had great success with the corporation and design for 11 years, but he sold out in 1996 to a enterprise also known as Wellspring Partners, who then took on the first name of Lionel and called themselves Lionel LLC, which still operates now.
They sell the S-scale American Flyer still. They were actually concentrating on selling other scale models, but in 2002 they begin selling more and more of the American Flyer.
The American Flyer nowadays is more then a hundred years old and has gone through many different hands. It’s popularity is still going strong and while it fluctuates, this model train and scale is going no where fast.
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