Message 200

From: myflyertrains
Date: Tue Nov 6, 2001 9:06 am
Subject: All Aboard at York - Part 2

One of the things I really wanted, was a nice
HOOKER Pikemaster tank car. I wasn't seeing them at all.
Finally I found one, but it had broken steps, and a
missing marker. I closed the deal anyway. The tank part
was nearly perfect, though the wire railings at the
top of the platform were missing. Suddenly, I
realized that if I found the Hobby Surplus booth, that I
could purchase one of those Yellow Shell Tankers, and
by removing one screw, have a whole new frame on my
Hooker! I stopped at the Hobby Surplus table and chatted
with Steve Amatto while purchasing a couple of Yellow
Shell Tankers. I asked if he had ever seen in their AF
stuff this other L-shaped house. He told me that the
only house they had, or had ever seen where the two
common ones we all have. He continued that those two
houses did come in a variety of colors, but that he had
never seen a third house. He further speculated that
they may have never actually been sold. Here
and there around the meet, I would see a complete All
Aboard set. Most were not cheap, and none of the
complete sets were mint or in unopened boxes. I never saw
a Westerner set with accessories, or did I see the
box of Westerner accessories that has been showing up
on eBay lately. You would see an All Aboard mountain
or house here and there on tables. I looked for the
L-shaped house, but never saw one... I looked everywhere
for the L-shaped house. I never saw a sign of it. I
did talk to some people that could be considered
experts in AF though, a the opinion that it had never
actually been produced prevailed. My best All
Aboard related purchase strangely enough, was not at the
train meet at all. Prior to the meet, I had stopped at
Strasberg (as usual) to visit the TCA headquarters and
train museum. We always stop at the the CHOO-CHOO barn
down the street, and a little antique mall a block or
so away from that, that sometimes has a little train
stuff upstairs. On the Tuesday before the meet, we
stopped at the antique mall, and there in a glass case
was a train with a 21165 and 6 Pikemaster cars. The
cars looked nice, and included a Bordens car, track
cleaner, crane car, GN reefer, spotlight car and the
common red caboose. Most of the pieces looked good. The
asking price was $95. Because it was before the meet, I
passed on it. Later, at the meet, I was seeing the
Bordens car alone for $55 or more. During the week
that followed the York meet, we drove around rural PA
enjoying the fall colors. (PA is beautiful in the fall!) I
kept thinking about the train I didn't buy. On the day
that we were going start heading in the general
direction of home, I decided that we would "swing by"
Strasburg, and see if the train set was still there. When we
got to Stasburg, I decided to make a pit stop at the
Choo-Choo barn before going to the antique store. They have
some used trains upstairs, and always have some AF, so
I went to take another look. To my horror, there
was what looked like part of the set from down the
street. I thought, they must have bought the train for
resale! The Bordens car was priced at $85!<br><br>When
finally I got to the antique store, I nervously climbed
the stairs to the second floor, and approached the
glass case where the train had been. It was still
there! The engine and all 6 cars. My wife had learned on
a TV channel at our motel one night, that antique
stores expect you to bargain with them; we hadn't know
that! The price for the set was brought down to $85.
The deal was closed, and the cars wrapped and boxed
and added to "the haul" in the back of our car. Most
of the pieces were really nice. Some oxidation of
some of the rolling stock axles, but we can deal with
that! The engine, ran perfectly the first time I put it
on the track. The L-shaped house was not
found, but then again, the mere search for it has been a
lot of fun. It was in fact the original reason that
this club was formed, so what can I say. The fun goes
on! Chuck

Message 199

From: myflyertrains
Date: Tue Nov 6, 2001 8:47 am
Subject: All Aboard at York - Part 1

I went to the York train meet looking for All
Aboard stuff. The pre-meets at the hotels had been
somewhat disappointing. Prices had been way to high on
most items.  On Thursday night, I attended the
"Gilbert Get-together" that was held at the Four Points
hotel. The night started, with a meeting with our own
David Garber, a charter member of our club. We had a
good time chatting AF for an hour or so, and then it
was time to go across the street to the other hotel
for the Gilbert meeting. I would say that there was
around 50 people there. There was a table up front with
quite a few AF items that people had brought for the
"show and tell" session. Bob Tufts, the author the the
new AF set book and writer of the column in S Guagian
magazine, explained the significance of some of the items.
There were also comments from several of the other
people in the room who attended, and I came to realize
that many hundreds of years of AF knowledge was in
that room with me. Listening to some of these people
was an interesting and humbling experience.
Unfortunately, I couldn't really get any more All Aboard
information here. It was a great couple of hours anyway, and
I would highly recommend it to any AF fan that
makes it to a future York meet. Friday, at the
actual meet, things where quite a bit better. I was
looking for All Aboard sets, accessories, Pikemaster
rolling stock, and most important of all, the mysterious
L-shaped house. In the Silver hall I heard a seller
complaining. "I offered him the entire layout for $60 and he
still didn't buy it." I looked at his table only to see
a Pioneer set piled on the table with a selling
price of $125.00, but the whole table marked
half-price. <br><br>In the White hall I stopped at a table
where a fellow was holding out an All Aboard street
lamp. He seemed to have several dozen of them, and
crossing signs too. $1.00 each, I thought that sounded
good. Kind of wish I had bought the street lamps! Oh
well...  At another table I saw a single
Cross-Over panel mint in its original box, though slightly
shelf worn. $125.00 asking price, I passed
by. Back in the Blue hall I happened upon a 12 panel set
being lifted off the table by its happy new owner. I
congratulated him and invited him to join our group. At another
table a man saw the All Aboard billboard I had in a
lanyard I was wearing around my neck. He stated that he
owned over 150 panels, and showed me photos of a layout
with a large portion of them set up. I would have
loved to been able to get a copy of those pictures for
this group. When I invited him to join us, I got kind
of a lecture about how he didn't own a computer, and
never would because of the large number of people who
had lost their jobs because of them. He was nice
about it, in fact most people at York are nice, and one
of the best things about the show are the people you
meet there. End of Part 1

Message 198

From: frilen2
Date: Mon Nov 5, 2001 11:34 pm
Subject: Re: Just found my old Pioneer

Check the "Links" button There is a Link on
this club page to Hobby Surplus Sales Web site, and
Vince Amato's story. I just received their latest
catalog on Saturday, there are still new All aboard items
available...Ranch House still listed at $9.95...They sell online
also.. Also another invaluable link is to Doug Peck's
Portlines Hobby. Doug carries an extensive line of American
Flyer and scarce All Aboard items. Including track and
panel connectors...Doug is always great to deal with...
You won't be disappointed. Enjoy...Karl

Message 197

From: firex43
Date: Mon Nov 5, 2001 4:31 pm
Subject: Panel Parts

An excellent source for some panel parts is Hobby Surplus Sales in New Britain,
CT, they advertise in hobby magazines and they put out a Flyer & Lionel parts
catalog. It's worth looking at.

Message 196

From: kaufu2001
Date: Mon Nov 5, 2001 3:18 pm
Subject: Just found my old Pioneer

After my mother mistakenly told me my trains had
been given away, it recently resurfaced during a clean
out session. It is the 6 panel Pioneer set, missing
some accessories. Where can I find the bungalow, the
ranch house(?) and some of the signs, lamp posts and
telephone poles? I also need some track connectors. Now I
have some loose Pikemaster ( same track that is on the
All Aboard set ), and I am unwilling to make the
track connectors the way I did to get the All Aboard
set going. I also have some Greave track, and need
some more to complete a set up. Any body know where to
complete this stuff? Both trains run after a few repairs,
and it is just as much fun as when I was a kid.

Message 195

From: myflyertrains
Date: Wed Oct 31, 2001 10:22 am
Subject: Sealed Westerner Boxed Accessories!

On eBay for your enjoyment, a sealed box of
accessories for a Westerner set!

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1656864216

Enjoy, and let the games begin! 

PS: My post report of All Aboard at the York train show will be
coming. We just got back this weekend and I am still
trying to get caught up. Thanks, Chuck

Message 194

From: belairchevy
Date: Thu Oct 18, 2001 9:51 am
Subject: It's the scenic panel gods again!

Group.....I went to the model train store after
work last night to pick up some Lionel items I was
having repaired. Just happened to look through some of
the "sale" items at the front of the store and back
where you almost couldn't see it was a complete boxed
Westerner 1200 set! To make a long story short I ended up
buying the darn thing. It's in excellent shape with most
of the original packing material. The set has been
run but well cared for. Even has the auto carrier
with all its cars. The store owner said it had been
there for quite a while and was happy to find a good
home for it. The first thing I checked was the houses
hoping to find the "L" but no such luck, ranches and
colonials only. The search continues.............Brad

Message 193

From: myflyertrains
Date: Thu Oct 18, 2001 5:07 am
Subject: Re: All Aboard Panels on eBay

Brad, And if you noticed, this set of panels includes 3 crossover
panels! That should get somebody interested! Chuck

Message 192

From: belairchevy
Date: Wed Oct 17, 2001 10:31 pm
Subject: Re: All Aboard - Report #1 From York

Chuck......Thanks for the report. I've always heard that York was a good place
to find All Aboard. Hope you bring back an "L" house............Brad

Message 191

From: belairchevy
Date: Wed Oct 17, 2001 10:21 pm
Subject: All Aboard Panels on eBay

This looks like it would be a nice addition to someone's collection....Brad<a

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1650925284 

Message 190

From: myflyertrains
Date: Wed Oct 17, 2001 4:13 pm
Subject: All Aboard - Report #1 From York

Perhaps some of you club members would be
interested in the All Aboard Sets at York. I attended two of
the pre-meets today. The "Billy Bud" and the
"Holidome" are two Holiday Inns which have toy trains shows
during the week of York. Today is Wednesday, and
I spent most of the day at these two meets. One
observation I and many others have had, is that attendance by
both buyers and sellers is considerably down from the
past. I have attended the previous two FALL Yorks, and
the attendance this meet is the smallest. I expected
that the condition of the economy might yield many
bargains to be had, but that does not seem to be the case.
If anything, asking prices are up. I spotted
several All Aboard pieces at the the Billy Bud. First, a
Champion 800 8 panel set, with no trains. Panels only,
some accessories, and a beat up box lid. Asking price
$100. Pricey I thought. Later, I found a box of curved
panels, about 10 I would say for $5 each, with no
accessories. I have a lot of curved panels so I passed on this
as well. I searched for the L-shaped house. I
did see some Plasticville New England Ranchers, but
the fabled All Aboard L-Shaped house was not seen. I
did see one Red & white ranch house, roof and walls,
but no windows or doors. Asking price, 4 bucks. I
passed on this too. Bob Tufts, the author of the
new AF set book, was present, and had a nice table of
American Flyer trains. I did pick up a nice Peabody Hopper
(with pikemaster trucks of course) from his partner,
and then on to the Holidome. The Holidome also
had a reduced attendance, and people were already
packing up and leaving by 2 pm or so. I saw a nice
crossover panel in an original box, $85 asking price.
Another seller had a Pioneer 600 set with original box,
in used condition. Asking price $350. My All Aboard
purchase of the day was a yellow and silver "radio
equipped" caboose 24631. It should have been an E+ piece,
but has a corner broken off the roof, a real shame. I
picked it up anyway. We may try and fix it or use it as
is, but I wanted one of these cabooses and it was the
nicest one I saw all day, even with its flaws. I looked
all day for a Hooker pikemaster tank car for my All
Aboard layout. I never found worthy of
purchase. All in all, the day was a lot of fun, but many items
I have been looking for and seen on eBay were not
around. The big York show is Friday, and I will report on
that later in the week. The pre-shows will continue
Thursday, but I am going to take the day off from trains
and enjoy the PA Dutch country with my wife and rest
up for the big day. Will report
later... Chuck

Message 189

From: belairchevy
Date: Mon Oct 15, 2001 7:21 pm
Subject: Game Train

Came across this on eBay. This is the set that
included the L2001 Casey Jones engine that cricket1164
has. According to the TM price guide a complete #20800
Game Train Set has a value of
$250.00........Brad

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1019100716 

Message 188

From: firex43
Date: Sun Oct 14, 2001 7:47 pm
Subject: Pioneer 600 eBay # 1649661374

This item was listed recently under AF "S" and I don't believe the reserve was
met.

Message 187

From: cricket1164
Date: Sun Oct 14, 2001 1:47 am
Subject: Re: Casey Jones

Thank you, I now have a little more insight into
it. The person I got it from did say something about a
"game" engine, but I did not understand them at the
time. I paid an extra $15.00 dollars and they added the
engine, so I guess it was a good deal.  Thanks
again,  cricket1164

Message 186

From: myflyertrains
Date: Sat Oct 13, 2001 9:24 am
Subject: Re: Casey Jones

Hello, and welcome to the All Aboard
Club! The L2001 Casey Jones according to the TM price guide
(the one that I trust) has a book value of $40 in
excellent condition. It is a little less common than the
21165, which would have a book value of $25 in E
condition. The book also says if it is VG (very good) condition,
subtract 30%, and if it is G (good) condition, subtract
60%. I believe the engine you have came with something
that was know as the "GAME TRAIN SET". I hope
this helps you... Chuck

Message 185

From: cricket1164
Date: Sat Oct 13, 2001 7:46 am
Subject: Casey Jones

I recently bought some Flyer items, and received
an engine that I don't know about. I have just
recently gotten into Flyer, and know nothing about it. The
engine looks like a 21165 style, but has L2001 on it,
and Casey Jones on the tender. It is in pretty good
shape, and I assumed it was from some type of set, so I
thought someone in this club would know what it is. Does
it have any value beyond the regular type of engine,
it does look like a cheaper style?
Thanks, cricket1164

Message 184

From: myflyertrains
Date: Sat Oct 13, 2001 7:30 am
Subject: Pioneer 600 Boxed Set Hidden on eBay

Here is one my wife found, hidden in the OO scale area?

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1649661374 
Enjoy...

Message 183

From: belairchevy
Date: Sat Oct 6, 2001 3:46 pm
Subject: Re: Question for group on AB set prices.

Chuck....I have two books called The Toy Train
Department vols.1 & 2. Basically it's the toy train pages
from the old Sears and Wards catalogs. The 1965 Wards
Christmas Book shows the Pioneer 600 selling for 34.99 and
the 1966 Sears Christmas Catalog has the Winter
Wonderland for 29.99 with individual snow panels selling
from 4.97 to 6.99. Wards has a picture of the Champion
800 but lists only the price for the Pioneer
600.There is no mention of the 12 panel set in either one.
I can remember going to the main Wards store on
South Broadway in Denver and seeing the All Aboard sets
in an operating display. Pretty impressive when you
are 10 years old. Looking through my books here you
can see how the trains were being replaced by the
slot car sets especially after 1963. Now some of those
are collectors items too!....Brad

Message 182

From: myflyertrains
Date: Sat Oct 6, 2001 7:16 am
Subject: Re: Question for group on AB set prices.

Brad, According to the Greenberg Vol. III.
Set book, the prices were as follows: Pioneer
600 - $50 Champion 900 - $85 Westerner 1200 -
$125 I don't know of another source for these prices,
but they seem reasonable to me. I am sure that these
"list" prices were discounted at times, in that trains
were not very popular at the time, some retailers
probably had to drop the price to move them out.< My
Frontiersman Washington set I recently bought had an original
price of $34.99, but had been marked down on the box to
$14.95! Later,  Chuck

Message 181

From: belairchevy
Date: Fri Oct 5, 2001 11:33 am
Subject: Re: Winter Wonderland Set - $810!

A Winter Wonderland for $810 and a Westerner 1200 with no scenery or train for
$255!!!! And who says All Aboard isn't collectable?........Brad

Message 180

From: belairchevy
Date: Fri Oct 5, 2001 11:15 am
Subject: Question for group on AB set prices.

Does anyone in the group know what price the
Champion 800 and Westerner 1200 sold for at Sears, Wards
etc. I have a book that shows the Pioneer 600 and
Winter Wonderland Sets but not the 8 and 12 panel sets.
The prices listed in the Greenberg (Sets) guide seem
a little high. Any information is much
appreciated.....Brad

Message 179

From: myflyertrains
Date: Tue Oct 2, 2001 9:27 pm
Subject: Winter Wonderland Set - $810!

Wow, even after losing over $200 of bid the day before, this auction still
brought in over $800! P.S. Is anyone out there?<br><br>Later, Chuck

Message 178

From: myflyertrains
Date: Mon Oct 1, 2001 8:32 pm
Subject: Winter Wonderland Set - Bid Retracted!!!

In looking at eBay tonight I see that the auction
of the Winter Wonderland set that was over $500 is
below $300, with less than 24 hours to go. I have
listed the URL again below for anyone who might be
interested.

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1642730172

Message 177

From: myflyertrains
Date: Sun Sep 30, 2001 8:17 pm
Subject: New Photo - S-Helper Flex Track

Many thanks to Paul Yorke who has put a picture
in the Photos section of his miniature S layout. A
picture of the new S-Helper Flex track bent to a 6 inch
radius, which means that it could easily be used on All
Aboard panels. This is an outstanding
development!<br><br>It was suggested tonight in the S-Chat, that this
track could also be used to make a turntable, perhaps
even one small enough for an All Aboard layout! I am
dreaming of a turntable centered on 4 kitbashed curved
panels! Any thoughts about this?< Thanks again
Paul... Chuck

Message 176

From: myflyertrains
Date: Sun Sep 30, 2001 8:00 pm
Subject: FLASH - NEW WINTER WONDERLAND SET!

A very unusual set, especially in this condition is currently selling on eBay.
It is worth a look, but already fairly pricey!

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1642730172