Message 25

From: frilen2
Date: Mon May 14, 2001 9:30 pm
Subject: Re: Whistle Panel House vs Plasticville!

Hi Chuck Neat Work...The picture looks
great The AF House if kitbashed also has the columns
removed and (if you look carefully) there is a trellis
like panel at the end of the porch. I have a '65
Catalog (X165-12 Rev) that has shows this house from
different angles on 2 pages. There appears to be a 3rd
window placed in the 2nd story of the full end wall.
I'll try to scan these in as jpeg files. Karl

Message 24

From: myflyertrains
Date: Mon May 14, 2001 9:17 pm
Subject: Whistle Panel House vs Plasticville!

OK, I blew up the picture from the whistle panel
house on Brad's web site, and put a picture of the
plasticville 1701 house next to it. They are not exactly
facing the same direction, but you have to admit the
similarity is somewhat
convincing!  http://www.myflyertrains.com/houses.jpg

Message 23

From: myflyertrains
Date: Mon May 14, 2001 8:17 pm
Subject: Re: All Aboard Houses

Brad & Karl, My understanding is that at
least the larger trees in the AB sets were made by
Plasticville, and in fact are still available today. So what if
Gilbert, having already a relationship with the
Plasticville folks, had them make some houses for the whistle
panel, and later substituted their own house. I
have spent a lot of time looking at the house that
Karl bought in eBay pictures. A better view of the
house can be seen in the eBay auction
 http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=587842699
It seems to me that if you take out the little
extension at the right side, the houses are too similar to
be just an accident. Either Gilbert copied the
Plasticville design, or had Plasticville make the house in
question. Or maybe when they made the house, the
Plasticville people objected that the house looked too much
like their house, and Gilbert dropped the house in
favor of the other. It also seems to me that a
guy could but 2 of these houses. You need the larger
end panel to cover the spot where the room addition
was. It would take a little splicing / kit bashing,
but after your done, you are going to repaint it in
the AF colors anyway. The auction above has the
pieces all layed out in the photo where you can see
them. What do you think...

Message 22

From: frilen2
Date: Mon May 14, 2001 7:51 pm
Subject: Re: All Aboard Houses

Hi Brad Thanx for the posting the link to
Hobby Surplus Sales and Vince Amato's story, This link
and the link to your own website probably should be
made part of this clubs website. Mr Amato's story
originally appeared in in either SGaugian Magazine or The
Collector magazine of the AFCC. It really is a great story
of someone being in the right spot at the right time
and having the insight to recognize it. Too bad that
he wasn't able to buy all of American Flyer, ...Hi
Rail History would be considerably different. I
had not heard of any connection of the elusive "L"
shaped house and the early '65 Pioneer 600 sets before,
that sounds like a route to explore further.
Thanx...Karl

Message 21

From: belairchevy
Date: Mon May 14, 2001 5:12 pm
Subject: Re: All Aboard Houses


The "L" shaped house that was on the whistle
panel is a hard one to find. From what I have been able
to determine it was included in some of the early
1965 Pioneer 600 sets and some of the whistle panels.
I know of one that was included in a set sold on
ebay last year. For some interesting reading on All
Aboard Parts and Hobby Surplus go
to: http://www.hobbysurplus.com/aboutus.htm  In the article Vincent
Amato talks about using the
original molds to make roofs for the surplus All Aboard
Houses. From that I gather that Gilbert may have molded
the houses themselves. Another possibility would be
the Marvin Glass Co. who designed and molded the
panels. There is a Marvin Glass Co. website but makes no
mention of All Aboard or the James Bond Scenic Panel Road
Race Sets.

Message 20

From: belairchevy
Date: Mon May 14, 2001 4:34 pm
Subject: Re: eBay Westerner Set Auction - Interes

Chuck, Yes, this is the opened set that is pictured. Have not opened the
others. One thing to note here is all of the pine trees are the same size. 

Brad

Message 19

From: myflyertrains
Date: Mon May 14, 2001 10:32 am
Subject: Re: eBay Westerner Set Auction - Interes

Brad, Is this box of Westerner Accessories, the accessories that are
pictured on you web site, with the houses with the unusal colors? 

Chuck

Message 18

From: frilen2
Date: Sun May 13, 2001 11:01 pm
Subject: Re: Welcome to All That have joined!

First, Hi to all. I'm an American Flyer collector
(have been since the ripe old age of 3 months) I
started collecting the All Aboard sets about 4 years ago
when my interest in AF was rekindled. I have 3 sets (2
Pioneer, 1 Westerner needing help). One of the Pioneer
sets was wholesaled out thru Lionel in 1968 after
Gilberts demise. As Chuck mentioned in his Welcome
message, he started this Yahoo Club after we had exchanged
Emails regarding a posted that I had left on the
Plasticville Group page. I was seeking information on a
Plasticville New England Ranch House #1701 that looked to me
to be extremely similar to the elusive whistle panel
house shown on the box cover of a 26122 panel or in
Gilbert's various catalogs. I had just picked up one of the
Plasticville houses on ebay See auction #5879533397. My
posting was asking if the PV house could be built without
a room addition just behind the chimney. (It can't
without kitbashing) Mike Cedro of the Plastic village
Gazette initially replyed to my original posting that the
AF houses were smaller than Plasticville. However he
was only familiar wth the two other AF houses, the
Ranch and Colonial. After sending him a couple of JPEG
photos of the Whistle Panel House he did feel that it
could very well be a kitbashed plasticville item, that
Gilbert used for the photos, Pre production. OK,
bottom line, has anyone seen or better yet owned one of
these Whistle Panel Houses, The one on the box photo/in
the catalogs, 1 1/2 story, L shaped floor plan,
etc.... I've been looking for more years than I'd care to
admit to. Have I been looking in the wrong spot? Does
the Plasticville theory hold water? Thanx in
advance for any info, advice, etc... If nothing else
it should generate some discussion....sorry if I
rambled a bit. Karl

Message 17

From: belairchevy
Date: Sun May 13, 2001 8:41 pm
Subject: Re: eBay Westerner Set Auction - Interes

I purchased three of these last summer. One was
opened, two are still sealed. The boxes are all marked
set #3. The box also has the AF coding on it. These
were included with the Westerner 1200 sets and contain
all the scenic items for 12 panels including the barn
and the bumper for the siding. My set had 12 of the
put together trees and all of the houses are
different colors. I suspect they probably came from Hobby
Surplus who purchased much of the Flyer parts when
Gilbert folded.

Message 16

From: myflyertrains
Date: Sun May 13, 2001 7:21 pm
Subject: eBay Westerner Set Auction - Interesting

No trains or panels, but all the accessories sealed in a brown box. Is this the
correct packaging? Did they come this way?

 http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1143354947 </a>

Message 15

From: portlines
Date: Sun May 13, 2001 6:11 am
Subject: All Aboard Panel parts

ADVERTISEMENT

Early notice--- We have just TENTATIVELY arranged
to have some of the elusive panel parts reproduced.
I say "tentatively" because the final decision
waits on seeing the first samples. We are planning to
do streetlights, stop signs, and the long picket
fence initially. Stay tuned! Doug
Peck Port Lines Hobby Supplies 6 Storeybrooke
Drive Newburyport, MA 01950-3408 Shop hours: Weekday evenings: 7
PM - 9:30 PM EST 978-465-8798<br>1-888-708-0782
(Toll-free; Orders only, please).  

http://www.portlines.com  portlines@mediaone.net

Message 14

From: belairchevy
Date: Sat May 12, 2001 10:37 pm
Subject: All Aboard Consist Variations

From what I have been able to determine trying to
collect All Aboard, the cars that went into a set were
determined by what they had made up at the factory. I have
seen numerous sets that did not have what is shown in
the various collectors guides or the AF catalogs. The
variation of the Pioneer 600 in my collection has the 24076
UP Stock Car and the Monon gondola. Exact set I had
as a kid complete with all the scenery and even the
brown wrapping paper!

Message 13

From: myflyertrains
Date: Sat May 12, 2001 9:57 pm
Subject: Re: Dave Garber' Pioneer Set

Joe, I am definitely  envious of this purchase! It certainly came with a good
collection of rolling stock, not to mention the 21107, which beats the heck out
of the 21085! 

Chuck

Message 12

From: myflyertrains
Date: Sat May 12, 2001 9:52 pm
Subject: All Aboard eBay auctions!

I found the following two All Aboard panel
auctions on eBay. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1141904900
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1144209803 

Enjoy, Chuck

Message 11

From: joestrainrepair
Date: Sat May 12, 2001 9:48 pm
Subject: Re: Dave Garber' Pioneer Set

Dave, I just picked up a Champion 800 at York. It
is box (although the box is deteriorating), in like
new condition, with almost everthing there. The only
missing pieces are 2 of the put-together trees, the
colonial house (I got only the roof and chimney and porch
roof, but I purchased several extras several years ago
from Hobby Surplus), 12 of the track pins, 4 of the
track locks, 1 small tree, 3 stop signs, annd the 2
billboards and 2 foot bridges (I think I have all of the
missing pieces). I think I got mine for a good price, as
I only paid $170 for it.While we are at it,
has anyone tried to catalog the variations in the
train in this set. Mine has pieces from both 1965 and
1966, plus 2 other pieces. Mine came with:
21107 PRR AFL 4-4-2 Atlantic with smoke and choo choo
(1966) 24316 Mobilgas tank car (1966) 24225 SF
hopper car (1965) 24569 Industrial Brownhoist crane
car 24631 AFL Radio Equipped yellow unlighted
caboose.Joe

Message 10

From: myflyertrains
Date: Sat May 12, 2001 9:47 pm
Subject: Welcome to All That have joined!


Hello everyone. I started this Yahoo club a
couple of days ago, after exchanging email with KARL,
whose messages about All Aboard houses I found in the
Plasticville club. I realized that there are a hand full of us
that are quite interested in All Aboard sets, and
whose discussions while enjoyable for us, would bore
the majority of the S-List folks to tears.I
want to talk about All Aboard sets. I want to share
information about where to purchase All Aboard related stuff,
and how to get more enjoyment out of it. As long as
it is somewhat relevant and very friendly, I think
we can share it with each other. I plan to let you
know when I see All Aboard stuff for sale on eBay and
elsewhere, and if I miss something, I hope you will post the
links for everyone to find the stuff. Even when I am
not buying, I like to see who is buying, and what it
is going for. Now that I have purchased 39 panels in
the last several months, I am less interested in
panels, but sure would like to find the elusive original
house that goes with the whistle panel, etc. WANTED,
CHEAP CROSSOVER PANEL :-) I have plans to do an
All Aboard kitbashing web site in the near future,
and I think you will be amazed at some of the ideas I
am eager to try. If it is All Aboard, or Pike Master
related (that is what your supposed to be running on your
All Aboard set, right?), lets discuss it. Anyway,
welcome again, and lets get some discussion
going! Chuck Harrington

Message 9

Same as Message 8

Message 8

From: myflyertrains
Date: Sat May 12, 2001 9:25 pm
Subject: Re: My All Aboard Website

Let me say that this,

http://www.geocities.com/belairchevy/ab/home.htm
is THE Web
Site for All Aboard fans. I have been
using it as the open page for my Internet browser for
the last couple of months. It is really good to have
you in here with us Brad. Thanks, Chuck

Message 7

From: belairchevy
Date: Sat May 12, 2001 3:08 pm
Subject: My All Aboard Website

Please check out my All Aboard website at
http://www.geocities.com/belairchevy/ab/home.htm  lt was started
a couple of years ago with the help
of Paul Yorke as there was nothing available about
All Aboard on the web. My interest in All Aboard goes
back to 1965 when my brother and I got a Pioneer 600
for Christmas. Several years ago I set out to replace
the set we had as kids. That search eventually turned
into about 75 panels and a website! If anyone has
pictures or information or corrections on the material
already on the website please email me at
belairchevy@webtv.net

Message 6

From: david_garber2000
Date: Sat May 12, 2001 8:03 am
Subject: web site

check this out it may have some interesting
information depending on your background. It is at least a
good reference. It would be good if down the road we
could get a chat time set up .have a good weekend. ck.
out http://www.geocities.com/belairchevy/ab/home.html if a
problem my other email is d.garber@home.com

Message 5

From: judgeatkck
Date: Fri May 11, 2001 8:45 pm
Subject: All Aboard Panels for 1965

Forwarded on this information to my brother in
Colorado Springs. He was born in 1962 and his first memory
of trains, was an expanded set of all aboard panels
on our parents dining room table. He now collects
pikemaster era rolling stock as well as panels.

Message 4

From: david_garber2000
Date: Fri May 11, 2001 12:26 pm
Subject: Re: test message

Great idea .The numbers may not be large but the group may be very interesting
and close. I just picked up the Champion set last week

Message 3

From: myflyertrains
Date: Fri May 11, 2001 10:26 am
Subject: test message

This is only a test.

Message 2

From: frilen2
Date: Thu May 10, 2001 10:27 pm
Subject: Re: All Aboard Sets

Hi Chuck This is a great idea. I'm sure that
there are a quite a few American Flyer Train collectors
that are fans of the All Aboard sets manufactured from
1964 thru 1966.Thanx for the invitation...Karl

Message 1

From: myflyertrains
Date: (Date Unavailable)
Subject: 

Welcome to the Yahoo! Message Board for All Aboard Sets