Message 425

New Layout Photos are Posted!

From: myflyertrains / Chuck
Remote Name: 67.8.236.70
Date: February 26, 2003
Time: 09:43 AM
Comments

Ok, I was in a hurry, but there are 8 photos of my new under construction layout posted. Click on Photos (the camera icon) to the left, then select "Myflyertrains", and you will see them. Yes, I know these will be considered by some to be really "revolutionary"!

Enjoy...Chuck 

Message 424

re: Panel accessories and misc

From: myflyertrains / Chuck
Remote Name: 67.8.236.70
Date: February 26, 2003
Time: 12:11 AM
Comments

Why not put the accessories directly onto real panels. Thats what I have done. I see I really need to get the pictures up, though I am not done wiring the layout. My layout has A Mystic station, a 593 switch tower, a Plasticville factory, a log unloader, a barrel loader, a 752a coaler, a 785 coaler, a cattle pen, a Mysto Magic factory, a tool shed, a saw mill, a Gabe, a 772 bubbling tower, four Flyer switches, a whistling billboard, an Erector Bridge and a homemade Erector / Gulf Tanker fueling station! Whew, it would have been easier to take the pictures. I will get them up before the end of the week! The whole thing is on 14 panels, and has an extra track where no track has gone before. Stay tuned! 

Message 423

Panel accessories and misc

From: hcopter52/John
Remote Name: 198.208.223.35
Date: February 24, 2003
Time: 05:11 PM
Comments

Hi All, seems like the group is comming alive,GREAT! Hurry up with those photos Chuck, I would like to see what you have done. I have been using some woodland scenics trees on my 8 panels and wife says it looks much better than what comes with the panels. I have to agree but that is only my opinion. Any comments on my idea to use foam board with flyer track on a makeshift straight panel for flyer accessories? Thanks and Hi again to all,John.

Message 422

re: winter switch panel for $175?

From: belairchevy
Remote Name: 165.121.178.178
Date: February 23, 2003
Time: 02:24 PM
Comments

Hi Chuck! Yes, things here are fine...a little cold and snowy today however. Maybe I got a deal on the snow panel but personally I just can't see $175.00 for one. The guy I bought it from was out in Los Angeles. Around Denver you just don't see very many of them. Collecting All Aboard is more of a nostalgic thing with me than anything else because I had them as a kid. I am curious, what do panels sell for in a big show like York? 

Message 421

all aboard panel accessories

From: judgeatkck
Remote Name: 66.140.93.197
Date: February 23, 2003
Time: 12:30 PM
Comments

Glad to see all the posts recently about using accessories with all aboard panels. You can definitely tell it's winter and everyone is inside working on train layouts. I picked up a large sack of the small trees for the all aboard layouts several weeks ago. If anyone needs these to complete their layouts let me know. I can be reached at whutton@prodigy.net.

Message 420

re: winter switch panel for $175?

From: Chuck / myflyertrains
Remote Name: 67.8.236.70
Date: February 23, 2003
Time: 10:16 AM
Comments

Brad, where do you keep coming up with all those All Aboard bargains. I spend thousands traveling to York, and you just pick up panels in hobby shops out west! :-)

It is nice to see people posting. It has been a long dry spell. I will be putting up pictures of my new non-standard All Aboard layout soon. It contains most major Flyer accessories, uses 720a switches, and has an extra piece of track down the center. (I said it was non standard, but I like it a lot)

Hope you are well Brad!

Later...Chuck 

Message 419

winter switch panel for $175?

From: belairchevy
Remote Name: 165.121.176.145
Date: February 23, 2003
Time: 01:28 AM
Comments

$175.00 for a snow switch panel seems pretty steep. I purchased one brand new in the box a little over a year ago from a guy in the TCA for just about a third of that price. 

Message 418

All aboard sets etc.

From: Ed Eckert
Remote Name: 207.214.211.66
Date: February 22, 2003
Time: 01:49 PM
Comments

Hi:

I just received your link from a fellow AF club member so I could see the K-Line items in S. To my surprise her is the All Aboard club. My friend knows of my interests in these but never thought to say anything. I have around a 100 panels and need one RH Winter switch panel. I have at 20 winter panels, some of which I am going to sell, including 1 crossover panel. If you check the Bubeck/Garrigues book, you will see that winter set is at $800.00 plus 30% boxed ($1040.00). So paying $175.00 for a winter switch panel is reasonable. Currently I have the 6 panel Winter set up in the center of my S layout for the last two years.

Message 417

Re; further thoughts on accessories

From: hcopter52/John
Remote Name: 198.208.223.35
Date: February 20, 2003
Time: 05:06 PM
Comments

Many thanks to all who have supplied excellent ideas. I may try using woodland scenics foam board cut to 17x17x1&1/4" to get the track level with the AA panels and place flyer track on it as a straight panel. Then use the adapter pins available so I can connect regular flyer track to the pikemaster. Then use the accessory on this panel as all of them require a straight section of AF track. Comments? John.

Message 416

Further thoughts on accessories with track channels

From: jdetreville@yahoo.com
Remote Name: 67.30.221.27
Date: February 19, 2003
Time: 08:48 PM
Comments

Here are a couple of other ways that might work with accessories like the Guilford Station and cattle loader: One way would still require removing the track from a junker panel, but using a rotary sander attachment for an electric drill, sand off about a quarter inch (whatever the difference between old S flyer and pikemaster of the base edges and the posts underneath the panel. Put the accessory on the panel, bracking it with modeling clay, etc, then used old Flyer S-track or pikemaster elevated to the proper level for the accessory. B. Another technique would preserve the panel (but still remove the track). To do this put 1/4" plywood under all the non-accessory panels. If you wanted flexibility, cut as many 17x17x1/4 inch pieces of plywood as you have non-accessory panels. This would elevate all the panels, except the ones on which you want to place the accessories. As before, use old flyer track, or elevate pikemaster on the accessory panel. 

Message 415

Flyer accessories with panels.

From: jdetreville@yahoo.com
Remote Name: 67.30.220.239
Date: February 19, 2003
Time: 05:29 PM
Comments

What to do about accessories in which the track runs through the accessory and which have built in track trips is a good question. Hopefully someone has figured a way. Here are a couple of ideas I've thought about but haven't tried. One is to buy a junker panel with rusty track, remove the track, and put the accessory under new track, either pikemaster raised up or using original size ttrack (for the latter there track pins that mate the two --basically a old style track pin curved over on itself half way to fit into the pikemaster. The accessory might have to be propped on the panel to keep it level, and there would still be a hump where the track was raised -- might cause cars to uncouple, especially link couplers. Another alternative would be to make your own 17"x17" panel of some lightweight material and run pikemaster track across it, sink the accessory a bit so the track would be level. One drastic solution I saw once was to saw off the track portion of the Guilford station (this guy did it for 0), but changing a panel is a lot cheaper.

Message 414

Lionel/American Flyer 2003 catalog

From: jdetreville@yahoo.com
Remote Name: 67.30.220.239
Date: February 19, 2003
Time: 05:17 PM
Comments

Lionel has just posted its 2003 catalog online. Several pages of S, including a reissue of Moe and Joe lumber unloading car (they're also going to make it in O) and some old AF accessories at: http://www.lionel.com/Products/Catalogs/cat-2003-c-1/pgs-90-91.htm

by the way, K-line now has pictures of their new S gauge, but they seem to be artists conceptions, and can't tell much about relative size.

Message 413

re: flyer accessories with panels

From: hcopter52/John
Remote Name: 198.208.223.35
Date: February 19, 2003
Time: 05:10 PM
Comments

I was mainly interested in the accessories that require a section of track to fit into a "channel" which is part of the accessory itself. Such as the cattle loader,baggage loader and guilford stations. So the accessory is "attached " to the track itself. Thanks to all for their help, now to quiet down the "noise",John.

Message 412

Flyer accessories with panels

From: belairchevy
Remote Name: 165.121.177.196
Date: February 19, 2003
Time: 01:45 AM
Comments

John....I just set the accessories along the sides of the panels. My reproduction "Gabe" sits on a curve where the mountain should be. The talking station along a straight panel. Actually if you wanted to, you could insulate one straight panel and attach the white wire from the station so it would actually stop and start your train. The operating water tank will fit on a curve or just place it along a straight panel. Same with the whistle and horn billboards. Lionel makes an infrared detector that probably could be used to activate some of the signal or crossing accessories...bell danger signal etc. There is no right or wrong way, just do it how you like it. 

Message 411

Flyer accessories with panels

From: hcopter52/John
Remote Name: 198.208.223.35
Date: February 18, 2003
Time: 05:02 PM
Comments

Thanks for all the great info. Have my first set of panels up and trains running with switches working properly too. What is the best way, if any, to use flyer accessories that need to be attached to flyer track such as the cattle loader and guilford station to name a few? Thanks again for the great help,John.

Message 410

RE: Wire under switch panels

From: belairchevy
Remote Name: 165.121.176.42
Date: February 18, 2003
Time: 03:29 AM
Comments

John...Every scenic panel was prewired at the factory, the idea being that all you had to do was install the track pins and spring clips and the scenery and it was ready to run. The wiring for a switch panel is as follows: One yellow wire between eyelets on straight rail of switch...one yellow wire from eyelet at point end of switch to eyelet at curved end of switch. Yellow wire from switch motor also connects at eyelet at point end of switch. Black wire from control box to outside rail joiner terminal (sticks down underneath the panel). Red wire from control box to outside terminal on switch motor. Green wire on control box to inside terminal on switch motor. Pushing the red button should line the switch for the curve, green button for the straight. If it works just the opposite swap the red and green wires. To make the system work properly you have to install all the spring clips that hold the panels together. This makes the fixed voltage connection from the transformer. 

Message 409

Re: Wire under switch panels

From: hcopter52/John
Remote Name: 198.208.223.35
Date: February 17, 2003
Time: 05:34 PM
Comments

Thanks for the reply Brad. Makes sense now. How are the switches to be wired? John.

Message 408

Wire under AA panels

From: belairchevy
Remote Name: 165.121.176.79
Date: February 17, 2003
Time: 03:16 PM
Comments

The yellow wire that runs underneath the panels conducts the 15v. accessory voltage to run the switch motors and the whistle on the whistle panel. The spring clips that install in the eyelets connect the wire from one panel to another as well as holding the panels together.

Message 407

Track trips for AA panels

From: hcopter52/John
Remote Name: 198.208.223.35
Date: February 17, 2003
Time: 11:47 AM
Comments

Thanks for the comments on the trips. I will contact a few dealers and see what they have. I know I have seen infra-red detectors for this purpose in CTT mag. But I have another question. Why is there a wire soldered to the underside of each panel from one end of the track to the other? The wire only seems to go to an eylet in the track ties. Purpose? Thanks for any replys,John.

Message 406

RE: Operating Accessories track trips

From: jdetreville@yahoo.com
Remote Name: 67.30.221.27
Date: February 15, 2003
Time: 08:36 PM
Comments

RE: Feb 6 query on track trips for All Aboard panels for operating accessories. A couple of years ago Hobby Surplus Sales still had a blinker track trip that fit between the rails of Pikemaster track -- it only had a part number XA16593(?), so orinally may have had a cover, but it does work on AA Panels, though couple weights sometimes bent the springs. For operating crossing gates, etc., Thomas B. Barker describes how to make a track trip using an insulated rail section (could insulate one rail on a whole panel, and not have to alter it or take it apart) in "Greenberg"s American Flyer S Gauge Operating and Repair Manual, second edition, pp. 55-56. Sounds pretty simple to build, but he gives Radio Shack part numbers which may have changed in the last 20 years. Track trips for operating cars can be made out of sheet brass or tinplate, and clip under the pikemaster track -- I gather Gilbert made these originally, but I don't recall seeing any at shows, etc.

Message 405

re:K-Line s gauge

From: hcopter52/John
Remote Name: 198.208.223.35
Date: February 14, 2003
Time: 12:55 PM
Comments

Ditto on the penn salt! Can these be run on panels, does not say pikemaster trucks so I think not. Even so, the price is sure right!!!Just curious,John.

Message 404

re: K-line s gauge box cars & tank cars

From: Chuck / myflyertrains
Remote Name: 67.8.236.70
Date: February 13, 2003
Time: 07:23 PM
Comments

Yes, this is interesting. Finally a Penn Sault tanker I can afford to own. The web site says that the actual calaog should be up in several days. I am looking forward to seeing some pictures. I understand Marx 3/16 dies were used... 

Message 403

K-line s gauge box cars & tank cars

From: jdetreville@yahoo.com
Remote Name: 67.30.220.115
Date: February 12, 2003
Time: 06:24 PM
Comments

K-line's 2003 catalog apparently will have s gauge box cars listing at $20.00. No pictures yet, but a list at http://www.k-linetrains.com/2003fe_preview.htm

Does anyone know if they're from new dies, or from old Marx??

Message 402

New Photo Uploaded

From: myflyertrains / Chuck
Remote Name: 67.8.236.70
Date: February 09, 2003
Time: 11:40 AM
Comments

Carl Anererson / Carl552 has submitted a new photo of a winter layout. Click on the camera icon / Photos at the left to see this picture.

Thanks for the picture Carl!

Chuck 

Message 401

Operating Accessories

From: Hcopter52/John
Remote Name: 198.208.223.35
Date: February 06, 2003
Time: 05:21 PM
Comments

Sorry, I have another question. How does one activate flyer accessories such as crossing signals that require track trips on the all aboard panels? Thanks,John.