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Thank you. I cut out a bunch of dead time and duplicate shots. The Semaphores are functional, but not used to stop trains, the white wire is not connected. I connected them to the 720A switch so they both operate simultaneously, and opposite for each leg of the siding. I have not modified the GN 601 GP-7 yet. I may use my DYMO labeler and label the controller for now. I am thinking of getting the Lionel Controller that can control three FlyerChief Locomotives instead of using three controllers. I will probably put the modification off of the GN so the Long hood is Forward which is prototypical of the GN hood units when they ran GP-7's until then. I ordered a bunch of dry transfer letter "F" to apply to all of my GP-7 locomotives. The only locomotive that has a letter F on the front from the factory is my Baldwin S-8.

Thank you. The track plan is simply three separate tracks in rectangular/oval shapes. Overall size of this temporary layout is 6' x 10'. Inside Track is a copy of the 1952 Gilbert Factory Display Layout #112 with all of its accessories (Operating Stockyard, Animated Station, Rotating Aircraft Beacon, Bubbling Water Tower, Shell Oil Depot and Talking Station plus some Plasticville Buildings, remote uncouplers and two 720A LH switches and 761Semaphores. Middle Track has one short passing siding and a spur for limited switching plus two 761 Semaphores wired to a 720A RH switch. They are there for aesthetic purposes and operate only when the switch is thrown, but I don't use them to stop trains. Outside track is just a track for rail fanning. It is the one I use when running two Flyer Chief locomotive led trains. The Machine Works Re-Railer I got from a member of the AF Facebook Group. I had stumbled upon one (never knew it existed) searching the WEB for some AF information. I then did a search specifically for one and didn't find any. My wife who joined the AF FB Group because I don't do FB made a general inquiry to the group and got a response from a member and that is how I obtained it.

Thank you Frank. A lot of editing to remove "dead" sections or redundant sections of the original video.

@@-MAILMANIt does get easier the more you do it. Keep up the great work! 👍💯

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you for watching and the nice comments. I too like the maroon and deluxe yellow and minute man livery better than the "Bluebird and intertwined BM logo. The nose on each end should be white, but I have seen the front and rear of the cab both white and black with no rhyme or reason why there was a difference when they got repainted from the maroon and deluxe yellow.

Thank you. Agreed hand rails would have been nice, but then again Lionel with the release of the 2023 Baldwin locomotives removed the sound associated with the coupler opening. The 2021 Baldwin release had the sound as well as the 2017-118 GP-7's.

Thanks for the kind comments. I am doing my best to keep everything to the late 1940 to mid 1950 era when I can. All my 1:64 vehicles are in that time frame including the Shell tanker truck. I have the Gulf placard on the opposite side of the oil derrick next to the 768G (Gulf) oil depot. I will probably get a second 773 Oil Derrick so I can separate the two placard types. The loop in the center with the PRR train is the #112 with all of the track and accessories (remote uncoupler, animated station, talking station, animated stockyard, rotary beacon, bubbling water tower and 768 (Shell) oil depot, Billboard with the ALCO on the face which gives the appearance of being correct, but is actually the diesel horn billboard. I have a whistling billboard, but it has the Hudson on the face and is located elsewhere on my layout. Plasticville buildings and 761 semaphores (wired to the 720A switches) were not part of the #112 layout. The PRR train gives the appearance of a prototype for that time frame with all that tuscan red. The GN train I kept the consist to the colors from the pre 1961 repaint to glacier green and simplified Omaha Orange and Pullman Green on the locomotives. The BM train is pre McGinnis Era [Blue Dip (bluebird)] starting in 1958]. The 9002 yellow flat car with log load, 9104 tuscan tank car and 9203 silver gondola would have been part of the Historic American Railroad set #2 sold in 1983 by Lionel. Arriving later this week to me is the AF by Lionel , 9703 blue BM box car, 9402 blue deluxe illuminated caboose and 8350 GP-7 in the blue dip (bluebird) livery. This will complete my put together Historic American Railroad set #2 The Boston & Maine Freight Set from 1983.

​@@AustinsAmericanFlyertrains Hi birthday boy. 🤣 The FlyerChief GP-7's are single motor/ 4 wheel drive with traction tires, like the A. C. Gilbert GP-7 although not the same motor, electric couplers, directional lighting, cab lighting and rail sounds. The FlyerChief Baldwin (S-8) has two motors/8 wheel drive with traction tires, electric couplers, directional lighting, cab lighting and rail sounds. However the 2023 Baldwin no longer has the sound of an operating coupler like the 2021 release did. Besides using the remote that comes with the locomotive FlyerChief locomotives can be controlled with an android or apple phone or tablet using the Lionchief app. The app. actually has more controls than the remote and includes voice control as well.

@flyerjunctionThank you. Yes the GP-7's have taken over. The car with the travel trail was purchased from Doug Peck at the Wilmington, MA train show. My wife had me on the lookout for one. This is one of two work trains. The one with the 371 has the three sheet metal cars. My other work train with my 343 0-8-0 has three diecast cars plus a heavyweight combine.

Thanks 👍 Glad you liked it. 😊

@@flyerjunction Haha, that is a Lionel signal tower that I bought 30+ years ago when I lived in Van Nuys, CA. I painted it and that Christmas I built a platform for the tree to sit on and used baking soda for snow. Bad idea because whenever our dog wagged its tail near it we had a blizzard. The baking soda has been stuck on the tower ever since.

@@-MAILMAN Who would have known the dog would turn out to be such an artist.🤣

@@flyerjunction Back then I had the ATSF 21910 freight ALCO'S, 285 CNW Pacific, 718R operating mail car, 633 B&O red box car, 715 auto flat car without a Manoil Coupe, 631green T&P gondola, 630 RDG caboose, 935 Deluxe Caboose (5 digit box), pair of 720A (5 digit) switches, 18B transformer and enough track for a rectangle with a passing siding. These from when I was a young kid. I bought a 735 animated coach (no people or station) to go with my 718R. A couple of years later I bought a 283 CNW Pacific. Most of what I have now I got in the last few years.

@@TwistedMacGyversTrains Thank you very much Frank. I do it because currently my wife is unable to travel down to the basement to see them in person.

@@-MAILMAN I’m sorry to hear that Mike. It’s a good way of turning a negative into a positive. Do you use your cell phone to record your videos?

@@TwistedMacGyversTrains I used to use my Samsung Galaxy S7 then download it to my PC, first via Blue Tooth and then by USB cable which was much faster. I then would upload the video to RUclips. I could never seem to control the zoom on the phone. Advantage was my light ring could pair with the phone and I could start/stop recording with the light ring remote. Later I started using my wife's Sony HD Handicam which we have had for a very, very long time. We used it for recording trains at Tehachapi Loop and Cajon Pass when we lived in Rosamond, CA in the late '80s and early '90s after I left the USN. I download the videos to my PC, then load them into Windows Movie Maker for editing. Nothing real fancy. Disadvantage is I have to start/stop recording manually. WMM lets me get rid of any shakes from pushing the record/standby button.

I was just curious because you do a great job! Keep up the great videos Mike! 👍

Glad you liked it!

@@willamettevalleyAFtrains Thank you.

@@TwistedMacGyversTrains Thank you Frank. I do enjoy running those ALCO's with the diesel roar and those T&P EMD's.

Well I had to run the 285 & 312 that fast to get them to smoke like that. They are the only two that I haven't changed to 5-wire. Those heavy weight cars roll so smooth, which helps.

That diesel roar works great in that PB unit. I don't need to turn it off since it is in the basement. 😃 I installed a bridge rectifier in that caboose. The rotary beacon, water tank and oil derrick all cooperated at the time I recorded the video. I also run the power diesel locomotive last in multi unit lashups. The dummies get pushed and the consist gets pulled. That operating milk car is very heavy.

My Grandfather was a Railway Post Office Clerk. He would have been around 60 years old around that time and I don't know when he retired.

@@TwistedMacGyversTrains Thank you Frank. Had to run the 285 & 312 faster than I would like to get the smoke effect. Last two of my steam locomotives that I have to convert from 4-wire to 5-wire so the smoke unit and head light get direct track power instead of connecting to the motor field coil. This should get them smoking better at slower speeds. Slowly learning the editing features of WMM, especially slice and remove to get rid of glitches. A work in progress.

@@-MAILMANYou did an excellent job because they’re smoking like a chimney! I love heavy smokers. I recently did a short of my big boy smoking me out of my train room. 😂 Have a great evening Mike! 👍

@@MygrandpasTrain I did a preliminary lube (Lubriplate 630-AA grease on the gears/worm gears and Labelle 107 oil on all of the bearings and pivot points) before the test. I need to perform a more thorough cleaning and lube now. I am surprised at how loud it plays the record. Port Lines has small pre-programmed circuit boards and speakers for all of the different announcements. I am thinking of getting a few (different announcements): one for my non-speaking Union Station; my K-Line Plastic suburban station; my 766 animated station. I may also use one with the 755A just so I don't have to use the record every time. Port Lines said that the original needles are poor quality and it was recommended to replace the needles every 5-6 plays of the record, but most never do it. He said the repro needles are much better and are the ones used in Victrola's. I purchased a bunch of spare needles. The needle needs to be installed with 1/4" reveal. B & R on ribbon cable to base; Y on ribbon cable to Fixed AC; G on ribbon cable to controller & short B from controller to base; W to 707 terminal inside the control section with fiber pins on the outside rail. I have not connected the white wire.

@@-MAILMAN The talking station looks great. I would give it a good lube job, take the needle and sound reproducer assembly out and then cycle it through several times. Then put the needle/sound reproducer back in. My talking station seems to run slow if it has not been used for a while. Doing this brings it back to a normal speed. Nice idea of having all of the stations with announcements. Thank you for sharing.

@@-MAILMAN Good to know, thanks. I might add a needle to my parts list, I understand the originals would damage the records, which is why I copied mine to digital before using the mechanical player

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it. I think the Revolving Airport Beacon is neat, using the heat of the bulb to spin it. It really looks great with the lights out. My wife is already hinting for me to put it under the Christmas tree next year. I hooked up the talking station. I think I need to clean the mechanism some more because the sounds drags a bit at times. I just did not create the control section to stop the train and hook up the white wire to keep the reverse unit from shifting when the train is stopped. The Plasticville building with the corner entrance is the Florist Shop. According to Joe Deger there were three versions of the 773 Oil Derrick. He lists a fourth for comparison. A. 1950 red base; red tower B. 1950 gray base; gray tower C. 1951-52 red base; red tower orange and blue "Gulf" logo D. Red Base, Gray Tower, Colber Plate. Sold under Colber I have the (A) version of the 773 with Repro Orange and Blue Gulf logo and now a newly fabricated Shell Logo. I need to pick up another 773 Derrick so I can have one with Gulf signs and one with Shell signs.

Glad you enjoyed it. I ran it so my Sister-in-law could see it. Back in the box for now until I can find some old time wooden coaches of that era and make it a "museum excursion" train. Never noticed how curved instead of straight that #4 turnout was on the head on run. I am always looking at it perpendicular and never noticed. Figured out the background sound was my dehumidifier, I didn't hear it, but the camera mic sure did.

@@MygrandpasTrain Thank you. It is pretty heavy for its size. The locomotive and tender are diecast and it has some really nice details. I like the little head light glowing deep in the light housing. The motor (looks similar to the motors that were in my HO Aurora slot cars) is in the tender and a plastic drive shaft connects to the locomotive. I need to find a couple of coaches that match the 1860ish era and can use it as museum type excursion train. It arrived in its original box (like I just bought it from a train store), foam rubber protects it all around, came with a maintenance instruction card and a commerative/authenticity card that included a build number.

@@flyerjunction Glad you like it.

@@HallofScienceWest Glad you like it. The 112 won't be complete for a few weeks. I ordered the Talking Station & Revolving Beacon as well as springs and washers for rebuilding all of my 720A switches and other parts, but they won't complete processing until my vendor returns from the NASG convention. In the mean time I will place my buildings, vehicles and accessories for the outside loops. I may even lose the middle loop and merge the passing siding with the outside loop so I have open areas for more spurs and accessories. I haven't decided.

@@TwistedMacGyversTrains Glad you like it. That grey roadbed on the wide radius curves was made by Austin Birkey. He also made the plastic ties that slide between the rails and rubber roadbed and between the ties. I also have them inserted on all of the AF track and roadbed both grey and black.

Thanks for the information Mike! Really dresses up the tracks. 👍

@@TwistedMacGyversTrains Four black resin tables with folding legs made by Cosco and sold at Lowe's. Each table is 30" x 72". I have them currently side by side for 6' × 10' configuration. Outside loop uses wide radius curves. Middle loop has a passing siding for four cars. Used two RH switches, three 10" 700 and one 702 on the siding and the same on the main. One end of the rectangle has one 10" 700 and a 10" 700 + 5" 701 on the other end (siding makes it offset). No cut/special length track required. When I first got the tables I set them up in my living room they were configured 6' × 11' with a 12" opening in the middle.

That’s a great idea, notes taken! 👍

@@Cbtrainnut Thank you. A work in progress.

Glad you liked it. Shortly after I got that 312 two of the metal rims came off of the insulators. I had to use a single axle quartering tool to get them on their axles correctly after using JB Weld epoxy putty and the compression tool to put the three parts back together. I then used the six wheel quartering tool to make sure all of the wheels were quartered correctly and had no wobble when rotated. I still have to modify the wiring to have that 5th wire so the smoke unit and headlight connect directly to track power instead in parallel with the field windings. I will probably add Pull-Mor tire bands on the rear drive wheels down the line. To begin with I will only put the accessories that would have been part of the layout with the exception of my substitutes. For looks I substituted the 561 Billboard Diesel Horn because it has the ATSF ALCO PA, but I will probably put my 566 Steam Whistle on that layout even though it has the Hudson Steam Locomotive on the billboard. The only change I made to the track is on the animated station spur. The last track section is supposed to be a 701 full curve, but I used a 700 straight so I could have a lighted bumper on it.

Thank you👍

Thank you.

I am glad you enjoyed it. This one lasted a long time with several changes, but the heart of it remained the same. It was getting to seem overcrowded and I did not even have all of my accessories installed. The train shed and Union Station were recent editions and should be together, but it was not possible due to space on this configuration. Down the road I hope to have an area big enough to display them all without it looking like I just squeezed everything on the table that I could physically fit on it. I hope to showcase my accessories on these factory layouts, because no doubt I will have to substitute for some.

Glad to be of help

The shanties have been lit all along, but just hard to see unless the lights above the table are turned off. Here is the link if RUclips lets me put it here:www.americanflyerdisplays.org/factory_layouts/index-layout_displays.htm

@@-MAILMAN It looks like it willl be lots of fun!

@@flyerjunction It should be 😀

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.

Yes. I am going to start laying track to emulate A. C. Gilbert Factory Display Layouts that will fit my 6' x 10' table top. I will use one for a while then move on to the next one until I have configured all of the ones that fit on my tables. I won't be including strictly elevated track that goes in a small circle even if the display layout has one because I don't particularly care for those. Going up and down on trestles is a different story. I am working on #112 from 1952. The only change to the track plan is I plan on using my wide radius curves instead of standard radius curves, just because I can. It is a small layout. I just laid it out in AnyRail6, I don't need to cut any track. I won't need any of my 19B or 30B transformers for most of them until I get to the multiple train layouts. I will try to use the exact accessories used for a particular display layout, but if I don't have one I will substitute something close that I do have. I noticed many of them use the 766 Animated Station, 771 Operating Stockyard, Water Tower, 768 Oil Supply Depot, etc. I will also complement the accessories with my Plasticville Structures and 1:64 vehicles. I am down to two vehicles (1978 GMC C15 HeavyHalf Standard cab and 8' bed and 2024 Ford F250 SuperDuty extended cab with 8' bed) now in my 3 car 26' x 40' detached garage (with a second floor) so I have been moving my shop tools into an empty bay. I only have my 14" Porter Cable Band Saw, Delta bench top drill press and my Delta Contractor Saw with its 52" Biesmeyer Fence System left to move out of my basement to the garage and all that area will open for trains.😁 I am also working in AnyRail6 to design a larger layout. I have a Bowser S Gauge/Scale Turntable with an indexing kit and control panel (I received it already installed on a 3' x 3' piece of 3/4" plywood) that I want to set up and incorporate into that layout. It already has the bridge, pit and pit rail installed and is all wired up and came with a DC transformer to turn the bridge so I only need to add track (wire that of course) and "decorate/accessorize" the bridge. I will be researching where I can find that stuff.

I have Doerry's online book. I will read up on it. I wonder if one could install multiple 709 Lockout Eliminators in series to increase the resistance, but wonder how that would affect still have enough voltage to prevent a Gilbert reverse unit from shifting to neutral. I made it mostly for Flyer Junction to show the differences between Gilbert and Lionel FlyerChief locomotive reactions to the 761 Semaphore and 709 Lockout Eliminator. He has modified a number of Lionel Flyer locomotives into FlyerChief locomotives and uses Bluetooth to control them. He uses his 761 Semaphores to protect a 90° crossing. I only have two non-Gilbert locomotives, FlyerChiefs B&M EMD GP-7 1567 &L PRR Baldwin S-8 5916, so I will plan on installing a SPST switch in series with the 709 so I can turn it off when using the FlyerChiefs. Since I am on a temporary set of tables I will hide them inside of a building.

I will have to read up on this. I have some American Models locomotives that want to cruise through the red semaphore signal while the 10 ohm resistor is in place. I was thinking of placing about a 2 ohm resistor in the AM locomotives to counter the problem. Using more than a 10 ohm resistor with the semaphore sometimes causes the Gilbert locomotives to cycle the reverse unit. Thank you for sharing.

@@flyerjunction Hope you can figure it out.

Glad you enjoyed it. I have the most fun doing switching operations. The only thing better is when my grandchildren are here operating the accessories which I never had as a kid.

That’s my favorite thing as well along with realistic switching. Scale speed is hard to do with Flyer sometimes, but it’s a hoot using all of the accessories they came up with to run completely by “remote control.” 👍

@@HallofScienceWest The diesels seem to work best, but I have two Lionel Flyer Chief locomotives; BM GP-7 & PRR Baldwin Switcher S-8. The Flyer Chief locomotives work great for switching operations because you can get them to creep. The electric couplers work well for cutting off cars, but you still have to open the rolling stock couplers to be able to couple to a car. Having rail sounds is a nice touch with the Flyer Chief as well, but be aware with the release of the 2023 line of Baldwin Switchers Lionel removed the coupler sound from there rail sounds. Previous releases of the Baldwin and GP-7 had the coupler sound. They come with remotes, but you can also control them via blue tooth on a phone or tablet which gives you more control and features including voice control. I also have wide radius curves on the outer loop which lets the trains run smoothly especially the 336 Northern. 😁 The 2 1/2' x 6' support tables give me a 6' x 10' area to do it.

I’m mostly an old school Flyer guy, but I’m planning to build a Christmas layout for public display in my little town this year. I’ve got a Flyonel Christmas locomotive and some Christmas cars as well as a Polar Express set I hope to have running on it. I’m looking forward to checking out the Flyer Chief controls and sounds on the Polar Express. The newer motors on the Flyonel locomotives do give a lot better control for switching. I’m curious about experimenting with old and new on the same layout. Unless it’s a Flyer steamer, I’m hoping I can keep the smoke on the inside of the new trains, lol!

Oh, in the near future I hope to do some custom wide radius curves using the old Flyer track as well. Once I finish the Badlands layout I’ve got room for a 6’x12’ permanent layout so I’m excited about that. It’s the biggest one I’ve ever had the opportunity to build.

Thank you. Just rotating locomotives (sets) through to keep the lubrication loose and fluid. The Oil Derrick bubbles well as well. They both kind of bubble in cycles. I have the two billboards connected to push button controllers, but I have had them controlled using 670 electric track trips. I am thinking of dismantling the layout and assembling various Gilbert display layouts that fit my 6' × 10' platform rotating through different ones with their associated accessories and fully wired.

@@-MAILMAN That would be very interesting!

It is manufactured by Austin Birkey of Austin's American Flyer Trains RUclips channel. He makes 60°, 45° & 30° crossings. I have a pair of 60° & a pair of 30° crossings that I purchased from him. I am using only one of them, a 60°. If you check out some of my other videos you can see the 60° quite clearly and two 30° from an earlier layout. You can also see them as a thumbnail on Austin's channel.

Thank you.

Thank you Frank. I really don't understand why Lionel would drop that uncoupling sound. Lionel had me RMA when I told them about no coupler sound. The 2021 Baldwin's had the coupler sound, but the 2023 did not. Even the Lionel Tech had to go to the engineers to find out the sound was dropped from the 2023 line of Baldwins.

That just doesn’t make any sense why they would do that. How much could they possibly save by dropping that sound. I’m very sorry to hear that Mike.

@@TwistedMacGyversTrains No it doesn't.

Thank you. Glad you liked it. I do like the "diesel roar" and that switch that turns it off, but leaves the speaker for the diesel horn. I rarely turn off the "diesel roar" on my 471 or 21910-1

I haven't seen any new videos from your channel. Not a big fan of shorts. Baby sitting my granddaughter and watching an Elmo movie with Mandy Patkinin from "Criminal Minds" and they have some Lionel trains. He is a big Lionel guy and has a big O gauge layout in his attic.

Hi Mike, It’s been over 3 months since I’ve posted any videos due to heath reasons. I’ll be posting a new layout build very shortly. I’ll be tearing down the layout in my train room and rebuilding it around the walls to make it larger for longer trains. There’s nothing like spending time with your grandchildren. I have so many memories of my grandparents.

Did you get the same exact locomotive or a different American Flyer (A.C. Gilbert) steam locomotive? Depending upon which locomotive, assuming it has the smoke unit will have the smoke fluid added into a tube (brass or red plastic) in the smoke stack. Older locomotives can have a smoke unit in the tender where the oil is added to a plugged port on the tender. I don't have a smoke in tender smoke unit. Some locomotives did not have smoke units installed, just the choo choo piston and some had neither. I would suggest only 8-10 drops of smoke fluid. I use Lionel Unscented Premium Smoke Fluid 6-83280 as recommended to me by Precision Flyer Repair. Hope this helps.

Glad you like it.

Glad you enjoyed the video.

Thank you. It was a challenge until I got the correct wheel puller for this locomotive. After using the Gilbert factory reproduction quartering tool for an 0-8-0 to check the quartering and gauging of the eight wheels after the repair there is no longer a slight wobble of the locomotive running down the track. It goes through switches a lot better as well.

Thank you very much. I am learning more of the editing features of Windows Movie Maker to make better segments. Chose to use our old HD Sony Handycam (no auto focus and has manual zoom) instead of my phone. This little locomotive smokes so well at slow speed which is good because Dave Horn told me a few days ago that the diecast boiler is really tough on those small wheels so I don't think I will be opening up the throttle on thus 70 year old locomotive except maybe on straightaways without switches or crossings. The side linkage reminds me of a tiny dog trying to keep up with a big dog when I run it with the larger steam engines.

Thank you. It is fun to run and watch the complicated side rods operate.

Thank you. This locomotive had a lot wrong with it when I got it a year or so ago. It was missing some parts plus I think a previous owner dropped it necessitating me to gently and carefully bend and hammer (tap) the diecast back into shape/position using wood blocks opposite my force to prevent from bending too much. Tonight I found one spot on the boiler that I didn't get quite right because I discovered during this test run the left side bottom of the cab is brushing against the special rail sections for the action cars. Actually I have an older locomotive, CNW 4-6-2 #285 from 1952 that has a plastic boiler, sheet metal tender with a speaker for the steam whistle. I agree with you that the diecast locomotives look and seem to run better due to the weight. I communicated with Dave Horn from Precision Flyer Repair last week to ask how he compressed the wheel of an 0-8-0 because there is no specific compression tool for its wheels. He told me he used the metal compression tool made for the standard wheel because it has the depression for the inside part of the hub, so I did the same. He added that the diecast 4 part boiler is really tough on the smaller switcher wheels.