My first train was an S gauge American Flyer in 1958. By then all A.F. came with knuckle couplers. In the mid 1980s, I gave that first train to my son and we set off in an adventure with American Flyer trains. Much of what we bought was from the link coupler era. I just replaced link couplers on one end of many of the older cars with a knuckle coupler, and used those cars as adaptor cars. Many of us who operate American Flyer trains do the same thing. From WWII to the early 1960s the A.C. Gilbert produces American Flyer trains battled toe to toe with the Lionel trains. I never understood why more of my friends had Lionel than American Flyer, but that was the way it was. I am a very visual person and the three rail track and the very clearly too short Lionel cars really bothered me. I started all over again in model railroading in December of 2020 and never even considered getting anything other than American Flyer. To me, S gauge/scale of the best of all the sizes. The A.C. Gilbert company, overall, was very innovative will all of the product lines the company produced.
Lionel had some wonderful ideas, non-derailing switches, and remote-control knuckle couplers that look an operate like the real ones, smoke, and whistles. I have a few tinplate Flyers and they look neat and are reliable.
My first train was an S gauge American Flyer in 1958. By then all A.F. came with knuckle couplers. In the mid 1980s, I gave that first train to my son and we set off in an adventure with American Flyer trains. Much of what we bought was from the link coupler era. I just replaced link couplers on one end of many of the older cars with a knuckle coupler, and used those cars as adaptor cars. Many of us who operate American Flyer trains do the same thing. From WWII to the early 1960s the A.C. Gilbert produces American Flyer trains battled toe to toe with the Lionel trains. I never understood why more of my friends had Lionel than American Flyer, but that was the way it was. I am a very visual person and the three rail track and the very clearly too short Lionel cars really bothered me. I started all over again in model railroading in December of 2020 and never even considered getting anything other than American Flyer. To me, S gauge/scale of the best of all the sizes.
The A.C. Gilbert company, overall, was very innovative will all of the product lines the company produced.
Lionel had some wonderful ideas, non-derailing switches, and remote-control knuckle couplers that look an operate like the real ones, smoke, and whistles. I have a few tinplate Flyers and they look neat and are reliable.
Interesting comments. Thanks for posting