Customer Reviews

American Flyer: Classic Toy Trains

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It has been a while since I had a book I could not put down. This book gives you the complete story of American Flyer trains and competition in the toy train industry. The complete history from the original O and Standard Gauge trains produced by W.O. Coleman and friendship and eventual sale to A.C. Gilbert spans 3/4th of a century. Many of the staff of the original company worked for Gilbert and were influential in the development of 3/16 scale trains. The conversion from three rail to two rail track driven by A.C.Gilbert's goal to produce the most realistic model trains made. Well written and lots of excellent photos. You won't find photos of everything the company ever made, but you will find a page turning text that will entertain and inform from cover to cover

As a longtime Gilbert American Flyer fan, I got six copies of this book as gifts from well-meaning friends -- after buying a copy myself at a book-signing.

Upon close scrutiny the book's shortcomings were evident. IMHO, they wasted too much valuable four-color photo space on expensive, coated stock with multiple pictures of the same locomotives. The photo editor went for the "dreamy" look -- vignettes with a very, very shallow (one-inch) depth of field with the locomotive pointed head-on into the lens. The editorial copy was equally shallow.

The editorial copy has far too many errors, meaning that the authors and/or publisher never had someone with even a basic knowledge about Flyer check the manuscript. To wit, there is a photo of a Lionel pre-war M10000 in the book and it is identified as American Flyer.

This book looks nice, but is carelessly slapped together. I would also apply the tag of "punch-press journalism" to this American Flyer book. The cover -- which sells 60 percent of books -- is warm and fuzzy and is designed solely to appeal to impulse buyers. Unfortunately, as I said I've received six more as gifts from well-intentioned folks who know my love of Flyer.

So, if you want a useful book on Flyer and don't want to waste your money, buy a used copy of any one of the three out-of-print Greenberg books or the one written by Paul C. Nelson. But the Souter & Souter tome lacks both sizzle and steak.

To most people American Flyer is synonymous with A.C. Gilbert and his slightly smaller than the big name in toy trains products. But that's only the last third of a storied company's history. I wouldn't say this is the definitive work on the American Flyer company but it almost does justice to it, especially if your interest is in the company before A.C. Gilbert bought and transformed it. And, to those who assume the cover displays the competition's product, sorry, it IS an American Flyer train from 1936 -- and probably a better representation of the original than the more common version by the competition.

"American Flyer-Classic Toy Trains" is a book to explain your hobby to those who golf. The outstanding pictures are wonderful to look at, but some comments do not reflect what is shown. The text is rich with information, much of it new to many collectors.
Far from being a complete, precise telling of the whole American Flyer history, it is an impressive review and a good start at a subject that would need ten times the depth of this book to cover. A very good effort, worthy of owning, and hopefully a door opening to more in the future on this complex subject.