The American Flyer is in all likelihood the most popular of all model train series. They did reach their peaks around the 40's and another peak in the 60's, they had been around a long time. Their popularity is also skyrocketing today too and they are, I feel they are going to be hanging around another 100 years!
A toy maker in Chicago addressed as William Hafner, in the very early 20th century developed a model train built on a clockwork motor, actually for the use in toy cars. By about 1905 however he made up his mind to put them into use in model trains as well. Luckily he did, the car did not sell as well as trains.
William Hafner share the exact same name as his best friend, William Coleman approached a small manufacturer of hardware, Edmonds-Metzel. They used this organization to start producing trains in 1907.
They were first commercialized under the name of Edmond Metzel trains, because they were so hot on demand they required a entirely new name and they came up with the name of the American Flyer. This came about in 1910. Even the name of the hardware firm they were using had also changed its name to incorporate the American Flyer name in it.
They started selling like hot cakes for some reasons. They were quite cheaper then some other popular makes of model trains at the time and because they were also quite a bit more realistic then more budget style model trains of the time.
Mr William Hafner left the organisation around 1913. He used the cash he had already made and built his own organisation. Colemans American Flyer Trains. It did well for quite some time around the first world war. There were no competition because of the war. In 1938 right before the break out of the second world war, the founders son with the same name,took over the business after his father died in 1918 sold the American Flyer to a firm called A C Gilbert Company. Gilbert already had experience in producing toys, but he has no idea anything about trains.
At the same time he decided to moved the organisation from Chicago where it was set up to New Haven in Connecticut where he stayed. He also begun to drastically re design the American Flyer and turned it into an S-scale model train in 1939. This scale is a modification of the popular O scale or model which was then the leader on the market.
The S-scale was much smaller then the O-scale and this made it more well known known with enthusiasts as it needed less room to setup a proper track. The scale is 1:64, substantially smaller then the O-scale yet still very detailed and accurate.
He too made some other change in 1946 that improved the realisticness of the American flyer more so. Model trains, electric model trains at that time had been run on 3 rail tracks. Not practical. He changed it so they ran on 2 rail tracks, much like their huge counterparts. These tracks had 7/8th inches between each rail. This made the trains function better as well.
However, television was starting to take hold at this time too. This distracted many from their hobbies they would commonly spend their spare time on. Likewise at this time, discount chain shops came into play, discounting train sets that enterprises like A C Gilbert could not compete with. in 1962, Gilbert traded the American Flyer to Wrather Group. This enterprise made toys as well, but most of the time on a large scale and tended to make poor quality as well. Sales of course fell through the floor and in 1967 the firm went bankrupt.
A superior toy train maker and the market leader at time, Lionel Corporation bought the American Flyer. This company itself was having difficulty with finances as well and they too went bankrupt in 1969, so they sold off the rights to the American Flyer to some other manufacturer, General Mills.
This corporation, General Mills, started trading numerous of the designs of the original designed Gilbert American Flyer, it however sold off everything it purchased from then Lionel Corp to Kenner, who then in turn sold the corporation to a man named Richard Kughn. This happened in 1985.
Mr Richard Kughn had enomous success with the firm and design for eleven years, but he sold out in 1996 to a enterprise called Wellspring Partners, who then took on the original name of Lionel and called themselves Lionel LLC, which still functions now.
They sell the S-scale American Flyer still. They were at first concentrating on selling some other scale models, but they started selling more of American Flyer in 2002.
The American Flyer nowadays is more then a hundred years old and has gone through many different hands. Its popularity is still going strong and while it fluctuates, this model train and scale is going no where fast. - 16955
A toy maker in Chicago addressed as William Hafner, in the very early 20th century developed a model train built on a clockwork motor, actually for the use in toy cars. By about 1905 however he made up his mind to put them into use in model trains as well. Luckily he did, the car did not sell as well as trains.
William Hafner share the exact same name as his best friend, William Coleman approached a small manufacturer of hardware, Edmonds-Metzel. They used this organization to start producing trains in 1907.
They were first commercialized under the name of Edmond Metzel trains, because they were so hot on demand they required a entirely new name and they came up with the name of the American Flyer. This came about in 1910. Even the name of the hardware firm they were using had also changed its name to incorporate the American Flyer name in it.
They started selling like hot cakes for some reasons. They were quite cheaper then some other popular makes of model trains at the time and because they were also quite a bit more realistic then more budget style model trains of the time.
Mr William Hafner left the organisation around 1913. He used the cash he had already made and built his own organisation. Colemans American Flyer Trains. It did well for quite some time around the first world war. There were no competition because of the war. In 1938 right before the break out of the second world war, the founders son with the same name,took over the business after his father died in 1918 sold the American Flyer to a firm called A C Gilbert Company. Gilbert already had experience in producing toys, but he has no idea anything about trains.
At the same time he decided to moved the organisation from Chicago where it was set up to New Haven in Connecticut where he stayed. He also begun to drastically re design the American Flyer and turned it into an S-scale model train in 1939. This scale is a modification of the popular O scale or model which was then the leader on the market.
The S-scale was much smaller then the O-scale and this made it more well known known with enthusiasts as it needed less room to setup a proper track. The scale is 1:64, substantially smaller then the O-scale yet still very detailed and accurate.
He too made some other change in 1946 that improved the realisticness of the American flyer more so. Model trains, electric model trains at that time had been run on 3 rail tracks. Not practical. He changed it so they ran on 2 rail tracks, much like their huge counterparts. These tracks had 7/8th inches between each rail. This made the trains function better as well.
However, television was starting to take hold at this time too. This distracted many from their hobbies they would commonly spend their spare time on. Likewise at this time, discount chain shops came into play, discounting train sets that enterprises like A C Gilbert could not compete with. in 1962, Gilbert traded the American Flyer to Wrather Group. This enterprise made toys as well, but most of the time on a large scale and tended to make poor quality as well. Sales of course fell through the floor and in 1967 the firm went bankrupt.
A superior toy train maker and the market leader at time, Lionel Corporation bought the American Flyer. This company itself was having difficulty with finances as well and they too went bankrupt in 1969, so they sold off the rights to the American Flyer to some other manufacturer, General Mills.
This corporation, General Mills, started trading numerous of the designs of the original designed Gilbert American Flyer, it however sold off everything it purchased from then Lionel Corp to Kenner, who then in turn sold the corporation to a man named Richard Kughn. This happened in 1985.
Mr Richard Kughn had enomous success with the firm and design for eleven years, but he sold out in 1996 to a enterprise called Wellspring Partners, who then took on the original name of Lionel and called themselves Lionel LLC, which still functions now.
They sell the S-scale American Flyer still. They were at first concentrating on selling some other scale models, but they started selling more of American Flyer in 2002.
The American Flyer nowadays is more then a hundred years old and has gone through many different hands. Its popularity is still going strong and while it fluctuates, this model train and scale is going no where fast. - 16955
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