# American Flyer 944 crane



## Enginecompany4 (Aug 29, 2009)

Fellow collectors and railroad lovers. I was fortunate enough to locate an American Flyer # 944 crane car with the so called "reverse lettering" 
( opposite end from normal). I have one of the more common type for comparison and I am certain that the item is not a repro or fake.
The standard catalog of American FlyerTrains lists this item as "Too rarely traded to accurately establish pricing".
Can any AF experts out there hazard a guess as to how many of these actually are known? I have had no luck whatsoever finding much info on this item. Thank you for your time and I am looking forward to learning much more about model railroading from this site.........


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*Train Economics*

First the 944 I am guessing is prewar vintage. What's the value of a common one. Doyle Book of Lionel Trains Prewar had a discription that a rare variation was three times the price and and very rare five times the price. That is ball park to answer your question.
Your question facinates me because it contains two important items, knowledge and credibility of a seller.
You obviously know what it is but is it worth the price. That's up to you.
If you are a serious collector you need to join the TCA or a similar group. That will give you access to information. As a member you will be dealing with credible sellers. An analogy would be if you play golf with the pros you have to be a member of the club.. Me, I am strickly low end, the rare is interesting but purchasing will only happen by circumstance. The condition would be far from mint. I use opportunity as a key.I have a local pawn shop with some classic trains. But they are double the price. Antique shops have surprized me, most of the time they are highly priced but I get lucky.

You should bone up on national train auctions, TCA has some yearly shows. To sum up train economics sometimes you buy high, sometimes low, and hopefully it all evens out.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Welcome to the forum. None of my manuals even mentions it, I couldn't even venture a guess. Got any pics?


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## Enginecompany4 (Aug 29, 2009)

T-man the item is from 1952-57'.
I'll follow shaygetz' advice and try to get a pic of both on here today.
As for the price, I payed the same as what one would pay for a common type in C-7 ( $50.00) so no matter what, I didn't get hurt on this one. And truly I didn't really buy it for resale..... you all know how that goes!


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Neat, I didn't find a picture but found this discussion on the original set.  An older thread was inaccessable on how to thread it up.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Would this be it?
Sorry get your magnifying glass. I couldn't make it bigger.

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=566&stc=1&d=1251845710


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Hint
If you paste the http line in the postcard block when in advanced settings the picture will show up. Just delete the http that is already in the block.


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## Enginecompany4 (Aug 29, 2009)

Yeah, big Ed has a small pic of it only on my latest arrival the lettering on the chassis , which is dove gray is on the opposite end ( American Flyer 944, in black letters)
Interesting indeed.


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