# new guy here saying hi



## dicgolfer72 (Dec 4, 2015)

hi all 
last year after getting married and (wife came with 2 kids) my dad let me have his old AF set to setup for the holidays and well, I caught the bug 

after deciding to save my dads set from wear and tear I scoured craigs list and the local train shops and came up with 2 sets 

and gave my dad back his sets 
for safe keeping

this is his old set's















and now here is the stuff I have brought together part by part
to make my own 2 sets 
one set to hand down to each of my step kids
(and now this year I'm on the hunt again for our new now 8 month old son lol)











just picked this big boy yesterday to run our dual track layout for the holiday


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

Hello and welcome.. Your Dad's set is nice, and it's one of my favorite engines. I have 3 312's, and they are great running engines.....Your 302 is one of the best little engines out there, in my opinion.. I think I have around 20 or so of them. Before you run it, make sure you lightly oil it, and put smoke fluid in the smoke stack. You don't want to run it dry, you'll burn it up. The little red Docksider looks to be a home-made, or kit-bashed unit...:appl:


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## longbow57ca (Oct 26, 2015)

Hello, Wow what a nice set of American Flyer trains you have there and nice #18B transformer to run your train with. Those American Flyer trains will last you a long time. Your Father had a good eye American Flyer trains. I hope you and your family enjoy running them. Thanks longbow57ca.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Welcome to the forum, you started with a bang, nice collection!


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## dicgolfer72 (Dec 4, 2015)

flyernut said:


> Hello and welcome.. Your Dad's set is nice, and it's one of my favorite engines. I have 3 312's, and they are great running engines.....Your 302 is one of the best little engines out there, in my opinion.. I think I have around 20 or so of them. Before you run it, make sure you lightly oil it, and put smoke fluid in the smoke stack. You don't want to run it dry, you'll burn it up. The little red Docksider looks to be a home-made, or kit-bashed unit...:appl:




I bought the little red docksider engine from a local train shop NIB(probably paid to much at $100) 
I bought it since I snagged the red new heaven passenger cars at a thrift store and
they had been converted from link couplers to knuckle couplers
so I needed an engine to run them since the 302 is link couplers

the little red 2013 docksider is a pretty impressive little engine it pulls the heavy passenger cars without any signs of heat or slow down and its a fast little sucker
the only thing I don't like about it is the smoke is kinda week 

I just need to find a red new heaven operating mail car and caboose to finish of that set (did they make a red version of the royal blue engine that would be sweet with the red new heaven passenger cars)


the 302 engine and rolling stock on it was a mix and match set also
I got the engine from an antique store for 20$ the smoke has never worked on it pretty sure its burnt out 
then picked up the caboose and gondola on ebay as a lot for 15$
and then bought the coal dump car at another local train store for $40

the little 302 is a great strong runner but the stupid front 4 wheels keep derailing 
according to most of the pics I see it did not have a spring on the set

but the 313 and 312 in my dads set do have a spring and they do not have this problem 
should I source a spring


that was all last year


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## dicgolfer72 (Dec 4, 2015)

moving on to this year 

last week I unpacked everything 
only to find out that I was using my dads track for the second train and only had enough track in my boxes for one oval

soo off to the train store and bought 4 37 inch straight track sections 
and 8 corners 
I cut one of the 37 inch straight tracks down to 12 inch sections 

so now I have a large oval 
setup with brand new track 
I used a 12 inch section to extend the curve and then full 37 inch section for the straight away 
man does new track make a difference on the trains performance 
lol

my inner track is all vintage original track 
its 
an oval with 12 curved sections and 6 straight 
even after 2 days of track cleaning you can still tell the difference in performance 

after getting it all setup cars and engines lubed and cleaned 

I find out one of my AF 8b transformers will not go all the way into shut down when at 0
so it made trying to reverse the trains a total PIA 

so yesterday I ran out and gave an arm and a leg for that 18B at a local train store (totally worth it though lol) paid a whopping 130$ (if I would have waited there is a 18b on ebay now at 35$)



today I just won a ton of stuff on ebay and now have a set for my son (lol running out of room in the living room for more track might have to build a bridge so we can walk over the train set lol)

picked up this little set for him
$36.15 shipped 



then got this rolling stock to add to it for 
78.50 shipped




and then some dirty crusty track for 
40$ (I paid to much for it but I really wanted the box and the track clips)




also picked up this guy to add to my 302 engine set waiting on a 633 to end as well


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

All nice cars.. For what's it's worth, I have a huge lot of track on ebay right now for S gauge.. It needs a lot of cleaning, and some of it is missing pins, ties etc. Still worth the opening bid... No bids, no watchers...


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## dicgolfer72 (Dec 4, 2015)

cool ill take a look 
I'm stuck at my store all day today 
itching to get home and finish up our layout under the tree

this is what I have done so far 
https://youtu.be/4BNi4EPmIzM


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## dicgolfer72 (Dec 4, 2015)

opps pc double posted


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

dicgolfer72 said:


> cool ill take a look
> I'm stuck at my store all day today
> itching to get home and finish up our layout under the tree
> 
> ...


Coooool..


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## longbow57ca (Oct 26, 2015)

Hello, You have nice set of American Flyer trains. I hope you have a lot fun with them under the Christmas tree and I hope you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family. Thanks longbow57ca.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

flyernut said:


> All nice cars.. For what's it's worth, I have a huge lot of track on ebay right now for S gauge.. It needs a lot of cleaning, and some of it is missing pins, ties etc. Still worth the opening bid... No bids, no watchers...


dicgolfer72,Welcome new S Man, looks like you are rapidly expanding your stable.:thumbsup:

Flyernut, what did you do find them in the swamp?









Put your link in,
A link to Flyernut's auction, http://www.ebay.com/itm/American-fl...003107?hash=item35f6bf5d63:g:QtUAAOSwwE5WYJvM

dicgolfer72 As bad as these might look they can be cleaned up, the hardest part looks to be the ties. No steel wool for the rails, I wouldn't use sandpaper either, use a green kitchen brite boy pad with some naphtha for any track. then when your done wipe it off real good with some Isopropanol.

Some will intentionally rust their rail to get the look of what he is selling, Then they are weathered. The tops of the rail are the only thing that need to be real clean to run the trains.
But I would guess that you want nice clean rail?
With some work that can be cleaned up. And the camera exaggerates the rust making it look worse then it is. At least my camera does.

Take your time buying on e bay, most of the time another item of the same thing will be on in a week. And in better shape for a better price.
Learn the values and bid accordingly.

Most of all have a little fun.:smokin:


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

big ed said:


> dicgolfer72,Welcome new S Man, looks like you are rapidly expanding your stable.:thumbsup:
> 
> Flyernut, what did you do find them in the swamp?
> 
> ...


And Bgf Ed comes through again,lol...I had to tramp through the Bergen Swamp to find this stuff.. Some of it came from the money pit at Oak island,lol. Check out the Bergen Swamp.. I believe it's the only area that has the pygmy Mississauga rattlesnake in the US. Bad place, many people have been lost there.


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## dicgolfer72 (Dec 4, 2015)

lol 

saw the listing I think I'm done with original track 
the new track I bought from the local train shop is just soooooo much smoother 
the old track keeps walking on me so I had to put a rug under the tree last night 

and the train on the old track keeps derailing 
on that subject 
the 302 engine I'm running on that track has no spring on the front truck 
did it ever have one 
the other 2 engines I have do have a spring in-between the truck and the under side of the train 


on a up note I tore apart the 302 and the smoke unit was intact
but the little red plastic piece at the top was not in the hole 
so I doubt any smoke fluid was reaching the wick and who knows how long it had been that way 

I soaked the wick in smoke fluid last night 
and bam this morning lots of billowing smoke is coming out of the engine now weeee ! lol

I went crazy over the weekend on ebay and so I have lots of goodies on the way


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

dicgolfer72 said:


> lol
> 
> saw the listing I think I'm done with original track
> the new track I bought from the local train shop is just soooooo much smoother
> ...


New wick kits can be bought at PortLines, as well as the red smokestacks. The flyer smoke units are bullet-proof, as you can attest by. If original, that smoke unit is well over 60 years old, and still going. A testament to Gilbert stuff. You shouldn't need a spring, but one can be bought. Just "wind" it on the stud.. Yep my track is a mess, it's taking up space here at home...Have you tried the GarGraves flex track in S gauge??? Nice stuff, I know the family who makes it..


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## Aflyer (Nov 10, 2010)

dicgolfer72,
Sorry I am so late to the party here. Loved your thread, and happy to see you have the S Gauge train disease.

You have quite a collection going there, and it seems to be growing on a daily basis. LOL

Aflyer


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## dicgolfer72 (Dec 4, 2015)

lol thanks

got my in box track and the 21165 erie engine set I paid 24$ plus shipping for 

man I'm glad I didn't pay any more for it lol
all the rolling stock is 100% plastic and all have the crappy pikemaster non working couplers
and don't get me started onhow crappy the engine and tender feel 
they just look and feel cheap


on the up side at least its a runner I have to keep it at half throttle or it jumps the track on the turns

I picked it up so I could use the engine with the Disney cars for my 8 month old sons train set 
but at this point I may just convert one of the 4 link coupler engines I have coming in the mail to a knuckle coupler for him 


looks like American flyer went down hill at some point then climbed back

my old 302 engine is a sturdy well built machine that feels like it will last forever 

the 21165 feels like some toy train bought from target

then the 2013 holiday switcher I have feels well made and heavy and even though its shell is plastic its a high grade plastic and looks like it will last forever


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