Hello, I thought I would spend a few minutes in order to introduce myself. I signed up for this board a week or two ago and have just been lurking so far. I'm quickly finding this is one active list!
I was first introduced to American Flyer in the early 1970s with my Dad's set. We used to set it up every year under the Christmas tree or on the floor in the basement. Between this and my Grandpa's stories of the steam era, this is what got me hooked on railroads, an interest which has only grown over the years. Still in my youth at one point I "wanted a diesel (locomotive)" so my parents bought me an HO Scale set for Christmas about 1974. The HO layout was up year round while the Flyer continued to be set up only at Christmas time, for the most part. When I left home for college, the HO layout came down for good and despite joining the model railroad club at Penn State, I chose to largely focus on the prototype (in terms of operations and history). The prototype is still my prime interest (in fact, I'm working on a book on the New York Central's Beech Creek District, hence my e-mail addy) but I'm getting the Flyer bug again. Maybe it is a wave of nostalgia or some sort of calling to come back to the roots of my railroad interest. Anyhow, I hope to get my Dad's old set up and running again, as a more permanent pike. I know I'm going to have a wealth of work--for example the locomotive (the 290) and handcar haven't run since Christmas 1994 (and there was a several years' long dry spell before that). The accessories, which I did not play with as a youth, probably haven't been used since my Dad operated them in the early 1950s. In general, this equipment is going to need a major cleaning and oiling, for starters. Based on what I've read on this list so far it seems there are a ton of experts here so please bear with me if I ask some very basic questions in the coming days. Best regards, Jeff Feldmeier Allen Park, MI S-Trains list sponsor: http://www.americanflyertrains.com All the Flyer you desire...books and accessories too! To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list send a note to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
