Introduction to Gilbert O Gauge

INTRODUCTION

Anyone hearing the words "Gilbert American Flyer" will immediately think of the S gauge line of trains that made the company famous in the post-WWII period.  But Gilbert first entered the tinplate train market in 1938 with a line of O gauge trains made to 3/16" scale that served as the essential basis for the much more successful postwar models.  These prewar trains were well designed and (mostly) well manufactured, and still have a lot of value for operation.

Of course, the objections are obvious.  In 3/16" scale, O gauge track corresponds to a gauge of 6' 8", which is absurd.  And nobody really likes three-rail track.  You can disguise the center rail with black paint, or other means of camouflage, but in the end you just have to avert your eyes and pretend it isn't there.

A. C. Gilbert got into the tinplate market by purchasing the American Flyer line from the Colemans in 1938.  Faced with the problems of moving production from Chicago to New Haven while continuing to sell the existing inventory, switching to a different gauge of track seemed out of the question.  He wanted to produce trains that were as accurate scale models as possible, like the HO line which he had just started.  It was apparent that 1/4" scale models would be too large for most consumers, and with some experimentation the designers decided to produce 3/16" scale models for O gauge track, in spite of the glaring width of the rails.  (Here's an entire catalog page explaining their thinking!)  The resulting models are an interesting study in compromise.  Whether the designers planned at this point for an eventual conversion to two-rail S track is hard to say.  But O gauge was probably the correct marketing choice, since anyone who already had O gauge trains from any manufacturer could add the new 3/16" scale trains to his layout.

Gilbert O gauge was produced for barely four years, from sometime in 1938 to the early days of 1942, when all production was converted to defense.  But it seems to have sold well, since a lot of these trains are still in existence in the hands of collectors and operators 80 years later.  And with proper care, they can be kept operating indefinitely.

 Set 4123

Gilbert also wanted to sell trains to more-or-less serious modelers, which could hardly be done with the Chicago AF line.  Among other things, many of the prewar locomotives and cars were available in kit form.  Whether these kits sold well, I don't know, but I doubt it.  And in any case the postwar trains were never available as kits.

Gilbert HO is another interesting topic.  That's been well covered at this site.

In what follows, the reader is assumed to have a basic familiarity with American Flyer S gauge.

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REFERENCES

Gilbert AF Catalogs for 1939, 1940, and 1941
Railroading with American Flyer   (1940 booklet, reprinted by Don Heimburger)
Greenberg Guide to American Flyer O Gauge

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Locomotives - Overview
Locomotives - Hudson

Locomotives - Northern
Locomotives - Pennsylvania K-5
Locomotives - B&O Pacific
Locomotives - Atlantic
Locomotives - NKP Switcher
Passenger Cars - 400 Series
Passenger Cars - 500 Series
Freight Cars - 400 Series
Freight Cars - 500 Series
Accessories - Overview
Accessories - Track
My Layout
Test Track
Odds and Ends

Locomotives - Overview

PREWAR LOCOMOTIVES

In the prewar period, Gilbert produced six different 3/16" scale locomotives, with some variations.  All of these were steam outline, and had diecast boilers with weights.  All of them were carried over into the post-war period with S gauge running gear, and until 1950 these were the only locomotives in the catalogs.

Two appeared in 1939: the NYC Hudson and the UP Northern.
Two appeared in 1940: the Pennsylvania K-5 and the B&O Royal Blue (torpedo) Pacifics.
    (These both appeared with lower-cost 4-4-2 versions in 1940 only.)
Two appeared in 1941: the Reading Atlantic and the NKP 0-8-0 switcher.

The numbering scheme for these engines has absolutely no pattern that I can discern.  Where separate tenders were offered, they were numbered one less than the first version of the engine itself.

The Hudson, Northern, and Pacifics all had electrical pickup on the frame of the locomotive, as did previous Chicago production.  The Atlantic and 0-8-0 were the first to have electrical pickups mounted on the tender trucks, with a single wire running to the engine.  All prewar locomotives had the reversers in the boiler, of course.

Because of the way electrical pickup works on three-rail track, I find that track cleaning is hardly ever necessary, unlike S gauge.  All wheels on cars or locomotives are metal, and therefore on an engine there are two sliding contacts on the center rail, and the contact with the outer rail is made via the four flanged drivers and all pony wheels.  Lighted cars typically have a single slider, but still they work more reliably than S gauge cars.

Complete examples of the NKP 0-8-0 are extremely difficult to find.  Greenberg said that there were no known operating engines of this type.  I don't have one, to be sure.  There was probably only one production run, and it had several problems with defective casting, particularly the engine frame.  Of course, these problems were solved in postwar production and the S gauge switcher was very successful.

DIRECTIONAL REMOTE CONTROL

Gilbert introduced an interesting new feature in its 3/16" line called either DRC or RDC.  Whereas previous Chicago production, and much of Gilbert's O gauge line, used a standard 4-step reversing mechanism, DRC added a DC-operated relay to change the way the system cycled.  In a normal 4-step reverser, familiar to anyone who's operated S gauge trains, the activating coil is connected to the power from the track, and advances the drum one-quarter turn each time the power is turned on.  When the train is running, the coil is always energized.  If you want the train to always go forward, a locking lever is used to keep the drum from rotating.  This system has its drawbacks.

In DRC, an additional activating coil is added which pulls down a contact only when a DC pulse is applied to the track.  That contact is connected to the coil in the reverser itself, and so the reverser advances only when a DC pulse is applied.  The DC pulse is provided by a separate DRC control button, and this enables the operator to control the direction of movement more conveniently.

DRC parts (L to R) the motor, DC relay, reverser, and headlight

DRC was available only in the Hudson, Northern, and K-5 models*.  The boiler for a DRC model will not have the slot for the reverser locking lever, but it will have a small hole over the DC relay.  By pushing a pin or small nail into the hole, you can cycle the reverser by hand.  The utility of this is not obvious to me, I must admit.

The DRC system was also used to control the whistling baggage car.  The DC relay and the reverser are exactly the same; the only difference is in the wiring.   Whereas the reverser normally is wired forward-neutral-reverse-neutral, on the whistling baggage car it's just on-off-on-off.  You cannot run a whistling baggage car in a train with a DRC locomotive.

This is an excellent control system, and I do not know why Gilbert dropped it in the post-war period.  I have three operating DRC locomotives, and they work as reliably as any post-war standard reverser.  You need an original DRC control button to make it work, but it beats having to either lock the locomotive in forward or cycle the reverser each time.  When you push the DRC button, if for instance the locomotive has just cycled into forward, the motor will give a small push in the forward direction without moving the train.  This makes it easy to keep track of where you are in the reverse sequence.  With standard remote control, when you apply power to an unlocked engine you can't be sure what will happen.

For information on the 540 DRC control button, see under "Accessories - Track".

CHUGGING TENDER

None of the prewar engines ever had smoke or choo-choo sounds, but Gilbert produced chugging tenders that came with some sets, and could be purchased separately to upgrade existing locomotives.  An example is shown in the article on the 565 Atlantic.



* and, the catalog says, the 575 NKP 0-8-0, but it was evidently never produced.

Locomotives - Catalog Listing

		1939		1940		1941
NYC 4-6-4 (320)	DRC	564 (5640)	$26.00	531	$20.00	531+563C	$23.00
	DRC Kit	K564	$20.00	K531	$15.00	K531	$17.50
	RC			570	$17.50	570+563C	$21.00
	Tender					563
	Tender (Chug)					563C	$6.50
UP 4-8-4 (330)	DRC	568 (806)	$36.50	534	$25.00	534+567C	$31.00
	DRC Kit	K568	$27.50	K534	$20.00	K534	$22.50
	RC			572	$22.50	572	$25.00
	Tender					567
	Tender (Chug)					567C	$8.50
B&O 4-6-2 (350)	RC			556	$11.00	556	$7.90
	RC 4-4-2			553	$6.75
	Tender					555
	Tender (Chug)					555C	$5.50
PRR 4-6-2 (310)	DRC			559	$17.50	559
	DRC Kit			K559	$12.50	K559	$12.50
	RC			561	$15.00	561+558C	$16.00
	RC 4-4-2			545	$8.75
	Tender					558
	Tender (Chug)					558C	$6.50
RDG 4-4-2 (300)	RC					565	$9.90
	Tender					564
	Tender (Chug)					564C	$5.50
NKP 0-8-0 (340)	DRC					575	$25.40
	RC					574	$21.00
	Tender (Bell)					573B

Numbers in blue are items in the collection, pictured below.

Prices in italics were not listed separately, but can be calculated from set prices.

Uncataloged numbers were also evidently produced, but the information here is sketchy at best.  For instance, the 571 Northern occasionally appears on listings, with worm drive and DRC.  So that appears to be otherwise identical to the 534.

Locomotives - Hudson

The first 3/16" locomotive to be produced was the New York Central J-3a Hudson in 1939, the prototype of which had appeared in 1937 with considerable fanfare.  (Gilbert produced an HO J-3a in 1938, and it remained the only prewar HO locomotive.)  In the 1939 catalog, the O gauge Hudson is listed as 564, but the model is pictured as numbered 5405, which was the prototype number of the first J-3a.  However, all surviving examples of this locomotive appear to be numbered 5640, which was never an actual prototype number, but closer than 564.

Set 4022

Gear Drive

The first production models used a spur gear drive, taken over from the Chicago AF locomotives.  This seems to work well enough.  There were often quality-control problems with the diecast boilers and other diecast parts on these early locomotives, and sometimes the parts just seem to crumble into pieces.  But other examples are still in excellent condition. 

This model was produced with DRC (Directional Remote Control).  The Hudson was available as a kit.

#564 with gear drive.  Cab number is 5640.  Note RH machine screw in firebox for attaching frame.  Also, the turbo generator on the boiler immediately in front of the firebox is a separate casting, attached with a machine screw.

On left side, note the brush holders above the drivers.  

Note that this particular engine had parts of the cab roof broken off; it's been epoxied back together.

Spur gear mechanism for the 564

Worm Drive

Production later shifted to the worm-drive motor, the basic design of which remained unchanged for most S gauge steam locomotive production.  Starting in 1940, the Hudson with DRC was cataloged as 531, and the standard remote control version as 570.  These model numbers appeared on the cab.  The 531 was available as a kit.

The boiler is basically unchanged; the frame mounting changed to the system later used on the S gauge versions, and the turbo is now part of the casting.

The armature can barely be seen above the trailing truck.  The oil pan for the drive gear is held on with a screw.  The pickup contacts are an improved design.

Tender

Tender design remained unchanged.  In fact, the tender design was basically unchanged through the S gauge era, except for the trucks, of course.  As with most O gauge locomotives, the tender has no real function and is basically along for the ride.

S gauge compared to O gauge

Locomotives - Northern

The second 3/16" locomotive to appear in 1939 was the Union Pacific Northern 800-series.  These, of course, were the largest steam locomotives American Flyer would ever produce. 

 

Like the Hudson, the first production models used a spur gear drive.  The model was cataloged as 568 and came with DRC.  The cab number was 806; this was the number of the prototype that was used in UP publicity photographs.

Gear Drive

Unfortunately, I don't have an example of this model, but here are some pictures from an online auction.

Worm Drive

Like the Hudson, the Northern was later converted to worm drive.  In 1940 and 41, the DRC model was cataloged as 534 and the standard remote control version as 572.  These numbers were applied to the cab.  The DRC version was available in kit form.

These models had some of the same problems with quality control of the castings that plagued pre-war production.  It may not be immediately obvious, but the boiler on this engine is slightly bent just ahead of the firebox, and the cab is offset to the left.  This seems to be a common problem.  More seriously, when it was acquired, the diecast floor of the tender was badly bent upwards in the middle, making it unusable.  An attempt to straighten the floor resulted in breaking it in two.   It was then epoxied back together, and has been operating ever since.  The break is very hard to notice.

With the boiler weights, this is an extremely heavy locomotive.  The engine alone is 4 lb 9 oz, and with the tender it's an even 6 lb. That's a lot for a 3/16" scale model!

The 534 is the 40-41 DRC version of the Northern.

Set 4023

The tender design with six-wheel trucks remained with AF models until the end.  Later versions of the UP 800's had pedestal tenders, but that would have made an impractical model for AF's 20" curves.

The bend in the boiler is easier to see when the locomotive is coupled to the tender.

Prewar vs postwar

(The 332's tender should be lettered AMERICAN FLYER, but this was painted out by a previous owner, i.e. prior to 1958)

Locomotives - Pennsylvania K-5

The Pennsylvania K-5 Pacific was introduced in the 1940 catalog in both DRC and standard remote control versions.  The DRC version was numbered 559 and was available in kit form.  The standard reverse version was numbered 561.

Set 4011

But sometimes parts would be interchanged.  This model is lettered 561, but it has a DRC mechanism and different boiler weights.  The slot in the boiler for the reverse locking lever (not used for DRC) is blocked by one of these weights.  In any case, it works well and reverses reliably.

In 1940 only, the same boiler was available with a four-drivered running gear at a reduced cost in starter sets.  This version runs very well, indeed faster, and is one of the better running engines in the prewar roster.  It was sold with a Chicago tinplate tender, evidently surplus production.

But a 558 tender makes an improvement, I think.  In O gauge, switching tenders is no problem.

Of course, there was never an S gauge version of the 545.