How to - Origami

You want to know what’s really at the vanguard of model train hobby?  What gauges do avid model trainers lust after?  What gauge of toy locomotive do collectors go gaga for?  Alright, here it is: s scale model railroads.  Yeah, that’s right, s gauge?  You don’t even know what size that is, do you?   You couldn’t confirm for me if that is as big as g gauge locomotive or as small as an n scale, huh?  Alright, well let me set you straight on the nitty-gritty on these before you start hearing about them in the news:

Here’s a blast from the past, these s gauge trains are “American Flyers”:  

This style of locomotives has been enshrined in the hall of fame of model trains.  Nostalgia explains a lot.  American Flyer’s s scale trains had their hey-day right after the Big One when the baby boomers were starting to sprout up.  This was in huge part an attempt to challenge Lionel who was the top dog through the 50’s. S gauge is an “inbetween” gauge, way bigger than HO but smaller than Lionel’s O.  Real world trains are 64 times huger than s gauge toys whereas real world trains are 48 times the size of Lionel’s O.   These are still pretty hefty locomotives but not so much so that you would have to have them only outside. These locomotives are a lot of fun to color and decal.

You don’t stumble  across s gauge much these days:  

Since American Flyer in effect created s scale and then went out of business just a few years after, you don’t run across it much.  American Flyers are simply the only type of locomotives that were mass produced in this gauge and even American Flyers were only produced in this gauge for a brief period just after the Big One. That means there are not that many of them.   Because of the law of supply and demand, American Flyers short life span has raised the demand for their parts and sets.   This has made American Flyer the Holy Grail of model trains for many hobbyists.

American Flyers are about to hit the model train market again:  

American Flyer’s adversary Lionel bought them out in the 60’s and is now looking to revitalize both brands by releasing the vintage 1950’s models that continue to be so loved by hobbyists.  The fantastic success of these releases has driven Lionel to commit to reproduce the s scale trains that avid fans are so in love with.  It might not be long before we have to make room for s gauge as yet another common size in the model training world.

So if you want to get in front of this wave, now’s the time.  If you want to say “I told you so” to your model train chums you should jump in now.  Get one of these flap jacks while they’re still hot.  Remember when I told you about this little coffee house called Starbuck’s.  Not only that, American Flyer and s gauge just rock even if nobody were into them. 

Here is more information on Model Train Scale. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.

Technorati Tags: A C Gilbert, American Flyer, American Flyer trains, model train scale, model trains, s scale, s scale model railroad, scale, train scale