The Quilts Zone Blog

You know what you haven’t heard of but is probably to be the next hot thing in hobbying? What’s about to break that has every model trainer tossing and turning with anticipation? What throw back kind of locomotives are about to make a come back the way bell bottoms and tye-dye did a the end of the Reagan Era?  Alright, here it is: s gauge model railroads.  Yeah, that’s right, s scale? If you’re not that acquainted with scales and gauges then you probably don’t recognize that this isn’t a standard gauge these days. Do you even know about different scales?  Alright, well let me set you straight on the nitty-gritty on these before you start reading about them in the news:

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

This line of trains has been enshrined in the pantheon of model trains.  Nostalgia explains a lot.  American Flyer’s s gauge trains had their best days right after the Big One when the baby boomers were starting to sprout up.  This was in big part an attempt to compete with Lionel’s O scale who was the king of the roost through the 50’s. S gauge is an “inbetween” scale, way larger than HO but smaller than Lionel’s O.  S scale is one 64^th the size of a real train whereas Lionel’s O scale is one 48^th the size.   That is to say that S scale is a bit more user friendly in terms of the minimum space requirements for the track but still large enough for those of us that dig the arts and crafts part of model training. These locomotives are a lot of fun to paint and detail.

S scale is not common:  

Because American Flyer in effect invented s gauge and then went bankrupt just a few years after, you don’t come across it much.  A.C. Gilbert, who owned American Flyer at the time, created this gauge as an attempt to make a line of trains that would keep up with Lionel by introducing high quality locomotives that weren’t interchangeable with Lionel locomotives. American Flyer locomotives from the 50’s only fit s scale and wouldn’t operate on Lionel’s O.   It also means that those hobbyists of the s gauge trains in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s had to make most of their replacement tracks from scratch and to meticulously maintain their locomotives since replacement parts in the pre-internet era were hard to find.   This has made American Flyer the Holy Grail of toy trains for many hobbyists.

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

American Flyer’s arch-enemy Lionel bought them out in the 60’s and is now looking to reinvigorate both brands by marketing the vintage 1950’s toys that persist in being so cherished by trainers.  The s gauge toys they are due to re-release should take the model train world by storm.  It might not be long before we have to make space for s gauge as yet another common size in the toy training world.

Now’s the instant to put your chips down if you want to cash in early on this tip.  This is when the early adopters wade in and check things out.  Get one of these flap jacks while they’re still hot.  Remember when I told you about this little coffee house called Starbuck’s.  And you said no one would ever pay more just for some coffee. 

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