History Of Electronic Toy Trains Part 2
While Lionel during this time was the "king pin" model train maker, they were not the only ones. The famous American Flyer came into being in 1907. I've talked about this in previous articles, but this company was created by friends William. William Coleman and William Hafner. They had started producing their trains as clockwork trains.
They had also started experimenting to keep costs down, with lithography, which is a tin type substance, but this were of poorer quality and did not sell as well as their original designs. The partnership between the two Williams soon dissolved. Hafner then started his own company manufacturing the American Flyer electric train set. He did this first in the O gauge and then in the standard gauge at the time set by Lionel.
A C Gilbert then purchased the American Flyer in 38, before the second world war. He switched the scale or gauge from HO to O. During world war two how ever, all toy train manufacturing was stopped to concentrate on the war effort. In 1946 how ever, the introduction of the American Flyer on the S gauge came about.
This American Flyer last nearly two decades because of the quality of production. But what happened was they could not compete on mass and price with the Lionel company and stopped producing model trains in 1966. Lionel purchased the rights to the American Flyer soon after.
Today, even with all the new gadgets that are available to kids these days, toy trains still enjoy a cult following. Usually with an older crowd who grew up with them, but also with stressed out 20 and 30 somethings.