You want to know what’s really at the crest of model locomotive world? What’s coming down the pike that has every model trainer tossing and turning with anticipation?  What gauge of toy train do hobbyists go coo coo for?  Alright, here it is: s gauge model railroads. You got it?  You don’t even know what size that is, do you? Do you even know about different scales?  Alright so here’s what you need to know for your next toy train railroader’s meeting:

Two words, “American Flyer”:  

This style of locomotives has been enshrined in the hall of fame of model locomotives.  But a big explanation why this gauge is so popular is because after having been decommissioned during WWII, American Flyer retooled and marketed a new line of state of the art locomotives in s gauge.  This was in huge part an attempt to compete with Lionel’s O gauge who was the king of the roost at the time. S gauge is an “inbetween” gauge, 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 gauge is one 48^th the size.   That means that S gauge is a bit more user friendly in terms of the smallest space suggestions for the track but still big enough for those of us that are into the arts and crafts aspect of toy training. These locomotives are a lot of fun to color and detail.

S gauge is rare:  

Another reason that s gauge has gained such a wide following is that s gauge is uncommon.  American Flyers are basically the sole type of trains that were mass produced in this gauge and even they were only manufactured in this gauge for a small period just after WWII. That means there are not that many vintage s scale American Flyer trains.   This also signifies that those hobbyists of the s scale 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-google era were difficult to come by.   All of this has made American Flyer the Holy Grail of toy trains for many fans.

American Flyers are about to enter the market again:  

Lionel LLC, who took over the American Flyer company when it went bankrupt in 1966 has recently started re-releasing popular American Flyer locomotives.  The great success of these releases has driven Lionel to promise to bring back the s gauge locomotives that committed fans are so infatuated with.  It might not be long before we have to make way for s gauge as yet another main scale in the toy training world.

Now’s the time to put your chips down if you want to cash in early on this tip.  If you want to say “I told you so” to your toy train friends you should jump in now.  Get one of these flap jacks while they’re still hot. It’s like the coffee house fad of the early 90s.  Not only that, American Flyer and s scale 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.

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