American Flyer
Overview
Toy train
A toy train is a toy that represents a train. It is distinguished from a model train by an emphasis on low cost and durability, rather than scale modeling. A toy train can be as simple as a pull toy that does not even run on track, or it might be operated by clockwork or a battery...
and model railroad in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the middle part of the 20th century.
Although best remembered for the S gauge trains of the 1950s that it made as a division of the A. C. Gilbert Company
A. C. Gilbert Company
The A. C. Gilbert Company was an American toy company, once one of the largest toy companies in the world. It is best known for introducing the Erector Set to the marketplace....
, American Flyer was initially an independent company whose origins date back nearly a half century earlier. Chicago, Illinois-based toymaker William Frederick Hafner developed a clockwork
Clockwork
A clockwork is the inner workings of either a mechanical clock or a device that operates in a similar fashion. Specifically, the term refers to a mechanical device utilizing a complex series of gears....
motor for toy cars in 1901 while working for a company called Toy Auto Company.
