What's New

11/9/2011 - Say goodbye to the old frames style format for the website!  Instead of viewing three windows in one when you log on to the website, you will see only one page which contains everything you need to navigate the site.  The advantage of this new format is improved performance on mobile devices using touch screens.   I recently bought a Barnes & Noble Nook and found that it was difficult to move from one side of the page to the other because the device thought the entire page was within the screen, when only one of the frames was.    Other advantages are a larger display window for the content and better caching of content by web search engines.   One final point is that if you prefer the old frames style of viewing the website it is still available simply by adding " /f " after the website url, as in www.gilbertho.org/f

5/16/2010 - A new link to Gilbert American Flyer HO repair diagrams at myflyertrains.org has been added and a new article has been created discussing the absence of Gilbert American Flyer HO in the years from 1951-1954.

4/15/2010 - A new index to sets by set number has been added.  It is accessed through a new link in the header.  This index also lists the set name in the far right column, which is exposed by dragging the frame border to the right.

4/5/2010 - The color scheme of the website has been changed from the blue-yellow that was more typical of American Flyer S gauge merchandising to the Maroon/red-grey-white that were the colors most of us associate with Gilbert HO of the 1950's.   I hope you all like the new colors.   Also, the photo coverage of the "virtual sets" is now complete for all years.   For the 1957 sets, where both Varney and Gilbert Versions of cars exist, I have included photos of both versions in the "virtual sets."  If anyone can provide information as to which car versions were actually included in the sets for that year, it would be greatly appreciated.

1/29/2010 - Paul Beno has provided photos of some of the harder to find items, including the 31006, the Tru Scale Cars, and the Sohio tank car. 

1/28/2010 - Photos of set contents for 1960 thru 1963 have been added.   Photo coverage of these "virtual sets" is now complete from 1955 - 1963 except for a few missing item photos and the photos for the 1957 sets which will be added once I can determine whether Gilbert or Varney cars were generally included in these sets.

1/20/2010 - Thanks to Gary Klein, the website now includes photos and coverage of several uncataloged items that were previously absent.   The new items are Northern Pacific passenger cars C-1002 thru C-1004, Diesel Locomotives L-1001 and L-1002, two hoppers, C-1006 and C-1007, and the 33006 Great Northern Stock Car.  Also, set contents photos have been updated for 1958 sets though we still need photos of some of the items in those sets.

1/18/2010 - Photos from the collection of Gary Klein, author of "Gilbert American Flyer HO - 1948-1963" have been added.   Many of these are from the prewar era, a period for which we previously had few photos.

1/16/2010 - Photos of set contents for 1959 have been added.   That means that the photos of set contents for the years 1955, 1956 and 1959 are now complete.

1/13/2010 - Track, Power Equipment, and Maintenance Items have been added to the website.  Contributions of photos from your collection would be appreciated, especially for items for which we have no photo illustration.

1/10/2010 - Accessories have been added to the website complete with catalog illustrations and photos of Daryl Olszeski's collection.   A final section covering track and power equipment will be added later, which will also be illustrated with both catalog images and photos of the items.