Anyone ever do business at Amato's?

I've got an old trainset I'm trying to get going, a 1948 American Flyer. My great Grandfather bought it back in1948 for my Uncle Jack's first birthday. It was handed down to me so I'm trying to bring it back to it's former glory.

It's come a long way over the last few days but I believe I'm going to need brushes for the motor, possibly armature bearings....don't know yet. But they appear to deal with AF parts so I figured I'd see if anyone has worked with them.

Jay

YES! Amato's has two stores here in the state and they are by far the most-professional hobby and toy store available. They are big bucks operations and I have spent far too much money in my local shop.
They tell me they repair AmFly trains, but I couldn't get the repairman to answer his phone. You can call Steve directly at (860) 324 - 746two.
Frank

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1970 240Z

Thanks Frank!

I'll give him a call!

Jay

Greetings Jay!

I don't recall having any dealings with Amato's so I can't help you much there.

As a side note, I also own an early 50's AF train set given to me when I was a little kid. It has a 4-6-2 smoking steamer, cattle car with pen, whistle billboard sign, and a bunch of other stuff. Some years ago, I did buy a bunch of AF track from a vendor at a "train show" that I visited in Trumbull CT. These shows may be quite helpful to you if you can find one near you. I always thought the AF trains looked cooler than the more popular Lionel trains as the AF trains used a more realistic 2-rail track. AF trains were manufactured by the now defunct A.C. Gilbert Company right here in New Haven CT. They also made the popular Erector Sets, Microscope Kits and Chemistry Labs, all of which I once played with.

I'm sure your train set has a lot of sentimental value attached to it. Hopefully you get to enjoy it.

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

Sounds like you and I had the same train set, John. I always marveled at the detail of the big black steamer locomotive and caboose, but I kept running out of smoke pills for the engine. I had the whistle billboard too. I also had a couple Erector sets over the years.

I can still see the old Gilbert warehouse when I get off the highway into New Haven. It was also later used by the Spiffy clothiers company, which made several uniform items for the Marine Corps. And the old Henry and Winchester firearms factory, and several other notable sites around the once-great New Haven city.
Must have been a great place to live before it turned into a 3d world war zone.

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1970 240Z

We probably had slightly different steam locomotives Frank, as mine used a liquid oil for the smoke. I probably breathed in a little too much of it as a kid. I kinda liked the smell of that smoke and the ozone smell from the sparks coming from the engine armature brushes and the tenders brass pick-up wheels on the tracks. Ahh!, Great memories!

When you think about it, how did we possibly survive all these years after breathing in all that stuff along with the fumes from model airplane dope, styrene glue and chemistry sets, AND no bicycle helmets!

Hey! how about a fun run to Amato's next year. Jay can join us with or without a Z

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

I'm onboard for that, if it's the Middleton shop. That's probably easiest for everyone to reach anyway, AND, Wayne Carini's F-40 Motorsports is less than 5 miles away from there in next-door Portland CT. Could make quite a fun day of it! We could invite both Jay and his dad to tag along with us.

Frank

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1970 240Z

My 1950's AF train set (still in the original yellow and blue boxes) has the #342 "Switcher Loco & Tender with Choo Choo & Smoke" (oil droplets for smoke does/did smell good John) and wrapped in its original corrugated cardboard burrito, #646 Floodlight car, #631 Gondola, #630 Caboose, a train decoupler, Plasticville, U.S.A. "Frosty Bar" and "Railroad Accessories Unit" that has telephone poles, street lights, billboards, trees, and crossing gates. Are all of these 3/16" scale or just my set? The brochure of the different train sets sold show prices of $20 - $35. WOW!

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1985 300ZX- GLL Dark Pewter Metallic - Survivor

Sounds like some of us grew up richer than the rest of us, Howie.
You made out.

WOW, the train de-coupler! I had completely forgotten about that! Mine was a little lever attached to the side of one section of track; When you parked the train over it with surgical precision you could press the lever which pushed a bar up under the coupling. That opened the coupling like two hands letting go of each other and disconnected the two cars. It was usually easier to just slide your finger under there and press up on the little tab yourself. Trying to remember if I was ever able to make them disconnect at speed.........?
I wonder what Allan's memories are about electric trains? They had electricity when he was a kid, right?
Frank T

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1970 240Z

Proud son of a milkman/truck driver and W.W II "Thundering Herd" tank driver dad, Frank.

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1985 300ZX- GLL Dark Pewter Metallic - Survivor

Yeah, our old man drove truck for a living after the war, too. They taught him how to drive everything they had, over the Burma Road 'hump'. Problem was, everybody else could drive too, and before Ike's Interstate highway system (1959), you really couldn't make enough money to feed a couple of hungry kids and a wife. We kids didn't have two nickels for ice-cream cones when Mister Frosty parked in front of our house. We DID get to go out and pick up all the other kids' wrappers out of our yard after he left, tho, so we knew what we were missing.
But they somehow found enough money to buy me a train set, a Remco Bulldog tank and a Fanner-50 capgun over the years.

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1970 240Z

Wow, I guess the AF trains were popular!

Sorry I forgot to update this guys. Frank, I called the number for the train repair guy at Amatos. No answer. Also left a message but no call back.

So I dug into it and just took pictures along the way to try to remember how it went back together. It's surprising just how much stuff they fit under that locomotive shell! Turned out it just needed a good cleaning, pretty much anyway. It was filthy in there, the brushes were stuck in the tubes. I pushed them through with a pick. They were actually still in good shape though so I reinstalled them after cleaning them.

The main issue seemed to be coming from the commutator. That had scoring on it, and was black with filth from the brushes. I carefully sanded the top flat again with fine sandpaper and cleaned it with alcohol. Then cleaned out the three slots that separate the windings to ensure I didn't create a short between them with the filings.

Put her back together and she runs perfect! Quick too.

BRAVO! Nice work. The old carbon brushes made a mess on our carpet over time, too. It didn't bother me any, but mom had a fit. Compressed air and brake cleaner would be my approach today.

It's scary-weird that you should rejuvenate this thread just now; I have put Amato's on my visitation list for this week (today probably) for a kid's gift. Called them and learned they don't carry the item I first wanted, so I will just browse around in there. Maybe I'll take and share a picture or two.

If we had a 'clapping hands' Smilie, I'd use it for you.

Frank T

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1970 240Z

I've heard the New Britain store closed. The Middletown store is worth the trip to see. It really brings back happy times.

By the way Jay, there are lots of videos on YouTube showing how to maintain, clean and repair the old AF trains. Glad to see you bringing yours back to life.

I just called the New Britain Store and ended up talking to Steve Amato the owner. He told me that he did close down his New Britain store in February and moved his AF stock to a building near his sister's store in Middletown. He is now semi-retired. If we want to make a trip together up there, we can call Steve on his cell phone (860)324-7462 if we want to go to the warehouse and look at any AF inventory. He says his sister's Middletown store didn't have as much AF stock as he had.

Possible fun run?

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

Is your locomotive the streamlined passenger train, or the common-man commercial "Casey Jones" freight puller? My headlamp worked, smoke rolled out of the stack when we could afford to buy the little white smoke pellets, and my billboard was the train horn - it was as long and mournful as I could make it, pressing on the little button. Mom frequently got involved in regulating how much I was allowed to use that.
They told me the important stuff actually happened inside the coal tender, which was electrically connected to the "steam" engine motor. I was always tempted to take the tender apart to see what was happening in there, but they didn't trust me with anything as sharp as a screwdriver.

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1970 240Z