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American Flyer No. 7 Empire Express


On this page I have shown two other sets from my collection that were available contemporaneously with Joy Line, especially the earlier sets. The set above is a fairly rare American Flyer No. 7 Empire Express Passenger set. This is one of my prized possessions, possibly my favorite train set. This might be a little earlier than the Joy Line 350 but it is from the same era.
American flyer had a cheap line called "Hummer" which was low priced and of lower quality than the early Joy Line production. Later, in the thirties they also produced a pressed steel engine that looks very much like a Joy Line pressed steel engine. Two telltale differences are the wheels; open spoked on the Flyer engine but solid on the Joy Line, and the drawbar; sheet metal on Joy Line but a steel dowel on the Flyer engine. Lionel also offered a cheaper line of trains marketed under the name "Winner Lines". They were comparable with Joy Line but they offered a boxcab engine which was more like the small Hoge sets.


Henry L. Katz 515 Limited

This is another one of my favorite sets from the late twenties, either 1929 or 1930. This is the Henry L. Katz 515 Limited. These sets are not rare but they are not what you'd call common. I believe this was the only Katz train set, and it was sold in a set with a lithographed transformer that shows up fairly often. Note that both sets are 515, apparently a popular train number for commuters at the time. "515", just after the end of the workday, "Limited", fewer stops along the way to get you home from work a little quicker.