# FLYING YANKEE



## Festus (Jun 28, 2010)

Yesterday I found, and instantly fell in love with the Flying Yankee. I then spent several hours surfing the web trying to find one that had been mass produced by anyone in any scale only to find a Lionel pre-war version in O scale which to me, looks awful, but then I've never been a fan of Lionel pre-war. And that was it. Nothing in any other scales. From the start, I felt this one begging me to add it to the MIRR (the name of my garden railway) and I've never built such passenger train before. It has many unique features that I love and I won't bore you all with details because I'm sure you've all seen and read about it before.
My questions include:






1. Has anyone like LGB or Aristo-Craft etc ever mass produced the Flying Yankee before in G scale? 

2. Has anyone ever made one from scratch? 


The fact that it always had three cars and never any more or less, and in the '30's traveled at 100 MPH makes it an interesting project for me. If you've ever seen or heard of one on a g scale garden railway or in someone's collection, please respond.


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## chuckger (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Festus,

There was a G-scale train produced by a company called Roberts Lines, now out of business. I beleive Jerry Barns has one of these trains, you could try contacting him, he posts over on LSC, he may be able to give you some info on the train. Every once in a while they pop up on ebay. I recently bought a book on the Burlington's Zephers by Karl Zimmerman, Model RR did a story on them in there 60th ann. issue with plans and picks.

Chuck


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## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi,

Jerry Barnes scratch built version can be seen on his website at 

http://thescrr.com/rollingstock.html

The Flying Yankee is basically the same as the Burlington Zephyr, though I think there were some detail differences. 




There is also a restoration group for the full size version at

http://www.flyingyankee.com/history.html

which has lots of photos


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

The engine produced for large scale needs large diameter curves and switches. 
Both front and rear units have motors, thus if modifying for DCC, 2 decoders would be needed. 
All metal construction on the Zephyr.


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## scottemcdonald (Jan 11, 2008)

And then there is the Live Diesel version put together by Mr. Wada back in the late '90's


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Festus,
Bob Thon(Robert's Lines) developed the 1:32nd scale replica of the Pioneer Zephyer in 1989. 100 sets were made in Korea. You do see them on occasion on ebay. I know Marc Horvitz(Garden Railways) has one he's never run and would sell. Most go for around the $2500 range. I've modified mine quite a bit, the back motor/drive seemed to run at a different speed, so I took it out, up front is a HUGE Pitman motor. I made an interior also. It runs real good. I have Gary Raymond ball bearing wheel sets with pickups. It is the only track power train I have left, everything else is battery.

























Ray Shoop got the last one from Bob, it was only partial. He's trying to make the Flying Yankee with it and come up with some cars. I think he had the side plaques made up, so if you got a Pioneer Zephyer you could probably re-letter it. If you go to my web site I think there are some youTube videos of it there, or go to youTube and you will find some of it there and some of the Wada diesel version.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

a Lionel pre-war version in O scale which to me, looks awful
Excuse me. I have one on a shelf over my desk and for a 1930s train it is pretty neat! 

I wouldn't mind a 1/32nd version. Let's get someone in China to build one!


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## cape cod Todd (Jan 3, 2008)

That is a terrific looking train Jerry. 
A friend of mine just got back from New Hampshire where at the Hobo RR they are restoring the "Flying Yankee" He toured it and that the hobo plans to run it so they need to bring it up to current safety standards to carry passengers with increased structural bracing etc.. They are busy at work with it but have a long way to go from the photos I saw. They will also be upgrading the engine to a more economical enviromentaly friendly Caterpillar engine. 
It sure is a neat setup and it looks like it is right out of a Jules Verne story. 
Neat stuff. It would be cool to have one running around the layout.


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