The Story of The A. C. Gilbert Company 

I received one for Christmas when I was six years old. It was the best Christmas gift I ever received, I spent hours building different things.

Thanks a million. I was born in 1949, my grandfather gave me American Flyer trains and a Erector set. Other kids had chemistry and microscope sets. We are poorer for the demise of A. C. Gilbert. I still have the trains and Erector set, they are used daily.

It's very nice to see this video getting so much attention! Gilbert's contributions to America should never be forgotten.

If you're ever in Salem, Oregon, be sure to stop by the A.C. Gilbert Museum. It's well worth the visit!

One Great Video! As a 72 year old "kid", I still have some AC Gilbert stuff! I feel bad for kids today though !

What a wonderful tribute to A. C. Gilbert and the company that built those beautiful, high quality Erector sets, Scientific sets, and amazing "American Flyer" trains and accessories! When I was a kid, I had a love for the slot car sets, and I cherished the A. C. Gilbert "American Flyer" fly over chicane racing set with Ford stock cars that I got one Christmas in the early 1960's. It was my first slot car racing set, and I had many and built a great layout years later, but it was the Gilbert American Flyer that still outdid them all. The cars went from one lane to the next and the cars were so durable. This is when "made in the USA" really meant something and people took pride in what they built! The world needs another A C Gilbert!

Gilbert is one of my heroes. It was his chemistry set that I got in my childhood that inspired me to become a chemist as a career. A.C. Gilbert's tagline was "Career building Toys."

What memories this video brought back to me. The erector set, chemistry set and the best of all the American Flyer trains. Thank you Mr A.C. Gilbert

The smell of ozone as you turned the controller sweet

Thanks Tom for the great production. Living in the New Haven area all my life I was very adaptive with their products. My father bought the American Flyer Train set with the sliver cars for Christmas and one of the earliest made Erector Sets back in the 1950s. AC Gilbert made products that children use their minds to "CREATE" AND ENJOY", something that is lost with the electronic age today. The buildings still stand today known as "Erector Square" off Ferry Street.

Greetings, Growing up as a kid I had three of the greatest toys in the world. A Kenner Hydrodynamic Building set, a Wilesco steam engine, and an amazing 12-1/2 Model Erector Set. And all at the same time! How often I would use the steam engine to run my Erector models. I seldom wanted to be restricted by the building manual and would spend days in the basement creating my own working models. I am 69 now and still have my steam engine. I lost my building sets, but about 10 years ago I bought a 10-1/2 erector set and Kenner Hydrodynamic Building set off Ebay at great expense. But the kid in my is happy again!

This was an absolutely fabulous story of A. C. Gilbert and his toys. He truly was a man of the children, and had the belief that they were our future. He was correct in that, and it is shown in the developed STEM and STEAM programs for kids across the country and the world. A.C. would have been proud.

Greetings, Every few years I would stroll through toy departments as Christmas time just to see what they were selling. Compared to the fine and imaginative toys I had as a kid, what they call toys today are abominable. Where are the creative building toys that kids should have to stretch their young minds? I was blessed to live through the 50s and 60s as a child.

How ironic that the Erector sign stopped trains from running.

Thank you Tom Barker for this wonderful film! As both a collector and operator of American Flyer trains, I love learning more about the great A.C. Gilbert and the fantastic company he created..!

What a wonderful history, about a really great man. I never had any of these toys as a boy in New Zealand in the 1960s, but I wish that I had been given the chance to share in the fun. I especially loved the working railway accessories.

American Flyer trains, Erector sets, and Gilbert Hall of Science scientific toys were the absolute best toys a boy could hope for when I was a child. American Flyer trains were virtually indestructible, totally boy-proof. Many are still in active service today.

I'm a Flyer guy through and through. Gilbert pushed for scale realism.

In 1960 my brother and I found the biggest of “Erector Sets” under the Christmas Tree. Razor sharp steel beams, ac motor with bare end wires, exposed gears chain and sprockets, hundreds of nuts and bolts. We got cut, shocked and pinched. It helped us become the great mechanics we were in our careers.

Great video. I didn’t know Erector and AM Flyer was created by the same guy. Always thought Erector sets were neat and recently bought an original Erector set in fairly good condition with nearly all of the parts. And while I’ve been a Lionel and MTH guy with most of my model railroading I’ve always really liked AM flyer. They have long felt like the higher quality product for their time. >The realistic 2 rail track >The beautiful white wall wheels >The realistic chugging and puffing smoke >And that perfect sweet spot between O-Scale and HO-Scale. My favorite is those old Royal Blue and silver bullet streamliners.

A great documentary on The legend of A.C Gilbert and his company. I love the American Flyer trains, and inspired by Gilbert to design some ideas of my own .

Grew up down the street from AC Gilbert's factory. Enjoyed their trains for many years.

I wish I would have had American Flyer trains. Actually, I had HO trains and still do. All this DCC type trains are out of my budget, but I still buy old DC locos and cars from sellers on eBay. I also still build model buildings, trestles and other things from bass and balsa wood, and landforms and tunnel portals from plaster.

VERY COOL, Thank You to all the effort in making this video. The nice dose of nostalgia made my eyes water a bit.

Excellent video and some interesting points about society. Metal toys began to vanish and then accelerated going into the 1960s. Suddenly there were no Buddy L trucks and Tonka no longer used steel for their toys. Even Pontiacs got rubber front ends. Many times the problems were costs. But there was also greed. In the 1950s toys were built to last, thank goodness, and that is why we can have films like this today.

What a great story and tribute to what must have been a wonder person. Thanks!

I am glad that American flyer was bought by Lionel and it is now in good hands

AC Gilbert made the best products. Had their American Flyer trains several erector sets and a chemical set. My dad let me set up trains and lights inside Plasticville building starting around 8 or 9 years old.. Our American flyer train transformer had a circuit breaker so it would trip when I wired a short on something.Had my dad get me a 3' by 3' piece of plywood so the 5' high erector set parachute ride would not topple over. Had to use a ladder to bolt together the top of it. Spent 50 enjoyable happy years working as an electrician a lot due to getting enjoyment wiring up American Flyer trains switches in couplers etc. Wow never heard about his creation of enamel wire. Have several bushes of enamel wire in my garage. Thanks for great vid. Ashamed young kids have anything like these to get them interested in working with their hands.

Wonderful, interesting, and most of all educational video. Thank you for your time and effort for posting.

Great video. I went from erector set to industrial design engineer. Thank you Mr Gilbert.

I spent most of my young childhood years in Stratford Connecticut and grew up with American Flyer trains... Now at almost 80 years old, this video brings back some wonderful memories. Thanks for posting... Lionel now has an American Flyer line... Maybe I'll start again LOL. Some say it's never too late...

i was born 1961 ive been collecting erector set for 25 years i love it .....

I loved my Gilbert Erector set and microscope! I still have the screw driver from the erector set in my tool box, and the microscope in it's original steel box. These toys set me on the path of a mechanical career that I never regretted and a lifetime of learning.

I grew up with a basement full of Flyer trains and accessories and when I wanted a break from running them I'd pull out my Erector Sets and build stuff. All the neighborhood boys had the same stuff and we'd get together and make huge bridges and things or take our trains to their houses and play. All except one strange kid with Lionel! I'm 70 and still have many of those Flyer trains.

I was lucky enough to find a American flyer 429 o gauge awhile back. Needed some grease and it ran like a charm. Recently i just fixed up an o gauge 565 american flyer loco and i believe it was around that time they started to convert to S gauge. Amazing history with these toys for sure. Got them running along side my lionel and marx.

Thanks Tom .... My 1949 Christmas Hudson set has become an outrageous collection of some 150 engines and hundreds of cars. Have repair depot with big investment in tools and parts. Worked in the tool shop for Boeing in the '60s on first stage booster for moon shot. Your first repair manual is still a treasured source. AC must have made a fortune on the patent for enameled wire that is used in guitar pickup magnets ... my other passion.

I had both an Erector set and American Flyer train set. Oh the memories.

Born in '48. Got first of three Flyer trains for Christmas when three. Recently I figured that it had the equivalent mileage from New Haven to my home in Atlanta. Of course the driving wheels are about worn off. But I've still got it. Still got the Erector set which my son played with when younger. Did you know you can build a trebuchet with one? Wonder why AC didn't publicize this? Thank you so much for sharing. Had wet eyes throughout.

I had a Gilbert arrector set when I was 10 years old and I kept the parts in it for years and years and used a little nuts and screws for all kinds of other projects I still wish today that I have my original arrector set in the old metal box what a fantastic story it was

Nicely done and very enjoyable. As a kid in the 1950's and 60's, my Uncle Phil's Erector Set and electric trains from the 1940's came my way. I played with them both. That metal cased Erector Set must have weighed 20 pounds or more.

Thank you for a wonderful documentary of a great American. I enjoyed it even though the ending was a little sad. I hated to hear of the Gilbert downfall never realizing it was due to social changes. On the other hand I’m glad I have a piece of that great history. It really was nostalgic and brought back many memories especially my pride and joy my AF train set I got for Christmas back in 53 or 54 of which I still have and fully operational. I had the erector set but the train was my favorite. The food mixer brought back good memories of the time my dad bought one. Every Saturday night my family would gather around the table as my dad would Make us each an ice cream malt shake with it. The TV wasn’t a big distraction for me. When everyone parked in front of it after super I was down stairs in the basement my train set. Great memories.

Try making a toy today with the "Hello Boys" slogan. There would be hell to pay.

My Gilbert Erector set was the best toy I ever had! A manual came with the parts, it was a very well 3D book of drawings with few words. One had to count how many holes from the end to put in the bolts, you learned not to build into a blind spot. I would see a bridge or a truck or an oil well and then I would go home and build one! One of the best things that ever happened to me was when my little sister grabbed all my screws and threw them in the back yard! I spent hours digging for them but only found about six or seven nut and bolt pairs. I would lay awake in bed at night designing things in my 10 year old brain and then I would count how many bolts I needed. Learned to make them "double up". The next Christmas I got an even bigger and better set and went to town with it! Kept little sister at bay. Out grew it though, gave it to the kid next door and then it was sadly put in the garbage! Thirty years later my wonderful sister redeemed herself and found me two semi-complete sets at a resale shop that I still have. I became a machinist and manufacturing engineer.

I'm 71 and I still have my Erector set I received for Christmas in 1960. I have some of my American Flyer trains we had in the basement in the early 1950's. I learned to solder in first grade working on the trains with my father. I became an electrical engineer and worked in broadcasting for 39 years. I thank the Erector and chemistry sets for my interest in science and mechanical ability. Sad there is nothing like them now. I have a metal lathe and milling machine in my shop, but my grandson has no interest in learning to use them.

I feel like within the past 40 years we have lost imagination and creation do to a lot of things what do I know

Great documentary! Can't wait to show my son this video and where our American Flyer Train collection came from!

I never knew. What a splendid legacy.

I took care of a little 7-year-old blind boy as a job in 1958 who loved his erector set. He and his father put together a movie projector with a little motor. His father found a movie roll of film in a can from a movie house that was old. Johnny would run the movies over and over. He couldn't see the movie but loved to play it for others in his house. We couldn't see anything - the movie projector would simply wind and unwind the roll of film. He would do this sometimes for a couple hours. It was one of his favorite pass times!

I have a small 6 inch desk fan I resurrected a few years ago with an A.C. Gilbert motor. It's says "Arctic" on the cage button and was made for Sears, Roebuck about 1927. When I found it, the cage and blades were bent, the motor was stuck and the cord was all but destroyed, with a little TLC and 3 in1 oil, brought it back to life. I really didn't expect it to still work after all those years sitting outside.

Great story presented very well. Born in 1952 and have 4 erector sets. Nothing better than spending hours building with no real instructions, just a picture, getting half way through then having to take half that apart and redoing it again until you get it right. Really felt good when you finally got it finished.

When I was quite young My dad gave me an american flyer train set for Christmas, later he built a great layout for me to play with. Which I did for hours and hours. as I got older I was given an erector set and it also kept me enchanted for years. Then came a chemistry set, later a larger set and I was hooked. Microscopes ( which was replaced with a "real microscope" from a salesman) I played and polished my microscope for a long time. Did those AC Gilbert toys influence me---Well I became a Pharmacist and practiced for 38 years. Now I am retired I still remember the great times I had with Gilbert "TOYS".

I was a Lionel fan myself, but I had an Erector set and a chemistry set. Wish I had the microscope to this day! Loved playing with these great toys and wish I still had them. They got lost or trashed sometime during my years away in the US Army during the Vietnam war years, darnnit! I might have trashed them or my mom may have- I don't know for sure. I remember having a ton of fun with my erector set and my Kenner bridge and girder building set. Always did like building toys, except for the brightly colored plastic Lego toys. Something about them just doesn't appeal to me, then or now. Thanks for making this movie- nice memories.

Nice Video Tom! I love the music too. The harmonica fits so well with trains.

I have been BUYING any & all A. C. Gilbert Trains since i was a little BOY

I thank you so much. My childhood had an American Flyer New Haven Passenger train, a chem set, and of course an original Erector Set. I did exceptionally well in math and chemistry and later studied Engineering at Penn State. Thank you and thank Mr. A.C. Gilbert!!!

Being born in 1947 & 1950, my brother & I had almost all of toys, trains and sets depicted in the video. My older brother passed in 2013. Thanks for awakening a ton of great memories. Great video! Thanks

Loved the Erector set, microscope and chemistry set. Not long ago when chemistry sets were banned for being too dangerous along with the radioactive discovery sets there was commissioned a study to determine the lasting effects of such toys. The result was most professional chemists, engineers, physicists (of Nobel variety) grew up with one of the A.C. Gilbert sets. Safe to say product safety and elimination of creative toys has indeed made for a gap in American ingenuity.

Thank you for posting this. I was born in 1946 - my younger brothers and I had American Flyer trains, both the GP7 and PA1 (though we could never get the sound on the 'B' unit to work). We also had Erector sets, the Chem Lab, Microscope and Telescope. Our older brother, born in 1941 had Lionel trains which we were not allowed to touch. Like in your film, we made bridges and the like with the Erector set. Both the Erector and Chem Lab sets would be major CPSC issues today. These things were perfect fertilizer for a young person's imagination!

Great Memories. Never to happen again. Very sad!

This should be on TV!

I remember my Gilbert Chemistry set, and my bother's; Erector set. Wonderful toys.

I had American Flyer trains, Erector sets & Gilbert slots as a kid in the ‘50’s. Still got the trains. My Grandfather used to take me downtown NY to a store called Savoy Merchandise Co; I was in Heaven! Preferred them over FAO Schwartz 6 stories tall! My Broadway apt on 191st. had neighbors below us who had Lionel. I said to them, “Three rails?? Show me a train with 3 rails.” I still despise Lionel. Here in the Poconos by Scranton trains are very popular. Shows still have Lionel guys, HO & some AF.

Magnificent job!!! Thank you for sharing. I had no idea they had that many accessories

Thank you. That was great. I wish I had gotten such a toy as a kid in the 60's. I love learning of the lives of these incredible men. I would really like to know more about the life of A. c. Gilbert. Thanks again 😊.

Boy, this brings back a lot of memories to me. My Grampa was the stationmaster at our local train station in a small town in Ohio. We had a gang of kids between about 5 to 9 years old and every day pretty much in the summertime we'd go up there and see my Grampa. I remember the old tin cans that they filled with milk and loaded onto the trains. They moved things around with heavy iron and oak trams. The trains also got water there by pulling down on a big chain by the tanks. The engineers always wore gray hats and overalls and had a red handkerchief. Most of the cars were B&O but since it was near the steel mills a lot of them were coal haulers. I had a Gilbert chemistry set and erector set. Mr. Gilbert sounds like a great man. I don't approve of hunting wild animals for trophies but he was a product of his time and it was generally accepted back then.

I've been in love with the AF trains and other kits all my life, I;m 70 and still have the trains that we get out every year and run them, don't have room for a permanent layout.

I have my Erector Set & American Flyer Train Set that i bought with my paper route money in 1957. They are still in working condition. James Pyle

My favorite gifts ever. An Erector set and the New Haven Electric Thanks mom and dad.

It was great to see the Erector Set, the Chemistry set and the microscope I had when I was a kid. I do hope that children of later generations can also have fun with the toys I used to play with.

Excellent video. As a child I had no idea of the history behind my Erector Set and my basic AF train set. I sold all of my Gilbert stuff on ebay 12 years ago. Was surprised at how fast they sold. Now I know why. I hated to part with my well maintained New Haven electric engine. Should have kept it. Well, time passes on and nothing stays the same. Thank you for posting this history.

thank you so much for the video had a great time watching it brought back a lot lot of good memories still have the trains thank you.

Very nicely done! Great narrator voice-work! Amazing that Gilbert held the patent for enameled wire, which is in everything now!

Im 41 and every Christmas my dad would put up this huge table in the basement and we would set up his Gilbert train sets, I can remember the smell of the engine and all the metal parts. We also have a couple erector sets. It's all still down in his basement, hasn't been touched in probably 20 years but is in good hands.

What a wonderful tribute to AC Gilbert! A man who inspired the children to become the engineers and scientists of the last half of the twentieth century. He did for science and engineering what Henry Ford did for transportation. I did notice one piece that was not covered. Robert Noble and the TruModel winch system. From my perspective, it is the greatest toy ever built. Gilbert bought it from Noble and attempted to market it, but it was too expensive for the Great Depression.

Much thanks for the hidden information on A.C. Gilbert. And well done sir.

Given the time period and the technology available he seems to be much like Elon.

Great video, BUT, I wish it contained the greatest picture ever of A.C., which also has my grandfather, William J. Ziebell who is seated at his work bench with Santa Claus looking over his shoulder.

It's a real shame what happened to A.C. Gilbert's dream and company. I enjoyed his educational and fun toys.

I am 67 years old. I am setting here looking at the erector set and Gilbert microscope sets. Same shelf has ho and n scale trains, ho and 1/32 slot cars. Plus a bunch of u control model plane parts. I might not have been a cool cat in the 60's. But I can still play with my made in USA toys.

Great doco, thank you. Being Australian, I heard of Gilbert Co. and the Erector sets, but we never had them here to my knowledge. We had Meccano and our model railways were mostly Hornby and Triang products. This was a well made and extremely interesting film and being born in the early 60s, i could relate to a lot of it's content too.

When growing up in the 50's, my neighbor got the Gilbert chemistry set. He went on to get a Doctorate in Chemistry.

WHAT A GREAT STORY I LOVE IT PLAYED IT A FEW TIMES OVER BUT A SAD ENDING THAT MOST COMPANIES WENT THROUGH .....

Great!! Thanks for this.

this video made me sort of sad, trains and building toys should never be looked down upon.. I am the furthest thing from a nerd, and I love these toys! I dislike my generation for this

Few videos have the power to make one happy and melancholy at the same time. All of those young boys are now great grandfathers, if they are even still alive. So much has been lost. Lego is probably the closest toy we have today to the "spirit" of A.C., but even those kits have become so specialized that a lot of the imagination is gone. Item: I still have an American Flyer "red button" controller in use on my DCC equipped HO scale model railroad for a crossing signal. I think A. C. Gilbert would approve.

Wish I wuz a kid again Thank You from PJ LI NY all those years ago!

Being a 1946 vintage nerd, I have many fond memories of the Gilbert toys. I had Erector sets, a chemistry set, the microscope, and others, and I always wished that I had the American Flyer trains. BTW, a 4-8-4 is not a Challenger according to the Whyte classification. It is a Northern. A Challenger is a 4-6-6-4 articulated locomotive.

Very good, enjoyed it immensely. I'm from Altoona, so there you go

One of my most favorite learning toys of all time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing video! I have a 1935 and 1948 set that I build with almost daily! This video really inspires me to begin collecting these older sets a lot more intently.

I got a Gilbert chemistry set for Christmas 1961 , it was great.

I had the Erector set, the microscope, the chemistry set., and the train - all in the 50's. And I loved them all, especially the Erector set, my very favorite toy from my childhood.

One of the toys was a chemistry set that contained real uranium that was really radioactive. 😖

I volunteer at a railroad museum that has a very large HO model railroad display. I suggest to parents that buying something like a Lionel toy train set is probably the least expensive toy they can buy. They don't understand since a "starter" set might cost $200 to $300. I suggest that they can probably look in their kid's closet and see some sort of plastic toy that cost $16 and was played with for 6 minutes until they got bored. And those add up. With the toy trains, they will play endlessly. And also bring other toys into the play. And what is REALLY going on is that rather having some toy with all the imagination permanently built into it, the toy train set is changeable. it is a little world that the child can control, and change, and create. So in terms of quantity of play time (as well as the learning experiences), it is cheaper per hour than probably anything.

Thank you for making me aware of this amazing man and his wonderful legacy to all

I owned erector sets, the Gilbert chemistry set, the microscope, and a beautiful Gilbert train set given to me by my older cousin. Never knew how lucky I was at the time. I eventually became a chemist, engineer and computer programmer. I guess they worked.

When I was 10, I asked Mom n Dad for an erector set, I got a Lionel train w 3 cars & a caboose. And many lessons on how to drive our JD to bring wood up to the buzz-saw so Dad could cut wood to keep our home warm in winter and clean hog barns out. He taught me to run big boy toys like our drill press and Lathe too..... 70 now and looking for a lathe to make stuff with . Life has been good for a kid who got a train for Christmas = 1959

I had a Gilbert Erector Set and a Science set.....wished I would have kept them. Living on a farm with no TV those Gilbert toys were all we knew. I didn't see a TV until 1969 and that was when my grandparents wanted to show me a guy named Neil Armstrong walk on the Moon. My life was never the same after that.

Wonderful!

What an Awesome Film.