I am new here- some questions

[jetsfan68]

Hello all- I guess I am a rookie......
I have some older American Flyer trains from my dad- I believe they are S gauge? I want to start setting up some trains for my kids... I am struggling whether to try and find parts and pieces for the AF set- or to start over and buy some new trains. I also have a lot of older matchbox cars and was wondering which scale best works (visually) with the cars..

 

[UP2CSX]

Welcome aboard. American Flyer trains are S gauge although sightly small then scale S gauge. Do you know if the engine or engines run? If they do, I'd stay with the AF trains for the kids although with proviso I have written below. It's an ideal scale for small children and AF trains are pretty bulletroof when it come to kids breaking them. If the engine or engines don't run, they may just need to have the shells removed and get a good cleaning and lube job. It would help if you could post some pricures of what you have since some engines were easier to work on than others.

There are still quite a few AF modelers and parts and rolling stock are not difficult to find. E-bay is a good place to start to get an idea of prices and what's available.

Most matchbox cars are bigger than HO scale and S scale is a pretty good match in size for most matchbox cars. Very few of them will look good in proportion on an HO scale layout.

One last thing to consider is that some of the older AF equipment and older matchbox cars can be quite valuable if they are in good to excellent condition. That's one of the reasons to check e-bay before spending much money to get an idea of their value. If you have lucked out and have some of the more valuable pieces, you may want to sell them and use the money to finance an HO layout. Having the kids playing with the trains and matchbox cars will certainly reduce their value.