American Flyer S Scale Hopper Cars (1 of 5)
Gilbert made 23 Hopper Cars, three of which are operating dump cars. The Upstairs Train has all of the other 20 hoppers.  Pictures of all 23, plus most of the significant variations, are shown on these pages.

Lionel made 49 Hoppers under the American Flyer name between 1979 and 2008. Because there are so many hopper cars, I have split them up over four web pages:

Gilbert hoppers #632 through #719 are this page
                       #801 through #25060 are on page 2
Lionel hoppers  #9200 through #48605 are on page 3
                       #48608 and above are on page 4
Hoppers made by S-Helper Service and American Models are on page 5

Unless otherwise specified, the large pictures on this page are of cars in the collection of The Upstairs Train.

If you have a picture that you would like to share with the world of any of the cars not shown here (or a better picture of one that is shown!), email them to me: theupstairstrain@yahoo.com.   Click here for a list of the  pictures I need to complete the Gallery.
#632 gray Virginian Hopper Car made in 1946.
It was also made in other shades of gray, including a hard-to-find blue-gray.
(Photo courtesy of Don Hasenzahl.)
#632 gray painted die-cast LNE Hopper Car made only in 1946.
Notice that these early 1946 hoppers had no journal boxes.
A small number were made with a red circle in the center of the logo.  This is an extremely rare car.
(Photo courtesy of Don Hasenzahl.)
Even more rare is this blue-gray variation.  It's not even in any of my books.
(Photo courtesy of Gary Good.)
The diecast #632 hoppers, Virginian and LNE alike, had four openable metal doors underneath.
(Photo courtesy of Gary Good.)
#632 LNE Hopper Car, unpainted black plastic with no red circles made in 1946, Greenberg's Variation E.
This early plastic car, too, had no journal boxes.
Notice "TRU-MODEL" on the box to promote Gilbert's marketing emphasis
on accurate scaling in their competition with Lionel.
(Photo courtesy of Gary Good.)
I have a later one with journal boxes.
#632 LNE Hopper Car, unpainted black plastic with red circles but no journal boxes made in 1946.
(Photo courtesy of Don Hasenzahl.)
#632 unpainted gray LNE Hopper Car made from 1946 to 1953.
Actually, I have three of these.  On the surface, they look identical, but they are three of the fourteen variations of 632 that Greenberg lists.  The difference is in the trucks and couplers.
Variation A has the Type A trucks with the small slot above the springs.  The coupler has no weights but has the patent number 2240137 embossed upside-down in the plastic. Variation B also has Type A trucks, but has brass coupler weights and no patent number; it is a darker plastic.  I don't have Variation B yet.
Variation D has the Type B trucks that have no slot above the spring, and has black coupler weights. A Type C truck is a Type B truck made from an old die that no longer gives a clear impression of the springs.  Greenberg's doesn't list a variation with Type C trucks, nor a Type B with brass coupler weights.  Maybe I have a rare one?
#632 painted gray LNE Hopper Car made from 1950 to 1953 (?).
(Photo courtesy of Don Hasenzahl.)
This is the #632 LNE Hopper Car that I got as a kid.  It has Type B trucks, but I converted it to knuckle couplers as a kid and have no record of the type of couplers it had.  The lettering is all but gone, yet what's left looks black.  According to Greenberg's and the TM Guide, the lettering was white on all the 632 cars.  Greenberg's Variation K is a very light gray car, but it had Type A trucks.  Greenberg's Variation N has Type B trucks, but it calls the body white plastic.  The TM Guide lists an off-white plastic car.  Neither Guide  mentions marbled plastic.  For a long time I thought it might be a gray painted car with the paint and lettering faded away, but then one day I saw the following car:
#632 unpainted marbled plastic LNE Hopper Car.
(Picture courtesy of Nathan Feingold.)
#632 LNE Hopper Car - white with red circles made in 1950, Greenberg's Variation N.
(Picture courtesy of an anonymous donor.)
640 Hopper Car with black lettering.
Gilbert made five different variations of the 640 between 1949 and 1953.
The 640 with white lettering is in the Farm Train made in 1950.
Off-white 640 with black lettering.
640 Wabash Hopper Car made in 1953.
716 Dump Car made in 1946.
Cars made in 1946 had an inside power pickup like this.
The #710 Automatic Track Section shown below had two inside rails
that provided power to unload the car.
716 Dump Car made from 1950 to 1954.
It was also made with gray frame and inside.
(Picture courtesy of an anonymous donor.)
All the Dump Cars made from 1946 to 1964 (716, 719, 919, 25007, 25025, and 25060)
came with a 4 inch by 6 inch sheet metal tray to catch the coal or gravel dumped by the car.
The 752, 752A, and 785 Seaboard Coal Loaders also came with one.
They were painted blue or black.  I am told some may have been painted gray, but that is unconfirmed.
Notice that these early trays are enclosed on all four sides; later trays were open on one long side.
(Photo from the collection of Joe Urban.)
719 CB&Q Dump Car made from 1950-1954.  Similar to the #919 below.
(Photo courtesy of Stout Auctions.)
It was also made with a red plastic body.
(From the collection of my firend Joe Philippson.)

Show me the rest of the hoppers made by Gilbert.


Over the years, Gilbert made four different kinds of couplers, three of which are common and familiar to most American Flyer owners: link, knuckle, and Pike Master.  The fourth, the so-called "solid knuckle coupler," was short-lived and not used on very many cars.  Lionel later came up with its own version of knuckle coupler.  American Flyer has therefore gone through five generations of couplers.  Because there seem to be a lot of people confused by this, I created a page to show the differences.  Click the picture below for more detail.


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If you or your friends have some American Flyer trains and would like them to go to a nice home where they'll be loved and cared for, this is the place!  Email me: theupstairstrain@yahoo.com.  See my Wish List for the items I need most.  Thank you very much.

On the other side of the coin, I post pictures from time to time on my For Sale page of surplus items I have for sale.
This gallery will continue to grow and become more comprehensive as I collect more cars and as visitors like you send me pictures of the cars I don't yet have.  If you have a car that you would like to share with the world, email me a picture:   theupstairstrain@yahoo.com.  Click here for a list of the pictures I need to complete the Gallery.

The books I am using for reference are listed in the Bibliography page.  All the writing and all the pictures on this website are, however, my own, except where cited.  No copyrighted materials have been included and all pictures provided by others are used by permission.

Now show me:                                                                                                                                  
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