Lionel American Flyer Special Issue Commemorative Boxcar

The North Florida Division of the Atlantic Coast S Gaugers is offering for sale a special issue boxcar highlighting the layout where the club often meets for their monthly meetings.  

The boxcar is decorated in Florida’s colors representing citrus orange, lush green vegetation, and the white sand beaches.  Three of Florida’s universities incorporate these colors in their logos:  University of Florida, University of Miami, and Florida A&M University.  The car number is the charter date of the NF layout.

All proceeds of the sale of this car will support the North Florida ACSG club activities.

The Northern Florida Railway is an imaginary company represented on the toy train display in the second floor of Larry Shughart’s barn in Jacksonville, FL. The logo and slogan are adapted from the Northern Pacific Railway “Route of the Vista Dome North Coast Limited”.  The Chinese Yin and Yang represent the balance in life, particularly between matter and spirit.

A fabled history:  In the early 1900’s, while fishing with Henry Flagler, James J. Hill (President of the Northern Pacific Railway) was enchanted with the remote beauty of Florida.  Hill thoroughly enjoyed his train trip from Minnesota to Jacksonville and decided to make an annual trip to Florida accompanied by his friends and family.  They would cross America by train and experience typical American cities, towns, and country side.  With      Mr. Hill’s connections in the railroad industry, it was easy for him to gain permission to operate a special train, the American Flyer First Coast Limited, over any railroad he wanted to and from Jacksonville.  Mr. Flagler was quite wary of Mr. Hill’s intentions in Florida and would never give him permission to operate on the Florida East Coast Railway, forcing Mr. Hill to charter and construct his own line, the Northern Florida Railway, in order to have a place to yard his train upon arrival in Florida.