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modernwizardWe attended the Shelburne Museum's opening ceremonies for the new Pizzagalli Educational Center today. Taking advantage of the free admission [!!], we also hit the Toy Shop, where Janna admired the Radio Flyer layout. Though behind glass, the layout has buttons at kid level that start and stop the two trains and allow visitors to control sound effects as well.
My favorite part of the layout is right here. In the midground, we have a little diecast camper at left that even has a hitch, presumably for attachment to one of the diecast cars at right. In the foreground is an American Flyer billboard. Janna told me that it is a "whistling billboard." A best-selling set piece, it makes train whistle noises! [Of course, visitors can control this sound. Many decades on, it emits the call of a dying moose.]
Another button controls the movement of the operator loading milk cans from the platform to the car. Pay no attention to the fact that the forklift conspicuously lacks milk cans.
There's a small display of tinplate toys, nothing elaborate like the postwar trains Janna loves, however. I took pictures anyway for her. ^_^
Janna likes this one. She told me that it was a very popular toy in its day.
I like this one. Not shown are the open-air seats on the upper deck.
My favorite part of the layout is right here. In the midground, we have a little diecast camper at left that even has a hitch, presumably for attachment to one of the diecast cars at right. In the foreground is an American Flyer billboard. Janna told me that it is a "whistling billboard." A best-selling set piece, it makes train whistle noises! [Of course, visitors can control this sound. Many decades on, it emits the call of a dying moose.]
Another button controls the movement of the operator loading milk cans from the platform to the car. Pay no attention to the fact that the forklift conspicuously lacks milk cans.
There's a small display of tinplate toys, nothing elaborate like the postwar trains Janna loves, however. I took pictures anyway for her. ^_^
Janna likes this one. She told me that it was a very popular toy in its day.
I like this one. Not shown are the open-air seats on the upper deck.
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Date: Aug. 19th, 2013 03:19 am (UTC)The American Flyer whistling billboard functioned normally This layout features two similar billboards, but the one with the light green base was the only whistling one - the dark green based one was non-whistling. The steam locomotive whistling sound is made with an impeller mechanism that pulls air through a chamber when the button is pressed, producing the sound. Since the chamber is hidden behind the billboard frame, the illusion is that a passing steam locomotive is actually doing the whistling.