About the Ray Mohrlang Collection
Ray Mohrlang was a major collector of American Flyer trains.
In addition to his train collection, he had a
collection of rare American Flyer and Gilbert photos. Ray passed
away recently and his photo collection was sold. The new owner has
made these photos available for display on this website as a way to
increase knowledge and understanding of the history of the A.C.
Gilbert Co.
Many times photos turn up and we have little information about where
they came from. That is not the case here. This photo collection
originated with Maury Romer who sold the photos to the late Peter
Jugle in 1977. Peter sold them to the late Dave Garrigues, a noted
Gilbert historian and collector. Finally Dave sold the
collection to Ray. In 1980, Maury Romer collaborated with the
late Bruce Manson to present an article featuring a few of these photos and the Gilbert Hall of
Science in the Train Collector's Quarterly. It is unclear when
the subsequent sales to Dave Garrigues and to Ray took place, but the
photos were in Ray's possession in 1992, when Bruce Manson did a followup article, crediting the photos to Ray.
Ray had long hoped to share these photos with American Flyer
collectors in a book, but for one reason or another this was not
possible. It is hoped that their availability on this website will
help achieve this goal. Our thanks go to Ray and the other
custodians of this collection, who preserved them for our education
and enjoyment.