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 acquired by Lonny Beno for continued preservation.  Lonny 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.  We know that these photos were originally preserved by Maury Romer, an A. C. Gilbert executive who held various high level positions at the company.  Maury sold these photos to Peter Jugle and  Dave Garrigues during the 1970’s.  Peter and Dave were noted Gilbert historians and collectors.  Eventually, most of Peter’s photos were acquired by Dave.  Ray Mohrlang became the next custodian of the photo collection after purchasing them from Dave Garrigues, minus a number of photos that Dave wanted to keep. Gary Baloun acquired the last of Maury Romer’s photos from Dave and has also shared them to be displayed here along with their related photos from Ray's collection.

Ray had long hoped to share these photos with American Flyer collectors in a book, but for various reasons this was not possible.  It is hoped that their availability on this website will help achieve this goal.  Our thanks go to all the custodians, past and present, who helped preserve these historic photos for our education and enjoyment.  They include, Maury Romer, Dave Garrigues, Peter Jugle, and Ray Mohrlang, along with Andy Jugle, Gary Baloun, and Lonny Beno.