A.C. Gilbert's American Flyer Train Show

Fri Nov 28, 2025 - Sun Jan 25, 2026
- see all dates
Repeating every week — Sundays, and Saturdays through January 25, 2026.
10:00am ET
Age: All Ages
Price: Free
Location:
Eli Whitney Museum
915 Whitney Avenue, Hamden, CT, 06517
Invite a friend Website

​The Eli Whitney Museum delves into New Haven's past to bring back a special tradition dating back more than 60 years: The AC Gilbert American Flyer Train collection. 

At 3/16” scale, a six-foot-tall person rises a mere inch and one-eighth above the ground. Can you imagine yourself in this miniaturized world? To help bring visitors into this world, Eli Whitney has reinvented an American Flyer 302 Steam Locomotive. The S-gauge engine has been retrofitted with a lightweight camera typically found on flying drones. This small camera gives visitors a first-person view from the train engineer’s seat. 

At one time more than 3,000 people worked at Gilbert's factory in Fair Haven, and his products shaped imagination for three generations of American children. 

 

** Activity dates/times are subject to change. Please click through to the activity website to verify.