Re: Crown 24" guage car from Worlds fair

Crown Metal Products was founded by Ken Williams in the mid to late 1950's. The flight trainer was designed and built by Ed Link (whose father's company built coin operated pianos, much of the technology of which went into the first generation flight trainers). Ken originally targeted his railroads towards the upper middle class of the time as well as the amusement industry. He said that 15" gauge steam train shouldn't cost much more than a power boat.
I got to meet him in the early 1960's not long after he acquired the assets of WABCO's steam locomotive division. My grandfather had supervised the crating and delivery of the plans, parts and patterns to his farm in West Newton where he was building his trains at that time.

Now Ed Link did own a Crown 24" gauge train. He had it set up so that you could fire it up and run her normally, or if in a hurry there was a industrial compressor installed in a car behind the tender and you could run on air.