Roar of the Rails - Railroad adventure sponsored by the A. C. Gilbert Company, makers of American Flyer model trains. The program showcased scenes of model trains and stories of railroad history. ROAR OF THE RAILS aired on CBS from October 1948 to December 1949. The 15-minute live program featured a fictional Grandpa James relating tales of railroad lore to his attentive grandson. The stories were illustrated with American Flyer trains and accessories.  A compilation of seven b&w episodes (105 minutes)  from the series is available in video.  Prior to the TV series the A. C. Gilbert Company of New haven, Connecticut had published a book entitled Roar of the Rails. The cover page of this 48- page  book (with illustrations and ads) described the texts as "A Book of Stories and Facts about American Railroading."  The book included photographs of all kinds of trains, as well as, exciting tales like "Trapped on a Railroad Bridge: a daring rescue by a brave Boy Scout," and "Old 67 Roars to the Rescue: Bill Kelley was too young to enlist - but so brave they made him a General." There were also instructional articles like "At the Controls in a Locomotive Cab: What engine crews see as they whiz over the shining rails." and "Famous Trains of America: Crack flyers that speed over the country's vast network of rails." Besides trains, the A. C. Gilbert Company were also manufactures of Erector, Chemistry, and Microscope sets and other scientific toys.