Anyone Remember Toy Train Revue?

Yes, I remember the tapes well. I gave a set of them to my cousin for his birthday. Even though much of the information would be considered dated by now, I wonder if there would be sufficient demand for a DVD reissue as something of a fond look back at model railroads and companies which are now part of history and, of course, individuals, some of whom have since caught their train "home."

 

Bob

I still have the complete set (VHS).  Haven't viewed them in some time though because all I currently have hooked-up to the TV is a DVD player.  I do have a DVD/VHS player around here somewhere, and really need to dig it out and hook it up.

Yes still have them. Somewhere?!

 

I have them too and likewise I do not know where they are. But I do remember them to be excellent.

I have the whole set of Toy Train Revue tapes plus TM or TMK's Great Layout series. Always enjoyed them particularly the one that TM did on Tom Snyder. They also had a quarterly magazine. (3 or 4 pages) if I remember correctly.

I "was there at the beginning" too. These were neat and I well-remember being very new to the hobby and didn't know what I was seeing much of the time at first. The whole world of 'toy trains' was overwhelming to a novice!

 

The Quarterly Revue magazine was also good.

I (or maybe my Dad) may have had one or 2 of the tapes years back.

 

I'd be interested in buying a DVD of them if Tom decides to transfer them over.

 

-Dave

Yes...I have them, too.  Time is now right to transfer them to DVD from the VHS.

Oh, and if there's one thing I did remember, it was the how TM overdubbed numerous scenes with Lionel's first generation of their RailSounds technology

They were and are a fabulous historical record of the time. I have them all and watch them all at least yearly.

 

Peter

 

BTW.......I still break out my OGR The Video VHS tapes from time to time, too!

I have most of them.
I enjoyed the content in the earlier tapes more than that of the later ones.

I have them all, and most are entertaining.  One negative is they are such a QUICK moneymaker that McComas stopped writing books.  I guess books are not a profitable endeavor at least in this subject area.  Additionally, the split between Tom McComas and James Tuohy either resulted in or was a result of the move to videos.  As a result, there is virtually NO written history of Modern Era Production of any relevance!!!  SHAME!!!  Wouldn't it be nice to document the last 44 years of ELECTRIC TOY TRAINS???

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As a result, there is virtually NO written history of Modern Era Production of any relevance!!! 

 

I like volume four of their series on Lionel. It deals with the approximately first ten years of the Modern Era, 1970-1980. And some of the older Greenberg guides have material on the variations of some Modern Era items.

I agree that it is a real shame that something like that volume four wasn't done for 1981 and on.

How many trains have been produced since 1970???  Not just Lionel...MTH???  Atlas???  Not just O GAUGE either!!!  Those that come behind us will have no clue...and therefore, little interest.  My collecting has been encouraged by all the books on Pre and Post War!!!  I have shelves of Reference Books, Guides, Catalogs, and Online References to spur me on.  It's hard to collect what you do not know about...very tuff indeed!!!  A book could be written on items never produced yet catalogued!!!  I imagine how ruff it would be...almost impossible to THOROUGHLY document production of last 44 years as MANY of the movers and shakers of that time are 6 feet under...buried with their knowledge of the MODERN ERA.  Conversely, many of the Postwar Lionel/AF factory supervisors, salesmen, etc were interviewed at length before their passing.  The Redmans, Kimballs, etc. were interviewed before their lives ended. the TCA Library contains volumes of Reference Materials which are at the disposal of all of us.  Even The OGR forum serves as a point of reference to us all.  I guess the more we put here...the better. 

Good recollection--I remember that practice got eye-rollingly old pretty fast. Having viewed the entire set, I got to hear a whole lot of first-gen F3 sound effects.

 

---PCJ

Ron's point above a good one - Who will chronicle the recent years of trains?  

I concur that much of my enjoyment of the hobby was generated and fostered from reading the TM books and Greenburg books as well as the Toy Train Review. Also the TCA and LCCA periodicals.

How about that Fella 'Roger' something who published the TRAINMASTER for several years? It was a vehicle for him as a dealer but he offered a lot of good current information about trends in the hobby at the time (in the early 1990s)

 

Perhaps Lou Columbo and others today who are writing should assemble some of their writings into book form for posterity?

 

A monumental undertaking but well-worth it would be to condense the vast material on this forum into a concise body of reading for future enthusiests. What are you planning in your retirement Allan?

The website is still around, but hasn't been updated since the building a layout with Fastrack video from a few years ago.  They even reference the site in the video, but didn't do much to update it's content.

 

http://www.toytrainrevue.com/

 

 

 

I noticed that - I also noticed that quite a bit of what they wrote on that site under layout tips also appeared in a few Lionel Nation videos, such as the adding a single line and upgrading engines with MagicElectrol and Teledyne Uncoupling.

I've still got the magazines (which came out BEFORE the tapes).

The layout stories from the Toy Train Revue videos are all in The Magic of Lionel DVDs. We have been considering various options for making the other TTR video content available. But a direct DVD transfer from the original shows...we really haven't received a notable amount of requests for that.

 

Toy Train Revue Journal started out as stand-alone periodicals but then were included in the Lionel pocket price guides. To date, the last one was published two years ago.

 

As for Toy Train Revue On-line, right now it simply exists as an archive for the various articles written, as opposed to deciding to pull it altogether because time is spent on other projects. We were recently talking about getting back into it. Coincidentally, I've been organizing notes on a locomotive project I've been working on and was thinking about simply posting it on this board but it might be a better idea to post it on the TTR website as a rare updated feature.

 

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Ron's point above a good one - Who will chronicle the recent years of trains? 

 

It is up to individuals to do the research and write the articles.

Trainz has some information published on their web site

The folks from the Train Station in NJ also have some information published.

Perhaps folks can list other sources.

 

The TCA still has its printed magazine, and also has an online magazine.

All that is needed is someone to write the articles.

But I guess we all leave that to "someone else".

 

Here are some links:

http://www.train99.com/

http://www.tinplatetimes.com/

http://www.train-station.com/P...chives/entrance.html

http://sap049.channeladvisor.com/t-FM_Diesels.aspx

 

Look down the right hand column for more Trainz articles:

http://sap049.channeladvisor.com/sitemap2.aspx

I'm planning to play with trains, and then play with some more trains. 

 

I write about them all the time, or assist in editing/publishing--in print--what others have written.  Retirement, when it comes, will then be time to enjoy some quality play time.  I have lots to play with, and life grows increasingly short.

 

I know some insist you can get any information you need from the Internet.  Have seen that said time and again on this forum.  I'm old fashioned though, and still prefer to see properly researched and juried reference works in print--the kind of thing my friend Bruce Greenberg and my pal Tom McComas did in earlier days .  That's why I maintain a pretty extensive library, and will continue to do so when suitable books are published and available.

I think the internet is great for searching and finding things, whether in a hunt for information or when shopping.  But I'm "old-fashioned" like Allan mentioned, too, so usually once I find something, I buy the book or magazine to read, and if good, keep.  I tried a Kindle for a while and found in convenient for travel - but I prefer the feel lland physical presence of actual pages, so I "un-Kindled it" so to speak.

 

One problem with this, of course, is that I have accumulated books and periodical/reference book collections until my house is quite literally filled with bookshelves everywhere.  My train-room might be wall to wall shelves with trains on them, but the rest of the house is books everywhere.  The amazing thing is that I never have any trouble finding the one book I am looking for, out of the 2500 or so we have . . .

Scattered articles are great.  I am referring to CONCISE reference type books similar to Greenberg and McComas. These books were written by well-educated literary type people skilled in research/interview techniques. I doubt most of us could be trusted to publish an ALL FACTS/NO BS literary work, and have the knowledge/resources to produce such a PROFESSIONAL REFERENCE BOOK.  

quote:

Scattered articles are great.  I am referring to CONCISE reference type books similar to Greenberg and McComas.

 

From what I understand, publication costs are a big obstacle to getting anything new published.
Then there is the question of how many people would buy a new book.

It seems that a lot of people just ask questions on the various train boards, expecting someone with reference materials to look up the answers for them.

I have all three of the books put out by Project Roar Publishing.

How many folks participating on this board purchased them?

I bought them.  Why?  Because they're good.  Because I like to have the references available on hand--even in this day of the Internet & lazy people asking others to do  their research.  Because I like books.  Because if we don't buy the good stuff we won't have any good stuff available.  

 

Same reason I SUBSCRIBE to OGR and CTT:  The info is invaluable--even if I REALLY, REALLY disagree with some of the positions of the mags.  Reading at BN does not ensure continued publication of these mags.  BUYING at BN or SUBSCRIBING helps ensure the continuation of these mags.

 

In short, if not supported, they will go away and there will be no information.