Famous people in the hobby

Yes 

Hot Water , Spence, Alan, me, in fact all of the forum members are famous but you. You are fast becoming infamous.  

Rod Stewart, Neil Young, Jay Leno...

Dave Letterman...

Chef Vinny

Gomez Adams

And some that are playing trains in the after-life: Frank Sinatra,  Tom Snyder, Gary Coleman and Roy Campanella.

 

Bill

Here's a short list of known celebrities/famous people (past & present) who are into model trains in general, not all exclusive to O gauge/scale.  I know there's more, but these are ones I recall off the top of my head:

 

Neil Young (obviously)

 

Rod Stewart

Frank Sinatra

 

Johnny Cash

 

Joe DiMaggio

 

Gary Coleman

 

Walt Disney

 

Ward Kimball

 

Buster Keaton

Tom Snyder

 

Jay Leno

 

Michael Gross

 

Mandy Patinkin

Herman Munster.

Sheldon Cooper

 

 

Is Jay Leno really into trains? I thought all his time was tied up in his cars (not that it's a bad thing lol)

Mel Torme

One of our Forum members has a very famous name yet to be revealed (based upon a promise) that may surprise you and please you very much when revealed. I happened to back into this information and will respect the privacy of this matter. But believe me, you will be surprised.

warren buffet I thought was a big enthusiast before he bought the BN---

Not to be a wise guy, but the hobby transcends famous people. I like to think of it as we being the fortunate ones in a hobby that others choose to share with us.

Bobby Bacala.

 

rat

There are several folks that are members of this forum whom are well known but they do not use their real names so that their privacy is respected....you would be surprised! 

 

Alan

 

Such as the one that goes by the handle "ny"  

and there's more if we wish to consider past and present:

Tim Allen, Yul Brenner, Tom Brokaw, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins, Richard Crenna, Ed Dougherty (pro golfer) , Tom Hanks, Elton John, Sam Posey (race Car Driver)

Merle Haggard, David Hasselhoff, Lionel Ritchie, James Doohan( Star Trek) , John Entwhistle, Arthur Godfrey and honorable mention to Tony Suprano

As far as I am concerned the real celebrities are the likes of Jim Barrett, George Brown, Gunrunner John, Dale Manquen, Barry Broskowitz and others of similar capability who contribute to making our trains more fun and more efficient. 

Pete Waterman(music producer) Captain Slow aka James May (bloke off of Top Gear)

 

Nick

Mike Wolf

Isn't that why he bought BNSF as he wanted a bigger and more prototypical layout . 1/1 scale.

You make a good point that we can't point to many celebrities, (with the exception of Neil Young and Tom Snyder)  that have done anything for the model railroading community while many on this forum and those that you mention have.  Frank Sinatra had a massive Lionel collection but was it ever used to do anything good for the hobby??? 

According to NMRA ... Michael Jordan does an N scale thing with the CNW rr.

 

And, I'm a legend in my own mind. (like a couple of others on this forum   )

 

I'm big-time into recreational / homebuilt aircraft (basically a Planes, Trains, and Automobiles kinda guy) and play an active role in the Experimental Aircraft Association, although I'm not famous.  These guys are the ones who put on the annual Oshkosh convention where 500,000 attendees gather for a full week of aviation.

 

You'd be surprised how many big-name folks just wander around the grounds and are not bothered by the members. Harrison Ford, George Lucas, Edsel Ford, the FAA administrator, Senators, Congressmen, Burt Rutan, Chuck Yeager, et al. Ok, so they probably wear shades and ballcaps (required anyway), but still, we're glad to have them as members and treat everyone the same as long as they have the common avocation of aviation.

 

I'm just saying that if we show the same level of respect (not saying we don't) to the well-known folks, they might open up a bit. If we deluge them with 100's of questions about what they run, how big is their layout, etc., well, I'd keep a low profile as well.

 

Reginald Van Gleason III

 

"Booze goes swell with Lionel"

 

SJS

 

Especially if it is Taylor Swift! (Just kidding)

 

The folks here are pretty special themselves, maybe not rich and famous, but eager to solve problems and offer solutions. Have a friend whose wife used to sell real estate in CA. He once told me he could not believe the amounts of railroads in high end homes basements.

Rege Cordic was a model train enthusiast.  He had the morning show on KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh when I was a kid in the '60.  Later, he went to Hollywood and would host a show where he introduced a movie and then gave commentary.  Sort of like Turner Classic Movies does now.

Ok Passenger Train Collector, let it out. Get it off your chest, keeping this burden to yourself is causing stress in your life.

 

Lima aka George W Bush?

You mean we would be surprised, if we found out? If the name is secret, you suggest that secret will be revealed and boy won't we all be shocked when it is...

...but it doesn't seem it will happen, for pretty obvious reasons.

I get why such things have to be kept on the DL, I did some art and design work for someone in Hollywood a few years ago and I would say only my wife knows who it is, but she couldn't care less and isn't impressed by anyone. I doubt she even listened to the name when I told her as it means nothing to her at all. I honestly think that if one of her favorite actors or singers knocked on our door, and she recognized them, it wouldn't mean anything to her.

Heck, I had someone who'd walked on the Moon call me last Fall for something (we talked art for part of the short call, if that's a hint), and she ho-hummed that, too. I don't impress easily either, but that call was pretty darned cool to me.

John Devlin and Chuck Genna...or at least they are infamous.

I know 

 

Everyone in the hobby is always welcome -- especially on this forum--whether famous or not -- whether you have one engine or a hundred-- expert modeler or newbie---that's the nice thing about the hobby generally everyone is helpful and down to earth -- I have learned a lot on this forum from other members and am thankful

Does the Godfather count?  Remember one of the many

famous scenes in that great movie.

 

Many thanks,

 

Billy C

Warren Buffet has a large 1:1 size layout.

 

rtr12, Esquire

Well. I will have to concur with Ben,  on the mention of

Chef Vinny,  as I truely understand the accolades here  for

one that has to endure a long day of cooking, and monitoring those

goods that make us feel good --  A Full Stomach.  Read the many posts

about Trainstocks , and you will see mentioning of the food all the time.

I would love to come up from Tenn. just to try and taste what ever the cuisine

is that Vinny is cooking.  ( I remember the picture, but just cant remember the post).  I have an employee, that was a previous chef in New Orleans.  He cooks for his families

at every holiday, and I always enjoy listening to his menus.

    BUT,  yes listen to the respect that Ben gives Vin, for his work.  And then thank Ben,

for his acknowledgement.  Thats called Friendship.   I just felt led to make this comment

Well...Hermann Goering.

 

"Ok Passenger Train Collector, let it out. Get it off your chest, keeping this burden to yourself is causing stress in your life"

 

Can't, a promise is a promise. But there is a wonderful warm story that goes along with the name. It will come in time, but in a way, I wish the time would not come.

Gentlemen,

   Down thru the generations there have been lots of actors, sports personalities,

singers, US Presidents, military hero's, business executives and house wives that love this hobby.  However the most important of all of them are the children, for without their continued interest, our hobby will perish.  Men like my father who ran the Swissvale Boys Club from the late 40's to the late 60's and introduced thousands of

down & out troubled kids, to both Lionel O gauge trains, and the American Dream, are a big part of this hobby, and my memories.  Elliot Ness visited that Boys Cub during that era, to run trains with the Boys Club members at Christmas time, he retired to Coudersport, Pa and was close friends with my Grandfather.  Ness loved Lionel trains & kids and did everything he could for the Boys Clubs, even thou he was dead broke at the time.  Our hobby has had lots of famous people participate in it, one of them is our nations most decorated hero, US Army SGT Audie Murphy.  When you participate in this hobby you have some serious companionship.

PCRR/Dave

 

 When somebody tries to tell you it's not manly to play with toy trains, remind them that our nations most decorated soldier, played with them every Christmas season until he died.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...#Celebrity_modellers