John Oliver Train in Scranton.

first video of trains once they started running.

It's always nice to see the outcome of the story. Thanks for posting.

IS the PJ Carlessimo that is referred to above the same one that coached the Seton Hall Basketball team in the late 1980's to the mid 1990's?

Go Pirates!

Class of 1991!

Almost as soon as I recorded the first clip, the top train was working.  Here is my first capture of all 3. The top train is MTH C&O  steam, the middle is MTH GP30 from the Atlantic Coast Line, and the lower level is a Piko Santa Fe 0-6-0.

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

IS the PJ Carlessimo that is referred to above the same one that coached the Seton Hall Basketball team in the late 1980's to the mid 1990's?

Yes!  the one and only!

Not long before we were all finished.  There will be a public debut on Friday, September 22 at 11:00 AM.

Tim, I was there around 1pm, but only for a few minutes.  I must have missed you.  Thanks for posting the photos, it looks awesome!

Will this be on permanent display? Headed to Scranton in November? 

Lots of great work here. Nice. We will be visiting this York, and I am looking forward to it.

O-gauger posted:

Will this be on permanent display? Headed to Scranton in November? 

I believe it is supposed to be a permanent exhibit in the Trolley Museum.

Originally posted by Tim O,Malley:

Here is my first capture of all 3. The top train is MTH C&O  steam, the middle is MTH GP30 from the Atlantic Coast Line,
and the lower level is a Piko Santa Fe 0-6-0.

Well that's not really right? Shouldn't the trains be the ones that ran in Scranton such as the CNJ, Erie, Lackawanna, D&H, Laurel line, and CP rail?

I almost died laughing when I watched that episode.  John Oliver is so dang funny!  The best part is how he and his crew actually pulled this off.  Only on Last Week Tonight does this happen.

O-gauger posted:

Will this be on permanent display? Headed to Scranton in November? 

It is there to stay, and the museum is open all year, although regular excursions end October 29th.  There are limited 'Santa' excursions available in November and December, but you may want to reserve your tickets in advance to guarantee a seat.

Visit http://www.ectma.org for the full schedule.   

It needs a trolley

and some correct roadnames for the region wouldn'thurt either.

O-gauger posted:

Will this be on permanent display? Headed to Scranton in November? 

The trolley museum is in Scranton, it is certainly worth a visit considering it shares a parking lot with Steamtown National Historical Site.

Adriatic posted:

It needs a trolley

and some correct roadnames for the region wouldn'thurt either.

The Scranton trolley that we have on loan to WNEP may make a visit over the winter.

The train set was unveiled at 11 am this morning.  What a crowd! Looking at Steamtown's parking lot, you would have thought it was Railfest.  There were cars pulling in with NY plates, people coming by taxi cab, unbelievable.  

Adriatic posted:

It needs a trolley

and some correct roadnames for the region wouldn'thurt either.

There you go.

Thanks for the backstory and follow up, Tim.

Set designers whip this stuff out on an idea by someone every day. We make a big event of a layout build. Different perspectives. I suppose the rotating base was too expensive to donate and gets reused.

The local news is reporting that 5000 people came to see the John Oliver layout over the weekend, with nearly 500 waiting in line for the museum to open Sunday morning.  Amazing!  That's one-fifth of their average yearly attendance in just three days.

The follow up story was featured on the show again last night, where the showed the truck and its police escort on its way to Scranton. The segment hasn't made it to Youtube yet, but it was very funny as always.

http://wnep.com/2017/09/24/tho...-new-backyard-train/

WOW!  That is VERY COOL!

Chief Bob (Retired)

On again tonight!

I wrote an article about the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley chapter's involvement with the Oliver train for NRHS News last week.  When I submitted it  to the editor, along with photos, he asked if I had any photos of the completed layout.  It turns out, I did not. So, I made a quick run to the museum, and grabbed these 3 views.

A few changes made since the on-air presentation.  No rotation of the layout.  No fireworks.  And No PJ Carlessimo.  John Oliver's face now adorns the Nay Aug Tunnel.

Road Scholar trucking is a sponsor of the restoration of Scranton Transit car no. 505, so they have a truck on the layout, with the WNEP addition of "The Train Station."  This is a play on their normal tagline of being "The News Station."

They took a few liberties by relocating the Tunkhannock Creek Viaduct from Nicholson to this version of Scranton.  In order to do so, they made the concrete bridge curved, instead of straight.  Oh, well, it is all in fun.  The attraction is doing its job.  Plenty of people with no interest in trains or trolleys stop by every day to see the train that was on TV.