A couple of years ago a friend gave me a book about the late John Allen and the Gorre and Daphetid Railroad, which I highly recommend by the way. But it has started me thinking, could there be a market for a high quality coffee table book of some of the legends of the toy train hobby that either they or their layouts have past on. This would go beyond the normal OGR article or TM Books and Video segment, but the biographical story of the person(s) behind the layout. How and why they choose this hobby. Who influenced them. What their legacy to the hobby is. Also a consistent technical breakdown of the layout itself. Such things as type of track, type of switches, table construction method, wiring method, scenery construction methods, etc.... A book with high gloss pages, the highest quality pictures available, excellent writing and oversized to command a presence on the coffee table. It could feature 5 or 6 people per issue and there could be a series. Books such as these exist for motorsports at least, as I have several of them. Granted that is a much bigger market, but I personally would be interested in a series such as this in order to remember those that helped build the hobby.
Some of the possible candidates would include:
Charles Griffin and The Misty Mountain Railroad
Frank Petruzzo and his coal train
Ward Kimble
Frank Ellison and The Delta Lines
I am thinking of several others but because I am not sure of the persons status will decline from listing them here. I am sure the folks here could contribute many people and layouts to the list. But again, I personally think it should be limited to those that are gone in order to remember them and the legacy to the hobby.
Thoughts?
(I find myself humming 'My dog's better than your dog!' more often as I read through threads and blogs of all sorts these days!)
