Lionel Trains In Ellery Queen The Eccentric Engineer

Still remember seeing that episode as a first run.

Never saw that one before. Very interesting! A lot of great postwar action on that nicely done layout.

I remember watching the original airing also.  I seem to recall not being real impressed with the show.  Maybe it is time to watch it again.

Arthur Godfrey and Ed McMahon!

I think one of the actors is David Headison from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (remember that one?)

Train layout is the REAL star amidst some terrible and wooden acting! LOL!

TNCENTRR, yes.  And David Wayne from Batman.  Not to mention Jim Hutton who tragically died of cancer at 45.

I think that tops the Addams Family layout except for the epic train wrecks.

Missed David Wayne but caught Hutton. Hutton's son, Timothy, went on to become a fine actor. He gave a breakout performance in Ordinary People, for which he won both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award! That film was directed by Robert Redford and also featured a hugely against-type role for Mary Tyler Moore as the cold, unfeeling mother.

Nice. They like to run them fast.

Allan Miller posted:

Never saw that one before. Very interesting! A lot of great postwar action on that nicely done layout.

 

This layout was built by Dave Otth out in California. There was a feature article about this layout in the Toy Train Collectors Society Bulletin about 20 years ago.

Regards,

Lou N

I remember Ellery Queen well and in fact used to subscribe to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine many years ago.

The old Ellery Queen novels (written in the 30’s through the 50’s) always challenged the reader to solve the mystery with the clues that had been presented in the preceding chapters. Most of them were not easily solved as they were convoluted plots. They carried this “challenge” over to the Jim Hutton TV series in the mid-1970s.

Thanks for posting.  Great stuff.

I recall the earlier Ellery Queen TV series in the 1950's was a better show than the 70's version. I especially liked Hugh Marlowe in the role of Ellery. But, of course, NO train layouts!

Tinplate Art posted:

I recall the earlier Ellery Queen TV series in the 1950's was a better show than the 70's version. I especially liked Hugh Marlowe in the role of Ellery. But, if course, NO train layouts!

You got me "beat" there, Art!

I don't know the earlier one but imagine the '70's version was required to be more "campy" to fit the times.

Marlowe earlier played Ellery on the radio.

Tim Hutton also had a TV detective show: Nero Wolfe on A&E. IMHO the best depiction of the Rex Stout stories ever done. No trains, but excellent entertainment.

Is there another version of the show because I noticed that this episode is incomplete closer to the end.