I enjoyed watching episode 13 (season 1) of the Australian TV show "Murder Calls," in which a valuable "scale" model train layout plays a central role in the plot. The episode is currently available on Amazon Prime.
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I caught "The Night of the Meek" yesterday. A Twilight Zone Christmas episode featuring Art Carney of The Honeymooners among a few other faces from the past.
The opening scene is a toystore with post war Lionel layout and only lasts a few seconds.
That prop/ layout eventually becomes Gomez Addams's layout on the Addams Family
There's actually a cool FaceBook page called Toy Trains go Hollywood. It has pictures and videos of trains in probably every movie you've ever seen, if you scroll the page enough!! https://www.facebook.com/hollywoodontrack I think that's the right link
Trains show up in 2 episodes of Columbo. An HO layout in a 70s episode and an O layout in a late 80s episode.
Just saw a re-run of a Price is Right show originally aired 4/20/20. One of the prizes in the showcase was a Lionel Scooby Doo? train set. The name Lionel was not mentioned.
I think the opening of "Holiday Affair" set the standard by which all model trains on screen are measured.
Shaggy was born on 4/20 it seems 
The original Maigret in B&W that aired on PBS (in Chicago) had one episode with a model train that looked like HO in a storefront window. It was on screen several times. Dialog was in French with subtitles. The trains appeared to be running on a beautifully constructed model railroad in the European style.
One of the kids shows in Minneapolis in the fifties was called "lunch with Casey" starring Roger Awsumb and several co-stars.
The first few years started out with a American Flyer steam engine pulling heavyweight cars. In later years the intro was replaced by Casey climbing down from a real steam engine.
It's unfortunate that so few of those kids shows were recorded and saved.
It seems like every metropolitan area had kids shows based on a clown, or some sort of space explorer/soldier of fortune.
Forensic files has an episode on the sunset limited which has a model for the reenactment.
RoyBoy, I googled minneapolis+lunch with casey
this? Lunch with casey?
That's the very show, Mike. I enjoyed many peanut butter sandwiches with Casey. Another more recent train centric children's show produced locally is Choo Choo Bob...
This movie clip is from the 1951 film 'People Will Talk' - Cary Grant and two buddies run a huge Lionel train set. When the inevitable collision comes - well, if any of you have been in on post-derailment discussions, it's kind of how they go; been on a couple of these!
An episode of "Banacek", an NBC Mystery Movie had an episode where an Experimental Safety Vehicle was stolen in shipping -- flat car and all -- from the middle of a moving train. When Banacek figured out how they pulled it off, he demonstrated it using a Lionel train. Kudos to the prop department for the execution. If I can find a clip, I'll post it. The Episode was "Project Phoenix" and aired in 1972.
@Mill City posted:
That's the very show, Mike. I enjoyed many peanut butter sandwiches with Casey. Another more recent train centric children's show produced locally is Choo Choo Bob...
I can't edit it short...
I don't watch tv much, but do watch Choo Choo Bob on a broadcast network w/Qubo shows if I catch it. (surprised? 
)
Sometimes engines and cars pull me through a few of those in a row, but there yardlimits near that big of a cornfield So slow, I sometimes fall asleep before the trip ends 
I 1st saw Bob long ago, about the time I first saw ShinyTimeStation reruns or whatever it was called. A Ringo hosted epsisode... and then I saw a face on a train and heard George Carlin's distinct rasp....and then...
..then I knew what I was doing between "first lunch"&"last lunch" for a while; eating second lunch in front of the TV.... Gotta go; hungry.
Two episodes of "Leave it to Beaver" featured model trains. (Yeah, I'm old.) In one, a girl lured Wally over to her house to see her father's American Flyer layout. ("My Brother's Girl", S 1, E 27, 1958) The other one had Beaver being pressured by his mother to donate his Lionel set to a younger kid, because he was "too old" to play with it. (He was probably twelve.) ("Beaver's Electric Trains, S 5, E 17, 1962).
One episode of "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" has the parents pressuring Ricky to get rid of his old trains, and yet Ozzie and his neighbor regain interest when he brings them out and runs them. The old guys even go to a train store to buy more stuff. The store itself is a typical 1950's train store featuring Lionel. ("The Electric Train", S 3, E 15, 1955).
I was watching a Christmas show on the Hallmark Channel, I believe it was this morning, they had a Lionel train set-up in a department store display. The train wasn't running but the very first thing I noticed when I saw it was that they had the tender facing the wrong direction. I thought to my self, "brother, someone needs to learn something about steam engines and their tenders."
@AGHRMatt posted:...When Banacek figured out how they pulled it off, he demonstrated it using a Lionel train...
I think it was Atlas 2 rail O.
@RamblerDon posted:Trains show up in 2 episodes of Columbo. An HO layout in a 70s episode and an O layout in a late 80s episode.
The episode with Fisher Stevens had the Lionel set.
@ADCX Rob posted:I think it was Atlas 2 rail O.
Could have been. I just remember that the loop was running on a small table with sharp curves.
Watching a Simpson re-run 11/15/90, Flanders has a train layout in his "rumpus room"
@CSXJOE posted:Watching a Simpson re-run 11/15/90, Flanders has a train layout in his "rumpus room"
Don't forget Reverend Lovejoy -- Model railroad in the house and 1.5" scale outdoors.
@Mike23 posted:RoyBoy, I googled minneapolis+lunch with casey
this? Lunch with casey?
Yes. That's the fellow I "ate lunch with" in my formative years. This is a later episode and the later intro. I have never seen a recording with the early intro that featured an American Flyer S gauge train, with a steam engine pulling heavyweight cars.
@Adriatic posted:@Mill City posted:That's the very show, Mike. I enjoyed many peanut butter sandwiches with Casey. Another more recent train centric children's show produced locally is Choo Choo Bob...
I can't edit it short...
I don't watch tv much, but do watch Choo Choo Bob on a broadcast network w/Qubo shows if I catch it. (surprised?
Choo-choo Bob graciously donated a DVD of his show to the TTOS club when we had a layout in the Vallco mall in Sunnyvale.
That DVD and a few others played constantly for several years keeping the kids entertained.
@RoyBoy posted:Choo-choo Bob graciously donated a DVD of his show to the TTOS club when we had a layout in the Vallco mall in Sunnyvale.
That DVD and a few others played constantly for several years keeping the kids entertained.
Not surprising, Bob Medcraft is a very nice man. Sadly, the show is no longer in production.
@Former Member posted:This movie clip is from the 1951 film 'People Will Talk' - Cary Grant and two buddies run a huge Lionel train set. When the inevitable collision comes - well, if any of you have been in on post-derailment discussions, it's kind of how they go; been on a couple of these!
I remember seeing this and was totally impressed by the trackage and the floor space Cary Grant's wife let him have for trains
There is a Gorilla Glue commercial running right now. A guy uses the glue to repair a figure and then wide shot of train layout with what looks like an o gauge MTH Southern Crescent Limited running. There are other trains in the background.
Twilight Zone season 5 episode 30, 1964.
Couple gets drunk at a party and wake up in a supposedly dead town. Turns out it is a HO layout brought back from earth by aliens and they are now pets of a little girl alien.
The Lionel 6-11839 train set made a brief appearance on JAG where Harm gave Bud the set for his young son AJ.
Rusty
In Dennis The Menace S2 EP30 The Soap Box Derby there's a cool train scene. The premise of the show is that Dennis and his dad are building a derby car and a snooty neighbor comes by to critique it. George Wilson is also there when this happens and they end up in a bet for the fastest car, Dennis' car or the other kids. Bet is $50.00 which is obviously a nice chunk in those days. The prize for the winner of the competition is a train set (HO). While Dennis doesn't win the derby (the other kid does) his car is the fastest (leaving out plot spoilers on purpose). So the snooty neighbor kid comes over with his rather crummy HO train set and won't let Dennis see it. Dennis is okay with it as the $50.00 prize money bought him a nice Lionel setup which they cut to.
@Former Member posted:This movie clip is from the 1951 film 'People Will Talk' - Cary Grant and two buddies run a huge Lionel train set. When the inevitable collision comes - well, if any of you have been in on post-derailment discussions, it's kind of how they go; been on a couple of these!
Great scene, found myself giggling over there argument. Way to bring a big smile to my Monday!
Ellery Queen The Eccentric Engineer. This just popped up on my YouTube feed. Ed McMahon is a supposedly crackpot inventor who is secretly developing a potentially lucrative automation system using a large Lionel layout and is murdered for his secrets. Lots of train action. Several well known actors in the cast.
@MarkVB posted:Ellery Queen The Eccentric Engineer. This just popped up on my YouTube feed. Ed McMahon is a supposedly crackpot inventor who is secretly developing a potentially lucrative automation system using a large Lionel layout and is murdered for his secrets. Lots of train action. Several well known actors in the cast.
That was a fascinating episode, I wonder where the layout was from as it was very well done and looked more permanent than something setup for a single TV episode.
Wait fot it; 1 minute into the video; Lionel trains and I Love Lucy
