Storytelling with model trains

Well, this one is kind of off topic and off beat. It is not a train production, but a production that features trains. I guess it is storytelling to reach adults with model trains and dark humor to make them smile. In the “Addams Family” TV series, the protagonist Gomez Addams had a train layout that was featured from time to time in various episodes. His idea of model railroading fun was staging head-on collisions to take place between trains. On a bridge. At the moment he detonates explosives he placed under the bridge.

Typical dialog:

Guest (aghast): You meant to blow them up?

Gomez: Of course! Why else would a grown man play with trains?

Gomez to his stockbroker: I’m getting a bit bored with my model trains. I’m just itching to get may hands on a real railroad. Just think what a wreck I could have with those babies!

If you google “Addams Family Train Wreck Scenes” you can see some video clips.

The Addams Family (and the Munsters) used to scare me as a young boy; in retrospect they weren't that scary, especially compared to what's on TV today.

Notwithstanding Thomas The Tank Engine, I cannot think of any productions that "told stories" using model trains with model environments. The type of production I envision is of at least "Thunderbirds" quality, but not by using marionettes. That leaves either stop-motion animation or computer-generated animation for everything except the trains themselves. A well-written script and effective narration are pre-requisites of course.

Wasn 't there a Christmas/Santa themed story told using "the little engine that could"?  I don't clearly remember much of it so I guess I'm asking if it is one that qualifies here?

walt

This was my un-professional attempt at storytelling with my trains.

Doug

I think that fits the bill for imaginative productions that don't require a Hollywood studio budget. Well done!

I made this video when I converted a broken Thomas & Clarabel from electric to clockwork... yes, it's Thomas the Tank engine, but it does tell a story:

Good stuff, guys.

I grew up watching Gumby - and there was one or two episodes that featured Gumby riding a Lionel steam engine. Maybe that's where my fascination with toys coming to life started...and then the magic of electric toy trains was a natural fit. Later in life we had Wallace & Gromit...one of the former episodes featured a model train.

I don't think Hollywood budgets are necessary, however, maybe for the main networks where advertising dollars are high...but not for pubic broadcasting channels, which IMO are by far the best and appropriate for children (of all ages).

Model trains have been used extensively by Hollywood. They were not intended to appear to be models, but to pass as real trains. Real trains have also been used to tell stories. Look at vintage video of B&O's 1927 Fair of the Iron Horse for a great example.

I remember a Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode when I was a kid where Napoleon Solo was handcuffed to a train table and had to throw switches to keep two HO trains with explosives aboard from colliding and killing him. Regarding the Addams family, all the clips I've seen are the same collision and explosion--stock footage.

When trains were more popular, they were included in films. On YouTube, I have watched a film about a crazed hobbyist who tries to serve food with his model train and makes a mess among other problems. Also on YouTube was a film, I think John Wayne, with a Lionel ATSF F3 and cars on the floor. I recently watched a 1960s Lionel film about a boy who falls asleep and his train dreams come true.

Leaving aside model trains, trains have been featured in thousands of stories, both for children and adults. Some, like Thomas and Polar Express, have legs.

As a kid, my favorite train story was The Forgotten Train, given to me by my grandparents when I was 7. It was a fictionalized version of the purchase of Maine 2-foot gauge equipment and transfer to the Edaville RR and work on the cranberry farm. I knew nothing of the real basis for the story as a kid.

Ken, I knew we could count on you to help us out with a B&O reference. Bravo.

@Norman R It's a railroad with many, many firsts.

@Paul Kallus posted:

Does anyone know of any past productions that have featured model train layouts, villages, etc. as the setting? I know about Thomas the Tank Engine and Gumby . I am trying to imagine something more in the scale realism and not just made for young children - but rather for children of all ages . If it doesn't exist, do you think such a method of storytelling would be interesting to a wider audience?

Paul, don't we have a model railroader storyteller extraordinaire among us Forumites and isn't his name Trumptrain/aka Patrick of Maryland? He tells an entertaining story almost every time he posts on the Forum.

Ken, you certainly hit on the talents of Hollywood model and train builders. The opening scene of Holiday Affair is among my favorite movie segments that feature model trains. However, the type of production I was inquiring about is more a self-contained story that features electric trains, among other modeling aspects. It appears that Thomas The Tank Engine and Gumby, among some well-done videos from fellow forumites, make up the selection

Arnold, in all my perusing of the forum, I have not seen stories by Trumptrain.

There is a fellow on Facebook by the moniker of rayl ryder who has a group of videos he's titled "Nightmare Train." He's conjured up several storylines plus some instructional videos that I found interesting.

The Wonderful World of Trains (1960), a Lionel film, is available on YouTube. I think it meets your criteria.

So does "So You Want a Model Railroad (1955) Warner Bros. also on YouTube.

I don't mean to belabor the point - it's my lack of communications skills...something I am always working. An example of the type of production was made by Rich Melvin way back in the 1990s on VHS tape, possibly it was not converted to DVD, cannot remember the name nor find the video in the webstore. It was where he narrated a story while showing a little logging locomotive going through a morning workday. Allen Keller used to follow this approach as well. My "extrapolation" idea was to take that approach of videography and include O-scale figures, vehicles, stop-motion and/or computer graphics to make a complete story. This type of production involves copious amounts of time to produce and likely would not have a large following. Maybe someday, if I ever can retire, and if my layout gets to the point I am satisfied with it I'll try my hand at an amateur story-style video like others have done.

The OGR YouTube channel has a video called The Shenango Flume Company RR. Might that be what you're remembering?

Roger-that, Ken! It was the "The Shenango Flume Company RR." I've long parted with those VHS tapes...wish I kept that one and some others, but I will check out the OGR YouTube channel for that well-done video. Thank you.

Paul, I thought you communicated very well about what you were hoping for in this thread. Not shows merely with trains in them, but shows in which the trains are characters in the story.

It doesn’t get any clearer than Shining Time Station/Thomas the Tank Engine, and I remember Gumby riding atop the train (with the track appearing in front of the locomotive as it advances).

I wish I knew of more like that. I’ll have to find that OGR video, as well.

i would love to use my trains to make stories with

there used to be a lionel train series on youtube called The Bridge Line where this guy used lionel trains to tell stories. the series is long gone now but i used to watch all the episodes all the time

i'm thinking about making my own series called Mid-National Rail files about the long history of Mid-National / NorthWestern Railway

the trouble is building the layout, finding voice actors, fixing my camera and writing a script

i already know the theme song is gonna be Midnight , The Stars and You by Al Bowlly as there is gonna be a spooky feel to the series. After all the Mid-National was founded by a witch doctor named Dr Halena Ullysses in the 15th century originally to transport coffins. she also founded the Eerie , Fast Fright Service etc and is in a bitter war with Santa Claus for wanting to take over the North Pole Central and Peppermint Railroad

This is good story telling with model trains, from OGR's You Tube videos, and along the lines of what I was trying to describe. Add in figures, vehicles, adventure, drama, comedy, and you've got a neat story. I am sure it's not easy, though.