Favorite Billboards

[FJ and G]

Billboards seem to be popular among 3-railers. I like to make my own from old magazine ads from the 40s and 50s. What are your favorite? I copied an ad for Underwriter Typewriters and made a billboard for that. Burma Shave was popular back then as well. Here are some nuggets about Burma Shave billboard slogans for some of you old farts. I have many more but don't want to take up too much bandwidth here. Incredibly, the first Burma Shave slogan has to do with trains:

Trains don't wander

All over the map

'Cause nobody sits

In the engineer's lap

Burma Shave




She kissed the hairbrush

By mistake

She thought it was

Her husband Jake

Use Burma Shave

*

Remember these?



For those who never saw the Burma Shave signs,
here is a quick lesson in our history of the

1930's and '40's. Before

the Interstates, when everyone drove the old 2
lane roads, Burma Shave

signs would be posted all over the countryside
in farmers' fields. They

were small red signs with white letters. Five
signs, about 100 feet

apart, each containing 1 line of a 4 line
couplet......and the

obligatory 5th sign advertising Burma Shave, a
popular shaving cream.

Dave Vergun

[FJ and G]

A MAN, A MISS
A CAR, A CURVE
HE KISSED THE MISS,
AND MISSED THE CURVE.
Berma Shave


BEFORE I TRIED IT
THE KISSES I MISSED
BUT AFTERWARDS - BOY!
THE MISSES I KISSED.
Berma Shave


HARDLY A DRIVER
IS NOW ALIVE
AT 75...
Berma Shave


DON'T STICK YOUR ELBOW
OUT SO FAR
IT MIGHT GO HOME
IN ANOTHER CAR.
Berma Shave
DROVE TOO LONG

"AT EASE," SHE SAID,
"MANEUVERS BEGIN
WHEN YOU GET
THOSE WHISKERS
OFF YOUR CHIN."

'TWOULD BE MORE FUN
TO GO BY AIR
IF WE COULD PUT
THESE SIGNS
UP THERE...
Berma Shave

[FJ and G]

OK, so sorry, can't resist posting a few more gems that would look wonderful on a toy train billboard with the Burma Shave picture. Just pick up any old magazine from that time period and burn a copy! I searched the Web but couldn't find photos of those billboards, unfortunately.

CAUTIOUS RIDER

TO HER RECKLESS DEAR

LET'S HAVE LESS BULL

AND MORE STEER

Burma Shave

*

SPEED WAS HIGH

WEATHER WAS NOT

TIRES WERE THIN

X MARKS THE SPOT

Burma Shave

*

THE MIDNIGHT RIDE

OF PAUL FOR BEER

LED TO A WARMER

HEMISPHERE

Burma Shave

*

AROUND THE CURVE

LICKETY-SPLIT

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL CAR

WASN'T IT?

Burma Shave

*

NO MATTER THE PRICE

NO MATTER HOW NEW

THE BEST SAFETY DEVICE

IN THE CAR IS YOU

Burma Shave

*

A GUY WHO DRIVES

A CAR WIDE OPEN

IS NOT THINKIN'

HE'S JUST HOPIN'

Burma Shave

*

AT INTERSECTIONS

LOOK EACH WAY

A HARP SOUNDS NICE

BUT ITS HARD TO PLAY

Burma Shave

*

BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL

EYES ON THE ROAD

THAT'S THE SKILLFUL

DRIVER'S CODE

Burma Shave

*

THE ONE WHO DRIVES

WHEN HE'S BEEN DRINKING

DEPENDS ON YOU

TO DO HIS THINKING

Burma Shave

*

(The following one is on old Hwy 30 just east
of Ogden: )



CAR IN DITCH

DRIVER IN TREE

THE MOON WAS FULL

AND SO WAS HE.

Burma Shave

*

And my all time favorite:



PASSING SCHOOL ZONE

TAKE IT SLOW

LET OUR LITTLE

SHAVERS GROW

Burma Shave

*

[Big_Boy_4005]

Dad always liked this one:

FELLOW SPEEDERS

LET'S REHEARSE

ALL TOGHETHER

"GOOD MORNING NURSE"

Burma Shave

[cnw1995]

Dave, how do you make your billboards?

[Big_Boy_4005]

I actually have a set of Burma Shave signs that came off the layout at the mall. I think a bunch were in MR one time, all done up in the major scales, and all you had to do was cut and paste them to small sign boards. There may be some pre done ones available too.

Moving on from Burma Shave, there were a lot of cool billboards offered by Lionel over the years. This is actually something of a sub collectable, as some of the original cardboard signs are very hard to find, especially in the un cut grouping of four.

One of my favorites was "He'll Only Chase a Nash".

[FJ and G]

Doug,

Allow me to clarify. I don't construct the whole billboard structure; tho it would be easy to do w/wood. I'm currently using the 3 billboards from a Lionel Construction Starter set I got. I remove the Lionel billboard and make my own billboard by taking old magazine issues (my last one was Sea Power magazine, dating to 1915. I look for a suitable advertisement and then scan it into a scanner; touch it up with photoshop, then glue it onto cardboard backing and stick it into the billboard frame.

That way, you can customize your favorite billboard slogan. Alternately, you can look up billboard photos from the web and download & use photoshop to fix em up.

Hope that helps.

Dave

[dougdagrump]

Don't forget the ads on barns.

[Dr. John]

Yeah!

"See Rock City!"