Newsreel Daylight?

[Firelock76]

Well thanks for that link!  I just watched the Judy Canova clip featuring and American Flyer train.  Fun!

I haven't seen Judy Canova in years.  Late 60's one of the local channels in the New York area showed "Judy Canova Theater" on Saturdays.  Loved that lady, man was she funny!

[Penny Trains]

Sure is!

If the train is indeed an AF Royal Blue, that kind of implies there is, or at least WAS, another newsreel showing the Hall of Science layout(s) by the same newsreel company.  It's not hard to imagine someone mixing in a scene of the Flyer showroom while editing a film on the Lionel showroom.  At any rate, here's a great site on flyer display layouts: http://www.americanflyerdisplays.org/index.htm

[Firelock76]

Well, there was an outfit in the post-war era called Kasiner Hobbies that made streamline cars out of extruded aluminum.  I hit the book and saw a photo taken in 1952 at the NYSME layout showing those cars, although not in any great detail.  At any rate they're running on the O scale layout.  Whether they made them in S gauge is anyone's guess.

I wish someone would do a definative history of model railroading.  The late Hal Carstens came close with his "150 Years Of Train Models," I've got a copy, but the book's a bit of a disappointment.  Instead of telling the story in a linear flow it's kind of a rambling, shambling narrative, more like a "remember when" bull session of veteran modelers than a serious study.  All the big names are there, and there were a lot more manufacturers of model railroad kits than you'd imagine, but they're all over the place, and no index.  You really have to wade through the book to find what you're looking for.  A bit frustrating, to say the least.

Like I said, that film raises more questions than it answers.

But oh wow, isn't that "Royal Blue" engine gorgeous?

[Penny Trains]

Looking at it again, it does appear to have more of a bullet nose than I noticed yesterday so it probably is a custom Royal Blue.

But those passenger cars are certainly not standard AF production.  Walthers maybe?

[Firelock76]

I watched that clip at 3:40 several times.

First, I'd be interested in just when that film was put together.  Since it's got shots of pre-war stuff in it mixed with post-war I'm wondering if the film-makers put it together with mostly stock footage.

That imitation Daylight is definately running on two rail track, and considering the intricate scenery it's running through I'm wondering if the shot was taken at the New York Society of Model Railroad Engineers layout.  That club did strive for scale realism and ran their O gauge trains on two rail track. 

That film leaves us asking more questions than it answers. 

The NYSMRE is still around, by the way.  www.modelengineers.org

 

[M636C]

It could be an AF Royal Blue repainted and fitted with SP style skirts.

The conical nose really looks like the AF Royal Blue.

Peter

[rtraincollector]

coming out of the tunnel it does look like 2 rails. IE S gauge???

[Penny Trains]

At approximately 3 minutes 40 seconds into this video: https://www.facebook.com/ClassicToyTrains/videos/587773294600523/ there is what appears to be a Lionel 221 NYC loco painted in Southern Pacific Daylight colors exiting a tunnel.  You'll have to pause the film and run through the 4 seconds of footage to see it in any kind of detail, but that's what it looks like to me.

But is it?  The loco has the Dreyfuss-like firebox that curves away from the cab but it is also pulling at least 7 scale streamliners behind the tender, and the tender itself doesn't appear to be the standard sheet metal prewar leftover that the 221 came with.  Also, where on the 1949 layout was there a mountain tunnel like this one that exited to a wood trestle?  And maybe most telling of all, is there even a third rail?

So does the evidence suggest that this could be the "Panaroma" layout instead?  Or perhaps it's footage from the Gilbert Hall of Science which would more closely match the scenery?  Note the timber tunnel portal on the right:

Any thoughts?