Famous MRR's

[preceng]

I had made up a funny (intrue) response to one of the threads about great guitarists that model. Atleast I thought it was funny. At any rate, it got me to thinking ... does anyone know real famous people that model?

Have fun guys

[brothaslide]

Neil Young - He's into tinplate stuff (I think).

[Jetrock]

Michael Gross (who played the dad on "Family Ties" and is currently on the "Tremors" TV show) is an avid model railroader--his stuff has won awards and been photographed in MR in the past.

[Anonymous]

Greetings,

Found this on the net.

Celebrity Model Railroaders
Celebrity Famous for Model railroading notes
Tim Allen comedian ?
Roseanne Barr TV personality "The Roseanne Show"
Claude Bolling composer, jazz pianist American H0, 1930's
Tom Brokow newscaster H0
Yul Brynner actor
Billy Butterfield swing band conductor
Roy Campanella baseball player Lionel
Johnny Cash country music singer songwriter Lionel
Gary Coleman actor "Diff'rent Strokes" "Currently I'm doing Lionel trains. I'm doing them as prototypically as possible, even though they are toy trains. I still like to do it as realistically as possible." From an online interview at ABC News


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Also, reportedly an N-Scale modeller. (Marc)

Phil Collins rock singer
Kevin Costner actor "...is said to be a railroad enthusiast, and there was at least one report I read somewhere which state he was one of the individuals which the C&O 614 steam locomotive was to be auctioned to in the late 1990s (but he did NOT purchase it)."

Rhett

Richard Crenna actor LGB modeller. Was once chided by his wife for cleaning his track over her new carpet

Roger Daltry Lead singer of the Who Building an extensive European H0 layout in his loft
Joe DiMaggio baseball player Lionel
Walt Disney producer live steam & other various train interests
James Doohan actor (Star Trek) "... seen in a TV Guide issue in the mid-1990s working on the brake cylinder of a coach in the L.A. area, and the feature article said he was heavily into trains, was in an L.A. area railroaders club, and had an extensive collection of model trains on display in his home."

Rhett

Ed Dougherty pro golfer Lionel - "Houses his collection in a two-story building behind his home."
Arthur Godfrey TV show host Lionel
Hermann Göring head of German Luftwaffe rumored to have had an extensive Märklin layout
Whoopi Goldberg actor Reported to be a train fan, and travels by train when practical.
Rick Green comedian "The Frantics", "The Red Green Show" Member of a Toronto model railroad club
Michael Gross actor "Family Ties" A passionate trainfan, who prefers train travel to flying. He is a railway historian, photographer, and modeller.

Merle Haggard country singer active H0 modeller, he recorded an album titled "My Love Affair With Trains"
Tom Hanks film star, producer
David Hasselhoff Actor LGB
Tommy Hunter country singer building a layout in his basement
Elton John rock star garden railroad
Michael Jordan basketball player (Rumored to be a model railroader. There's a Cincinatti model train collector named Michael Jordan, but is he the Michael Jordan?)
Jay Leno TV talk show host ?
Gil Melle Jazz saxophonist frequent contributor to Rail Model Craftsman
Roger Miller singer
Vaughn Monroe singer, trumpeter, leader of the Vaughn Monroe Orchestra Relaxed by tinkering with model trains. He built his own H0 scale locomotives.

"Wish I could carry a small layout with me. We travel by air so much to meet engagements that I'd have to leave some of the instruments behind to get one in the plane. Guess that's out."

Sang the railroad song "In the Middle of the House".

More information at the Big Bands Database.

Mandy Patinkin actor "Chicago Hope" Lionel
Ricardo Patrese formula 1 race car driver collects Märklin
John Pertwee actor "Doctor Who" ?
Sam Posey race car driver layout featured in Model Railroader
Sally Jesse Raphael TV talk show host Z-Scale. N-Scale.
Joe Regalbuto actor "Murphy Brown" garden railroad featured in "Garden Railways" magazine
Lionel Ritchie Singer LGB
Jim Scancarelli cartoonist "Gasoline Alley" photos featured in Walthers catalog
Rick Schroder actor "Silver Spoons", "NYPD Blue"
Frank Sinatra singer had extensive Lionel layout in his home.
Tom Snyder TV talk show host Lionel
Bruce Springsteen rock star
Patrick Stewart actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation) "... was quoted as saying he's 'a big-time railway buff'. In 'The making of Star Trek: First Contact', the movie used Los Angeles Union Station as the setting for a holographic dance sequence."

Rhett

Rod Stewart rock star "He stopped in at Spotlight Model Railroad in Kansas City. The owner was telling me he looked out front and saw this limo, next thing he turns the corner and there's Rod Stewart at the counter looking at brass.

"He points to this one and that one says I'll take this this and this. A guy with him cuts the check.

"Sounds like just what I would do if I ever became a rich and famous rock star. :)"

"Dave in Kansas"


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"Rod Stewart has two layouts that I know of; in LA he models the Pennsy and at his home here at Epping he models the English East Coast line in British Railways days.

"He lives not far away from me in distance but a whole world away in reality. It's not a house he lives in, it's a mansion with acres of land."

another Dave


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"I'd love to be on the cover of Railway Modeller. That would mean more to me than the cover of Rolling Stone."

Rod Stewart

Danny Sullivan race car driver
Donald Sutherland actor
Mel Torme singer On his divorce, he said "I prefer my trains to my wife"?


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"Several years ago, I think around 1992~93, one of my co-workers had arranged a meeting between Mel Torme and myself about refurbishing a small-ish layout (I believe it was either a 6 x 10 or 8 x 12 table top HO). The work was to consist of re-wiring and turnout replacement, and perhaps some assistance for the scenery too. As I remember it, Mel obtained the layout from a friend of his.

"My co-worker and I met Mel at his home near Beverly Hills where I was to examine the layout. Mel greeted us and led us into what is best described as a library - except instead of wall-to-wall books, Mel had wall-to-wall trains! I would say better than 80% was vintage lionel or tin-plate, and most of the collection was in near-prestine condition. I must admit I was never much of a fan of Mel Torme before the meeting (way before my time, I suppose), but I suddenly liked everything about him from then on out. Each time I heard his name mentioned, I recalled the short meeting at his home and his wonderful (and impressive) train collection. :o)

"A sad when Mel died several years back...I wonder what ever became of those glorious trains...?"

Marc

Neil Young rock star Part owner of Lionel Trains, tours with Lionel layout in a trailer

Thats all for now,

Mark in Texas

[eastcoast]

Damn, man
You took every response away from this forum.
But, I think you failed to mention that MANY a
President of our country LOVE trains and
Model railroads.Even our current one.....Bush.

[dknelson]

Mel Torme once appeared in an MR advertisement for one of the brass locomotive importers, endorsing their engine as the finest he had ever seen. Cannot remember the company or engine but I do recall the ad.
Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

You forgot to mention me. I'm miffed. FRED

[Anonymous]

Hermann Goering was indeed a MRR - though I think infamous is a rather better word in this case than famous. Apparently he had a load of stock from the layout in his personal baggage when he was captured by Allied troops, which was then sold off in charity shops. There was an appeal for further info on this in "Continental Modeller" about a year ago.

[Anonymous]

well, I read at the CTT forum that Goering (*ole bronx cheer*) often played with his trains along with [:0] der fuehrer himself!! (may I never mention their names here again). I don't remember if this was said earlier, but CTT made an article about Sinatra's trains. I think MR should do an article about this subject, no doubt it'll help to promote the hobby.

To see the trains of Mandy Patinkin go here:
http://www.mandypatinkin.net/PHOTOS/trains.html

(Roseanne?!! you gotta be kidding! where did ya get that stuff)

[Anonymous]

here's another famous one: Reverend Lovejoy from The Simpsons

[Anonymous]

I recall seeing an episode of the Simpsons where Ned Flanders had a small layout in his rec. room, and a yellow "RxR" sign on the wall.

The NMRA has a list of famous model railroaders on their website.

http://www.nmra.org/beginner/why.html

Most of them have already been mentioned here, however, i do not recall seeing Winston Churchill's name on this forum.

Josh Ziegler
Spokane, WA

[vsmith]

When a local PBS show here in California, "California's Gold" , hosted by Huell "Go-olly, look at that!" Howser visited Frank Sinatra's Palm Springs home, we got to see Frank's Lionel setup. It was houses in a vintage caboose that had an extension built on one side. It was a huge Lionel and Tinplate collection, all still maintained in working condition by the families estate. Very Nice.

[Jetrock]

A made-for-cable movie about the Brat Pack featured a scene in Frank Sinatra's house of Frank operating his tinplate model railroad layout. A nice touch, really.

About the only other model railroading on TV I can think of is Pugsley and Wednesday on "The Addams Family" crashing trains into each other on their model railroad...

[AltonFan]

According to Robert K. Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra, the Tsarvich Alexis had something like a model railroad. Apparently the "layout" included a city, and anumber of animated features, including ringing cathedral bells. It sounded like the whole thing operated by clockwork. One wonders what became of it.

Tsarvich Alexis was canonized a saint by tthe Russian Orthodox Church; if his toy qualifies as a model railroad, he may be the only model railroader who has been canonized.

[Anonymous]

I remember seeing some show on the discovery channel or something like that that was all about trains, probably 20 minutes filld with different model railroads, never seen it again though. Also, if anyone has children The PBS show Reading Rainbow had a show about magical hats and that they did. (Ex... He put on a fireman's hat and road around in the fire truck for about 10-15 minutes, welder, librarian and engineer's hat, which brought him to a HUGE layout about 2 stories high, i believe it was a club in Cali somewhere, but this olayout was gigantic!!! Like 2 stories high, and probably almost the exact size of a football field in measurments. Mountains and Tressels were taller than the host of the show!