Trains.com

Maybe this should be in the Model Railroader forum but still...

4631 views
22 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,560 posts
Maybe this should be in the Model Railroader forum but still...
Posted by 54light15 on Sunday, November 19, 2017 3:15 PM
  • Member since
    August 2010
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 8,955 posts
Posted by Firelock76 on Sunday, November 19, 2017 3:52 PM

Oooooooohhhhhhhh, yeahhhhhhhh.....

Classic Postwar Lionels!  If you were "there," you remember!  And some of us never forgot and STILL fool around with 'em!

Actually, this belongs on the "Classic Toy Trains" Forum, those HO rivet-counters on the "Model Railroader" site wouldn't appreciate it.  They take things waaaay too seriously!

Great film!  Thanks for posting it!

And if any of you folks have never looked in on the "Classic Toy Trains" site and Forum this is the time of year to do it when CTT folks start posting photos and videos of their Christmas layouts.  Lots of fun and plenty of nostalgia, plus some amazing craftsmanship.

 

  • Member since
    September 2010
  • From: Parma Heights Ohio
  • 3,442 posts
Posted by Penny Trains on Sunday, November 19, 2017 7:16 PM

I like Alice's clothes....but I LOVE Joe's trains!  Big Smile  Amazing what you can do with O22 switches and a few electromagnets!  Big Smile

Trains, trains, wonderful trains.  The more you get, the more you toot!  Big Smile

  • Member since
    August 2010
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 8,955 posts
Posted by Firelock76 on Sunday, November 19, 2017 8:23 PM

You know, Becky's right, Alice looks pretty darn good in those outfits, especially the "Lois Lane" outfit she's wearing when she meets with "Mr. Agony."

They didn't call 'em "The Fabulous Fifties" for nothing.

  • Member since
    July 2010
  • From: Louisiana
  • 2,310 posts
Posted by Paul of Covington on Sunday, November 19, 2017 9:12 PM

   Speaking of the fifties--lately I've been enjoying re-runs of the Burns and Allen show from the fifties.   Besides getting a kick out of the way Gracie's mind works, I also enjoy the portrayal of the way life was back then.   The men sit around the house in suits and ties, the women dress up with hat and gloves to go shopping, the mechanic comes to the house to pick up the car for routine maintenance, the laundry delivers the dry cleaning and the plumber comes to work with coveralls over his white shirt and tie.

_____________ 

  "A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,560 posts
Posted by 54light15 on Monday, November 20, 2017 8:57 AM

I've seen a photo from I think, Model Railroader taken in the 30s. A bunch of men are looking at a layout and every single one of them was wearing a tie. In the U.K. on the heritage railways the engine crew normally wears white shirts and ties under thier coveralls. Not so white at the end of the day from what I've seen. 

  • Member since
    September 2010
  • From: Parma Heights Ohio
  • 3,442 posts
Posted by Penny Trains on Monday, November 20, 2017 6:22 PM

Paul of Covington
lately I've been enjoying re-runs of the Burns and Allen show

Antenna TV?

Trains, trains, wonderful trains.  The more you get, the more you toot!  Big Smile

  • Member since
    August 2010
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 8,955 posts
Posted by Firelock76 on Monday, November 20, 2017 6:50 PM

Hey, I just an idea for a better ending for that short.

Suppose it runs just a minute longer and ends with Alice throwing Joe out of the house and then turning to the layout with a wild, savage look on her face and saying...

"They're allllll miiiine nooooowwwwww...."

Toy train crazyness can be contagious you know!

  • Member since
    August 2010
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 8,955 posts
Posted by Firelock76 on Monday, November 20, 2017 7:07 PM

Penny Trains
 
Paul of Covington
lately I've been enjoying re-runs of the Burns and Allen show

 

Antenna TV?

 

I doubt it.  Re-runs of George and Gracie were on antenna TV in syndication back in the 60's, when I first saw the shows, but if they're being shown now they're probably on a cable channel like TV Land. 

Hmmmm, how come George and Gracie don't look as old as they did when I was a kid in the 60's?  Scary, I mean back then they looked old!

Hoever, I found this, a George and Gracie show from 1954 shot in color as an experiment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9U5oGqT0Ps

 

 

 

Don't let Gracie's goofy stage personality fool you, she was as sharp as a tack and an astute businesswoman.  George once said he'd never as gotten as far as he did without her.

Here's a bittersweet story.  Gracie died in the mid-60's and George was heartbroken, it really was a love match between the two.  For weeks after her passing he couldn't sleep.  Then he got an idea.  Because of George's snoring problem he and Gracie slept in different rooms.  He had her bed moved into his room and began using it.  Problem solved, he had no trouble sleeping after that.  Isn't that something?

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,560 posts
Posted by 54light15 on Monday, November 20, 2017 8:01 PM

"My little Irish doll" George called her. I like how the women all wear hats. 

  • Member since
    July 2010
  • From: Louisiana
  • 2,310 posts
Posted by Paul of Covington on Monday, November 20, 2017 9:24 PM

Penny Trains

 

 
Paul of Covington
lately I've been enjoying re-runs of the Burns and Allen show

 

Antenna TV?

 

   Yes, Antenna TV.    It's on at 7:00 and & 7:30 AM our time.   I've been recording them, but I think I've seen all episodes they're showing.   I don't think they showed the first year or two for some reason.

   By the way, any time they talk about travel, they automatically think train.

_____________ 

  "A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner

  • Member since
    July 2010
  • From: Louisiana
  • 2,310 posts
Posted by Paul of Covington on Monday, November 20, 2017 9:32 PM

   Firelock, I just realized that in your reply you were probably thinking "antenna" as in broadcast TV.   They are shown on the cable channel named "Antenna TV."   (Also carried as a sub channel on one of our local TV stations.   Actually, I don't know which one came first.)

_____________ 

  "A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner

  • Member since
    August 2010
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 8,955 posts
Posted by Firelock76 on Tuesday, November 21, 2017 5:26 PM

Yeah Paul, broadcast TV is exactly what I was thinking, I've never heard of a cable channel called "Antenna TV."  Don't think it's carried in my area but I'll have to look.

Remember when everyone's houses had TV antennas on the roofs?  You sure don't see that anymore.  Now it's satellite dishes if you see anything.

  • Member since
    September 2010
  • From: Parma Heights Ohio
  • 3,442 posts
Posted by Penny Trains on Tuesday, November 21, 2017 7:09 PM

http://antennatv.tv/

I get it as a sub-channel of my local Fox affiliate.  And yes, I get it through good old fashioned over the air broadcasting.  HD and F-R-E-E.  Big Smile  Though nowadays I usually need 2 pair of ears and a signal amplifier.  We also get Justice, Cozi, Grit, Laff, Retro (Dr. Who!), MeTV, Ohio, World, Create, PBS Kids, Bounce, Movies, H&I, Get and Escape.  Odd names aren't they?  Big Smile

Trains, trains, wonderful trains.  The more you get, the more you toot!  Big Smile

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,560 posts
Posted by 54light15 on Tuesday, November 21, 2017 10:43 PM

Remember when there were only 3 networks? It always seemed to me that on certain days at certain times, one channel would have the 8-9 pm slot, another would have the 9-10 slot and so forth. A sort of gentlemans's agreement I guess. I have absolutely no clue what was on the other channels when Ed Sullivan was on. Do you? 

But, back to Joe Mcdoakes, I've been renting a lot of Warner Brothers films lately and those shorts are on them as a "Night at the Movies" thing with a newsreel and a cartoon, usually Bugs but often something contemporary to to the film such as (for example) "The Little Giant" from1932 with Edward G. Robinson as a sort of satire of "Little Caeser." Great stuff! 

The reason I'm renting so many films is that I cut off the cable five years ago so now I only have a "vision" that plays from my DVD player only. There's nothing else I want to watch. Zip, Nada! When baseball is back, I'll watch it in a bar just as Rupert Knickerbocker intended! 

 

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 25,292 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, November 22, 2017 7:51 AM

Firelock76
Yeah Paul, broadcast TV is exactly what I was thinking, I've never heard of a cable channel called "Antenna TV."  Don't think it's carried in my area but I'll have to look.

Remember when everyone's houses had TV antennas on the roofs?  You sure don't see that anymore.  Now it's satellite dishes if you see anything.

Still have a real antenna on the house, however, haven't recieved a signal from it for the past 9 years - just too lazy to take it down.

Friends have had staellite - a few T'storms go through the area and there goes the signal! - No Thank You!

 

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    August 2010
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 8,955 posts
Posted by Firelock76 on Wednesday, November 22, 2017 5:22 PM

Sure, I remember only three networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC.  Like 54light I'm from the New York area myself and remember only 7 channels; 2,4,5,7,9,11,13.

All those days of seven channels and "nuthin' on."

Now I get 350 channels and there's still "nuthin' on!"

Thank God for rail videos!

  • Member since
    September 2013
  • 6,199 posts
Posted by Miningman on Wednesday, November 22, 2017 6:20 PM

For whatever reason that seemed to be everywhere. From my home in Burlington, Ontario, a great rail town. 

2- WGR NBC Buffalo

4-WBEN CBS Buffalo

6-CBLT CBC Toronto... yay, Hockey Night In Canada!

7-WKBW ABC Buffalo......yay, Commander Tom! 

9-CFTO CTV Toronto

11-CHCH Hamilton Independant....still Independent!

13-CKCO- CTV affiliate Kitchener 

Dat was it.... and no huge whoppin' bill ... zero

And... there was always something on, not like today. 

Except weekday afternoon was all yucky soap operas everywhere. 

  • Member since
    September 2013
  • 6,199 posts
Posted by Miningman on Wednesday, November 22, 2017 8:05 PM

.....and please have a great and happy Thanksgiving...drive carefully, eat well and don't get into a political argument with the nephew or whatever. If the table goes flying remember that mashed potatoes make an effective snowball and that squash is also very effective as is.   

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • 21,669 posts
Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, November 22, 2017 8:35 PM

Ah, a bittersweet memory:

We all look on with anxious eyes
When Father carves the duck
And mother almost always sighs
When Father carves the duck
Then all of us prepare to rise
And hold our bibs before our eyes
And be prepared for some surprise
When Father carves the duck.

He braces up and grabs a fork
Whene’er he carves a duck
And won’t allow a soul to talk
Until he’s carved the duck.
The fork is jabbed into the sides
Across the breast the knife he slides
While every careful person hides
From flying chips of duck.

The platter’s always sure to slip
When Father carves a duck.
And how it makes the dishes skip!
Potatoes fly amuck!
The squash and cabbage leap in space
We get some gravy in our face
And Father mutters Hindu grace
Whene’er he carves a duck.

We then have learned to walk around
the dining room and pluck
From off the windowsills and walls
Our share of Father’s duck
While Father growls and blows and jaws
And swears the knife was full of flaws
And Mother laughs at him because
He couldn’t carve a duck.

 

There is a tune to which we sang this in third grade; I'll post it if I find it.  And I remember some of the words differently.  But the 'Hindu grace' was carefully, if somewhat euphemistically, explained to us all.  Strange how none of the recordings have the tune I remember so vividly...

 

  • Member since
    March 2016
  • 1,568 posts
Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Thursday, November 23, 2017 11:07 AM

Behind the Eight Ball!! Thats Me!!!

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,560 posts
Posted by 54light15 on Thursday, November 23, 2017 2:40 PM

Sometimes it's really not a good idea to carve a duck as this film proves. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzRoo-FjmkA 

  • Member since
    August 2010
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 8,955 posts
Posted by Firelock76 on Friday, November 24, 2017 8:24 AM

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!

Lady Firestorm and I are up at her sister's place in Pennsylvania, one of my favorite parts of the country, and lucky me, her 24 year old daughter is my new drinkin' buddy, we polished off two bottles of wine yesterday!

White wine of course, to go with the turkey.  Some traditions shouldn't be broken!

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy