Train Layouts on TV

[Anonymous]

Rev. Lovejoy on THE SIMPSONS has an elaborate layout in his business. He puts on his engineer's cap and has a great time. One time, though, if I recall correctly, his wife interrupted him with some typically bad news from the Simpson family and he got so addled he set up a headon crash!

[artyoung]

I remember Lionels on the Paul Winchell/Jerry Mahony Show in the '50's, and Lionel commercials on the "Casey Jones" show starring Alan Ladd,Jr. also from the '50's. Brrrrr ! Suddenly, I feel old ! Captain Kangaroo's layout was a Lionel display layout (don't know the model #, but I remember seeing the ballast tamper and the tie - jector units riding on Super"O" track. A little closer to the present (late '80's - early '90's) there was ALF, a puppet alien with a borscht-belt delivery that lived with a human family. You sometimes saw a Lionel layout in the garage.

[cnw1995]

Wasn't the main doc in Chicago Hope Mandy Patinkin? - he's one of 'us' - I've seen a video of his trains.
There was the Lionel TV show itself - and I think AF had one as well - or do they not count?

[Anonymous]

Twilight zone the movie, the little boy had a lionel set in his bedroom, thier house was built on a abandon railway bed and in the middle of the night a ghost train goes crashing thru the house, stoping to pick up his granddad as he was responcible for the trains derailment on that very spot as a little boy. While not lionel or af, there were several shots of LGB trains in the movie The Santa Clause. Cheers MIke

[Anonymous]

"The Twilight Zone" episode "Night of The Meek", broadcast 12/23/60 featured a Super O Lionel layout that was later used on " The Addams Family" in 1964.

Photo:http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/lionel_supero_track/vwp?.dir=/&.src=gr&.dnm=1964+Addams+Family+Layout.jpg&.view=t&.done=http%3a//photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/lionel_supero_track/lst%3f%26.dir=/%26.src=gr%26.view=t

Lou

[CSX FAN]

it was Aurther.

[CSX FAN]

Don't forget Mr. Rogers

I'm sure there are many of them.

[gvdobler]

Chicago Hope.

The main doctor had a big Lionel layout in his office.

Dudley Moore Movie (rich guy with snooty butler) -Can't think of the name.

[overall]

How many TV shows have used Lionel or AF layouts? Here are some examples I thought of;

Addams Family- This is probably the most famous TV layout. Gomez Addams would stage head on collisions augmented with explosives under his bridges.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E- Agent Napolen Solo has been captured by Thrush (again) . He is tied down to a chair facing a Lionel layout. The only controls he has in front of him are switch contollers. The Thrush people are controlling the train speed. Two trains are running on the layout, each with a load of poison gas. Agent Solo must keep the trains from colliding and thus releasing the gas and killing him as the bad Thrush guys keep increasing the train speed from the safety of an adjoining room. They stop the trains when they say they got the information they needed from another source.

The Twilight Zone- A man and woman find themselves in a really strange little town. It looks typical enough but all the trees are fake, the ground is made from papier mache' and the houses are empty shells. There are no real people to ask quetiosn of. Finally, they hear a train whistle. They run to the station to find a train pulling in. They board it hoping to pay the conductor for the ticket to ride and get out of town. But there is no one on board. The train runs for a while and comes back to the same station it just left. The couple gets off. They look up into the sky only to see a giant little girl looking down and laughing at them. They figure out that they are on a toy train layout somewhere in ......The Twilight Zone.

Captain Kangeroo- The captain did have a layout but very little is known about it.

The Today Show- I remember years ago as a kid one of the hosts ( Hugh Downs?) demonstrated a Lionel train that carried a bowl of Kellog's Corn Flakes on a flat car. The train would stop in front of a water tower that poured milk. I have always been curious about this layout and the captain's layout above.

What examples can some others think of?

George