There was a well-known scenery guy who had his picture on MR's cover in the late 50's or early 60's holding a loco and next to a layout tunnel, IIRC. I can't find the mag; does anybody know who he was? Thanks.
I'll take a wild guess, David Frey? He did put out some scenery books.
Mike.
My You Tube
50's would be John Allen
Model Railroader showed people on the cover quite frequently in the 40s and 50s. I would think most of them were not very notable.
My favorite was the guy in a dress shirt and tie drilling holes with a pin vise. I have never dressed up for model work.
You would need to find the specific issue for help.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Well the guy who (literally) wrote the book on scenery that Kalmbach sold at that time was Bill McClanahan, and while John Allen was great at scenery it was McClanahan and his book that really made him the scenery guy of that era. In fact your description of the photo resembles one or another version of the cover of that book, Scenery for Model Railroaders, which featured him smoking his pipe and leaning over the layout while wearing his engineer's hat. In an early edition he is to the right of the layout, for a later edition he switched over to the left closer to a tunnel portal.
He was a professional artist (sports cartoonist) and his other specialty was painting rolling stock. His articles about scenery and other topics appeared pretty often back then. His humorous drawings also accompanied his own and other people's articles.
I took a quick look at MR photos from the late 1950s to early 1960s and did not find any others that fit the description. By then seeing photos of the actual modelers on the cover was becoming quite rare. Into the early 1950s nearly every cover photo included the modeler. And oddly enough an awful lot of modelers back then seemed to be pipe smokers!
Dave Nelson
It seems fellows were still wearing dress shirts and ties to play with trains as late as August, 1968.
My guess is a younger Linn Westcott. The layout looks similar to other pictures I've seen of his layout.
mbinsewi I'll take a wild guess, David Frey? He did put out some scenery books. Mike.
I think Frary put out his first scenery book in the late 1980s or early 1990s. I hadn't heard of him prior to that.
SeeYou190 It seems fellows were still wearing dress shirts and ties to play with trains as late as August, 1968. -Kevin
If you look at pictures from the 1950s, men would wear suits and ties to ballgames. There was even an episode of Leave it to Beaver where Beaver had to put on a coat and tie to go to a game. If you saw men getting off a plane, almost all of them would have coat and tie. Then we have Ozzie Nelson who seemingly never left the house but always had on a sweater and tie. We once had a culture where many men wouldn't think of being seen in public without a coat and tie. Thank goodness those days are over. I retired in 2001 and the day I did, I took a scissors and cut up every tie I owned and have never donned one of those dreadful things since. There isn't an event important enough to get me to wear one of those again. If they try to put one on me when I'm in the casket, I'm going to get up and leave.
I cannot help the OP, but the wearing of ties. I always wore one from schooldays, at home, at work and most holidays. Since retiring the wearing of a tie has been less, but special occasions and some holidays a tie is worn; even bow ties.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Dave N. is right, there were a couple of variations of this photo:
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
Ties? Ties?
I guess none of you young kids remember hats:
There was a Jim Frye. And a Dave Frary. I don't recall a Dave Frye.
Ed
7j43k Ties? Ties? I guess none of you young kids remember hats: There was a Jim Frye. And a Dave Frary. I don't recall a Dave Frye. Ed
JFK is often credited with getting rid of the hat as a necessary accessory for men. He rarely wore one and soon men quit wearing them.
7j43k There was a Jim Frye. And a Dave Frary. I don't recall a Dave Frye. Ed
David Frye was a well known impressionist back in the 1960s, specializing in political figures. His most famous impressions were probably LBJ, Nixon and William F. Buckley.
David Frye "Celebrity Impressions" on The Ed Sullivan Show - Bing video
John-NYBW 7j43k Ties? Ties? I guess none of you young kids remember hats: There was a Jim Frye. And a Dave Frary. I don't recall a Dave Frye. Ed JFK is often credited with getting rid of the hat as a necessary accessory for men. He rarely wore one and soon men quit wearing them.
Women, too.
John-NYBW If you look at pictures from the 1950s, men would wear suits and ties to ballgames. There was even an episode of Leave it to Beaver where Beaver had to put on a coat and tie to go to a game. If you saw men getting off a plane, almost all of them would have coat and tie. Then we have Ozzie Nelson who seemingly never left the house but always had on a sweater and tie. We once had a culture where many men wouldn't think of being seen in public without a coat and tie. Thank goodness those days are over. I retired in 2001 and the day I did, I took a scissors and cut up every tie I owned and have never donned one of those dreadful things since. There isn't an event important enough to get me to wear one of those again. If they try to put one on me when I'm in the casket, I'm going to get up and leave.
Rich
Alton Junction
selector John-NYBW 7j43k Ties? Ties? I guess none of you young kids remember hats: There was a Jim Frye. And a Dave Frary. I don't recall a Dave Frye. Ed JFK is often credited with getting rid of the hat as a necessary accessory for men. He rarely wore one and soon men quit wearing them. Women, too.
Given a choice between a hat or a tie, I'd take the hat every time.
richhotrain John-NYBW If you look at pictures from the 1950s, men would wear suits and ties to ballgames. There was even an episode of Leave it to Beaver where Beaver had to put on a coat and tie to go to a game. If you saw men getting off a plane, almost all of them would have coat and tie. Then we have Ozzie Nelson who seemingly never left the house but always had on a sweater and tie. We once had a culture where many men wouldn't think of being seen in public without a coat and tie. Thank goodness those days are over. I retired in 2001 and the day I did, I took a scissors and cut up every tie I owned and have never donned one of those dreadful things since. There isn't an event important enough to get me to wear one of those again. If they try to put one on me when I'm in the casket, I'm going to get up and leave. I wear a tux and bow tie, even the cumberbund, whenever I go down to the layout. Rich
I wear a tux and bow tie, even the cumberbund, whenever I go down to the layout.
Isn't the cumberbund cumbersome when working under the benchwork?
The original post's question seems to have drifted a little. I can't comment on any of the old MR magazines. But ...
Like several posters have mentioned, I wore a tie every single day for 43 years. My daughters growing up probably did not know it was me if I didn't have a tie on.
I had an unwritten rule in my school that men teachers wore ties while in the building. Coaches and PE teachers were the only exceptions.
Retirement brought a change, but I still wear a tie to church.
When I was a kid, entering church meant going into a men's coat room where hats were all lined up on a shelf. The women all wore their hats into church.
York1 John
Here and I thought 'cumberbund' was the fandom name for Benedict Cumberbatch aficionados.
I wore a tie by choice for many years... under a cashmere V-neck sweater if having to work on or near rotating machinery. I still like collared button-downs which are incomplete without a good tie; if you can't abide them tight because you don't know how to adjust the knot, just loosen them enough to 'clear' with the top button undone. Ties also double as ninja sweatbands when worn around the forehead...
I have never been able to abide bow ties, though, and the only place I'll be caught with them is when I have formal wear on. I will confess, though, to having some excessively showy matched tie-and-cummerbund sets...
However, the closest I got to working on a layout in evening wear was running 20mph on a Precor demo treadmill at a trade event to show it could indeed be done. (I played blow pong in a 3-piece suit once, but that was the mark of a misspent youth...)
My grandfather wore hats all through the '40s and '50s time when everyone else did. He was bald at 60. I don't miss those hats at all.
No one has commented, though, on the REALLY dated thing he's wearing in the OP picture: those black-tinned Buddy Holly glasses that became a hallmark of serious engineers in the '50s-'60s era when that was like Corb glasses for would-be architects. Remember the villain driving the Charger in the famous Bullitt chase? Those.
Overmod No one has commented, though, on the REALLY dated thing he's wearing in the OP picture: those black-tinned Buddy Holly glasses that became a hallmark of serious engineers in the '50s-'60s era when that was like Corb glasses for would-be architects. Remember the villain driving the Charger in the famous Bullitt chase? Those.
Here are a couple pictures of Linn Westcott with those same kind of glasses. The first one is undated. The second was on the back cover of his book about John Allen's layout that went to press shortly after Linn died in 1980.
linnwestcott.jpg (206×261) (guidetozscale.com)
WestcottLinnH_(2).gif (263×291) (sphsaa.org)
Speaking of Linn Westcott, does anyone remember the series on PBS he hosted back in the late 1970s? I tried to find it on YouTube but no luck.
I've run across Dave Frary a couple of times at shows in New England. He looked to be too young to be on a magazine cover in the 1950s.
The GF and I dressed up for dinner one night last year. I think it was her birthday. We went to a fancy steakhouse, but quickly noticed that a lot of diners were wearing 'beach casual', all the way down to tank tops, shorts and flip-flops. She had a long dress, and I had a tie. Our waitress, probably pining for the older days as we were, made a point of thanking us just for taking the trouble to dress up and at least looking like we belonged in a dining room with white tablecloths and cloth napkins.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
This was on WMVS Milwaukee (the Public Television Library thinks it was 1972-1974 timeframe but is not sure). At least 8 VHS segments (29 minutes) were transcribed by the station in March 1988. Here is the WorldCat reference:
https://www.worldcat.org/title/trains-tracks-and-trestles/oclc/17673701
[Edit: we had a thread on this back in 2014, and Dave Nelson found this reference then...https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/239050.aspx]
Overmod This was on WMVS Milwaukee (the Public Television Library thinks it was 1972-1974 timeframe but is not sure). At least 8 VHS segments (29 minutes) were transcribed by the station in March 1988. Here is the WorldCat reference: https://www.worldcat.org/title/trains-tracks-and-trestles/oclc/17673701 [Edit: we had a thread on this back in 2014, and Dave Nelson found this reference then...https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/239050.aspx]
It didn't play on WOSU, the PBS affiliate in Columbus, OH, until the late 1970s. I got back into model railroading in 1977 and this was shortly after that when I saw it. I recognized Linn Westcott's name because he had written a primer for HO model railroading that I had bought. As I recall, the series was about elementary stuff which was just right for me since I had just gotten back into the hobby. I watched several episodes when they played. I distinctly remember one episode in which he demonstrated his hard shell scenery method using wadded up newspapers as a base. He had written a chapter about that in Bill McClanahan's scenery book which I also had bought.
hdtvnut There was a well-known scenery guy who had his picture on MR's cover in the late 50's or early 60's holding a loco and next to a layout tunnel, IIRC. I can't find the mag; does anybody know who he was? Thanks.
Looks like it's going to require somebody with access to the digital archive to answer the question. If you bring up that edition, that should tell you who authored the cover story.
Looked at the covers from 1960 to 1975. There are several with humans, several with humans holding a model railroad item, and several with tunnels. But I did not see one with a human holding a model railroad related item standing next to a tunnel.
maxmanLooked at the covers from 1960 to 1975. There are several with humans, several with humans holding a model railroad item, and several with tunnels. But I did not see one with a human holding a model railroad related item standing next to a tunnel.
Still pretty sure that the OP is thinking of the cover of the Kalmbach McClanahan scenery that book I posted way up the thread ...
... but that was before people got into the very pertinent (?) discussion of men's hats, so you might have missed it.
Thank you guys - it was Bill McClanahan, and that is the cover. I never met him, but I have a Varney 4-8-4 that he weathered. I remembered incorrectly - it was the scenery manual, not MR.
I guess I got confused about what the thread was about. I thought we were trying to identify who was on the cover of the August 1968 issue. My mistake. Bill McClanahan's scenery book was one of he first ones I bought and I still have it although it is falling apart. I probably got it around 1977 and I forget which edition it is. I think the original edition came out in 1958. The techniques shown are still good today although new techniques are always being devised.
As for the cover of August 1968, I'm still guessing that's Linn Westcott.
John-NYBW SeeYou190 It seems fellows were still wearing dress shirts and ties to play with trains as late as August, 1968. -Kevin If you look at pictures from the 1950s, men would wear suits and ties to ballgames. There was even an episode of Leave it to Beaver where Beaver had to put on a coat and tie to go to a game. If you saw men getting off a plane, almost all of them would have coat and tie. Then we have Ozzie Nelson who seemingly never left the house but always had on a sweater and tie. We once had a culture where many men wouldn't think of being seen in public without a coat and tie. Thank goodness those days are over. I retired in 2001 and the day I did, I took a scissors and cut up every tie I owned and have never donned one of those dreadful things since. There isn't an event important enough to get me to wear one of those again. If they try to put one on me when I'm in the casket, I'm going to get up and leave.