Most admired Model Railroader poll

[Bob grech]

Who are the people you most admire when it comes to model railroading?

Here are my top 5:

1 - John Allen
2 - George Sellios
3 - Malcom Furlow
4 - Bob Hayden
5 - Irv Shultz

[Anonymous]

John Allen
George Sellios
David popp
Jim Hediger

[bobblaisdell]

1 - George Sellios
2 - John Allen
3 - Malcom Furlow

[AntonioFP45]

Why put them in a numerical category? Each one has special talents that have helped improve the hobby as a whole.

I have a lot of respect for:

Andy Sperandeo
Tony Koester
Keith Guitierrez (helped DCC sound come a very long way!)
Warren Calloway
Jim Sixx
Dean Freytag
Bruce Chubb
Ron Kuykendall
Linn Westcott
Chester Holley
Bill Walthers

[Anonymous]

A few that come to mind are:
W Allen McClellend
Tony Koester
David Barrow
Eric Brooman
Gary Hoover
Chuck Hitchcock
Jim EuDaly (very possibly top of the list!!)
and MANY MANY others

[grayfox1119]

Why not list them in a POLL? You have 15 lines you can use.

[PASMITH]

TOP FIVE:

1. John Allen
2. Linn Westcott
3. Bob Brown
4. Bruce Chubb
5 .John Armstrong

Peter Smith, Memphis

[IRONROOSTER]

This is hard, there are so many good guys. My five are:

John Allen
Frank Ellison
E.L. Moore
Linn Westcott
John Armstrong

But I won't argue with anyone else's list.

Enjoy
Paul

[Anonymous]

Iain Rice
Dave Barrow
Jim Hedinger
M.R. Snell

[jxtrrx]

I know that the people everyone is listing have impressive credentials. I've read many of their books, and they surely know their stuff. I admire them too. But I've only been at this a couple of years, and what I've learned most from is the tireless guys on this forum. There are some names that will cause me to visit a thread just because they have contributed, even if it's a topic that I'm not necessarily interested in.

Decided to limit it to ten. I know I've forgotten some, but the ones I admire for the expertise they offer (not just what they've heard or read... but what they've done), their layouts, in many cases their websites, tutorials, and their amazing knowledge. So, My Most Admired Model Railroaders:

Joe Fugate
Randy Rinker
Don Gibson
Texas Zepher
Cliff Powers
Chuck Clark
Harold Minkwitz
Elliot Feinberg
Ray Breyer
Bob Boudreau

[Anonymous]

Bob Elder
Mike Shepaug
Linn Wescott

[tomikawaTT]

A quick handful, off the top of my head, in no particular order...

John Armstrong
John Allen
Linn Westcott
W. Allen McClelland
Bruce Chubb
Don Mitchell
Ed Ravenscroft

If I think a while longer, I'm certain I'll come up with fifty or a hundred more.

Chuck

[MisterBeasley]

Jack is on track. I'm constantly impressed by the fine scenery photos which show up in this forum. I'd like to add:

Jon Grant
Art Hill

Watching parts of their layout develop into such showcases of what can be done in this hobby is a real inspiration.

[jon grant]

WOW!!

Thanks Mr B.

I'm honoured to get a mention in the same thread as so many excellent modellers who I have learnt tips and skills from.

I would add

James A Powell
Paul Dolkos
John Pryke
Lou Sassi and
Wolfgang Dudler

amongst those modellers who have inspired me to better my own modelling.


Jon

[spidge]

Wit Towers stands out for me. I had the pleasure of his hospitality in running the Alturas and LOnepine. The Orange Coast Railroaders gave me this chance many years ago. I dont know if they are still operating? Wit was big on operation, but never resisted a good laugh when someone did something questionable. He allowed us to move around and attempt different duties. He showed me why the layout was designed the way it was and allowed me to make a mess of Alturas many times. HIs idea of smaller trains to make the layout seem larger was helpfull, he also used abreviated mile markers called smiles.
Of course John Allen, think of what his generation accomplished with the scratchbuilding they HAD to do to get the effects they desired.
There are so many!
Currently I like the way some share on this and any other forum.
I support as best as possible those manufacturers who will educate you because they feel they have a good enough product that you may not take that knowledge and spend elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

I admire each and every person who has ever started or thought of starting a MRR. If we consider the time and talent involved then we have to admire ourselves.

[Anonymous]

i Admire, Lionel Strang
Mr Fugate,
Tony Koester,
John Allen, and
Eric Brooman

[twcenterprises]

I must say I am always impressed by any photo from Bob Boudreau. His work is amazing. He seems to be very knowledgeable as well. Of course, there are many others that slip my tired ol' brain at the moment.

Brad

[Anonymous]

TOP TEN

1.) John Allen - It was grand and simple
2.) David Barrow - I almost thought the AT&SF became the CM&SF
3.) Pele Soeberg - New ideas and great LDE representation
4.) Eric Brooman - Utah Belt was like the Sp and D&RGW to me.
5.) Joe Fugate - He is the new scenery master
6.) George Sellios - No explination needed.
7.) Lou Sassi - Art meets science.
8.) Dave Frary - Scenery master.
9.) Lionel Stang - I prefer Stang over Koester.
10.) Linn Wescott - The prophet.

[Anonymous]

Where as a lot of folks could fill this bill, and create a veritable whos-who of model railroading, there are a few folks that have affected my peception of the hobby and how I do it.
In no particular order,
George Sellios
Tony Koester
Lou Sassi
Don Cassler
Howard Zane. Being an operator on his Piermont division, plus watching him do his scenery magic in person has caused me to go home, and rip out stuff just to redo it.
Charlie Bullinger. Local friend, brass engine mechanic and veritable wizard. he taught me that YES, you CAN teardown a brass engine and fix it. True, you might have to re-engineer it, but you can do it!![:D]

[zgardner18]

QUOTE: Originally posted by unclebuck

TOP TEN

1.) John Allen - It was grand and simple
2.) David Barrow - I almost thought the AT&SF became the CM&SF
3.) Pele Soeberg - New ideas and great LDE representation
4.) Eric Brooman - Utah Belt was like the Sp and D&RGW to me.
5.) Joe Fugate - He is the new scenery master
6.) George Sellios - No explination needed.
7.) Lou Sassi - Art meets science.
8.) Dave Frary - Scenery master.
9.) Lionel Stang - I prefer Stang over Koester.
10.) Linn Wescott - The prophet.

I couldn't agree more with this list, but will add Cliff Powers

[Ibflattop]

Here are my picks.
1 Tony Koester
2 Allen McClelland
3 Jim Hediger
4 Dean Freytag
5 Linn Westcott
6 John Armstrong
7 Davies ( Cant remember his frist name. Big into the H.O. steel industies)
8 Bill Darnaby ( Runs the Freelanced Maumee Route)

Local Guys
Tom Jones
John Reitz MMR
Al Lawson
Brad Lawson
Bill Perice
Bill Whemhoff

Thanks Kevin

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Ibflattop

Here are my picks.
. . .
7 Davies ( Cant remember his frist name. Big into the H.O. steel industies)
. . .

Kevin,

I think you might be referring to the name of Dean Freytag's fictional steel company - that's the maiden name of his late wife Anne.

[Benjamin Maggi]

Michael Tylick!

How could you ALL miss him? Not only is his stuff great, but he can do Modern modeling as well as earlier stuff great. And his writing style is very easy to digest. Two thumbs up for him.

[dommegr]

I'm still relatively new to the hobby, so a lot of the names listed above are either unheard of to me or are simply known but forgotten due to little knowledge.

However, I will say that Pelle Soeborg would currently be the person I admire the most in this hobby right now. I've been through the area that he models as well as similar locales here in the western U.S. and let me tell you, he nailed it. Straight up nailed it. I wish I could do that.

[PASMITH]

Having responded to this thread early on, what really got my attention was KBFCSME's post:
"Where as a lot of folks could fill this bill, and create a veritable whos-who of model railroading, there are a few folks that have affected my peception of the hobby and how I do it."

I have revised my previous list with this thought in mind:

1) Fred Icken - Icken Model Locomotive co, inc. Harrington Park, N. J. ( MR July 1946 page 449) His machine shop was two blocks from my house and as a Lionel kid, when I first saw his beautiful custom built O gauge model locomotives there was no turning back.

2) John Allen- after seeing his and Icken's work I sold all my Lionel equipment for $35 and at 13 got immediately into HO convinced that my life's goal was to build an even better model railroad. (A dream, I gave up years ago) Sam Posey in his magnificent book "Playing with Trains" when reffering to a father and son relationship notes, " A second - geneation big layout , as far as I know, has not been done, except in the sence that John Allen was a "father" to so many of us ". How true!

3 Herb Chaudiere- As described in The may 1959 issue of MR, Herb Chaudiere was a pioneer in the development of model RR sound. He also grew up in Harrington Park, NJ.
Although I never met Herb, I saw him recording steam locomotives blasting through Harrington Park on the two track West Shore division of the NYC. But, I knew his wife's brother and marvelled at a scratch built cabboose lettered Donnawanna & West Overshoe that was given to his future bride. It prompted me to complete my first scratch built project. A cabboose of course.

4. ) Linn Wescott- He brought everthing to the table. Wiring, benchwork, scenery and much more. All of my curent modelling is based on or modified from his techinques.

5. Frary and Hayden- (I think they can count as one person ?) Until I saw the cover issue of the February 1980 MR I could only considered myself an armchair modeller. Subject to my time commitments, I now truly consider myself a serious modeller in HOn30 thanks to that and many other articles by them.Just before leaving for a two month business trip to Brussels in 2000, I was fortunate to have one of my HOn30 modules adjacent to two of Bob's at the 2000 Narrow gauge convention at St. Louis. I also got to see their custom built railroad in Tokyo on another business trip .

Honorable mentioned - Bob Brown- His Gazette keeps me going.

Anyway, thanks for listening to one man's brief story. This thread brought back a lot of good memories for me and It has been very postive in it's tributes to some greats in the field.

Peter Smith, Memphis

[Anonymous]

Well I am going to go on the limb on this topic but I really like the way I model myself I actually believe I have great modeling skills that are as good as the "professionals" or "admired" I have done and created many skills not used by anyone before me and with that said I have to do my list like this

1. Myself
2. Pelle Soeberg
3. Inrail from Atlas Forum with great weathering skills
4. Cspredator as well

[PASMITH]

Having responded to this thread early on, what really got my attention was KBFCSME's post:
"Where as a lot of folks could fill this bill, and create a veritable whos-who of model railroading, there are a few folks that have affected my peception of the hobby and how I do it."

I have revised my previous list with this thought in mind:

1) Fred Icken - Icken Model Locomotive co, inc. Harrington Park, N. J. ( MR July 1946 page 449) His machine shop was two blocks from my house and as a Lionel kid, when I first saw his beautiful custom built O gauge model locomotives there was no turning back.

2) John Allen- after seeing his and Icken's work I sold all my Lionel equipment for $35 and at 13 got immediately into HO convinced that my life's goal was to build an even better model railroad. (A dream, I gave up years ago) Sam Posey in his magnificent book "Playing with Trains" when reffering to a father and son relationship notes, " A second - geneation big layout , as far as I know, has not been done, except in the sence that John Allen was a "father" to so many of us ". How true!

3 Herb Chaudiere- As described in The may 1959 issue of MR, Herb Chaudiere was a pioneer in the development of model RR sound. He also grew up in Harrington Park, NJ.
Although I never met Herb, I saw him recording steam locomotives blasting through Harrington Park on the two track West Shore division of the NYC. But, I knew his wife's brother and marvelled at a scratch built cabboose lettered Donnawanna & West Overshoe that was given to his future bride. It prompted me to complete my first scratch built project. A cabboose of course.

4. ) Linn Wescott- He brought everthing to the table. Wiring, benchwork, scenery and much more. All of my curent modelling is based on or modified from his techinques.

5. Frary and Hayden- (I think they can count as one person ?) Until I saw the cover issue of the February 1980 MR I could only considered myself an armchair modeller. Subject to my time commitments, I now truly consider myself a serious modeller in HOn30 thanks to that and many other articles by them.Just before leaving for a two month business trip to Brussels in 2000, I was fortunate to have one of my HOn30 modules adjacent to two of Bob's at the 2000 Narrow gauge convention at St. Louis. I also got to see their custom built railroad in Tokyo on another business trip .

Honorable mentioned - Bob Brown- His Gazette keeps me going.

Anyway, thanks for listening to one man's brief story. This thread brought back a lot of good memories for me and It has been very postive in it's tributes to some greats in the field.

Peter Smith, Memphis

[Anonymous]

I too checked out Mohave, CA after moving here to Fresno in March. Pelle was able to model the Denny's and the Best Western (Desert Wind) to the tee. I walked around the Denny's and thought that I was on his layout. He does all this from Denmark. That is off the chain. I thought Barrow lost his mind when he built the Lubbock Industrial District with no scenery and just brass track. But that's art. That's the beauty of model railroading. I agree on Cliff Powers, after seeing his website, I am blown away at his ability to capture scenes, small church in the South.

[Ibflattop]

Thanks Ken, for getting me back on the right track!!!!!! Kevin