Celebrity Model Railroaders

[BillD53A]

I havent seen a thread on this topic anywhere in about a week, so I'll start off.

Rege Cordic, who passed away in 2000, was a model railroader!  I was flabbergasted when I read this.  Most of you will remember Rege as the 1950's Pittsburgh radio host who 'invented' Olde Frothingslosh, a beer so light the head floats on the bottom!  A railcar full of Olde Frothingslosh weighed less loaded than it did empty!

[jsmvmd]

Dear Bill,

As a kid in the 'Burgh in the '50's, I listened to Rege nearly every morning, especially on snow days!!! 

Old Frothingslosh was billed as "The pale, stale ale with the foam on the bottom" and had a buxom, nay coruplent lass on the can.  Pittsburgh Brewing Co. puts it out every Christmas time.  Why don't you get yourself a case!

Too, there was Bob Trow as Brunhilde, Louie the Garbage Man, Ah Cool Barry Fink (the Beatnik), Johnny Costa (I think) the musician, and of course, "Omicron" the man from outer space who talked to "Kordicron."  I am sure I have forgotten others, but a web search turned this up:

http://aolsearch.aol.com/aol/search?encquery=4ff78d3f33802b614987d8552f2a4d4e&invocationType=keyword_rollover&ie=UTF-8

Would suggest you listen to the sound bites for an ideer of his humor, definitely "Pittsburgh-esque."

Rege lived in Zelionople, and many the time I have passed his house.

Best Wishes,

Jack

[Guilford Guy]

Buster Keaton was an avid model railroad/railfan and even had an S gauge garden railway.

[conradin]

Former race car driver (F1 Grand Prix) Riccardo Patrese has a hugh collection.

[pdlethbridge]

Mel Torme, (spelling) the singer, was pictured in MR years ago

[geezerjim]

Add Frank Sinatra to the list.  Just watched a video of his layout and collection in Palm Springs.

[scottychaos]

Neil Young is a well-known Lionel collector:
http://www.thrasherswheat.org/tfa/trains-neil-young-1993.htm

Do "fictional" celebrities count? 

Gomez Adams (The Adams Family) - O scale lionel - famous for staging crashes!
Bobby Baccalieri (The Sopranos) - O scale lionel
Reverend Lovejoy (the Simpsons) - HO scale layout in his basement.

Scot

[SteamGene]

Walt Disney ran live steam outdoors and may have an indoor layout as well.  Maybe not a "celebrity", but Hermann Goering had an enormous 0 gauge layout in the attic of his estate.

[Guilford Guy]

Well dur, Johnny Cashy

[r.cprmier]

Was it Mel Torme, or Vaughan Monroe?  Or both?

Vaughan Monroe was a good friend of my childhood bud's dad, who was also a collector.  Who knows; besides being a "lady killer", maybe he was also a "kit basher"... 

Sinatra's collection-or part of it- is in some organization, museum, or something.
I also seem to recall Ralph Storey of "This is your Life" fame; as well as Henry Morgan of "I've got a secret".

I also believe that Merle haggard is in this stuff.

Rich

[WoundedBear]

I seem to recall seeing some of Michael Gross' work in MR years ago.

Sid

[BillD53A]

Jack, do you mean the 300 pound go-go dancer who was named "Miss Frothingslosh 1968"-the vivacious Fatima Yechburg?

I have an old Clover House catalog that lists a dry transfer set for Olde Frothingslosh reefers in N, HO and S.  Rege designed them for use on his layout.

'A whale of an ale for the pale stale male'
Oh, my Gosh! Its Olde Frothingslosh!!

[ebtnut]

Mel Torme for sure was.  He even appeared in some ads in Model Railroader back in the early 1950's, maybe for Varney equipment.

[jsmvmd]

Dear Bill,

That's a good one!

A web search revealed that Tom Snyder, the night time talk show host has recently died, and was an avid model railroader.

Best Wishes,

Jack

[Woody Elmore]

The late Tom Snyder had an extensive collection of Lionel trains. He told this story once: His father used to sell seasonal decorations to stores. They always looked at Christmas decorations on July 4th. His dad amassed a collection of Lionel trains as they were often part of the display. He continued collecting.

When he did his cable show (either MSNBC or CNBC) he had a loop of LGB trains running around the edge of the set and would run them during station break.

He was a great TV journalist and there are very few on TV today who are his equal. Too bad he smoked so much.