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Apples55 posted:

WNEP announced on their 5:30 news that someone has donated a trolley themed tractor trailer to go down to a warehouse in NJ on Friday to pick up the train display. They are still not saying where it will be set up when they get back to Scranton. 

The trailer was created a couple years ago by Road Scholar Transport to promote the restoration of Scranton Transit trolley #505.  The car body was really bad off when we started the project and not easy to display, so the trailer has come in handy for many events.  

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Our involvement with WNEP's backyard train was about three years in the making.  We had a verbal agreement that they would run a model of a Scranton trolley along with the train, if we could supply one.  We were granted permission to modify a spare unit from the museum, which had to be returned a short time later when their main G-scale unit died.  We eventually secured another one, and after a custom paint job, presented it to the station on the air.  They use it on fair weather days and the response has been (mostly) positive.  

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We were pretty much shocked to hear that the backyard train and our trolley model had made it before a national audience.  I just finished folding and boxing a whole bunch of Project 505 t-shirts, which we are sending along on the trailer as a thank you.  

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Sadly, I do not have any recent photos of the car.  The fabricator, AES LLC, is literally down to the last 5% of the the metal work and the car will be at the media blaster's in about a month.  Look for a HUGE reveal between Halloween and Thanksgiving!  

We are a non-profit and would love to keep our momentum going - any donations are appreciated.  

https://www.facebook.com/scrantontrolley505

https://www.gofundme.com/new-d...scranton-trolley-505

http://www.ectma.org

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Last edited by Montclaire

It would be interesting to find out who built it and see some pictures as it progressed. The rotating base must be very complex and very heavy. They may have used an automobile show room rotating display. The electric would have to be on some type of track with slides similar to a car's horn wiring in a steering column. A portion of the layout I'm building in my basement rotates so that I can control camera angles from one position when I want to video an engine running. I never thought I would love a house beam post in a basement so much. LOL09061709370717171442a0914170817

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Dave Warburton posted:

This is normal language for late night cable. The question is whether it should be on the OGR site, that's all.  It's fine with me, btw, but in case there are children listening...

Thing is children can watch the show very easily, or just go to Youtube directly. This kind of language, while not "polite", is pervasive and part of the American lexicon.

When my children were younger, those words flew around all the time. The rule was: they could say that stuff around their friends, but they were not to use them around adults. Worked quite well actually.

I happen to be a big fan of the show. John Oliver is a satirist who ridicules absurd stories from the news while actually informing via humor. I do worry sometimes that this forum is full of grumpy old men.

According to this morning's Scranton Times, the train layout will be brought to Scranton on Friday.  No word yet on its permanent or transitional home.  Any feel good story from the world of toy trains is a positive to this hobby even if you're not a John Oliver fan.  I am.  He brings in depth factual reporting on stories that rarely get covered and he does it with scathing humor.

Dave Warburton posted:

This is normal language for late night cable. The question is whether it should be on the OGR site, that's all.  It's fine with me, btw, but in case there are children listening...

  News with humor is still news. Lots of things on the news I'd worry more about exposing kids to than these two exclaimation points, and the context couldn't be much better for a first time exposure which is pretty much inevitable today as soon as they are of school age; language evolves and acceptance of it as well. Unfortunate choice of words, but the station isn't removing itself from association, and I hope OGRF can see the good natured story outweighed any blooper aspect.

Last edited by Adriatic

 Meh, Mr. Oliver tries too hard and misses the mark.

David Letterman was much funnier without the need to cuss. His model of NYC with the working subway in the background was even more impressive.

This guy just reeks of a John Stewart wannabe.

I like trains too,just because they appear in something mainstream doesn't necessarily mean it's amazing.

IMO....of course.

Last edited by RickO

  I think the "chain of discovery" is that Stewart aired  Steven Colbert, and Colbert aired Oliver.

  Steve Martin, Rich Pryor, Robbin Williams, Lenny Bruce, Geaorge Carlin. Its nothing new in itself really. If it was directed at a person in some disrespectful manner I wouldn't be teetering on the fence.

The last really clean comic I liked was that pudding fellow. A clean mouth, but...? 

   I think I'd like the layout more if I found out it was built by folks in props without O experience. Not likely really, but built by a "green horn" would be neat. One of my favorite modelers works in G. It took some time, bit I pretty sure he is a special effects master with credits from Ret. of the Jedi, The Fly, E.T., Indiana Jones, and lots more....his works in sandtones had me noticing the similarities, the credits pretty much sinched it.

The creative similarities between our hobby and their work is kinda awesome if you think about it.

 

 

Well, the train is on it's way to Scranton and they have announced that it will be displayed at the Trolley Museum (across the parking lot from Steamtown). It will arrive today and be assembled next week with an unveiling to be announced. So happy that it will be accessible to the public. Hopefully it will bring more traffic to both museums. Here is a link to WNEP's story:

http://wnep.com/2017/09/14/the...train-is-on-the-way/

Last edited by Apples55

The train has arrived at the station!!! The pieces were unloaded at the Trolley Museum and it looked like one or two of the Lackawanna County Commissioners were on hand to help unload. The piece on the 5:00 news said that the layout was built by HBO - not sure how accurate that is - but apparently, HBO is sending someone familiar with the piece to help with reassembly. A lot of the pieces are foam with some hardboard.

http://wnep.com/2017/09/15/scr...hbos-backyard-train/

It looks like they built the base and then sculpted the foam - no real effort was made to do so in a way that it would come apart cleanly.  The buildings were not with the main pieces, they were boxed separately and will be arriving mid-week, so they should be in great shape.  

This is a major win for the ECTM, and I am sure they will see a surge in foot traffic over the winter.  You would be surprised how many people live in the area and still don't know the museum is there, despite a lot of yearly advertising.  

Maybe it's time for a mass produced o-gauge electromobile?  

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The HBO train has been reassembled and will be unveiled at the Trolley Museum in Scranton at 11:00 on Friday. The Museum is offering free admission all weekend.

The layout was built by the HBO props crew, and the props designer came to Scranton to assist with the reassembly. He was rather surprised that the train found a home - due to high storage costs in the NYC area, most things they build end up in the dumpster.

Here is the latest story from WNEP: 

http://wnep.com/2017/09/20/hbo...e-at-trolley-museum/

AlanRail posted:

This guy just reeks of a John Stewart wannabe.

Oliver was a reporter on John Stewart for many years.

He also filled in for John Stewart for months while John Stewart was working on other projects. He has the same style but his show isn't the same format. On this show John Oliver never has guests unless they are part of a joke or a specific topic he is going into and he often takes "deep dives" where most or all of a show is taken up by explaining a single topic, something similar shows would never do. The show is certainly not for everyone.

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