Little People

Mark Diff posted:

Moonson posted:

walt rapp posted:

Frank,

First off, thanks.  That image you included looks a lot like a street one over from my uncle's in Duquesne. 

- walt

Duquesne Place?  The photo is of the 100 block on Miller Avenue.

One over is either Harden Ave. or, in the other direction, toward Kennywood, is Herman Ave.

.  FrankM

That street looks familiar. It looks alot like the streets in Port Vue, where I grew up.

Mark: I too grew up in Port Vue!!!!!  I lived there from 1955 to when I got married in 1974.  Sorry that I don't recognize 'DIFF'.

- walt

Here's another one of my Halloween favorites - this one from my 2014 Christmas layout.

- walt

Little people having little meet-ups...

FrankM

Moonson posted:

Little people having little meet-ups...

FrankM

Like most of your photographs, Frank, these show “a slice of life.” That is an expression that Bruce Manson used in the segment about his mainly American Flyer layout in the Pennsylvania Suite video of the McComas & Tuoy 6 video set.

I bet some of our longstanding Forum friends remember Bruce. He described his red light district on his layout as showing a slice of life.

Yours, Frank, is rated GP. Bruce’s would be rated R.   LOL

Arnold

Moonson posted:

Little people having little meet-ups...

Great work as always, Frank. Love your scenes!

It's super hearing from both of you, Lee and Arnold. Thank you! I am so glad you like my modeling.

FrankM

LP for Wednesday.

Moonson posted:

Little people having little meet-ups...

FrankM

Nice scenes everyone! Walt, I think your layout builds always include many scenes we don't get to see. Frank, I don't think that young ladies mom is gonna be happy with her daughter leaning on the Thunderbird like that!

trumptrain posted:

I must admit I did a double-take on this one, I thought he was at an outhouse and not getting that he was on the wrong side of the wall!

It's his regular spot.

Moonson posted:

It's his regular spot.

Frank, you need a guy with his wife covering his eyes!

p51 posted:

trumptrain posted:

I must admit I did a double-take on this one, I thought he was at an outhouse and not getting that he was on the wrong side of the wall!

There's a prototype for everything:

BobbyD posted:

Walt, I think your layout builds always include many scenes we don't get to see.

yeah, i create new scenes every year since the layout is built from scratch, and changes, each year.  Sometimes I think I'm being repetitive so I don't show things that I consider too similar to previous times.  maybe that's a bad assumption on my part.

The other thing too is that I only have so many pictures of that particular year's layout to share with Scott's thread each Friday so I only post one each week to make them last as long as I can.  Below is an example: as you can see it's basically identical to the images shown above from 2014 and 2016 so I may have not used it.

thanks for noticing!

- walt

MELGAR posted:

Moonson posted:

That's part of my childhood hometown neighborhood, in real life.

FrankM

Those hometown neighborhoods from long ago always remain special.

MELGAR

Yes, MELGAR, and those hometown neighborhoods don't even have to remain unchanged, since the best parts of them have been taken with us in our hearts. Concerning my own neighborhood, Duquesne Place, Pennsylvania has, literally, remained rock-solid, since all of the houses were made of good-old Pennsylvania brick. I have not noticed, when making the occasional nostalgic visit, a single deterioration in the old neighborhood, after all these 70+ years. Of course, the neighbors themselves have changed, but I remember every single one of them from my youth and continue to cherish their place in my heart.

The residents themselves were rock-solid, too, possessed as they were, of authentic morality, excellent work ethics, pride-of-place and of self, and just an all 'round friendliness that welcomed everybody around them, including me, despite my occasional cutting-thru yards, from time to time, in search of balls. I came to know every single one of them, before I left for college out of state.

My first formal job, at 16, after having been "paperboy" for the "Daily News" and "Pittsburgh Press" in that neighborhood since I was twelve, was given to me by a neighbor two doors away (third house on the right) from my house.

She hired me as "Salad boy" in this Kennywood cafeteria. I loved that job and her. (Note/credit: This photo may have been taken by Andy Hummell.)

FrankM.

More LP folks.  

Moonson posted:

MELGAR posted:

Moonson posted:

That's part of my childhood hometown neighborhood, in real life.

FrankM

Those hometown neighborhoods from long ago always remain special.

MELGAR

Yes, MELGAR, and those hometown neighborhoods don't even have to remain unchanged, since the best parts of them have been taken with us in our hearts. Concerning my own neighborhood, Duquesne Place, Pennsylvania has, literally, remained rock-solid...

The residents themselves were rock-solid, too, possessed as they were, of authentic morality, excellent work ethics, pride-of-place and of self, and just an all 'round friendliness that welcomed everybody around them, including me, despite my occasional cutting-thru yards, from time to time, in search of balls. I came to know every single one of them, before I left for college out of state...

FrankM.

Oh so true, Moonson. I remember it well.

MELGAR

Another freight car stowaway.

MELGAR

MELGAR posted:

Another freight car stowaway.

MELGAR

I’ve got a little hobo that looks a lot like yours, except yours has better colors. Melgar, did you paint your little guy? If so, you did a great job painting him. Here’s my little guy:

On 2nd thought, I like the colors of my guy too (he came that way). It’s a close call, but I still like your little guy better.

That guy gets around MELGAR. 

Arnold,

Almost all my little people are from the City of Arttista, in which the citizens are pre-painted. So far, we have photographed only a small part of the hobo population...

MELGAR

MELGAR posted:

Arnold,

Almost all my little people are from the City of Artista, in which the citizens are pre-painted. So far, we have photographed only a small part of the hobo population...

MELGAR

It’s a good thing that Artista paints them different colors to make the little guys more interesting.

Melgar, hobos remind me of a great movie: Bound for Glory, which is the story of the great songwriter/singer, Woodie Guthrie. He wrote the famous song This Land is Your Land and many others. He was very courageous, wrote songs about, and fought for, the rights of workers, and did not compromise his values by selling out.  He was a lot like Pete Seeger in that regard.

The movie is a great work of art, with great scenery, acting, music, and is very well written. It also has great scenes showing Woodie riding in boxcars on trains during the time of the Depression. 

A famous actor, whose name escapes me at the moment, plays Woodie.

Woodie Guthtie was played by David Carradine in the movie, Bound for Glory. David Carradine gave a stellar performance.

In fact, I have Woodie Guthrie in O Scale! Here he is;

That’s Woodie sitting on the station floor playing guitar on the lower left! LOL

Arnold,

The Great Depression was relatively recent history when I was a youngster, and there were many images of hobos and stories of the hardships of that era. You may want to have a look at a book titled "An American Journey - Images of Railroading During the Depression," by Mark Vandercook, published in 2000 by Hotbox Press. It contains 95 photographs taken by government photographers of the Farm Security Administration between 1935 and 1941, many of hobos and rural America. Hence the hobos on my model railroads.

MELGAR

MELGAR posted:

Arnold,

....So far, we have photographed only a small part of the hobo population...

MELGAR

Yes, indeed.

On the tops of boxcars.

MELGAR

Guys, I love your hobos. What company makes them?

A couple of famous characters dot the layout and custom painted couple who look suspiciously like self and wife coming out of church

pdxtrains posted:

Guys, I love your hobos. What company makes them?

The ones on my layouts are made by Arttista Accessories at

http://arttista.com/

MELGAR

LP folks for today.

How about on the tops of buildings making repairs?

...or giving directions...

Up on the roofs.

MELGAR

MELGAR, Roofs? How about up here?

..or here...Quite  a climb, so he takes his time. He's been there a while.

Moonson posted:

MELGAR, Roofs? How about up here?

..or here...Quite  a climb, so he takes his time. He's been there a while.

At first glance I thought this was a scaffolding for a hanging.

trumptrain posted:

LP folks for today.

Patrick, what brand and model is your N&W J????

Ron

Moonson posted:

MELGAR, Roofs? How about up here?

Moonson,

This little fellow has been trying to get to the top of my tower for more than fifteen years! It was the first structure that I built for the railroad.

MELGAR

Moonson,

No matter how many pictures of our layouts we may compare, my engineering is OK, but your artistry is superb!

MELGAR

MELGAR posted:

Moonson,

No matter how many pictures of our layouts we may compare, my engineering is OK, but your artistry is superb!

MELGAR

MELGAR, Thanks very much, for bestowing such a compliment on me. I enjoy the conversation of our exchange. It's fun to see what you have done, but I don't really compare. I just see the different ways you and I have had of interpreting the use of those figures and of expressing ourselves in this hobby of ours and find that enjoyable. Plus, we get ideas from each other and maybe others do too.

FrankM

Moonson posted:

MELGAR posted:

Moonson,

No matter how many pictures of our layouts we may compare, my engineering is OK, but your artistry is superb!

MELGAR

MELGAR, Thanks very much, for bestowing such a compliment on me. I enjoy the conversation of our exchange. It's fun to see what you have done, but I don't really compare. I just see the different ways you and I have had of interpreting the use of those figures and of expressing ourselves in this hobby of ours and find that enjoyable. Plus, we get ideas from each other and maybe others do too.

FrankM

I would press the “Like Reply” 10 times for that one.

FRANK     Very well said, you"re quite the gentleman.

PRRronbh posted:

trumptrain posted:

LP folks for today.

Patrick, what brand and model is your N&W J????

Ron

Hi Ron - it's a Lionel which came out in the 2005 cat. 

A gentleman's club.  On the other side of the tracks in Patsburg.

Cheap little folk added to the observation car

Four inches of snow in Northern  Westchester County, NY.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see a Spring Training game in Florida and talk to the players after the game?

Snowy in Connecticut too.

After breakfast, hop a freight to somewhere else.

MELGAR

This guy is my favorite little person.  He has a lighted inspection lantern.

MELGAR posted:

Snowy in Connecticut too.

After breakfast, hop a freight to somewhere else.

MELGAR

Melgar, that chubby guy has a twin! Here he is at my ballpark sitting in the top row on the right side of the Popsicle stands:

Scorecards here, scorecards here:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

MELGAR posted:

Melgar, that chubby guy has a twin! Here he is at my ballpark sitting in the top row on the right side of the Popsicle stands:

Looks to me like the same guy. He just likes railroad diner food and baseball in The Bronx! I see that they have already extended the netting in compliance with the new MLB regulation.

MELGAR

Number 90 posted:

This guy is my favorite little person.  He has a lighted inspection lantern.

MELGAR posted:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

MELGAR posted:

Melgar, that chubby guy has a twin! Here he is at my ballpark sitting in the top row on the right side of the Popsicle stands:

Looks to me like the same guy. He just likes railroad diner food and baseball in The Bronx! I see that they have already extended the netting in compliance with the new MLB regulation.

MELGAR

We are on the same wavelength.

Very interesting use of the little people.  You can't have enough people in realistic scenarios to bring life to your railroad empire.

Waitress,...

I'd like a fruity drink and one of those little umbrellas on my table please

Adriatic posted:

 

trumptrain posted:

A gentleman's club.  On the other side of the tracks in Patsburg.

Waitress,...

I'd like a fruity drink and one of those little umbrellas on my table please

 

This one has me grinning from ear to ear.

Making up some dialogue or telling a little silly story when discussing and showing trains is so cool. It’s what I did with my kids when they were little.

Shoot'n the breeze at Jimbo's on a summers day... 

By the way, I read all the technical stuff you guys post too, and I like it and am learning, but I have a long way to go. I also have a mediocre, at best, mechanical aptitude.

I nearly failed metal shop in the 7th grade, was otherwise an A student, and my father nearly got into a fist fight with the metal shop teacher for causing my grade point average to be a little lower. My father called the metal shop teacher “a horse’s ***.” LMAO

Mark Diff posted:

Shoot'n the breeze at Jimbo's on a summers day... 

Very nice, Mark.

Here’s another Jimbo on my layout. That was a nickname for Jim Morrison of the Doors, whose most famous song, Light My Fire, is my all time favorite rock and roll song:

A picture of Jim Morrison singing into the microphone is on the little marque or billboard above the little red structure on the left. The larger red structure on the right is Whiskey a Go Go, the LA bar where The Doors started out. These structures are not very accurate, but I have seen a picture of the real Whiskey a Go Go, and it was red like mine.

More importantly, one can have some fun taking a stab at creating, and putting on their layout, whatever they like.

The Doors happen to be, by far, my favorite rock and roll band.

Even the tech gurus have to read to keep up to date, but it boils down to 101. The rest is choice on how to from A to B ; Model T, Valient, or Vette?

I'd say you likely didn't fail half as bad as the teacher did

My Dad used "Jack", much like the jerk in Happy Gilmore does 

I can't spell or sew well on a machine 

Stage fright!! 

   I found out winning a ("real") theater lighting award... ..............   ssSooooo many eyes.  

MELGAR posted:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

MELGAR posted:

Melgar, that chubby guy has a twin! Here he is at my ballpark sitting in the top row on the right side of the Popsicle stands:

Looks to me like the same guy. He just likes railroad diner food and baseball in The Bronx! I see that they have already extended the netting in compliance with the new MLB regulation.

MELGAR

Hmmm.... could this be him stopping along the way after leaving the RR diner and before going to the games ?  ;-)

I fear my little people appear to be too little.

The wife and I checking on the frogs, deer and squirrel's.

Our neighbor with his pet bird is not very talkative.  Azgary

some scenes from the 2015 Christmas layout.

- walt

Enjoying the food area at the drive-in:

A July 4th picnic at the community park:

I always like to include the pharmacy with Dental sign - my daughter is a pharmacist and my DIL is a hygienest.

walt rapp posted:

some scenes from the 2015 Christmas layout.

- walt

Enjoying the food area at the drive-in:

A July 4th picnic at the community park:

I always like to include the pharmacy with Dental sign - my daughter is a pharmacist and my DIL is a hygienest.

What an abundance of cute little people you have, Walt.

walt rapp posted:

some scenes from the 2015 Christmas layout.

- walt

Enjoying the food area at the drive-in:

A July 4th picnic at the community park

I LOVE that Good Humor truck! What was your source? Great looking scenes!

At Bridgeport Station.

MELGAR

I'd like to populate my K-Line Fleet of Modernism passenger cars.  Which figures should I look for and where should I buy them ?

Hi MELGAR, Railroad stations, yes...

FrankM

Stations at Phillips, Maine and Ophir, Colorado.

MELGAR

LP folks. 1.) Clarke Kent with Superman outfit in briefcase & Pee Pee the Wonder Dog, 2.) Waiting at the station  3.) Having fun!  4) Still having fun! 5) Take a detour 6. ) Hiding from the boss man  7.) A few minutes before quitting time  8.) Clear view to the other side  9.) Men at work 

Dan Padova posted:

I'd like to populate my K-Line Fleet of Modernism passenger cars.  Which figures should I look for and where should I buy them ?

Good morning Dan. I am also interested in finding more interesting Little People for my layout.

In reply to your question, I Googled O Scale passengers sitting, and found 100 pieces on eBay for $8.99. I don’t know how good they are, but I would guess that at least 25, perhaps as much as 50 of them would work for you.

I suggest that on the Internet you research Arttista, Woodland Scenics, Bachman, and maybe Oakridge Hobbies and major O Gauge model train retailers like TrainZ to find quality O Scale sitting passengers. 

In the early to mid 1990, when I took my wife and young children to my only trip so far to York, we went to the Choo Choo Barn. It was a highlight of our trip for the whole family to go there. Marvelous layout there. During our visit there, I saw beautiful metal baseball figures in a pretty package with a red ribbon on it for $150, which I think wee made by Kramer Products. The reason I am not 100% sure is that long ago I threw out the box and red ribbon (big mistake).

I have the heart of an operator, not a wise investment minded collector.

Here are my beloved metal baseball figures playing baseball:

I also have 3 outfielders.

I recently went to a train show and one vendor had beautiful, interesting figures, but they were very expensive so I did not buy any. As an example, he had a nice Dinky metal fork lift, which I already have on my layout, and he wanted $40 for it.

Don’t get me wrong. I will gladly pay a lot for something I love, like buying the $150 baseball figures. But I have to first fall in love with it to pay that much for something like that.

I would consider buying another quality baseball team, especially from Kramer Products, but I could not access their web site and suspect they are out of business. A couple of my figures have broken limbs. LOL.

Good luck hunting for the sitting passengers you are looking for. 

A possible good place to find what you are looking for is at the York train show, but you may find out that the good quality figures are expensive.

Arnold

Dan Padova posted:

I'd like to populate my K-Line Fleet of Modernism passenger cars.  Which figures should I look for and where should I buy them ?

Get the MTH 120 unpainted figures.  A little smaller and fit in the cars.

Gene Anstine

pdxtrains posted:

walt rapp posted:

some scenes from the 2015 Christmas layout.

- walt

Enjoying the food area at the drive-in:

A July 4th picnic at the community park

I LOVE that Good Humor truck! What was your source? Great looking scenes!

I'm sorry but I don't know - everything is put away and not easily retrieved, else I would dig it out to find out.  Every vehicle that came in a "box" or any sort is still stored in that "box" so it would be easy to tell.  Some came loose though from train shows.

Sorry I couldn't help.

-walt

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Dan Padova posted:

I'd like to populate my K-Line Fleet of Modernism passenger cars.  Which figures should I look for and where should I buy them ?

Good morning Dan. I am also interested in finding more interesting Little People for my layout.

In reply to your question, I Googled O Scale passengers sitting, and found 100 pieces on eBay for $8.99. I don’t know how good they are, but I would guess that at least 25, perhaps as much as 50 of them would work for you.

I suggest that on the Internet you research Arttista, Woodland Scenics, Bachman, and maybe Oakridge Hobbies and major O Gauge model train retailers like TrainZ to find quality O Scale sitting passengers. 

In the early to mid 1990, when I took my wife and young children to my only trip so far to York, we went to the Choo Choo Barn. It was a highlight of our trip for the whole family to go there. Marvelous layout there. During our visit there, I saw beautiful metal baseball figures in a pretty package with a red ribbon on it for $150, which I think wee made by Kramer Products. The reason I am not 100% sure is that long ago I threw out the box and red ribbon (big mistake).

I have the heart of an operator, not a wise investment minded collector.

Here are my beloved metal baseball figures playing baseball:

I also have 3 outfielders.

I recently went to a train show and one vendor had beautiful, interesting figures, but they were very expensive so I did not buy any. As an example, he had a nice Dinky metal fork lift, which I already have on my layout, and he wanted $40 for it.

Don’t get me wrong. I will gladly pay a lot for something I love, like buying the $150 baseball figures. But I have to first fall in love with it to pay that much for something like that.

I would consider buying another quality baseball team, especially from Kramer Products, but I could not access their web site and suspect they are out of business. A couple of my figures have broken limbs. LOL.

Good luck hunting for the sitting passengers you are looking for. 

A possible good place to find what you are looking for is at the York train show, but you may find out that the good quality figures are expensive.

Arnold

 

Arnold, I feel your pain.  In the'80s, when I was into "O" gauge the first time, I bought what I liked.  Other's I knew would only buy collectible trains.  While I may not have realized a profit from my trains, I don't think the other guys did either.  

We have a saying on G Scale Central, "It's my railway and I will run what I like".  

P51: Where did you find your WWII era military figures?

SouthernMike posted:

P51: Where did you find your WWII era military figures?

They're metal figures from the UK

http://www.sanddmodels.co.uk/products_43_figures.htm

I prefer to keep the little people to a minimum in some scenes. Roo.

Roo posted:

I prefer to keep the little people to a minimum in some scenes. Roo.

 

 

Outstanding scenery, little people and use of them in your scenes.

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Roo posted:

I prefer to keep the little people to a minimum in some scenes. Roo.

 

 

Outstanding scenery, little people and use of them in your scenes.

I completely agree with this reply.

walt rapp posted:

pdxtrains posted:

I LOVE that Good Humor truck! What was your source? Great looking scenes!

I'm sorry but I don't know - everything is put away and not easily retrieved, else I would dig it out to find out.  Every vehicle that came in a "box" or any sort is still stored in that "box" so it would be easy to tell.  Some came loose though from train shows.

Sorry I couldn't help.

-walt

Here are some images of the photos that I took of it when I bought it in 1999 or 2000.  "Die Cast", as shown on the back of the photo, must mean "DieCast Direct" I'm guessing.  Good luck, hope you find one.

- walt

Roo posted:

I assume your little people are made that the hot dog wagon hasn't opened for business yet. O scale figures get hungry too, don't they?

Ice cream time on Patton st.  Truck is by Road Champs.  Azgary

Roo posted:

I prefer to keep the little people to a minimum in some scenes. Roo.

Roo,

I completely agree. Your use of "people" is appropriately subtle.

MELGAR

Beymax from Big Hero Six

Chain Gang ProtestFairy Tale WeddingWinnie the Pooh Garden RailwaySleeping Scout Leader

Uhh... I think there's a problem here

UhPresident Obama's stuck LimoBand playing at Veteran's ParkOut of Work Star Wars BandEnd of the Yellow Brick Road is on this railroad.

ROO, I agree with you fully. Scenes that have a few figures , or even no figures, speak their own particular narrative...

FrankM

Climbers!

MELGAR

RichO posted:

Beymax from Big Hero Six

Chain Gang ProtestFairy Tale WeddingWinnie the Pooh Garden RailwaySleeping Scout Leader

Uhh... I think there's a problem here

UhPresident Obama's stuck LimoBand playing at Veteran's ParkOut of Work Star Wars BandEnd of the Yellow Brick Road is on this railroad.

   What's going on below the self portrait, at the firehouse... "boy in the plastic bubble?

  Nice to see you playing with your own railroad again this year

"We are not pumpkins!"

That is a good thing....

Elenore isn't the only thing "Gone in 60 seconds."

MTH ‘crew change’ on my Lionel J-3a.

Moonson posted:

ROO, I agree with you fully. Scenes that have a few figures , or even no figures, speak their own particular narrative...

FrankM

...an sometimes the scenes requires a whole lotta little people...

This photo of these little ballplayers is taken by my new Samsung Galaxy Note 8 smart phone that I bought yesterday. One of my best friends, who is also my financial advisor, tells me this smart phone has one of the best cameras with many great features, most of which I don't know yet.

Here are more little folks .... sparsely allocated. 

Excellent point, Mark Diff, and well made!!! I agree...

FrankM

trumptrain posted:

Here are more little folks .... sparsely allocated. 

Very nice photos and posit ioni my of this ed littled guys.

trumptrain posted:

Here are more little folks .... sparsely allocated. 

Very nice photos and positioning of these little guys.

Trains are one thing but scenery and all the people figures are another. I love the details right or wrong who really gives a hoot its just fun. I love it. The older I get the better it is.

Adriatic posted:

 

   What's going on below the self portrait, at the firehouse... "boy in the plastic bubble?

From the movie "Despicable Me, " Gru the badguy didn't want to wait on line at the coffer shop.  He used his freeze ray on everyone else so that he was first.   All bad guys must keep their minions happy.  That's where this scene came from.  The fire house is next door.  Thank you for asking.

  Nice to see you playing with your own railroad again this year