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Guys, some success I think.  Here's the link to the pdf version of today's WSJ piece.  A couple of great layouts and train rooms.  I sort of feel like a piker next to some of these fellows.  But they did quote me a lot, plugged "All Aboard!", as well as my train "club," the Railroad Museum of Long Island, some of whom, such as Lenny Joerg and Francis Amendola, helped on the layout. 

It's strange, the print version today has a few different pix (in addition to IDing me as "Ed" Hollander (oh, well) than the first electronic edition yesterday afternoon, and now the PDF has slightly diff pix again.  Too bad, this PDF version is lacking an overall view of the train room which is pretty grand. 

Hope you enjoy,

ron

file:///C:/Users/RONHOL~1/AppData/Local/Temp/Model%20Railroaders%20Are%20Parking%20Their%20Train%20Sets%20in%20Souped-Up%20Spaces%20-%20WSJ.pdf

I had a copy of his book for years, I can read it over and over again.  I also had a book that followed some boys building a Lionel layout that becomes a club.  Dates from the 1950, and was supported by Lionel as its their trains that are pictured in it.  The cover has a huge image of a 2343 on it with a 675/2025 crossing over it on a high bridge on the back cover.  That is probably what drives my love of the Santa Fe F3's even though I am a PRR modeler by heart.    AD

Ron, this WSJ article and your participation in it, like your marvelous book, All Aboard (which I've enjoyed reading several times), is a great contribution to the promotion of our hobby. That is a very good thing for numerous important reasons. One such reason is that there are people out there (not yet in the hobby), especially during these difficult times, who could benefit from doing something as fun, joyful, interesting and engrossing as model railroading. Arnold

Arnold, thanks for your continued kind words about All Aboard!, and glad you enjoyed the WSJ.  However, regrettably, I’m not as sanguine as you about the future of the hobby.  It was very historical period based, and I fear we from that time are literally disappearing.  Those who are still here are thinking do I want to leave my kids all this mess, convert to cash now (lots of luck), downsize, consolidate, etc. So I fear we’re the last of the Mohicans.  Meanwhile, enjoy your trains, but I fear the Titanic is going down. 
sorry to be so glum

ron

@Ron Hollander

I just finished reading my original copy of "All Aboard" for the first time in years. It is as good reading as ever, even though it was literally falling apart in my hands. Like so many of you, this is the book that got me into Lionel in the 1980s, devouring it in a few days one cold winter almost 40 years ago and then rushing out to the nearest train store.

I guess it's time to put a new copy on the Christmas list. I haven't seen the later edition. Does it have the text from the original intact with an addendum? And Ron, that second book is now 20+ years old!! Is a third edition in the works?

Also, any news on the possible publication of the TCA articles you mentioned? I confess that being out of the hobby for a period of about 15 years, I let my TCA membership lapse. If they are written in the same warm and nostalgic style as the book and as meticulously researched, I am sure I will enjoy them. At the risk of making your head explode from swelling, your writing is degrees of magnitude more readable than any of the usual dry writing that is done for this hobby.

Stay well and prosper!!

Tinplate Art, great thread, Charles Lentz and myself, were at YORK, October 2018, and were fortunate to eat dinner at Quaker Steak and Lube and were joined by Alan Arnold and the Famous, Ron Hollander, it was a lot of fun, a night I’ll never forget. Ron is a down to earth fellow that is fun to listen to as is Alan Arnold,” The Adman” and Publisher & CEO of OGR. It’s a small world, and it’s all do you our favorite hobby, Model Railroading. Yes, I have his book, All Aboard. Happy Railroading Everyone

I’m saddened by this news today. Broke my heart .

My father bought me the book from a B Dalton in Souix City Iowa in 1981 off the new release pile; I remember it fondly at the new Southern Hills Mall. I was 7 years old; I would dive into those charming catalog artworks he reprinted and dream and dreamed to have these post war classics and today I have a substantial collection because of this fellow I share with my kids now.

My grandfather in Spencer had a 1952 Scout set that was bought for my father when he was boy and prior to the purchase of Ron’s book I would run down those stairs to the basement and bring up the tattered box and the cardboard flats with the track wired to it. That grinding old Lionel 1110 still adorns my train room with my most prized models. My sister and I would run it on my grandfather’s living room floor. That was truly my first exposure to model trains around 1978-1979 or so and Ron’s book was the cement that acted like a rekindle of the efforts of the Lionel marketing department 30 or more years earlier. I wasn’t born yet for the golden postwar era but I’ve sure exposed my current 7 year old to them now in 2022.

As I gathered further interest in model railroading I wanted scale models as I perused N at the time (1982-1984) and was influenced by All Aboard to stay with O which I am highly vested in now. Unlike many scale o enthusiasts I share equal parts passion for pre and post war 3 rail toy trains and my P48 brass and scratch building.

I am very sad by his passing. I corresponded with him once maybe 10 years ago and I am honored I had the great opportunity to thank him for the passion it’s been very good for me over the years.

He was a legend in our time everyone; an influential man with a lot of love. My sincerest condolences to his family and friends.

Erik C Lindgren

2/27/22

I'm very saddened to learn of his passing.

My Mom and Dad took us to a brand new mall in Hutchinson, KS, and I purchased  "All Aboard" at the mall bookstore. I was probably in 6th or 7th grade. I have read and re-read that book many times. I remember eating my Mom's sugar cookies reading that book as a kid. Still have it. His book brought me such great memories.

I became a friend of Ron's when he moved to eastern Long Island. He contacted me about doing repairs on his collection. He even trusted me to repair his display which he took on the road when plugging "All Aboard". From this starting point we became good friends and he joined me as a member of the Railroad Museum of Long Island. Ron never had a GG1 in his collection but when I moved to Florida I sold off part of my collection , Ron bought two of my GG1s to remember me by. He and I met in York last October for dinner and talked about how we enjoyed our trains.  I will miss him and so will all the members of the Railroad Museum of Long Island.   Lenny J

One of the first and best histories of Lionel. Loved the book, and still read it and use it to this day. This is the only book I've seen showing some of the products of wartime Lion-Ed toys. Because of reading it, I was able to spot, recognize, and buy the D-5 Girl's Puppy Rocker back when my kids were small enough to ride it. I and a gent from New England both wrote short articles for the TCAQ about them. Ron's Dream Layout articles in the TCAQ were also great reading. He'll be missed.

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