Model Railroading > Frank Sinatra was a Model Railroader--Other Celebrities

While browsing through the Frank Sinatra bio on the Internet Movie Data Base, I came across the following:

"Owned an extensive collection of electric toy trains. He had coveted electric trains as a boy and set up a track that wove through the path of his career. The train started at a replica of the Hoboken train station."

So Old Blue Eyes had trains.

Anyone know of other entertainers/ celebrities who have been or are modelers or train hobbyists?

Art House

Phil Collins, Wilford Brimley, Sally Jessie Raphael, Michael Gross, Gary Coleman.
Just a few off the top of my head :)

Rod Stewart has been seen in hobby shops in West Virginia, and Merle Haggard is supposedly an O-scale modeler.......

Art

Mel Torme, David Rose.

Perhaps Kevin Cosner could be included in this list, but with his money he's really more interested in 12" scale.

Wasn't Tom Cruse recently written about being a model railroader? Supposedly he models contemporary BNSF.

When we were in Oklahoma City with the AFT in 1976, Merle Haggard and I spent a great couple of hours sitting in the cab of the 4449 talking steam locomotives. He had, at that time, an extensive 1 1/2", 7 1/2" gauge live steam system on his property outside town.

Tom

Don't forget Walt Disney. He had 1 1/2" scale running in his back yard.

Neil Young, big Lionel fan.

jderosa Wrote:
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> Don't forget Walt Disney. He had 1 1/2" scale
> running in his back yard.


Yeah, and Ward Kimball and others on the Disney staff were big into 12" scale in Kimballs back yard.

Opra Winfri models N scale. Warrick Dunn ( running back ) for the Tampa Bay Buccanneers is a train buff.

Jonathan Winters and Rick Dees (Radio personality) were/are into G scale.

Roland
WP805D

not that he's hollywood celeb but isnt Bill Gates into HO

Sinatra actully had a small house built for his Lionel layout at Palm Springs. There is a video program which shows this layout. In addition to hiring others to build it he also had an operator to run it for him.

I heard that Sinatra had a large brass collection--not sure of the scale.

pal77 Wrote:
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> not that he's hollywood celeb but isnt Bill Gates
> into HO

I know that when he travels by train, he has his own cars, but I don't know about power, and it's just him and his party. He also travels abroad by prive train, not just cars. He is also the biggest share holder of CN. I never heard anything about modeling though.

The great Michael Palin is a railfan, not sure about modelling though.

wlankenau Wrote:
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> Neil Young, big Lionel fan.


Not just a fan, but an owner of Lionel (through Wellspring Assoc), and the developer of the Train Master control system that's used on Lionel (and other O-gauge) trains. There's an interesting article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMCC

--Mark J

I have the video of Mr. Sinatra's layout - very impressive:

http://www.tmbooks-video.com/celebrit.htm

Apparently there is one of Tom Snyder's layout and others.

Not only was Sinatra a great singer, but one who appreciated railroading.

Mandy Patinkin (Chicago Hope and much else on TV and stage).....O scaler, and he and Tom Snyder had quite a conversation about their interest in trains on Snyder's show back in the mid 90's...Snyder used to frequent Burbank House of Hobbies back in the 70's when he was an anchor at KNBC in Los Angeles.

Merle Haggard's road manager was sent into Franciscan Hobbies (in suburban SF) back in the early 70's with lots of cash and a shopping list. Wiped out Bill Gunther and staff of just about everything O scale that was in stock! There are pictures of Merle's 1970's layout on one of his albums that was released in 1975/76 with the "Freedom Train" song on it. Lots of Santa Fe stuff, since he grew up in an ATSF reefer.

Add the late singer Mel Torme, who appeared in Gem Imports advertizements in Model Railroader in the 1960s; the late actor Yul Brenner, who was apparently divorced because he was more interested in his trains than his (at the time) wife.