Model Railroading > Rod Stewart's HO layout

My wife showed me a videotape of a recent Jimmy Kimmmel show. The featured guest was pop singing star Rod Stewart. The main topic was his forthcoming CD (most likely why he was on the show), but then Mr. Kimmel pulled out a copy of Model Railroader with a cover photo of Mr. Stewart's HO layout. Other photos were shown, and apparently he has a large urban-theme setup. When he goes on the road, he requests that hotels provide a room with a large table, and during "down time" he breaks out the tool kit and supplies, and sets up his portable workshop. Rock stars "trashing" hotel rooms is so, like, 1970's. Now it's a place for arts and crafts. He mentioned that Frank Sinatra had a splendid model RR setup and that Roger Daltrey of the Who is also into trains. (I read somewhere that Sir Elton John has a full-size Melbourne tramcar on his estate--not sure if it has track and wire for operation.)

Recently discussed:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,2312598

:-)

- Arved

Sir Elton's trolley has poles at both ends, so it goes both ways.

Is this a metaphor or does he really have a trolley? <G>

ArgyleEagle Wrote:
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> Sir Elton's trolley has poles at both ends, so it
> goes both ways.

wabash2800 Wrote:
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> Is this a metaphor or does he really have a
> trolley?
>
> ArgyleEagle Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Sir Elton's trolley has poles at both ends, so
> it
> > goes both ways.


It's a metaphor regarding Sir Elton himself
Charlie
MP 53 on the BNSF Topeka Sub

ArgyleEagle Wrote:
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> Sir Elton's trolley has poles at both ends, so it
> goes both ways.


+1 for Shane.

With regards to Elton's "trolley", it is a "Tram" - that is what they are called here in Melbourne. AFAIK, it is not operating but sits in his garden as a Tea House.

Rick

While it's a pity that Sir Elton's tram is a "static display", it's certainly a "conversation piece" as a tea house.

Bob Davis
(who has ridden Melbourne trams in Seattle, New Orleans, San Francisco, San Jose and in their native habitat. I've even run one in Bendigo.)

Not rumor, but fact. Rod Stewart and his layout have been featured twice now in Model Railroader the past few years, most recently an issue or two back.

Bob

Bob Miller
Kansas City, KS



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/10 06:01 by atsfmodeler.

It seems to be the current issue, just looked through a copy a couple of days ago. The Layout seems to be heavy downtown East Coast, maybe NYC or some variant, with an area of large buildings with specific buildings modeled. The track seems to be on the outside or to the side, maybe separate scenes or maybe separate parts of the hobby.

TCnR Wrote:
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> It seems to be the current issue, just looked
> through a copy a couple of days ago. The Layout
> seems to be heavy downtown East Coast, maybe NYC
> or some variant, with an area of large buildings
> with specific buildings modeled. The track seems
> to be on the outside or to the side, maybe
> separate scenes or maybe separate parts of the
> hobby.

Doesn't seem to me to represent any specific East Coast city, but there's certainly a prominent Pennsy influence on his motive power, so that certainly suggests East. The buildings and other wayside scenery are all magnificent. For somebody with a lot of Pennsy stuff, though, Rod's choice of signals is a mismatch -- not a position-light to be seen in any of the pics in the latest MR.

Rod says he's modeling a big city atomosphere like Chicago OR New York. He has pelenty of NYC and PRR trains. Those Baldwin BP20s have to be brass.

I have seen the track plan and wonder how he accesses the city scape etc. Does he walk on the layout or are there numbers of lift-outs? I don't believe either one of the articles said.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/10 10:41 by wabash2800.

I see that he is using lift-outs. Though they are not shown on the track plan, there is a note below it that says that lift-outs are not shown (sort of fine print). Someone pointed that out to me on another group. It was either that or walk on top of the layout!

When I first saw the cover, I thought Ooh La La that is nice

According to the track diagram, when the trains leave the city scenes, they meander in the
country through a variety of fills and cuts, however the First Cut is the Deepest

The photos of the city scenes are great - in fact Every Picture Tells a Story

wabash2800 Wrote:
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... Does he walk on the
> layout or are there numbers of lift-outs?


Naw, he lets the Stage hands take care of that stuff.

I really like the fact that he's actually a modeler and builds his own stuff - the previous article (I haven't seen the most recent one) seemed to be focused on his structure projects - not sure if he details engines and rolling stock. It would be easy for someone with that much money to just contract for someone to build the whole thing for him, so it's nice to know that he enjoys doing to work himself, even if he's probably had some help along the way.

Dave

Dave if you read the most recent article in MR, he does have some things done for him like the benchwork, wiring and much of the scenery. He appears to be more of an artistic structure guy with a lot of talent in coming up with set-up of things.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/10 14:13 by wabash2800.