I understand that Gene owned a railroad. Any idea which one? Maybe I’m wrong but that is what I’ve heard. I do know that he was a railroad telegrapher. Love his music.
He had a full-size steam train at the Melody Ranch – apparently both the engine and coaches are at Travel Town in Griffith Park. He also optioned or bought some other steam engines, one from ET&WNC and D&RGW 463 that I know of.
What happened? Maybe I’m senile, but it seems that yesterday there were several replies to this topic, including pictures.
I guess it was deleted because it was more of an advertisement than I thought. Still, it was the only vid I could find of the “Melody Ranch Daylight” so try googling that phrase and you should find it again.
As for the other stuff, the Travel Town Museum at Griffith Park and D&RG 463 is pulling at Chama, which is a public secret. So maybe an edit would have been preferable.
I wish that when moderators delete entries, they would include a note telling us why.
Removed my INCO thread on string lining and all the pics wiping out 10 years of my Mining career in the process. Have no idea why.
Have a hunch, but not sure.
That Melody Ranch “Daylight” is awesome! If I had that to play with I sure wouldn’t bother with N scale anymore.
And how! Although parting with the thundering majesty of O gauge would be a pretty wrenching decision on my part!
Build it around the O gauge layout! [:D] I’ve always had this daydream of using “lottery money” to build a live steam oval around my house. But not just any mini railway! I’d have the house rebuilt to resemble a Lionel station, I’d put the Hellgate bridge in the driveway and a big tunnel in the back yard! I would ride around on my giant 392E and annoy the neighbors with the whistle! [(-D]
By-Law Officer will shut you down right quick. Everything’s OK until you started with the whistle.
But…I would do the same thing!
Why not move to the countryside, buy a quarter-section of land and build your dream layout. I know a couple folks who have done that, with live steam too!
And (for better or worse) once your layout becomes known there is no shortage of fellow live-steam enthusiasts eager to run their engines on it, and they will usually help lay more track too!
That locomotive is on The Whiskey River Railway at Little Amerricka Amusement park in Marshall, WI which is just east of Madison.
http://www.littleamerricka.com/rides
Here is the Whiskey River Railway Page On Faceplant.
https://www.facebook.com/Whiskey-River-Railway-Marshall-Wisconsin-16gauge-258337366872/
And a video (many are out there).
Now why didn’t I think of that? Let’s see, a replica of the Tenafly NJ Erie station to house the O gauge layout, then the live-steam line circling the property and stopping at the station. Of course, I’d build it out in the boonies so the neighbors wouldn’t moan about the whistle noise, as a matter of fact the closest neighbors might even enjoy the sound of “That lonesome whistle cuttin’ though the night” as the late, great Johnny Cash once put it,
Just gotta win the “Mega-Gazillions.” Haven’t managed it yet.
Didn’t Ward Kimball have a live steam railroad on his property that was once way “out in the country” until the orange groves got developed which naturally was the end of that?
A LOT of people had property “way out in the country” in California until post-war and then late 20th Century development took off like a rocket. El Toro Marine Air Station was a recent casualty of development, with the new homeowners screaming about the jet engine noise.
The Corps was pressured into selling the property, but at least they made out like bandits from the money they got for it. As a matter of fact, most of the former “out in the country” property owners made out like bandits.
It was more like Ward getting too old to run the Grizzly Flats RR. I got a chance to see it in 1992 as part of the process of moving the majority of his collection to OERM in Perris. He had about 300’ of 3 ft gauge track.
As mentioned Ward had the Grizzly Flats Railroad in his “back yard”. It was a real narrow gauge “12 inches equals one foot” railroad with “no toy locomotive” as Ward said in one interview.
http://www.oerm.org/3-foot-gauge-grizzly-flats/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly_Flats_Railroad
His railroad buddy, Walt Disney, had the Carolwood Pacific in his garden.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolwood_Pacific_Railroad
Ward gives Salvador Dali a ride on the Carolwood Pacific:
And Walt drove the Grizzly Flats line as well:
Ward was also an avid toy train collector:
If this photo had a caption, it would read “Mine!” [(-D]
And there was the Firehouse Fiv
Best movie sub EVER! Even better than the “Seaview”, and that was a pretty cool sub as well!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYb_2hECbUM
And the theme music’s pretty classic and stirring as well!
Ah yes, the Seaview! The only submarine with picture windows. My ship (U.S.S. Guam, LPH-9) was in drydock in Philly. A big section of the lower hull was cut out so equipment could be brought into a lower-deck compartment. A new guy asked about that. I said, “You’ve seen the show, The Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, right” He said that he did. I said, “Well this is the same idea, so that Russian submarines can be visually observed.” He said, “Wow.”
As regards to the Nautilus, I was in Disney World in Florida in about 1986. In one of the “main street” stores was a model of it. I asked and was told that the price was $800.00. She said that they sell maybe one a year and every time they do, the price goes up by $100.00. I kind of wish I bought it, I always thought that was the coolest sub ever made.
Ward was quite a character with a very well developed sense of humor. Met him a few times while helping out with the finishing of the Grizzly Flats Enginehouse at OERM - don’t think he was quite sure of what to make of me at first - he loosened up a bit after seeing me pantomining painting the top of Fred Nicas’s head, proving that I had at least a few screws loose…