Go to Google News and type in Rod Stewart as a search term. Tons of articles, many from the UK, about his making the cover of Model Railroader (and most cannot resist joking that his fondness for “models” has always been well known).
Today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reproduced the cover of December MR in its entertainment section. I gather other papers have done the same.
This is probably more intense publicity for the hobby of model railroading than it has ever received. Fortunately the modeling itself is worth the attention. His cityscapes are stunning.
Yes, very interesting that this might just bring model railroading to the forefront in the media like never before. You know Gomez Addams was a fictitous character, but in any case the Addams Family movie did show case that famous crash and blow up scene with the Lionels…
A list of celebrity model railroaders can be found at this site:
Could be. I recall Gary Coleman worked at Caboose Hobbies at one time. Why else would a celebrity do that? Well, I’ve worked at Hobby Shops before but obviously not for the money - it was more for discounts on purchases and I enjoy talking about trains and am knowledgable enough to be of some help.
Many celebrities have been featured as train nuts including Grossman from an old sitcom, James Doohan (RIP) of Star Trek, etc. Joe Regalbuto from Murphy Brown series etc etc. Positive publicity never hurts.
Agreed. Great issue. Besides the story on Rod Stewart’s layout, the article on commuter railroading especially interesting to me since I plan to have a large commuter operation when I finally get my urban scene built. I need someplace for the commuters to go to and from. Can’t just drop them off in Plywood Flats.
F r a n k S i n a t r a “Celebrities” ??? Who cares?? Just how much scratchbuilt went into their $800,000.00 layouts ? I’d rather read about some of the far more interesting people on this forum.
Rod Stewart did which was amazing to me. Despite the huge distance between my life and his, the article about his layout and model building really made me feel a connection and a sense that a hobby can truly transcend differences in lifestyles.
It just boggles my mind that he has been spending so much time in his hotel room building models… the results are amazing… and still managed to have his music career… its an inspiration to all of us that if we make the effort we can find time for our family, our hobby, and our work.
Probably because his layout didn’t hit the cover (MRC) until he had been off prime time TV for several years. Even if it had come sooner he was “just a kid”, and one expects a kid to play with trains.
While interesting to see such a layout and definitely applauding Rod for some outstanding modeling done by himself, instead of purchasing someone elses work, don’t expect this exposure to even make a ripple in the hobby’s general interest factor. As Rod himself points out, he’s spoken to interviewers many times regarding his love of model railroading, mainly to be met by smiles of ‘that’s nice’ and quickly moving on to other subjects. The world at large is interested in hearing about the star and his/her fame, successes and disasters. Unless Rod gets a weekly, prime time, Saturday evening TV show featuring his layout, nothing regarding the hobby changes.
Anybody recall Joe Di’s Saturday morning show presented by Lionel? Now there was a successful train/hobby promo aimed at both kids and dads!
I think that it’s interesting how people want to know which celebrities have the same interests as them. Somehow that validates what we are doing. Christians are the same way. I myself am a Christian. Some people I know love to point out who in Hollywood are Christians. To be honest with you, I have more of a fear when I know certain people are Christians. They may end up doing something stupid (Mel Gibson) which reflects poorly on all of us. If a celebrity wants to enjoy a hobby, or follow a certain religion, good for them. It doesn’t have any effect on me.