Celebrity Modelers

"You play with trains?" Bet you may have heard that before, or perhaps you're saying that to me now. Maybe it's true, but we're in good company. Did you know Rod Stewart is an avid modeler? Michael Gross? And I know these two are, Rod Stewart had his layout featured in Model Railroader not that long ago, and was quoted as saying that he'd rather be on the cover there, than on Rolling Stone. Michael Gross - also known as the father on Family Ties, and more recently as Burt, the survivalist in the Tremors movies - is an unofficial spokesman for the hobby, being very active in both modeling and prototype rail-fanning. Phil Collins has even said in an interview with Rolling Stone: "I'm building a model railroad in my basement. That seems to be an obsession. There really isn't any room for music at the moment." Oh, and apparently Peter Jackson - the director - is an avid modeler too.

So, it still isn't cool to model trains? What? According to the website I linked to earlier (here), two of the members from "The Who" are modelers. Not enough? Are you going to poke-fun at Frank Sinatra, Joe DiMaggio, Gene Hackman, or Gomez Addams? Ok, so the last one is a fictional person, but you get the point (and you can't tell me you've never wanted to stage your own "cornfield meet" in miniature, where two trains collide and explode).

Model Railroading is relaxing, and megalomaniacal. It's being the Trump of your own world, the God of tiny little plastic people. It's playing the artist with scenery and backdrops, the electrical engineer of microswitches, the historian researching fallen roads (lingo for past, no longer running railroads, like New York Central); it is everything and has aspects that will appeal to anyone. Now, you can't tell me that isn't pretty cool.

My wife even reminded me that you don't have to model the trains themselves - you can skip the trains, and just model the towns and cities. That too is allowed!

Everyone's invited. Get on board!