“MODEL RAILROADING UNLIMITED” 1970s SCALE MODEL TRAINS PROMO FILM WARD KIMBALL HO SCALE XD5008

About

This short from 1975 titled “Model Railroading Unlimited” details the pleasures of being a model railroad hobbyist as well as the steps it takes to become one. Produced by Liberty Pictures in association with Model Railroader Magazine, this copy of the film was found at the State Library of Ohio Southeastern Regional Library Center in Caldwell Ohio. The film features a robust and renowned cast and crew with Ward Kimball as host, Hans Conried as narrator, Rick Harper as director, Mike O'Connor as producer, Larry Wright as musical director and Mitchell Giannunzio, Sandy Stotzer, Bob Anderson, Stan Greiwe, and Jo Anne Wolcott as featured actors. Additionally, the film collaborated with various clubs and businesses such as Beach Cities Model Railroad Club, Frank’s Hobby Shop, John Olson, Grizzly Flats Railroad, Pasadena Model Railroad Club, Slim Gauge Guild, Teleprompter - Newport Beach, The Town Tour Ct. and Travel Town. Scenes of decaying train locomotives at abandoned train depot (0:15). Sign for Wells Fargo & Company Express (0:24). Train master sitting in an office talking to the camera and discussing his hobby of model railroading (0:31). Stamp collector furiously sifting through stamps while looking through magnifying glass (1:16). Man hunting butterflies in an open field (1:23). Bird watcher holding telescope and wearing Mickey Mouse t-shirt (1:42). Camera pans model railroad apparatus while banjo music plays in the background (2:08). Segment on brief history of model railroading (2:30). Neanderthal sitting on rock thinking (2:34). Experimentations of model railroading across cultures and history (3:00). Explanation for how model trains are made to scale (3:34). How to get started as a model train collector (4:19). Man walking towards Frank’s Hobby Shop (4:24). Young man making model railroad at home using found objects (4:31). Same young man moves to the garage and putting new model together (5:29). Examples of large-scale, realistic railroad models (6:35). Denver South Park & Pacific Railroad (DSP & PRR) model train riding through apparatus (7:28). Explanation on how to expand a model railroad layout (8:52). Dramatization of traffic control correspondence for trains and train masters working with computers (9:35). Issue stemming from McGuffin Matrix, traffic controllers frantically trying to problem solve (12:33). Man with flashlight crawling through the railroad model to locate issue (13:42). Crisis averted, traffic controllers celebrate (17:03). Credits and ending scenes from model railroad (17:34). Note the McGuffin Matrix mentioned above is fictional, however, in screenwriting terminology a McGuffin is an object or device in a film or a book which serves merely as a trigger for the plot.

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Human-made No record of this work says a model made it. What this means.

Archive

Internet Archive, in Ephemeral films

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