Lloyd Giebner, Legendary Model Railroader

Lloyd Giebner shows how to build a proper diorama in July '54 RMC

Vince mentioned to me that the work of Lloyd Giebner was something I should look into. I'm glad he did.

Our discussion started a few months ago in sort of a round-about way: he noted that most model makers don't use the term diorama correctly, and we eventually got around to discussing Lloyd Giebner's July '54 Railroad Model Craftsman article, Building A Diorama, where he does use diorama correctly, and shows how he built one featuring the Golden Gate Bridge.

Ok, so after some initial blue-skying, off we go to the internet. It turns out that Mr. Giebner's full name was Ira Lloyd Giebner, but this memorial says he preferred to be called Lloyd. Mr. Giebner was of the same generation as E. L. Moore: Giebner was born in 1896 and Moore in 1898; however, unlike Mr. Moore, Mr. Giebner died at the age of 67 in 1963; Mr. Moore lived to 81 and died in 1979.

Vince also pointed out that Mr. Giebner was a formally trained musician who in 1913 published a waltz song called She is waiting there for me. I assume it was sheet music only. I looked for an online recording, but no luck. His memorial notes he owned a business called Cash Poultry Company in Galveston, Texas.

Mr. Giebner's article list is impressive, and it's clear that throughout the mid-50's he was Railroad Model Craftsman's primary writer on miniature building projects. 

(MR = Model Railroader; RMC = Railroad Model Craftsman)

Sept '52, RMC: A Little Bit of Texas

Oct '52, RMC: Sperry Detector Car

Nov '52, RMC: Modern Radio Control Tower

Dec '52, RMC: First National Bank Building

Jan & Feb '53, RMC: Santa Fe Water Plant, Parts 1 & 2

April '53, RMC: Santa Fe Oil Supply

June '53, RMC: Build a miniature sand house

July '53, RMC: Build an elevated gate tower for your layout

Aug & Oct '53, RMC: Build your own Coaling Station, Parts 1 & 2

Nov '53, RMC: Your pike needs a Cinder Conveyor (reprinted in Carsten's Locomotive Terminals and Railroad Structures)

Dec '53, RMC: Manual Block Tower

Jan '54, RMC: Depot of 1911

Feb '54, RMC: A miniature stock yard for your pike

Mar '54, RMC: Water stop

Apr '54, RMC: Authentically detailed combination station

May '54, RMC: Build this Section House

June '54, RMC: Motor car shed and box car bunkers

                          Build this shop desk

July '54, RMC: A roundhouse for your engine terminal (reprinted in Carsten's Locomotive Terminals and Railroad Structures)

                        Building A Diorama

Aug '54, RMC: The Diesel Shop (reprinted in Carsten's Locomotive Terminals and Railroad Structures)

Sept '54, RMC: Elevated tower at Bakersfield on the ATSF (reprinted in Carsten's Locomotive Terminals and Railroad Structures)

Oct '54, RMC: Santa Fe MofW materials house

Nov '54, RMC: A diesel sand station

Dec '54, RMC: Small diesel oiling facilities

Jan '55, RMC: A modern warehouse

Feb '55, RMC: HO Grain Elevator

Mar '55, RMC: Old time grain mill

Apr '55, RMC: Milk Station

May '55, RMC: The milk processing plant

June '55, RMC: Model the X-Acto Factory

Aug '55, RMC: A working floodlight tower (reprinted in Carsten's Locomotive Terminals and Railroad Structures)

Sept '55, RMC: LCL Break Bulk Station

Oct '55, RMC: Gila Bend - Old West Village

Nov '55, RMC: Georgetown, Colorado

Dec '55, RMC: 1874 Fire House

Jan '56, RMC: The Little Brown Church in the Vale

Mar '56, RMC: A Piggy Back Depot

Apr '56, RMC: Earth type bases for model railroad structures

May & June '56, RMC: Old Cheyenne, Parts 1 & 2

Sept '56, RMC: 1870 Santa Fe Water Tower

Oct '56, RMC: 1870 Coaling Station

Nov '56, RMC: Covered Bridge

                         Saloon and General Store

Dec '56, RMC: Old Water Mill

                 MR: Division-point depot

Jan '57, MR: Modern interlocking tower

Feb '57, MR: Wood water tank (Suncoast Models produced a kit of this in 1968)

June '57, MR: Modern grain elevator (Suncoast Models produced a kit of this in 1968)

Aug '57, MR: Piggyback trailer depot (reprinted in Kalmbach's Bridges and Buildings for Model Railroads)

Oct '57, MR: Modern LCL freight house (reprinted in Kalmbach's Bridges and Buildings for Model Railroads)

Dec '57, MR: Direct coaling station

May '58, MR: Retarder tower for hump yard

Aug '58, RMC: Backwoods mining town

June '59, MR: Bulk oil depot

July '62, RMC: Water powered grist mill

Is that Mr. Giebner near the top right? / A little bit of Texas RMC Sept '52

Note on the list: A number of Mr. Giebner's RMC articles were reprinted in Carsten's 2000 publication, Locomotive Terminals and Railroad Structures. I haven't been able to identify them all, so I'll need to update the list once I do.

The first article, A little bit of Texas, introduces Mr. Giebner and shows off a part of his layout. From the track plan and photos one gets a sense that it's dense with buildings, and this is confirmed in the article,

To date there are 20 well constructed buildings on the pike, no two alike in design or material. They were modeled from actual buildings in strip wood, cardboard, metal and plastic. In addition, there are 40 other buildings, large and small, including cattle holding pens, auto unloading ramps, parks, billboards, and power lines.

If nothing else this article establishes Mr. Giebner as a structure modeler, and in retrospect hints at things to come.

Lloyd Giebner wasn't listed as a staffer at RMC, but you can see that from his first article in Sept '52 up until Dec '56 he was publishing close to every month or thereabouts. But, in Dec '56 a significant change happened: from then on Model Railroader became his primary publisher, although his publication rate was nowhere near the level it previously was at RMC. Did something happen to his relationship with RMC? Did MR make him a better offer? Was there illness? I'll likely never know.

Before we wrap up, as I mentioned earlier, it appears that the role played by Mr. Giebner at RMC in the '50s is more-or-less the same one played by E. L. Moore in the '60s: go-to guy for a steady-stream of building and structure articles. If Lloyd Giebner had 14 more years to create and write as E. L. Moore did, I suspect their output numbers might have been similar. But, on the other hand, if Mr. Giebner had continued well into the '60s, maybe neither Gil Melle nor E. L. Moore would have come to prominence. Regardless, it's a great legacy we've been left.

[Update, afternoon of 18 March: Vince reminded me that in Sam Posey's book Playing with Trains, he mentions that George Sellios, founder of FineScale Miniatures, was inspired by Lloyd Giebner's work,

When he [George] was eleven, he bought an issue of Railroad Model Craftsman that featured a model of a grain mill [I suspect it was the Old time grain mill in the Mar '55 RMC] built by a man named Lloyd Giebner. At first, George thought the photograph was a shot of the real thing. Something clicked when he realized it was a model; he was staggered by the idea that such realism was possible. He had been making structures out of cigar boxes, painting windows and doors right on the wood. Now he tried to build Giebner's mill. Disappointed with his first attempt, he tried again. By his fourth try, he was close - and hooked on the excitement of seeing something that looked so real take shape in his hands.]

A lineside structure inspired Whole Foods Market?

While in Texas we swung by the Fairview Town Center shopping area in Fairview. It has a Whole Foods Market near the Murray Farm Road entrance, and as we drove by the store it struck me as being very railroad-like. It looked like a mash-up of a freight station on the right, and a stylized passenger station on the left. Or maybe it was simply that my subconscious was primed to make this association because: I'm predisposed to see things in railroad terms, and we drove over some tracks to enter the grounds :-)

And, once on the grounds, the store is located near the intersection of Southwind Ln and Fairview Station Pkwy. I suspect there's a story behind all this.

Crossing paths with the Capital MetroRail

When I was in Texas last week I was surprised to learn that Austin has its own LRT, the Capital MetroRail, that runs from Leander in the north to downtown Austin. Wikipedia tells me that's around 51km.

The service seems to me to be similar to Ontario's GO Transit, but on a much smaller scale.

At first glance, the MetroRail trains look like trains on Ottawa's Trillium line - that's one shown below at the Bayview station - but it turns out that the MetroRail trains are Stadler GTWs from Switzerland.

San Antonio train station + road trolley

I continue to sort through old photos and found this one which I believe to be a side view of the train station in San Antonio, Texas. I shot it sometime in the mid-1990s - that's about as precise as I can get as we visited the city several times back then. When I enlarged the picture, the sign on the back of that road trolley reads Via San Antonio. Wikipedia tells me it is, or was, the name of city's transit company, and they run a road trolley service through parts of downtown for tourists.

E. L. Moore's Alaska Railroad Cement Mixing Car

[Photo by John (T.H.E. BEARD) Henderson. Shot in June 1969 at Portage, Alaska.]

E. L. Moore's unpublished Alaska Railroad Cement Mixing Car had the undeserved fate of being rejected by the model railroading magazines of the time. Mr. Moore first submitted it to Model Railroader in December '69, but it was soon rejected as being so unusual that it would have limited appeal to readers as a "novelty" car rather than one that could be used regularly.

Well, undeterred, in January '70 Mr. Moore forwarded the article to Hal Carstens at Railroad Model Craftsman along with this story to help seal the deal :-)

Seems down in Texas, town of Denton, this McCaleb had a concrete products company which was flourishing. He lived in a mansion and had an air conditioned Cadillac. One day he met a neat young filly, went on the make and got some and wanted some more. Only trouble she was married to a jobless husband. Which was fine as McCaleb gave him a job driving one of his seement trucks. He'd arrange for him to take a seement mixing truck to the far side of the town and then he'd go see the gal. Things went fine until one day the fella forgot a letter he'd intended to mail and which was important so he turned around and drove home and pulled up to find the boss's Caddy parked in front. Suspicious, he tiptoed around the house and peeked in a window and what he saw 'em doing wasn't called parcheesi. Back he went to his trunk, backed it up to the Caddy, lowered a window and dumped his whole load inside the Caddy and left. Well the story got all over town and everyone wondered what had become of the Cadillac full of seement. A few days passed and a smart Chevy dealer put up a tent on his car lot and a sign which read SEE THE CAR WITH THE CEMENT IN IT. People came flocking to see it. Inside was a Chevy, the latest model, and standing in the back seat for all to see was two bags of Portland seement. A fine bit of promotion.

To no avail. 

I came across the article in E. L. Moore's files, and later found prototype photos, taken by one of his fans, a Mr. John Henderson, a.k.a The Beard. I found no photos of the model nor drawings of any sort. Without those it makes it tough to follow the build, but look at this way, E. L. Moore only had those prototype photos to start.

I should also note that this article is another example of a project where E. L. Moore used styrene where it made sense. I wonder if he ever did a scratchbuild mainly from styrene. No such thing was ever published, but maybe there was a commission or side project where he gave it a try.

I hardly know when I've enjoyed a project more.

E. L. Moore commenting on the Alaska Railroad Cement Mixing Car project.

[Photo by John (T.H.E. BEARD) Henderson. Shot in June 1969 at Portage, Alaska.]

Alaska Railroad Cement Mixing Car

by

E. L. Moore

I recently received photographs of a cement mixing car from a friendly critic up Alaska way. My first impression was "what a weird looking rig!" But, according to John (The Beard) Henderson, who photographed it, there are even "wierder" [sic] pieces of equipment up there. Actually, it is a practical piece of machinery, although somewhat of a departure from the smooth streamlined jobs we've grown accustomed to seeing. It has a rugged pioneering look that is quite befitting a state which must make do with what is handy.

It is nothing more than a cement mixing machine mounted on the end of a flatcar, with a few conveniences built around it in an extemporaneous manner. The storage bin in the center of the car holds a generous supply of conglomerates; that is gravel, crushed stone or whatever, while the two tanks mounted above assure an ample supply of water. The cement mixer itself is a squatty looking piece of machinery with a fat round belly and a neck and peak remindful of a pelican. When the loader is lowered a supply of roughage is allowed to spill out the bin chute into the waiting beak. But not automatically - the operator has to pull and tug at the ropes which raise and lower the door - then a ratio of sacked cement is hand dumped, after which a lever is pulled and the beak lifts majestically and all this dry gook slides its gullet into the waiting drum where it goes around and around while a supply of water trickles in to give it just the right consistency. When well mixed it spews wet concrete out the spout at the end of the car (pity that poor coupler!) and what appears to be another spout with a turned up nose, shuts off the flow at the turn of a wheel.

[Photo by John (T.H.E. BEARD) Henderson. Shot in June 1969 at Portage, Alaska.]

The fact that the wood framework appears to be the handiwork of jackleg carpenters nowise makes the rig less appealing. In fact, it is just the sort of thing I enjoy tackling; something out of the past when every man was his own carpenter and builder. Here was something of a challenge and I hardly know when I've enjoyed a project more. Indeed and I had to build my rig from the rails up, not having a suitable flatcar. Mine is a 40 footer, 9 1/2' wide, but we need not go into that - we'll assume you have one.

[Photo by John (T.H.E. BEARD) Henderson. Shot in June 1969 at Portage, Alaska.]

The rig can be built in a week of evenings, and at a cost so low it's difficult to estimate, but I'm sure 50 cents would amply cover everything. Possibly the single most expensive item, if you have to buy them, is the set of wheels. Selley sells a set of four #182, for 20 cents. These are 11/32", which approximate the 30" wheels needed. I am told that a later model machine would have rubber tires, so perhaps auto wheels would do as a substitute. And, while I built my mixer of styrene with the exception of the drum, it could be built of stripwood. Some minute quantities of materials are required as to make a list almost needless, but I'll come up with one (in HO):

2" 1/8" x 4" sheet balsa

4" 1/16" x 4" sheet balsa

24" 1/32" x 1/8" stripwood

15" 1/32" x 3/32" stripwood

10" 1/32" x 1/16" stripwood

2" 1/32" x 1/32" stripwood

12" 3/32" x 3/32" stripwood

10" 1/16" x 1/16" stripwood

3 1/2" 3/16" tubing or dowel

3/4"   3/4" tubing

Cement Mixer frame:

1 set (4) wheels, 11/32" dia.

1 sq inch or so of .040 styrene or:

1/16" sq stripwood and 1/16" x 3/32"

3 sq ins .015 styrene or index card stock.

The list is formidable only in length. My source of styrene was Walthers, their X-591 kit of assorted thicknesses from .010" to .040" at 1.25 being sufficient to last the average modeler for years. But, with styrene, use a liquid solvent rather than a cement. Also, before painting with Floquil colors, give a first coat of Floquil RR19 Barrier, otherwise the colors will reticulate. Instead of styrene the mixer may be built quite as easily of stripwood and index card stock, so don't let the styrene bit throw you.

Measurements as shown were estimated from available prototype photographs and while note guaranteed accurate they can't be too far off. The rig, as I built it stands 20' off the rails, but if necessary one could manipulate a foot off this height. As an aid to construction and to eliminate confusion I'm offering an alphabetical list of parts to which you can refer.

A Axles

B Frame base

C Tool Box

D Upright frame

E Cross frame brace

F Mixing Drum

G Spout

H Cutoff

I Splash board

J Gear wheel to actuate ladder

K Loader (side view)

K-1 Loader (top outline)

L Loader locking arm

M Chute to gravel bin

N Water Tanks

O Motor housing cover

P Gear to actuate drum

Q Wheel actuating cutoff

R Opening to drum into which loader throat fits

Some parts such as J, I and P, are of course not actual prototypical parts - gears used are from toy watches and are merely suggestive.

To begin construction, cut 1/8" balsa, eleven 12" x 18" timbers, each 11' long and cement in place in accordance with Fig. 2. The extras may be spaced to fill out rest of car. Cement a plank, (1/32" x 1/8" stripwood), on each side at ends of timbers, leaving a space 9' wide in the middle of car. Note that in Fig 1 the plank on this side stops short of the wheels of the mixer. Another plank, (1/32" x 3/32") for no known reason, extends only part way on top of the lower one as seen in Fig. 2.

Now we have out foundation and can commence on the gravel bin. The sides of this are 11' x 11', the front is 6 1/2' x 11' and the rear is 4' x 6 1/2', these ends fitting between the sides and making a bin 10' long and 6 1/2' wide (inside measurements) or 11' long, 7 1/2' wide and 11' high, outside measurements. Scribe the sides and ends. In assembly I braced the inside corners with 1/16" square balsa strips. The bin has a sloping bottom as shown by dotted line in Figure 2. I made this, too, of 1/16" balsa - with a brace of 1/16" square stripwood which runs through from side to side, the ends of which show in Figs 1 & 2., this strengthening the bottom. Set against this are two vertical braces, their bottoms resting on the car bed.

The outside width and length of the bin as shown in drawings is 8 1/2' x 12' and is accomplished by adding 1/16" square stripwood 13 3/4' long to each end at the corners, and 1/32" x 1/16" ones of the same length to the sides at the corners, these also forming the legs which are then cemented to the car bed. So the bin now stands 13 3/4' high, or 14' with the addition of top boards.

The wire braces at sides are #50 thread, doubled and twisted, with a turnbuckle of soft copper wire, shaped and soldered. A ladder of stripwood is added to one side as in Fig.1. At the front is a simulated door and a chute built at bottom to let out gravel, its lip not less than height shown.

We'll take up the mixing machine next. The bottom frame construction is shown in Fig. 6. While there's some space between wheels and frame of prototype I snuggled my wheels right up against the frame for rigidity. In the prototype a vertical timber is set inside the frame to hold the machine, whereas I left a cut-out space on the outside of my frame at base of front wheel for this purpose. The axles (A) are of .040" x 1/16" styrene, or in stripwood use 1/16" square stock. The two outside lengthwise strips (B) are of .040" x 3/32" styrene, the outside one notched at ends to fit over axles. Across, on the axles, another .040" x 3/32" is sided at each end, then .040" x 1/16" strips, five of them, complete the frame except for a bit of .015 styrene at the rear on which the tool box (C) rests.

Next, add the two upright frame sides (D) as shown in Figs, 3 & 4. These are inverted J frames, cut in one piece from .040" styrene and are cemented, one to each side, the legs being attached at points shown by dotted spaces in Fig. 6. Little triangular braces may be added to outside of each leg for sake of rigidity. If made of stripwood you will of course require there pieces to each frame. Two cross braces (E) as shown in Figs. 1 & 2 will be required to hold frame side rigid at top, but better wait until we fit in the mixing drum (F), the middle of which supposedly revolves. For this you'll need a half inch or a little more of 3/4" tubing. For this I picked up a plastic tube, a "print coater" from a Polaroid camera, and sawed off about 4' (see how much it takes for a tight fit), drilled a 3/16" hole in the centre of the solid end, cut a circle of cardboard with a 1/2" x 3/4" opening (E) as shown in Fig. 4 for the other end. I cemented some narrow strips of paper around it, painted it a dark gray and cemented it within the frame then added cross braces (E). I added, in addition, a centre brace to which I had cemented a gear wheel (J) from a toy watch. This supposedly actuates the loader, which we'll build next, and does actually serve a purpose as the hinged arm (L) which is attached to the loader, has a small brass nail at the opposite end which can be locked into the gear teeth so the loader may be locked in an upright position.

The motor housing (O) is built of .015" styrene but a double thickness of index card stock will do the trick. I had a bit of Kemtron fine brass screen which I used for the radiator grill but a piece of nylon stocking stiffened with starch will do after being painted with aluminum. A radiator cap and exhaust pipe got left off mine until after the photographs were made but show in Fig. 1. The watch gear and stem might well have been left off, it isn't too realistic as an actuator of the drum. Vents on side of motor housing are inked lines on card stock and cemented to side.

The spout (G) I made of index card stock to shape as shown in Fig 7 and cemented to side of drum. The cut-off (H) fits inside the spout and presumably lifts and lowers when wheel (Q) is turned. I used an HO brake wheel although an O scale wheel would be nearer prototype.

Now we come to the loader, our pelican's beak, (K) and (K-1) in Fig 7. I used .015" styrene here again but a double thickness of index card stock will do the trick as I built a trial one of this. I found it easier to put together if you cement cross pieces of similar material between the two sides at dotted locations, then fitting the bottom in. The bottom is cut a bit longer than the sides but it will end up about even. Add a top piece which should extend only to the dotted lines in K-1 leaving the rear or wide portion open at the top. When finished, fit the throat into the drum opening. It need not be fastened in as it can't go anywhere once the machine is positioned. Add a hinged loading arm (L) as shown in Figs. 1 & 2. A cut off lill or small nail inserted near end of arm will allow it to lock into gear wheel (J) teeth as in Fig. 3. I painted frame and loader of machine a green, also wheels, and the drum a dark gray as well as the spout and splash board. Gear wheels are painted black. And the tool box a bright red.

Before setting mixer in place you'll need to floor the space between mixer location and bin so workers won't break a leg. 1/32" x 1/8" stripwood will do although you may have to inlet it into the cross timbers as I did to keep loader down level with lip of gravel bin chute (M).

Fit the machine in place, notching out floor timbers if necessary to enable setting the upright 3/32" square timbers in their proper position. These uprights are 12 1/2' long and rest on the flatcar bed 6 1/2' apart. The rear two are set an equal distance apart but for some undisclosed reason the one in Fig. 1 is set about 9 scale inches away from the gravel bin while the opposite one is snug against it. The horizontal members are of the same size and are cemented to the tops of the uprights. Braces of various widths and lengths are now added. At the top, cement in some 1/16" x 3/32" cross timbers to the bottoms of the horizontal members for the water tanks to rest upon.

I had 3/16" plastic tubing which I used for the water tanks, filling the end into which ate pipping extends with balsa plugs, then cementing paper over both ends and painting grimy black. Or rust. You can use 3/16" dowel if preferred. Drill holes in end near bottom for outlet pipes, holes at top for inlet pipes, then mount and cement in place. Instead of that board shown in photo, which has since been corrected, you'll need a slim piece simulating iron, welded to the fronts. I made a Y of wire, soldering the joint, then poked the two short ends into holes in the tank ends and let the shank of the Y hang down.

I weathered all woodwork, first with a wash of raw sienna with brown (oils) in turpentine, then later with successive coats of a gray wash until it dirted up. Paint would be out of place.

A few sacks of cement should be stowed handily along with tools and a wheelbarrow and buckets. Dust machine and floor with cement or talcum.

My finished car without extras weighed in at 1 3/4 ounces.

A wooden court house in Texas

[1880 Fayette County Precinct #2 Courthouse, Fayetteville, Texas, as drawn by Earl Thollander in his book Back Roads of Texas, published by Northland Press, 1980]

In Fayetteville's delightful town square I sketched the 1880 Fayette County Precinct #2 Courthouse. It has a two-cell hoosegow upstairs and a working Seth Thomas Clock in its tower.

Earl Thollander describes the wooden Fayetteville court house.

The comments in the post for E. L. Moore's Court House got to talking about how it's tough to find pictures of wooden court houses online. I couldn't find any, but I thought I might find one in a book I had somewhere in the house called The Courthouses of Texas.

[The Courthouses of Texas, by Mavis P. Kelsey, Sr. and Donald H. Dyal, published by Texas A & M University Press in 1993.]

I couldn't find any wooden ones in that book, but I did find a pen and wash drawing of an old one located in Fayetteville, Texas in Back Roads of Texas. It has some features very similar to E. L. Moore's: two-storey, clapboard siding, boxy, tower. There's some differences too: sloped roof instead of barn, no fancy entry columns, walkout and porch on the tower, and what look like some Christmas lights strung from the eaves of the tower's roof. They're roughly similar and suggest that there might have once been a prototype out there somewhere for Mr. Moore's model.

Back Roads of Texas is a favourite. It's a tour book of back roads trips through Texas illustrated on every page with pen and wash drawings. Given the book was published in 1980, I'd hazard a guess the drawings were made in the late 70s. I wonder how much of what Mr. Thollander drew still remains.

Celebratory Muffins

Circumstantial evidence suggests that you can take a Texan out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of the Texan. This being the case, Debra baked up a batch of her world renowned jalapeno corn-bread muffins with cheddar and sage – organic, no sugar added - in honour of the conclusion of another successful year of model streetcar-ing. Well, it might have been in celebration of me getting the train stuff out of the workshop, but I’ll go with the first explanation :-) Either way, they are indeed the most awesome corn-beard muffins this side of the Red River. That's it for the photo tour and here’s to another year!

Return

Editor’s Note: presented below is the first of the last 8 episodes in this series. There will be 1 or 2 new episodes published each day, with the shocking conclusion to be revealed on 13 August. In light of the intensity of the experience to follow, our staff recommends that you fasten your seat belt, keep both feet on the floor, and firmly grip your reading device with both hands. If you're reading this while driving your car, pull over immediately. Those with heart conditions may want to have a nurse and a defibrillator standing by. Madams. Monsieurs. Without further adieu, join me now as we return to mean rails of New Toronto.

I ran from the food court back to the escalator. I ran down the escalator back to the subway level. I ran the three blocks through the underground concourse back to the office tower elevators. I stopped at the sign in front of the express elevator that said, Out of Order. Shhh……! 

It was either the stairs or the regular elevator. Our office was thirty floors up and there was no way I could walk up those stairs, let alone run, without having a coronary at about the third floor. Looks like I was taking the milk run on the regular elevator. Shhhh……!

The doors opened. I squeezed in with a wave of people. Somebody punched 30 on the panel. I tried to look nonchalant and not gawk at all the beautiful women while I tried to calm my racing thoughts. Instead I feigned an intense interest in determining the exact number of holes in the ceiling tiles. That didn’t seem to make me appear less creepy, so I was relieved when the muzak segued into the daily episode of starDate and let me focus my mind on something interesting and blankly stare ahead at the elevator doors.

“starDate, June 15. Today on starDate: the El Camino Estrella.

Four years ago today in 19c2, the Gen-Chry-Fo-Mo Corporation released the El Camino Estrella. The Estrella was a stock 'c2 El Camino outfitted with a powerful refracting telescope mounted to its pickup bed by a patented Hooke-Whammo visco-elastic vibration isolation system. Five hundred units were initially built and offered for sale at selected dealerships throughout west Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and parts of southern California. The Estrella was immensely popular and sold out within two weeks of hitting the market.

Unfortunately 19c2 was both the first and last year for the Estrella. It turns out that a mobile telescope that is great for examining the heavens is equally great for looking inside people's residences at inopportune moments. The Estrella was the most stolen car in the summer of 'c2, primarily by teenagers joy riding with peep-and-run on their minds. Concerned parents groups successfully lobbied for the cancelation of the Estrella.

Today only four examples remain. The most recent one was discovered two years ago in a cave in Carlsbad, New Mexico. It sold at a London auction house last year for a stellar $6.2 million.

For starDate, I'm Vin Air. starDate is an homage to the outstanding 'Star Date', produced by the University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory."

The next instalment can be found here.

Three favourite facades

I've been sorting through my photos and these are three of my favourite building facades. The one above - Park Square - is located on Elgin Street in Ottawa.

I shot the photo from the passenger seat, through the rolled-up window, while Debra drove. That's why the raw image - one of the last I took with my film camera - has an odd colour, but as you can see, the print is not too far off HO scale. A little reduction and maybe the image itself could be glued to a sheet of plastic and used as the beginning of a building.

This post office I think is located in Merrickville, Ontario. I took the photo sometime in the late '90s and didn't take note of where it's located.

This is one of the entrances on the Austin, Texas, power and light company building. I like that lightning-bolt through the 'City of Austin'. Another great thing is the sign on the side of the building - it lights up at night and looks great. Unfortunately, I don't have picture when it's lit.