ELM Epilogue: The Case of the Photographer's Doppelganger - Solved!

[On the left, E. L. Moore's photographer figure, whose construction he described in Put Your Figures to Work published in the July '57 issue of Model Railroader and appeared in a number of his published photographs - photo from E. L. Moore's archives. On the right is an homage to E. L. Moore's photographer figure built by Bob Hayden from a Revell figure - photo courtesy of Dave Frary (the original was in colour; I created this trimmed black-and-white version for comparison purposes.)]

Last week I was reading through some issues of Railroad Model Craftsman from the '70s. In the February '77 issue I came across a photo by Bob Hayden that included the ELM-like photographer figure I chanced upon in his and Dave Frary's Elk River Line article in the May '70 issue of RMC. I figured I'd try and contact Mr. Hayden and see if he could shed some light on whether the figure was influenced in any way by E. L. Moore, or maybe was simply a commercial item, or maybe something else.

I contacted Mr. Hayden via his online bookstore, and he graciously answered my question. Below is a slightly edited version of his reply,

I do remember that the figure was based on the one in E.L. Moore’s photos. I think it started with a Revell figure, one of the few to-scale figures that we had back in the days before Preiser, Merten, and the others. Wire tripod legs, a little block of wood to hold them together, and a bit of cloth or tissue for the cover. Probably took more time to paint than to make. There may have been a tiny reflective jewel on the front to suggest a lens.

Mr. Frary provided confirmation, and kindly provided a colour photo, a black-and-white converted snippet of which I've included in the introductory photo to this post. He also mentioned that he too had built a photographer, but based on a Campbell figure.

A small mystery solved and another addition to the E. L. Moore story.

Flying Tiger PCC

Vince and I were chatting and I mentioned an interesting old book I bought over the summer: The Los Angeles Railway Through The Years by Steven L. Easklon, published in 1973. One of the things I particularly like about it is it's chock full of photos, and lots of them are L.A. street scenes of the 1930s and 1940s. Even so, this PCC photo attributed to William Bassler jumped out at me. Its caption reads: Above is P.C.C. #3010 at the east end of the "P" line sporting the famous Flying Tiger paint scheme during World War II advertising a need for streetcar motormen. That would make one impressive model, especially in TTC red.

Went to a train swap meet and all I got was this '69 Chevelle

Went to a model railroad swap meet this weekend. I'm very picky these days as I don't want to load up on stuff that I'm unlikely to use. One thing did catch my eye: this kit from the old AMT 1/43 scale Junior Collector Series. The note on the box says, Mar 31 /76 Woolworth, with 'Renfun' (?) underneath. I haven't seen one of these kits in a long time, so I snapped it up. It looks like all the parts are there along with the instructions, so, good times ahead.

Running the upper loop on the Moore & Moore Lines

Darrell Poole sent me a link to this first video of his HO scale Elizabeth Valley RR tribute layout of trains running on the upper loop. He's made excellent progress, and the layout and video are looking great! I'm looking forward to seeing how this railroad develops.

2018 is 1979!

I was thumbing through some Railroad Model Craftsmans from the late '70s, and in the January '79 issue found this calendar insert still where it should be in the centre of the magazine. The excellent painting is by Mr. Ted Xaras. I also noted the calendar is the same as this year's. And according to the Internet, next year is 1974 all over again - I can hardly wait :-)