An inadvertent homage to E. L. Moore?

No.

Well, maybe.

Ok, no.

The photographer, with his camera and tripod (wire, balsa and a jewel for lens) has a bit of Kleenex for a focusing cloth, and his head is stuck to the back of the camera with liquid solder.

E. L. Moore explaining how he built his photographer - his alter ego - from a Weston Flexible Freddie in Put Your Figures to Work that appeared in the July 1957 issue of Model Railroader.

I saw that scene in the photo, with the Moorian photographer in the lower right corner, in the lead photo to The Saga of the Elk River Line that appeared in the May 1970 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. If you recall the post The Adventures of E. L. Moore, Train Photographer, you'll notice the similarities of the photographer to E. L. Moore's are, as Yogi Berra might say, very similar. My guess is it's all a coincidence, but illustrates that a man with an E. L. Moore fixation thinks everything relates in some way to E. L. Moore :-)

P.S., Dave Frary and Bob Hayden's Elk River Line series that appeared in RMC during 1970 is another classic series and is well worth looking up.

Emma's = 2 x Ma's

[Centre pages from The Holiday Inn It's Not by Jeff Scott from the October 1972 issue of Railroad Modeler]

In early November '72 E. L. Moore received this letter from Al McDuffie of Associated Hobby Manufacturers in Philadelphia.  AHM was the company that produced plastic kit versions of a number of E. L. Moore's RMC projects. Ma's Place was one.

November 6, 1972

Mr. E. L. Moore

525 Oakland Avenue

Charlotte, N. C., 28204

Dear Mr. Moore:

1. Under separate cover (don't think they'd fit in this envelope actually) I have sent off to you our two latest plastic structural kits - a wooden styled Coaling Station and our new "Speedy Andrews" Repair Shop.

2. I think you'll get a kick out of what the German manufacturer did to create the Repair Shop, since it is based on the main parts from Ma's Place?

3. I have done some experimenting recently with the original Ma's Place kit, and it certainly lands itself to kit-bashing, doesn't it? Even saw a article in Railroad Modeler (I believe it was) where several were used to create a Boarding House - cleverly done.

4. I hope everything is going fine with you and your still busily thinking up more of your great building ideas?

Sincerely,

signed Al McDuffie

Al McDuffie

Product Development

The boarding house was Emma's Boarding House by Jeff Scott that Railroad Modeler ran in its October 1972 issue under the title The Holiday Inn It's Not. It's a rambling structure that used 2 AHM Ma's Place kits and a bunch of odds and ends. Ma's Place has had a life somewhat similar to Dilly Mfg. Co. / 8-Ball Loco Works: it has persisted in many forms and in many places from the time it was first created right into our era.

Somebody snatched the sign!

I'm reading through my boxes of RMCs and when I got to page 37 of the Nov. '67 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman, I noticed the previous owner had carefully sliced out the sign from E. L. Moore's W. E. Snatchem - Undertaker article. If you're out there and reading this post, send me a photo of your model if you did build it and you've still got it. It's good to see evidence of interest in an E. L. Moore project :-)

E. L. Moore did not inspire The Farmers Market

I grew tired of subsidizing my HO farmers, so I cast about for a suitable market place for the apples and other produce grown in such abundance in this area. The grain elevator, stock yard, etc., didn't begin to provide adequate outlets for the enterprising residents of my 1:87 domain. I got so desperate that I even went down to Charlotte last spring and visited E. L. Moore, hoping to filch an idea, but no luck.

The opening paragraph to Chuck Brigman's The Farmers Market that appeared in the March 1970 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. E. L. Moore 'did not' inspire this model :-)

One last like

That CASS: GEARED LOCO HAVEN  in the last issue, was really something! Enjoyed it hugely!

Passage from a letter E. L. Moore wrote to Tony Koester, Manager Editor of Railroad Model Craftsman, dated August 8, 1972.

Turns out there was one more of E. L. Moore's likes buried away in his correspondence. The article Cass: Geared Loco Haven appeared in the August '72 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman and it's chock full of geared locomotive goodness. Eight pages stuffed with great photos and text. Is this the last note on Mr. Moore's likes, I think so, but that's what I said a few days ago :-)