Filmways Television

When Classic Toy Trains magazine (May 2020 issue) arrived in the mail, a single photograph (see above) on page 12 caught my eye. A fellow by the name of Larry Osterhoudt had created a replica of the Lionel layout seen in the 1960’s TV series, The Addams Family. I was intrigued.

Doing some research on the show and its use of model trains yielded a plethora of videos and a wealth of information about the subject. It turns out there were TWO layouts used as filmmakers had to reconstruct after the um, explosions, during the train wreck scenes. The train board itself is chock full of Lionel operating accessories.

Let’s take a peek at some fascinating Lionel “hardware” as it goes through its paces.

As a Lionel Lines steamer flashes by in the background, a Minneapolis & St. Louis EMD GP7 is approaching the camera pulling a single passenger car.

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