Go see Cal

Those who didn't grow up in the US during the 60's and 70's or live on the West Coast probably have no clue who Cal Worthington is.  I will spare everyone a lot of the unnecessary details as Wikipedia has a great write up on him. In short, Cal Worthington owned a slew of car dealerships across the country, mostly on the west coast and was famous for his late night TV ads featuring him and his dog Spot (Spot was usually a tiger or some other animal but occasionally an object).  His infectious ear worm of a jingle sung to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know it" pleaded for viewers to Go see Cal. I had forgotten about Cal as he had sold his Federal Way, Washington dealership in 1990 when I was 10 years old. However in 2013, shortly before his death, I was reaquainted with an eerily familiar jingle while vacationing in Alaska.  This sent me on a search to figure out why this Cal Worthington character and his dog Spot were so familiar. Once I figured it out, I figured it was worthless knowledge filed it back for the odd chance I ever appeared on a game show.

Fast forward a couple years and some friends and I were making jokes about pitchmen. The discussion then ensued which was worse an as seen on tv pitchman or a used car salesman. It was determined that the late night as seen on tv guys are the modern day version of the car salesmen we grew up watching. This lead to Youtube to search for old ads which not only lead us to Earl Scheib, a couple hilarious Chick Lambert ads for Ralph Williams Chrysler (warning this video was allegedly filmed after he found out he had been let go and whether it truly aired or not is up for debate but it definitely violates the Rule of Joe. In other words don't listen to it with small children or the boss around) and of course Cal Worthington and his dog Spot.

So what does this have to do with trains? Other than a sick desire to see the folks at scale trains parody it,  I mean come on it would be hilarious. 

"If you need a brand new train, Go see Shane!
If your budget gives you pain Go see Shane
Our prices are so low
Your wife will never know
Go see Shane, Go see Shane Go see Shane"

But I digress.

There are two ways this ties into the YPG Lines and both involve setting the atmosphere.  First I model Southern California and Arizona, specifically a stretch of railroad that parallels Interstate 10. And what is ubiquitous along highways in Southern California?  That's right billboards; and whats more at home on a billboard than car dealerships? Now I had planned to have some billboards for Jim Lincoln Chevrolet-Oldsmobile (off the High St extension just down the road from Fuller Field and across the street from the Dairy Queen) I still plan on having some of these however a Chevy dealership needs some competition and what better way to provide it than some billboards imploring you to "Go See Cal!"  Worthington's flagship dealership was/is in Long Beach California so these would be regionally correct and would also set the period on the layout.  I will probably start doing more research on regional chains to add to the billboards on the layout and looking at all the billboards in photos from my modeled era.

The second way Cal can influence the setting and atmosphere is in the crew lounge. I had originally planned to just have a train video, like some of the great offerings from Pentrex for crews to watch between runs. However my research and some brilliant late night ideas got me thinking (which is always dangerous).  Instead of a Pentrex video which might compete with the sound decoders on the adjacent layout why not put together a compilation of period television?  Mike Deverell uses a stereo to play 1950's music in the layout room to set the mood, so why not us television to do the same? Since I have a rotating era changing what tv shows and ads are on would be a perfect way to set the tone for the year. A quick perusal of the internet shows that there are Cal Worthington ads from several different years in my era available. I am certain with research, I can find other appropriate ads as well as tv shows to loop in the crew lounge. Think about the movie Goodfellas, Maury's ad definitely had a 1970's feel to it, and definitely helped set the scene. 

See even mindless surfing of Youtube can pay dividends in our modeling. So remember to enjoy the journey and "Go see Cal!"

Holding pattern.

So if you haven't noticed the activity on the blog and Facebook page effectively came to a screaching halt this last month.  In fact this could be one of the lightest months for activity since the launch of the Facebook page and revamp of the blog.  While I had anticipated a slow down last month due to being on vacation, I did not anticipate losing almost the whole month.  In fact apparently I cant read a calendar because I scheduled myself another week off just two weeks later.

While some projects continued on, the time I did lose was the time I use to write the blog. While I did get some writing done on a last minute trip to Seattle, I was only able to get one post 95 percent completed during the two flights I took.  Usually I can complete two posts per flight, but the subject matter (layout operations) required more thought than most of my blog posts require. 

It was upon finishing the post after returning to Arizona that I realized that I had intended that post to be the first in a series and that I wanted to post the series without other posts in between. This requires that I sit down and write all the other posts in the series. To give you a sneak peak as to the topic of the series it is an example of operations on the YPG Lines Million Dollar track plan.

The first post was a virtual cab ride eastbound over the layout. This is the post I completed and hopefully the other posts move through the creative process faster. Other topics in the series are a westbound trip, Amtrak #1 and #2 The Sunset Limited, Somerton Branch operations and helper operations on Beaumont Hill. As you can see this is a very in depth topic but I hope it will be worth the wait.

I also recently had some projects land on my work bench and although the test track and car upgrades will be back burnered for a little bit there will be several other projects that we can discuss.

First I have taken on the task of building two structures for the model railroad club and I will discuss these in depth later.  The first kit is the Walthers overhead traveling crane which I am pretty much building per the instructions. The second is the Walthers New River Mining Company which I plan on modifying slightly. The two kits will be combined with a preexisting  Walthers Glacier Sand and Gravel Company and possibly some scratchbuilt structures to make a iron/taconite mine and load out.

Second my order of Freight Crates from Fast Tracks showed up so I will be building these and sharing my experiences and how well they do or dont go together or work for freight car storage. I had planned to upgrade the blue box kit cars that will go in the freight crates as I put them in storage but the upgrade possibly will have to wait for additional parts and resources as currently finishing the structures for the club has top priority.

On the bright side the trip to Washington allowed me to look through my dad's book collection and look at his layout for inspiration. Anyway sometimes on a long journey we have to take a detour to get where we are going, and other times we just have to wait at the flagger for permission to proceed.