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Would You Show the "Supertrain" At YOUR Museum?
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Author:  Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Sun Jun 24, 2018 4:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Would You Show the "Supertrain" At YOUR Museum?
This is no longer a hypothetical question.

https://www.facebook.com/coinopwarehous ... 5953767375

A vintage games dealer in Hagerstown, Md. chanced upon, and acquired, the actual, original operating large-scale model for the NBC 1979 series Supertrain and its 50 feet of track:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertrain

The back history was that it was acquired by model importer/marketer AHM in Philadelphia and offered for sale for $25,000 after the show's ending, was allegedly abandoned after AHM's 1980s bankruptcy, and somehow ended up in the proverbial "barn" before its recent acquisition.

Now a Los Angeles TV producer, a fan of the show, has stated (in the comments) that he has acquired it, and "I'll be the custodian on its way to its eventual museum home." He says he hasn't decided where yet.

Now, review the saga of the program itself--one of the most spectacular and expensive flops/bombs in TV history. I struggle to think of a railroad fiasco this bad--the Penn Central, the UP coal-fired gas turbine, Train X......

If this thing showed up at your gate, would you find a way to incorporate it into a display, or chase it away with pitchforks and fire hoses?

Image
Author:  whodom [ Sun Jun 24, 2018 5:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Would You Show the "Supertrain" At YOUR Museum?
I saw that as well. It's pretty cool that the thing was saved. I vaguely remember the show when it was on TV; here's a wikipedia article that gives some details:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertrain

Sounds like it was basically "the Love Boat" on rails. No wonder I don't remember much about it. This kind of says it all: "In 2002 TV Guide ranked Supertrain number 28 on its '50 Worst TV Shows of All Time' list."

The one saving grace? Since it was nuclear powered, technically, it was steam. :-)
Author:  Termite7 [ Sun Jun 24, 2018 5:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Would You Show the "Supertrain" At YOUR Museum?
The audience for this deal would actually be the people who attend "comic con" or similar science fiction conventions. Those people go bonkers for rare and unknown TV shows and movies. If you could line up one of the "stars" from the show to sign autographs...they would be doing back-flips.
In fact...the perfect guest would be Dan Curtis (if he is still with us) because he was director of Dark Shadows which those people dearly, dearly love (don't ask me).
Get a professional modeler to clean up the train for you so it can be showcased...make up a line of typical merchandise...find Dan Curtis (or Steve Lawrence) and let the fun begin.
T7
Author:  NS 3322 [ Sun Jun 24, 2018 5:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Would You Show the "Supertrain" At YOUR Museum?
Although the show absolutely horrible, I am so glad the train was saved!
I think the train would do well on display at Seattle's Museum of Pop Culture.

I always liked how when they showed "real" trains in the show they were clearly HO models, and had ridiculously short consists.
Author:  Termite7 [ Sun Jun 24, 2018 5:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Would You Show the "Supertrain" At YOUR Museum?
The clips from the show are entertaining. I swear I saw EE in one of the crowd scenes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XowjPZF2iL8

T7
Author:  Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Would You Show the "Supertrain" At YOUR Museum?
I tried somewhat in vain to describe just how positively wretched "Supertrain" was, even considering the era in question, to a couple younger fans.

If you're old enough, cross "The Love Boat" with a horridly campy James Bond knock-off, with all the hammy acting quality of "Gilligan's Island."

If you're not, I struggle to find a comparable movie so wretchedly bad that people have still actually heard of. Battlefield Earth. Catwoman. The Twilight series. Superman IV. Gigli. And, for railroad content, The Wild, Wild West movie.

Yes, by all means, this would fit in some pop culture exhibition at the likes of San Diego Comic-Con. There were even some dead-serious suggestions made that, somehow, this be incorporated into the TV series The Big Bang Theory, starring "train-lover" genius Sheldon Cooper. (I would say that would work if they hadn't already done an episode ten years ago where the male characters collaborated to buy a "time machine" prop from the actual movie The Time Machine, not realizing it was full-sized and not miniature! Bringing this into the show now would precisely duplicate that premise!)

But I struggle in vain to think of any excuse for a rail museum to display this other than as part of a temporary exhibit on railroads depicted in popular entertainment. (He-e-e-e-yyyy......)
Author:  Jdelhaye [ Sun Jun 24, 2018 8:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Would You Show the "Supertrain" At YOUR Museum?
if you were looking for the highway equivalent:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074205/

"The Big Bus " from 1976
Author:  Charlie [ Sun Jun 24, 2018 10:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Would You Show the "Supertrain" At YOUR Museum?
The Wikipedia article says that the show finished 69th out of 114 shows for the 1978-79 season. It boggles the mind to think of what 70-114 were like.

BTW, it looks like some if not all of the episodes are on YouTube. I cannot in good conscience post a link to them.
Author:  Rick Rowlands [ Mon Jun 25, 2018 9:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Would You Show the "Supertrain" At YOUR Museum?
I'm just surprised that the $25,000 price didn't come with at least a crate to keep the models in.
Author:  buzz_morris [ Mon Jun 25, 2018 9:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Would You Show the "Supertrain" At YOUR Museum?
If I had a rail museum, no, maybe it belongs at a roadside candy shop along route 66 or something.
There must have been two models made up for the show, the one pictured here looks much larger.

http://www.metv.com/stories/a-look-back ... nsive-flop
Author:  Rick Rowlands [ Mon Jun 25, 2018 10:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Would You Show the "Supertrain" At YOUR Museum?
History is as much about the flops as the successes. The show DID happen. There are lessons to be learned from that story. Therefore, a museum exhibit about the show and the model would be worthwhile if done right.

A museum of modelmaking might exhibit the train as an example of the movie modelbuilders art in the late 1970s.

A museum of railroading might exhibit the train as an example of railroading in pop culture.

A museum of movies and television might exhibit the train as part of a story of when a TV show flops and the ensuing damage that it could cause to a network. (Actually given the penchant the public has for disasters, this story is probably the one that would garner the most attention).

Is the model historic? Yes! Does it deserve more than being put in a roadside candy shop? Hell yes!

BTW there were two models made. The first one was wrecked. Perhaps the second one was built in a smaller scale.
Author:  survivingworldsteam [ Mon Jun 25, 2018 10:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Would You Show the "Supertrain" At YOUR Museum?
I have been watching this unfold over the weekend as well. The person who found it was asking $4,800 for it; if you read through the comments, it was apparently sold on Saturday to a fan of the show.

There were two train models made for the show; i think the total cost was $500,000 for the models alone. The large scale model was wrecked during a film shoot, the smaller scale (I think 1/8 scale) was the model that was discovered and now sold.

Not yet mentioned is not only did NBC sink millions into this show, but this was the same year that the Olympics were boycotted. The combination of cancelling this series after only seven episodes, and the Olympic boycott which resulted in the loss of millions in advertising revenue, almost bankrupted NBC.

This site has everything you could possibly want to know about the show. I think it is somewhere on this website that there is a picture of the wrecked large scale model.

http://nbc_supertrain.tripod.com/

I wonder if Tyco's Turbo Train model was not at least inspired by the Supertrain show.

http://tycotrain.tripod.com/tycoelectri ... /id25.html

BTW, I don't even remember Supertrain on TV. I do remember that other not much better series -- Battlestar Galactica.
Author:  Dennis Storzek [ Mon Jun 25, 2018 10:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Would You Show the "Supertrain" At YOUR Museum?
Rick Rowlands wrote:
History is as much about the flops as the successes. The show DID happen. There are lessons to be learned from that story. Therefore, a museum exhibit about the show and the model would be worthwhile if done right.


The problem is, the show itself is familiar to only a very small segment of the population, and that segment is getting smaller each day. Kind of like the Liberace Museum... all those mementos were really important to a whole generation of fans, now departed, and the museum is closed. With all the enduring stories of railroading that should be recognizable to multiple generations, spending resources on something like Supertrain would be a waste.
Author:  Bobharbison [ Mon Jun 25, 2018 11:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Would You Show the "Supertrain" At YOUR Museum?
Jdelhaye wrote:
if you were looking for the highway equivalent:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074205/

"The Big Bus " from 1976


No, not at all. The Big Bus was a satirical farce, in the spirit of the "Airplane" movies. It was funny, and it owned that funny. One scene I recall had them trying to insert a test tube of plutonium (or whatever) into the reactor. The mechanical arm couldn't get it into the hole, so the guy walks into the chamber, whips outs his handkerchief and puts in it place. The whole show was full of gags like that.

Supertrain was trying, and spectacularly failing to be a serious show. As others have said, it was Loveboat on Rails, with a side of Magnum PI and maybe a bit of Agatha Christie thrown in. But it wasn't meant to be comedy, it was supposed to be a bunch of mini stories all held together by the location. Mystery, romance, drama, comedy. Again, Loveboat, search and replace boat with train.

Thin plot, campy acting, bad scripts. Pretty sure the first model train saw the script and committed suicide.
Author:  Dave [ Mon Jun 25, 2018 11:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Would You Show the "Supertrain" At YOUR Museum?
survivingworldsteam wrote:
I have been watching this unfold over the weekend as well. The person who found it was asking $4,800 for it; if you read through the comments, it was apparently sold on Saturday to a fan of the show.


There was a fan?

If you interpret the use of railroads in media,this would fit in nicely. California has a couple museums that touch on it.... not sure who else might qualify in the railroad museum category.
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