Never a fan of the guy, but I'm reading about him in the Sunday NY Times magazine when I learn he's got a whole building devoted to trains at his ranch near San Francisco.
The article: Neil Young Comes Clean - the author says Young agreed to the article cuz he's pushing an imminent autobiography. Article excerpt:
"For no reason other than it pleases Young, the model-train barn near his home is framed by two actual rail cars. Back in the day, he and his pals used to snort coke and drink wine and tinker with the model layout until it grew into 3,000 square feet of track and trains.
"Young picked up a controller that appeared to be capable of landing a rocket on an asteroid and reminded me that, as an investor in Lionel Trains, he invented Train Master Command Control (which allows you to run multiple trains at once), as well as RailSounds (which provides realistic railroad audio). Young lost a lot of money on his investment, but he's still a board member at Lionel and ended up with a lot of cool gear, so it all sort of worked out.
"As different trains began to move slowly, Young choreographed and narrated. 'There's all different buttons I can press to make them go fast or slow, but they're all going the same speed, so they're not going to run into each other except at a crossover,' he said.
Not that I'm gonna run out and buy Young's book, or suddenly like his music cuz he likes trains, but it's interesting to learn now and again just whooz into "the world's greatest hobby." Isn't Lionel toy, not model, trains, strictly speaking? Or is that an ongoing dispute?
The article: Neil Young Comes Clean - the author says Young agreed to the article cuz he's pushing an imminent autobiography. Article excerpt:
"For no reason other than it pleases Young, the model-train barn near his home is framed by two actual rail cars. Back in the day, he and his pals used to snort coke and drink wine and tinker with the model layout until it grew into 3,000 square feet of track and trains.
"Young picked up a controller that appeared to be capable of landing a rocket on an asteroid and reminded me that, as an investor in Lionel Trains, he invented Train Master Command Control (which allows you to run multiple trains at once), as well as RailSounds (which provides realistic railroad audio). Young lost a lot of money on his investment, but he's still a board member at Lionel and ended up with a lot of cool gear, so it all sort of worked out.
"As different trains began to move slowly, Young choreographed and narrated. 'There's all different buttons I can press to make them go fast or slow, but they're all going the same speed, so they're not going to run into each other except at a crossover,' he said.
Not that I'm gonna run out and buy Young's book, or suddenly like his music cuz he likes trains, but it's interesting to learn now and again just whooz into "the world's greatest hobby." Isn't Lionel toy, not model, trains, strictly speaking? Or is that an ongoing dispute?
