Ol' Blue Eyes Loved His Trains
BY Dave Hoekstra- Staff Reporter

NEW BUFFALO, Mich.--During the 1980s Frank Sinatra liked to relax in the basement of his Rancho Mirage, Calif., compound running his Lionel train set.
The Chairman of the Board replicated Lionel's popular 1949 Manhattan showroom layout, which included a two-level train station, 8-foot-tall mountains that touched the ceiling and a miniature Mississippi River riverboat featuring headliner--Frank Sinatra.
I can imagine Sinatra wearing a Jimmie Rodgers railroad cap and clutching a Jack Daniel's while operating his train set.
That, my friends, is stranger than the night.

Last summer filmmaker Tom McComas was granted exclusive rights to document the layout for part one of a Celebrity Train Layout series ($19.95, video and DVD). In 1995 Sinatra sold his compound to Canadian businessman Jim Pattison. Pattison kept the estate just as Sinatra left it. Sinatra went to the big waiting room in the sky in May 1998.
Sinatra first connected with McComas when McComas and James Tuohy wrote the book Great Toy Train Layouts of America, which included train sets belonging to Sinatra and to Academy Award-winning Disney animator Ward Kimball (the creator of Jiminy Cricket), and 13 other majestic train layouts. Sinatra agreed to cooperate with the book, but wouldn't grant an interview. For the video and DVD, McComas interviewed Paul Kirby, who built the layout for "Mr. S."

Sinatra wasn't a hands-on train geek. "But he tinkered," McComas says. "He cleaned tracks. He oiled his trains. Of course, he ran the trains. It was nice to know a man as worldly as Frank Sinatra got fun out of playing with trains.

"We never met Frank face to face. But we sure talked to him. He bought all our videos and accessories. We'd get mail orders from him for our books. When we were at his house this summer [for the video] I saw our books in his library and I got a kick out of it."

A public relations person would generally call McComas on Sinatra's behalf. But in the early 1980s Sinatra was appearing at a dinner theater on the South Side of Chicago. He was looking to purchase a specific Lionel set and was quoted a price. Sinatra personally called McComas to see if he was landing a good deal.

"Me and Tuohy had been out the night before," McComas says. "Tuohy is a charming guy, but like anybody, you don't want to see him early in the morning after a night out. I took the phone and said, 'Tuohy it's for you.' He said, 'Who is it?' I said, 'It's Frank Sinatra.' He goes, 'Sure it is,' and gets on the phone. He doesn't say hello or anything and says gruffly, 'Tuohy.' But then he hears Sinatra's voice and there's a major change in his mood."

The celebrity series linked from Sinatra to talk show host Tom Snyder (part two) and singer-actor Mandy Patinkin (part three, complete with a layout that includes Patinkin's animated carnival and ski lift). McComas' appearance on CNBC's "The Tom Snyder Show" generated the largest viewer response in the show's history.
And coming soon to the celebrity series is rocker Neil Young, a part-owner of Lionel Trains. "Lionel has gotten into electronics, computerized control and sound," McComas says. "Neil has two boys that have cerebral palsy. He wanted his sons to play trains. So Neil developed an electronic controller where his sons could run the trains. Neil's a brilliant guy. He wants to know how CDs are pressed. He gets involved every step of the way. So through what he learned in setting up rock concerts, he sold an entire electronic control and sound system to Lionel. His rock buddies are saying, 'Oh, man, Neil is going to play trains again and there goes the recording session.' Then the train guys go, 'Hell, Neil will be playing music for a month, he won't be working on the trains.'"

John Kitterman built Snyder's layout. Kitterman also built Young's layout in his train barn adjacent to his Northern California ranch. The interesting road sidebar here is that Kitterman also drives Young's tour bus.

Reprinted with permission—Chicago Sun-Times (suntimes.com)