It's said that you should be able to work out the period a model railway is set without seeing any trains on the layout.
What better way to do this for layouts set from 1983 onwards than including the relevant "That's What I Call Music" advert somewhere on the station?
With 3 releases a year, it would be possible to date a model pretty accurately. Music/train geeks (there are quite a lot of these) would be able to spot if you get it right too and nod silently in appreciation. Woe betide you if you get it wrong though...
I’ve heard sound equipped locos on layouts but I cannot remember ambient noise being used. For example a sleepy country branch line with bird song and a distant sound of harvesting, a cafe with jukebox ( a real place it in time tool) or heavy industrial noise( I used to live not far from Top Line on the pontypool and Blaenavon railway and used to hear an enormous thump from the local drop forge at random intervals, this continues to this day.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised you didn't also add something along the lines of: "Woe betide any layout exhibitor at a show, who gets grumpy if they haven't had their breakfast."
ReplyDeleteJoking aside, I seem to recall reading somewhere that the series name - and original pig mascot - might have had some tenuous connection with something like this.
According to one account I read somewhere, one record company executive was reputed to "not really be himself" until he'd had breakfast - which prompted someone he knew to get a framed copy of a 1920s Danish bacon advert. This advert featured a chicken singing - and a pig listening to it.
I won't repeat what the pig was supposed to be thinking - I don't think I need to … .