Free Republic

Guess we could get used to Bill a few octaves higher . . . Radio host Lionel has predicted that Barack Obama will "come close" to gelding [castrating] Bill O'Reilly when the president does an interview with the Fox News host on Super Bowl Sunday. View video here.

Jerry Calabrese readily admits he's not a "fan boy" when it comes to Lionel trains; he doesn't own every locomotive, freight car or caboose Lionel ever made. But Calabrese, a Montclair resident who is Lionel's CEO, can claim something many rabid Lionel fans can't: He actually worked on the railroad, in his case the Erie-Lackawanna. "The summer of 1966, on an Erie-Lackawanna train gang, laying track," Calabrese said, laughing. "Made $2.34 an hour." He's come a long way, and so has America's best-known toy train company. Calabrese is not only CEO but part-owner of Lionel. Among Calabrese's partners: singer-songwriter Neil...

These days, if you ask children what Christmas is to them, you would hear phrases like "Santa Claus," "presents" and "trees."  Ask a child growing up in the first half of the 20th century, and you would have heard "trains" — meaning the miniature kind chugging around the tree on Christmas morning.  Today, model train clubs and other groups keep that spirit alive with holiday train shows."If you talk to older people, they'll tell you that it's somewhat of a tradition, putting a train around the Christmas tree," said Dennis Alderman, president of the Ramapo Valley Model Railroad Club.Jerry Calabrese,...

Lionel Chetwynd, the writer/director of "Hanoi Hilton" and other films, wrote this open letter to Barack Obama in response to the Senator's speech about race relations and Rev. Wright. Invoking his experience in moving beyond hatred towards Germans over the Holocaust, Chetwynd argues that "contextualizing" Rev. Wright's hatred was a misuse of a "teaching moment." The teaching opportunity consisted of "not explaining Wright’s outrage to me, but explaining his outrageousness to him." That's because "we’ll reach the post-racial era. . .by no longer justifying ourselves with what was, instead speaking to what now exists. Not deny the past, but recognize...

COLUMBIA, Md. (AP) -- The nation's two largest makers of toy trains are nearing a conclusion to a seven-year-old, multimillion-dollar lawsuit. Columbia-based MTH Electric Trains had sued Lionel, a century-old brand, accusing it of stealing train designs through a Korean subcontractor. The dispute focused on patented computer technology that synchronizes a train set's sound, smoke and speed, critical technology in their small but competitive market. "We're happy that we've reached a settlement," said Jerry Calabrese, chief executive of Lionel, based in Chesterfield, Mich. "It was a long, terrible case." However, MTH founder Mike Wolf said the settlement is contingent on...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sales of model trains are picking up steam again thanks to deals linking them to the "Harry Potter" and "The Polar Express" movies, along with a new approach to marketing the old-fashioned toys. Lionel, one of the big names in model trains in the 1950s, has watched as its business had to focus less on selling toys to kids than serving an older but much smaller hobbyist market. Folk-rock singer Neil Young, 61, is so passionate about trains that he bought a fifth of the company in 1995. Now, the company is bringing trains back to...

Pembroke Park · Lionel Tate, who at 12 faced life in prison for murdering a playmate, may have squandered his freedom for four 14-inch pizzas. The bill for the pies -- pepperoni and sausage, extra cheese, pineapple, and ham -- came to $33.60, according to a Domino's Pizza receipt. Police say Tate placed the order from his 12-year-old friend's apartment Monday afternoon and forced his way back inside just before the pizza arrived, roughing up the boy before robbing the deliveryman with a .38-caliber revolver.

CHESTERFIELD, Mich., Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Lionel LLC, the nation's number one model train manufacturer, today announced that it has filed a voluntary petition in the Bankruptcy Court of the Southern district of New York for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code (1). The filing was prompted by a $40.8 million judgment against the company for the alleged misappropriation of a competitor's toy train designs by a subcontractor. Lionel's day-to-day operations will continue as usual, including meeting all merchandise shipping obligations customary for the holiday selling period and rolling out new products on schedule. The company remains...