SMILER’s Donna Manus caught up with accomplished modeler George Sellios after Rod paid him a visit to view his stunning creation, the Franklin & South Manchester Railroad layout on Main Street in Peabody,
Rod was so enthralled with what he saw his entourage had to pull him out of the room to get to his Boston concert in time.
George’s layout has always drawn serious model train enthusiasts from all over the world. and Rod had been trying to see it for himself for years,George told SMILER “Rod was such a down-to-earth guy,”
Rod caused quite a stir with his visit, and was even noticed by the ladies in the hair salon downstairs, He graciously posed for pictures with them. “Everyone had to take a picture with him,” George said.
George’s display covers up to 1,600 square feet and is crammed with incredible detail, from grimy buildings to potholed streets. In delicate HO scale it’s an uncanny depiction of a Depression-era city that tends to resemble Peabody and Rod who was accompanied by his daughter Ruby had certain angles and sections of the work that he wanted to view closely. “He said it would inspire him to go home and work on his own layout,” George said.
After a full hour viewing the layout George and his daughter Tara were given tickets for Rod’s Boston gig “It was fantastic..I was only 50 feet away from him,” George told SMILER.
Donna mentioned to George that in Rod’s autobiography she read that Frank Sinatra Jr. and Roger Daltrey are model railroad enthusiasts also and maybe they would show up on his doorstep next, “That’s the last thing I want to happen” laughed George as he has already become the toast of the town in Peabody and doesn’t like all the attention at all.
Photographs taken by Hal Reynolds
Reproduced with kind permission from George Sellios.