Rail Buff Adopts a Home of His Own Choo-Choosing
--William Schreiber has a one-track mind when it comes to trains. He loves them, and for years collected models. So it seems only natural that he should make his home in a 1912 railroad car. “I first thought I could get myself a mobile home, and then I said to myself, ‘Why not get the ultimate and buy the original mobile home?’ ” said Schreiber, 70, who lives with his German shepherd, Hexie, in Marion, Ill. Schreiber, who with two friends operated a sightseeing train and later ran a short-line rail service for industry, said there are lots of advantages to living in the 700-square-foot, yellow and green rail car. “Well, I don’t have a yard to take care of. It’s snug. . . . It’s got everything I need,” he said. The car has a living room, three bedrooms, two full baths, dining room and kitchen.
--The ballroom of Washington’s Mayflower Hotel was the scene of intensive real estate wheeling and dealing, as five people competed for the U.S. Monopoly championship. “We all had to be very aggressive, bidding for those houses,” said the winner, Gary Peters, 48, an investment banker of Hallandale, Fla. Peters won a trip to next year’s world tournament in London and $5,000 in U.S. Savings Bonds for winning the last round, which took a record 2 hours, 50 minutes. Defending champion Jim Forbes, of Winter Haven, Fla., had expressed hope that his experience as an accountant would help. “A lot of things I do for my clients on a daily basis--buying and selling, negotiating, starting a new business--are quite similar to the things you do in Monopoly,” he said. But Forbes was the first eliminated in the final round. Champs from 48 states were flown to the three-day event by Parker Brothers Inc., maker of the board game.
--Fortune and Forbes magazines have a competition of their own going, but it’s over real money, not the Monopoly kind. Both have published the names of billionaires, but the lists bear little resemblance to each other. Forbes says the world’s richest person is Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, who it says is worth $20 billion. He is head of Seibu Railway Group, Japan’s biggest and richest landlord. Fortune gives the top honor to Sultan Muda Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, whose worth Fortune puts at $25 billion. Fortune gives Tsutsumi credit for just $2.5 billion. Forbes says it disqualified the sultan, along with others, such as King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, “since their power is political first and economic only secondarily.” Forbes’ list is heavy with Japanese, while Fortune’s is strong on Arab royalty and North Americans.
