Anyone like me trying to do New York City and or Chicago areas on their layout or basing it on either or both of those citys in some manner shape or form?
I continue to torture myself with trying to make a big layout inspired by Chicago
My current layout features Dearborn Station, including the 13 large freight houses that handled LCL freight for the five owner roads (Wabash, Erie, GTW, C&EI and Monon) and its primary tenant (Santa Fe).
Rich
Alton Junction
I think this guy is attempting to catch the flavor of The Big Apple:
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50403561
Good Luck, Ed
I would love to see photos of your layout Rich.
Sir Rod Stewart recently moved his US layout that was featured in MR back to England. From what I read, it took 7 containers to ship it back...
That's one layout I would like to see...
Neal
I did build the subways on my layout based on my memories of the New York system 40 years ago. The real things that made it look like the NY system were the tile walls I cast and painted myself and, of course, the Life-Like R17 trains.
The rest of my layout looks nothing like New York.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
MisterBeasley I did build the subways on my layout based on my memories of the New York system 40 years ago. The real things that made it look like the NY system were the tile walls I cast and painted myself and, of course, the Life-Like R17 trains. The rest of my layout looks nothing like New York.
Would enjoy seeing photos of your subway layout!!
Working on developing a layout that represents a city outside of Chicago, much like Oak Park where you have freight lines and metra passing through. I've assembled 150 downtown buildings already which are being installed on modular city blocks with lighting and scenery as well as 24' long, 4 track bridge and embankment viaduct running above city streets. Nothing is secured to benchwork, though I have a temporary 15' X 5' bench with a 3-track oval for testing and laying things out. Eventually I plan to rent space out in an industrial building nearby to set up a permanent layout with a metra track yard, residential and Industrial areas adjacent to the downtown as well as a river with functional bascule rail and road bridges, mimicking those around Chicago.
I certainly have inspiration. I live between elevated CTA lines and metra lines. Always hearing (and feeling) trains go by.
WOW! That looks great!
It would be quite a challenge to model either city but I'm sure it has been done. My approach is to model a railroad that has its eastern terminus on the Jersey shore of the Hudson. My east end staging yard represents the eastern terminus and several railroads in that area that it interchanges with.
Much of the track in Manhattan is underground so that wouldn't be a great choice. There are several lines that run through the Bronx and the same is true for Queens and Brooklyn. I'm less familiar with Staten Island.
There is lots of above ground railroading in Chicago but you would need lots of structures to model anything running into the heart of the city. The suburbs would probably be a better choice. I always thought Englewood would be an interesting location.
I'm currently working on an N scale representation of the 1951 Super Chief. It will be a modest layout featuring Los Angeles, Chicago and a few spots in between.
However since the only things I really know about Chicago are from the Blues Brothers movie, that area is going to be a bit out of time - not unusual for my layouts.
http://bostontype.com/layout_details_11.html
www.bostontype.com
richhotrain My current layout features Dearborn Station... Rich
My current layout features Dearborn Station...
Do you happen to have a picture or two of your Dearborn station?
gmpullman I think this guy is attempting to catch the flavor of The Big Apple: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50403561 Good Luck, Ed
I think Rod Stewart's layout was based loosely on Pittsburgh. If I remember right, it was called Three Rivers. Pittsburgh sits on the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongohela rivers which join to form the Ohio.
John-NYBWI think Rod Stewart's layout was based loosely on Pittsburgh.
That could be.
I was basing my reply on an article in Model Railroader:
A modeler’s notoriety isn’t a consideration in selecting stories for Model Railroader, but the photos Stewart enclosed in a letter to the magazine’s then publisher, Terry Thompson, revealed a superbly built model railroad featuring a Manhattan-like setting of model skyscrapers. Thompson contacted Stewart’s United Kingdom-based secretary and expressed an interest in featuring the railroad in the magazine.
https://www.trains.com/mrr/news-reviews/news/rod-stewart-and-model-railroads/
Regards, Ed
gmpullman John-NYBW I think Rod Stewart's layout was based loosely on Pittsburgh. That could be. I was basing my reply on an article in Model Railroader: A modeler’s notoriety isn’t a consideration in selecting stories for Model Railroader, but the photos Stewart enclosed in a letter to the magazine’s then publisher, Terry Thompson, revealed a superbly built model railroad featuring a Manhattan-like setting of model skyscrapers. Thompson contacted Stewart’s United Kingdom-based secretary and expressed an interest in featuring the railroad in the magazine. https://www.trains.com/mrr/news-reviews/news/rod-stewart-and-model-railroads/ Regards, Ed
John-NYBW I think Rod Stewart's layout was based loosely on Pittsburgh.
Interesting article. The real clue that it isn't based on Manhattan is his passenger platforms are above ground while both Manhattan stations have underground platforms.
It's interesting that they would name Forever Young and Maggie May as two his biggest hits. Forever Young is very similar to a song of the same name by Bob Dylan and Dylan sued Steward for plagiarism. They settled out of court I believe. The Dylan version was sung as the climax of the Washington Memorial Day Concert on the mall by New York musical singer and actor Alfie Boe who did it magnificently. It was goose bump time. Check it out:
Alfie Boe - Forever Young (Memorial Day Concert) May 29, 2016 - Bing video
I'll be representing New York Central within the Interstate Thru Highway along the Water Level Route. NYC and Conrail hopefully share the same layout. Even though there's a 40-50 year span between a lot scenery with a few minutes.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
Brooklyn 3AM is a gorgeous little slice of NYC.
The Kingsbury Branch is a wonderful N-scale Chicago switching layout.