Check out the What's Neat Show. There is a O scale layout that has some neat special effects, its the one with the actual prototypical working hump yard (last months?).
On another website I mentioned briefly that I thought that the future of high end model railroad layout design could rest in taking inspiration from the world of dark rides in amusement parks. I found an article on dark ride design which I shared in that post which I felt was relevant to model railroad design (this article: http://entertainmentdesigner.com/featured/shining-light-dark-rides/). Thinking about it some more, I want to see if anyone has some examples of what I want to call "special effects" heavy layouts. By this I mean a full gauntlet of all the tricks in the hobby, full CTC mainlines, radio communications, ambient sound systems, light cycles that go from day to night following the time set on a fast clock (and the needed safety lights to prevent operators from stumbling into each other in a darker room), animations, etc... Maybe even some out there lighting/sound effects such as lightning storms in a summer monsoon (or a nice occasional flash of white and orange light in the distance towards Las Vegas in a layout set in Nevada or Utah in the mid-1950's... I'll let you guys figure that one out ) Maybe even going the final step and adding scents of some sort, via scented oils perhaps (imagine a heavy pine forest in the Northwest or Canada, with the pine scent lingering in the room). Top it all off with a clean room, and a simple visual design for the benchwork to keep distraction away and put all the focus on the layout itself. Sort of like the museum quality of Mike Danneman's layout, but with more blinking lights!Of the three private layouts I have been to, I have seen bits of this but never a full implementation of all of these effects. I know some might say this much tech would be overkill; but I could imagine that if applied properly it could be the next level for the hobby. The effects could be used in combination to give off suggestions of harsh weather or other conditions which can have a play on operations too. Blizzard on a layout set on Donner Pass? Dim the lights, let the sound system start playing the noise of howling wind; and call up your crew to man the spreaders and prepare the rotaries. Tornado near Union Pacific's triple track in Nebraska? Set the CTC headlights to reds and have the crews tie down to wait for the storm to pass while the sound and lighting give them the storm effect. I know that lighting and storm systems are on the market already... but I feel like I have yet to see it used to its full extent; they currently seem more often to be a gimick a modeler uses once or twice and then just ignores. But with some forethought could end up being used to show off a new side of operationsSo yeah, just a little ramble on some ideas for high tech layouts and how the SFX can play into operations on the line. Using the tech not as some one use gimick, but as a "story element" to further operations and immerse layout visitors into our minature worlds.