Who has seen the M.S.I. display in Chicago?

[Anonymous]

On labor day sunday, my family and I went to the Museum of Science and I ndustry and I was blown away by the new H.O. scale model. It is meant to represent the route from Chicago to Seattle. This is some serious model making, it made my new layout that I am working on, look punny. I encourage all model makers and even just railbuffs who have a chance to go see it.

[Anonymous]

On labor day sunday, my family and I went to the Museum of Science and I ndustry and I was blown away by the new H.O. scale model. It is meant to represent the route from Chicago to Seattle. This is some serious model making, it made my new layout that I am working on, look punny. I encourage all model makers and even just railbuffs who have a chance to go see it.

[Anonymous]

Why go to Chgo? See it here & now. www.msichicago.org it's free

[Anonymous]

Why go to Chgo? See it here & now. www.msichicago.org it's free

[Anonymous]

I have seen it, too, in person, and yes it is impressive. The photographs don't do it justice, because any photo tends to accentuate the lack of detail while failing to convey the sensation of enormity, of being in the scene. This layout fills your peripheral vision, in the midst of a museum that has all sorts of other displays clamoring for attention. So what if each little vignette isn't "hyper-modelled" the way our ten-square-foot versions are?

I expected to go there and see a layout that compromised operational integrity because it is a show layout, but I was surprised to see that the sidings are all accorded functional turnouts, rather than the more-reliable dummies I expected to see. I don't know if there is any group that does operate this as a layout, but it appears to be possibe to do so. There are some definite compromises, such as a mountain line that crosses an enormous steel span, which is only a very short loop of track, but then there are many features that score points in my book. The wealth of scratchbuilt accurate downtown buildings for both Chi-town and Seattle are nothing to sneeze at (although I bet there are people that do just that... never thought about the cleaning hassle this layout poses). Another compromise I saw was the short length of trains; a layout this scale doesn't look right with 15-car consists; it should sport trains of prototypical lengths. They do this for long-term relaibility, I know.

[Anonymous]

I have seen it, too, in person, and yes it is impressive. The photographs don't do it justice, because any photo tends to accentuate the lack of detail while failing to convey the sensation of enormity, of being in the scene. This layout fills your peripheral vision, in the midst of a museum that has all sorts of other displays clamoring for attention. So what if each little vignette isn't "hyper-modelled" the way our ten-square-foot versions are?

I expected to go there and see a layout that compromised operational integrity because it is a show layout, but I was surprised to see that the sidings are all accorded functional turnouts, rather than the more-reliable dummies I expected to see. I don't know if there is any group that does operate this as a layout, but it appears to be possibe to do so. There are some definite compromises, such as a mountain line that crosses an enormous steel span, which is only a very short loop of track, but then there are many features that score points in my book. The wealth of scratchbuilt accurate downtown buildings for both Chi-town and Seattle are nothing to sneeze at (although I bet there are people that do just that... never thought about the cleaning hassle this layout poses). Another compromise I saw was the short length of trains; a layout this scale doesn't look right with 15-car consists; it should sport trains of prototypical lengths. They do this for long-term relaibility, I know.

[deevs]

I have seen it also. I have over head pictures taken from the window of the 727 above it. They didn't turn out as good as I had hoped. The window was very scratchy. I will be seeing it again and will try to get better pictures. I didn't mind the short trains. I think they done A fine job on the layout

[deevs]

I have seen it also. I have over head pictures taken from the window of the 727 above it. They didn't turn out as good as I had hoped. The window was very scratchy. I will be seeing it again and will try to get better pictures. I didn't mind the short trains. I think they done A fine job on the layout

[CG9602]

I saw it during my layover in CHI whe I went took a trip between MN and FL this past spring (on the train). I was impressed as well. Thought it would be kind of fun to mix both the big trains and the little ones.

[CG9602]

I saw it during my layover in CHI whe I went took a trip between MN and FL this past spring (on the train). I was impressed as well. Thought it would be kind of fun to mix both the big trains and the little ones.

[Anonymous]

I saw the layout when we were at the hobbytrade show. Talk to the man who works the layout,he has some good very good ideas as to keeping the trains running.

[Anonymous]

I saw the layout when we were at the hobbytrade show. Talk to the man who works the layout,he has some good very good ideas as to keeping the trains running.

[Anonymous]

I took my family there last weekend, pretty nice. I was surprised to see that they modeled in N scale instead of something else, also I thought the trains would be long, but maybe there will be less problems especially when they run all day long..

Do you guys know what scale the old train there was? I wonder what they did with it?

Brian

[Anonymous]

I took my family there last weekend, pretty nice. I was surprised to see that they modeled in N scale instead of something else, also I thought the trains would be long, but maybe there will be less problems especially when they run all day long..

Do you guys know what scale the old train there was? I wonder what they did with it?

Brian

[Anonymous]

oops my mistake, it is HO scale not N, someone told me it was N but it sure did not look like it. I don;t know nothing about N until I went to Hobby Lobby tonite, They had some there and yes N is quite a bit smaller.

I found the website and it says the old train was O scale, but funny that you cannot see the middle center rail track on the track?

Brian

[Anonymous]

oops my mistake, it is HO scale not N, someone told me it was N but it sure did not look like it. I don;t know nothing about N until I went to Hobby Lobby tonite, They had some there and yes N is quite a bit smaller.

I found the website and it says the old train was O scale, but funny that you cannot see the middle center rail track on the track?

Brian

[Puckdropper]

There's O27 (3 rail) and 2-rail O...

[Puckdropper]

There's O27 (3 rail) and 2-rail O...

[Anonymous]

Thanks, but what is the difference? which is better? why dd they have 2?

Brian

[Anonymous]

Thanks, but what is the difference? which is better? why dd they have 2?

Brian

[Puckdropper]

I'm not sure exactly... I think O27 came first, with it's three rails, and the track didn't look too realistic, so they developed O 2 rail. Some new O27 track has a black middle rail to try to enhance looks.

[Puckdropper]

I'm not sure exactly... I think O27 came first, with it's three rails, and the track didn't look too realistic, so they developed O 2 rail. Some new O27 track has a black middle rail to try to enhance looks.

[Wdlgln005]

In the MSI site you may see reference to the origonal model railroad that had outside 3rd rail power to the steam locomotives. The layout had been rebuilt at least 3-4 times over it's life with newer ATSF equipment. I heard that some of the equipment had been stored somewhere at MSI. It sure would be cool if somehow the old layout could be restored & at least the old equipment put on display!

[Wdlgln005]

In the MSI site you may see reference to the origonal model railroad that had outside 3rd rail power to the steam locomotives. The layout had been rebuilt at least 3-4 times over it's life with newer ATSF equipment. I heard that some of the equipment had been stored somewhere at MSI. It sure would be cool if somehow the old layout could be restored & at least the old equipment put on display!

[dknelson]

I talked to someone who went to Chicago and the layout was not running -- evidently they had some problems. It is pretty difficult to get HO stuff that is robust enough to run constantly on an exhibition basis.

As regards 2 rail versus 3 rail -- 3 rail tends to be AC powered. The third rail can be between the rails, as in Lionel, or outside, as used to be nearly universal in O scale. Early HO was often also AC powered and used third rail, and today the Marklin system remains third rail only they use small stubs in the center of the track. marklin stuff is not compatible with other HO.

Two rail tends to be DC and of course is more realistic (except for outside third rail prototypes of course). The old layout in Chicago was two rail, scale. And it was very very impressive to watch and to hear.

This AC/DC distinction is not 100% as I believe American Flyer two rail was AC.
Dave Nelson

[dknelson]

I talked to someone who went to Chicago and the layout was not running -- evidently they had some problems. It is pretty difficult to get HO stuff that is robust enough to run constantly on an exhibition basis.

As regards 2 rail versus 3 rail -- 3 rail tends to be AC powered. The third rail can be between the rails, as in Lionel, or outside, as used to be nearly universal in O scale. Early HO was often also AC powered and used third rail, and today the Marklin system remains third rail only they use small stubs in the center of the track. marklin stuff is not compatible with other HO.

Two rail tends to be DC and of course is more realistic (except for outside third rail prototypes of course). The old layout in Chicago was two rail, scale. And it was very very impressive to watch and to hear.

This AC/DC distinction is not 100% as I believe American Flyer two rail was AC.
Dave Nelson