I know this has been discussed here in the past, but I have to throw in my thoughts after a 2-day visit on Sunday and Monday. I took the whole family to Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry for a visit, and was very pleased with the experience. We started off touring the Pioneer Zephyr on Sunday morning. I was suprised at how small this train really was and how little it was designed to carry in the way of passengers. The "ride" was kind of cool, and my 9 y.o. daughter found it strange that we stopped in the same place we started, as she thought we were really moving! My only complaint about the Zephyr display was the lighting. It was too dark to take any good photos of the train in the exhibit area. I did like being able to tour the interior and getting up close and checking out the cab of this train. The cab was a lot more cramped than I thought it would be!
When we finally got to the trains portion of the museum, after touring the submarine and seeing a whole lot of other cool stuff, I was blown away. I had heard from this forum that the layout was very cool, but I wasn't ready for what I saw there. Before I started really checking out the layout, I worked my way around looking at all of the life-sized displays. It was really cool being able to look at how all of the different parts of a steam loco work and explain it to my boys with real examples. They have the cab and backhead of a Pennsy K-4 set up, and the boys enjoyed looking at all of the controls to make a steamer run. I had to admit that my knowledge was not up to par on what everything was and what it did. Thankfully, the museum has that information right there to help. There was also a fully working set of drivers, cut-away cylinders, and valve gear from a 4-4-0 to help show how all of the valve gear works. This stuff is absolutly incredible!
But then it was on to the layout. For those who are unaware, this layout represents the entire country from Seattle to Chicago. WOW!!!!!! The work that has gone into this layout is incredible! I was taken aback by the Chicago cityscape, as well as the Seattle portion too. There were a number of little funny things scattered around the layout, like the guy in the kayak about to go over a large waterfall and trying to back-paddle away from it, or the bear chasing the tourists back into their Jeep, even the falling tree with the obligitory "TIMBER!!" being shouted right before it falls. This layout has had a lot of work put into it to get to this level, and it shows. I particulrly liked the large, steel, arch bridge. Strangely enough, it looks very similar to one that was featured in MR's Model Railroad Bridges & Trestle (and in a back issue) book on page 106. Here is the photo of the center section from the museum:
This is the same bridge as I plan to build based on the MR book! I really enjoyed the entire bridge that was built using the arch for a main structure.
Gotta love the little 4-4-0 bringing a 2-car train across this big, steel bridge! I could go on, but in closing, I highly recommend making the trip to see this museum, even if you have to stay 2 nights at your in-laws with your kids, like I did! They were running about a 50 car train of hoppers with 3 units on the point and 1 as a pusher! There are a ton of lessons I think we could all take from these guys. Thanks for letting me go on about this, as my family doesn't think it's as cool as I do.
Good Luck, Morpar
I visited the layout in 2003 shortly after it opened to the public and certainly enjoyed it the visit. The 4 4 0 steam locomotive and train on the big bridge was not running on the layout when I was there.
I was surprised at how well the layout ran without any flaws while I was watching. It runs under some type of automatic control and each model on the models used on the layout are rebuilt fairly often since they wear out most of the units used.
The last time I read about this on another forum, they used Athean and Kato mostly for the main line runs.
The extremely nice fellow I spent probably 20 minutes chatting with at the layout said that basically it is big loops with dedicated trains on them. This keeps the electrical and control work to a minimum. As I watched the trains go around, I did notice it was true, but you have to stand in one spot for a while to notice the same train going by over and over. Most people probably don't stand around long enough to notice. As large as the layout is, it takes quite a while for a train to come clear around, so the effect is quite good. There are also smaller scenes that obviously (to a model railroader at least) use reversing circuits to make these smaller trains go back and forth. One in particular is a steam loco (maybe a 2-8-0, not sure) with a 2-car passenger train right up close to the edge of the aisle for people to see. It only goes back and forth about 6-8 feet and in a straight line, but it is still nice to see a steam loco running on the layout. The stop points are only a couple of inches from the end of the benchwork, and while I was standing there a girl came up and saw the train and was concerned it would overshoot the stop point and end up on the floor! I explained that 1. it has a larger area that is electrically dead so it can't happen, and 2. there is a derail cut and bent into the rails so that if they did overshoot, the train will stay on the layout. She seemed surprised that anyone had thought that out, and thanked me and left!
The guy I was talking to also said that almost all of the locos and rolling stock were readily available from the hobby shop. He wasn't sure exactly what brands they used on everything, but he did say that they used some modified Athearn locos on the layout. He mentioned that they have a VERY well equipped shop that they keep everything maintained in. All of the locos and rolling stock have maintenance schedules to keep them rolling as much as they do. He also said that they still have trouble on occasion. He was telling me that Sunday morning they were having a huge intermittent short in the system that took 5 guys almost 4 hours to find and fix! He said that one train would run for a few feet just fine, then stop dead. Then it would suddenly start running for a few more feet, then stop again! Seems they have the same problems everyone else do.
The Great Train Story at CMS&I regularly runs both Kato and Athearn Genesis locomotives. David Harrison, who might have been the guy you were talking to, is in charge of locomotive and rolling stock maintenance and is a frequent poster over on the Atlas forum.
He's detailed some interesting problems that they go through that your normal model railroader would never run up against - like cars run so much the wheelsets turn the holes in the trucks into ovals, and massive amounts of motor and commutator brush replacements.
They've also had Kato locomotive sets that have traveled around the track enough times to equal a trip from Chicago to Seattle - in real miles. That's somewhere north of 2,000 miles.
Midnight Railroader wrote:You should have seen the original layout. (Before MSI let it deteriorate, that is.)
I visited the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry O scale layout five or six times over the years form 1948 to the last time in 1983. It had steam models on it when I first saw it and I always thought the layout was second to none at the time. When I read the story in MR about the condition due to wear on the old layout, it made sense that a new layout would be needed unless a complete rebuild of the old one was untaken.
Having looked at both layouts, I am impressed with the new one and the scope of the layout to model the Chicago to Seattle in an impressive manner. The new one is in a class by itself and should be recogized as such. I miss seeing the old one also, but most of the visitors today never knew the old one existed.