Chicago O Scale Layout Tours Pictures

Thanks Art for the photo tour. Glad you and the gang had a wonderful time at the show.

Nice photos, Art.  Nice layout there, too.  (But how do they fun those trains;  there's no power rail on those tracks!)  Someone really did a beautiful job on those trees, and that roundhouse is immense and well done.

Paul Fischer

Wonderful photos Art, the layout is spectacular.

Any photos of the ToT?

Looks like a great time!  You guys had a good weekend for this.

I took several with my cell phone camera and they were all blurry.  It was moving at scale speeds.  LOL

Art

Here are the pictures that I took at Don's layout in Naperville.  Don's layout ran flawlessly while we there and I have been there several times and it always runs that way.  He is a great host, has a beautiful layout, and I'm always pleased when I can see it again.

Art

Another layout that we attended on Friday was Ted's Fox Valley Model Railroad Club in Elgin.  I didn't take any pictures this time, but he hosted a fabulous operating session as always.  If you ever have a chance to visit this layout, don't miss it.  You will not be sorry.  They continue to add to this very large club layout and that includes track and scenery.

Art

Art, thanks for the terrific photos of two great looking and operating layouts.

Great photos ART!  Glad you had a good time.

Great photos, Art. Thanks for posting.

Art, Thank you!

That was a treat, thanks Art!

Great photos & layouts.

Art,

I really enjoyed looking at all these pictures, thanks for posting them !!!

Alex

Great inspiration......thanks for sharing them on 3r section!!

Very nice layouts. Love the trees on the club layout. Thanks for sharing with us!

We thanked everyone's at the layouts that we visited, but I just want to post another thanks here on the forum.  I really appreciate it that a number of people were willing to open up their homes to all of us this past weekend.  I have often said that for me being able to share this hobby with ours gives me as much pleasure as anything else.  I had the opportunity to meet new people and see great layouts that inspired me to come home and work on mine with increased enthusiasm.  And for that I am very grateful to everyone that opened up their layouts for our enjoyment.

Art

These ARE great photos...you should post 'em over in the 2-rail forum as well, if you haven't already...terrific!

Mark in Oregon

Thanks Art 

Clem k

Art, thanks a whole bunch for posting those outstanding "shots" of some nicely detailed model railroads......

Thank you  Art for visiting Rockford and posting the pictures.  Glad you enjoyed your visit.  While having a open house takes some work, it is a great way to get motivated and it is an enjoyable event for the host too.  More work was done on the layout in the last two weeks than the previous two months.

John (from Rockford) 

 Here is the missing photo that Art forgot to include of the GM TOT.

note the people stepping up to view the engineer.

Thanks Alan. Nice touch with the viewing platform. I have to incorporate this idea.

BIG DISCUSSION at the layout.

ARE the engines facing the "wrong way" in the roundhouse and about the turntable spurs??

NO!  The fast majority of steam engine terminals, from Canada to Mexico, were setup to have the steam locomotive pull in forward until the exhaust stack was directly under the "smoke jack". Since the vast majority of maintenance/repair work would have been done on the engine, as compared to the tender, the engine was closer to the worker's tools and light source, i.e. the windows.

Rarely were steam locomotives ever backed into a roundhouse, since roundhouses constructed after the 1880s were designed for the locomotives to enter in the forward direction in order to line-up under the "smoke jack". 

Good reason as the tenders rarely needed work. But if the roundhouse is large enough why should that matter?

For easy of moving out the engine without requiring a 360 rotation, the reverse is true.

The layout builders provided reference material to show that they were correct!!

They really had a great selection of engines in their roundhouse area.  The C&NW ones were particularly nice.

I did not notice the viewing stand that they had for the Train of Tomorrow when we were there.  The train was running on the mainline all the time we were there too.  That is a nice touch.

Art

great photos! got me wondering,why are layouts like these never in ogrr magazine? looks like these focus on railroad operations more than scenery?its one of the reasons i dropped my subscription after 30 years+.more on that later.-jim

There's also more room for all those tools, cranes and workers to maneuver at the outer end.

Much more "fightin' room."

Rusty

360 degree rotation?  That's once around the mulberry bush and the locomotive would still be facing in the same direction...

Rusty

Excellent photos to tell the story, of layout tours. Layout tours always a fun part of the hobby.

• Cheers from Michigan

"got me wondering,why are layouts like these never in ogrr magazine?"

My guess is the vast majority of folks who buy the OGR Magazine and who frequent this Forum are 3-Rail. For me personally, that is my interest and am very happy with the current mix of layouts covered in this magazine. 2-rail layouts are covered in other magazines particular to their interests. 

Nice photos. Thank you for sharing them.

The GM ToT has some interest so I will add some pictures.  The last two were taken today but the others were taken about a month ago.  I forgot to take any pictures during the open house so I am really glad Art did and posted them. 

John H

The two from today