Elaine Silets, "The Train Lady", held the annual open house at her North Barrington, IL estate yesterday, to benefit the scholarship foundation established in her late husband's name for the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Thousands of people arrived by school bus from a number of origination points to view the gardens, the garden railroad, and the O-gauge railroad, which occupies its own "Wandering Tree" railroad station. The waiting time for the O-gauge railroad viewing was an hour when I was there mid-day, but it was well worth it. Unfortunately, the crush of viewers and the relative darkness in the layout room did not allow for magazine quality photos, but I'll put up a bunch in several postings, "for what its worth", as the old saying goes.
First, here's a newspaper article from two years ago that will give some context:
http://www.trainlady.com/news_mobile1.htm
Next, here's a few shots of the layout building, and some of the Chicago structures in Grant Park (the Art Institute, the Pritzker Pavilion, "Cloudgate" (AKA "the Bean") and the Crown Fountain (AKA "Spitting Man") (I believe the picture is of Mrs. Silets late husband, Harvey M. Silets.).
