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Discussion Boards => General Discussion => Topic started by: jbsmith on May 07, 2010, 09:36:26 PM

Title: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: jbsmith on May 07, 2010, 09:36:26 PM
Famous Layouts or the layouts of Famous People is the theme of this new thread.

To Start things off, The layout of Gomez Addams.
I like to think there is a little bit of Gomez in all of us.

First this one shows a recreation of the 1960s' TV show layout

http://www.toytrains.info/info.asp?t=Trackage&colnum=10&submit=go

This layout plan is the one used in the movie

http://addamsfamily.com/addams/addamstrain1.jpg

The TV layout in Action!  From 5-Minutes 40 seconds to about  6-Minutes 24seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOJRHeF0Jas

Myuh HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! ;D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSQymg0UHvk



Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Jim Banner on May 07, 2010, 10:00:01 PM
Two words say it all:

John Allen

Jim
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: jbsmith on May 07, 2010, 10:12:45 PM
John Allen?

Eventually i found this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Whitby_Allen
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: jbsmith on May 07, 2010, 10:13:30 PM
Rock N Roll Singer Rod Stewart

http://www.trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=2167
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: jbsmith on May 07, 2010, 10:18:28 PM
Rock N Roll Singer Neil Young

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UENULIH0Ks

http://findmodelrailroads.com/neil-young-lionel-model-train-company

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/Smokestack%20Lightnin__%20Neil%20You/
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: jbsmith on May 07, 2010, 10:36:48 PM
Found this List!
wow!
Ringo Star, Micheal Jordan, Walt Disney, James Doohan [Mr. Scott] ,Winston Churchill, Hermann Goring, Tom Brokaw,
plus others, am surprised to see so many!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_transport_modellers

Here is challenge;
Find some photos of their layouts!

Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: J3a-614 on May 07, 2010, 11:03:33 PM
Photos on John Allen and the Gorre & Daphetid--glad to oblige!  (Easy, too.)

http://www.gdlines.com/

http://gorre-and-daphetid.witt-family.com/

Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: pdlethbridge on May 07, 2010, 11:29:44 PM
I remember ads showing Mel torme and didn't sam posey have his layout shown in MR?
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: J3a-614 on May 07, 2010, 11:49:27 PM
You're right, P.D.  Mel Torme was in at least one or two ads for Akane if I recall correctly (and I seem to remember him as admiring a B&O EM-1 2-8-8-4), and Sam Posey's road was in MR twice, and I think may have made the cover both times. . .who has the magazines handy (not buried in boxes like mine) to confirm this, and perhaps supply dates?

Not mentioned so far--Frank Sinatra and Eddie Anderson ("Rochester" on the Jack Benny show), both Lionel men.

Because he was such an icon (and the trains are such an important part of the parks), there is plenty on Walt Disney, and the various Disney park roads.  For this, though, we'll stick with Disney's personal operations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolwood_Pacific_Railroad

http://www.sci.fi/~animato/rail/walt.html

http://www.burnsland.com/index.shtml

http://burnsland.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=481

http://www.burnsland.com/sdra/cprr.shtml

http://www.carolwood.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5kUY4zLWU0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1Rf7Ygy6TA&feature=related

The late Ollie Johnson was one of Disney's animators, and an influence on the backyard road back in the day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crHlOYmzWTA&feature=related

The late Ward Kimball was also a rail enthusiast, with full-sized 3-foot equipment!  Here is some Disney (and Kimball)footage--but don't ask me why it has a horribly mismatched Pentrex video soundtrack, this is just how I found it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9LnZ52KTKg&feature=related

Not exactly model railroad, but had to include it--Casey Jones as interpreted by Disney and Jerry Colonna with The King's Men:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbTBk4pDIHA&feature=related

We can't ignore a very well-known traction fan:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Rogers%27_Neighborhood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Rogers

Whew!
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Guilford Guy on May 08, 2010, 12:25:39 AM
Buster Keaton had American Flyer in his backyard.
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Jim Banner on May 08, 2010, 02:00:19 AM
Looks like I got the subject wrong.  I thought it meant famous train layouts, not the layouts of famous people.  John Allen himself was not famous except in the model railroading field.  He had not only the best known layout of his generation but introduced innovations that today we consider model railroading standards.  Things like selective compression, forced perspective, the use of mirrors, weathering, dimming of room lighting to simulate day and night operation, just to mention a few.

Perhaps John Allen was forgotten during the period when modeling steam was out of fashion (John hated diesels and would not allow them on the Gorre and Daphetid.  Thus the scene with the fellow hanged from a trestle.  When asked about him, John had a terse two word answer - "Diesel salesman.")  Or perhaps because every few years, someone reinvents the wheel and neither the "inventor" nor the model press who publishes these "new ideas" wishes to mention that they were scooped by 50 or 60 years.  I must plead guilty to this myself.  In the late nineties, I built the hardware and programmed a computer to dim the lights in the train room at a rate to correspond to my model railroad fast time.  I was quite proud of my innovation until I found it had already been done in the early fifties  using motor driven rheostats.  By John Allen, of course.  But in my books, being scooped by John Allen was like losing a baseball game to Mikey Mantle.  To be a bush leaguer in the same game as the man was already an honour and a pleasure.  If you detect a bit of hero worship here, you are right.

Jim   
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: jbsmith on May 08, 2010, 10:12:34 AM
Quote from: Jim Banner on May 08, 2010, 02:00:19 AM
Looks like I got the subject wrong.  I thought it meant famous train layouts, not the layouts of famous people.  John Allen himself was not famous except in the model railroading field.  He had not only the best known layout of his generation but introduced innovations that today we consider model railroading standards.  Things like selective compression, forced perspective, the use of mirrors, weathering, dimming of room lighting to simulate day and night operation, just to mention a few.

Perhaps John Allen was forgotten during the period when modeling steam was out of fashion (John hated diesels and would not allow them on the Gorre and Daphetid.  Thus the scene with the fellow hanged from a trestle.  When asked about him, John had a terse two word answer - "Diesel salesman.")  Or perhaps because every few years, someone reinvents the wheel and neither the "inventor" nor the model press who publishes these "new ideas" wishes to mention that they were scooped by 50 or 60 years.  I must plead guilty to this myself.  In the late nineties, I built the hardware and programmed a computer to dim the lights in the train room at a rate to correspond to my model railroad fast time.  I was quite proud of my innovation until I found it had already been done in the early fifties  using motor driven rheostats.  By John Allen, of course.  But in my books, being scooped by John Allen was like losing a baseball game to Mikey Mantle.  To be a bush leaguer in the same game as the man was already an honour and a pleasure.  If you detect a bit of hero worship here, you are right.

Jim   

tis alright Jim!
Can be either one, there is room for both ;D
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: J3a-614 on May 08, 2010, 10:43:46 AM
That criteria would have to include the late John Armstrong of track planning fame:

http://home.comcast.net/~j.sing/Eulogy_for_John_Armstrong.html

The Armstrong eulogy is from this site, which I've included partially as a reference to a source site and partially for its photo links.

http://home.comcast.net/~j.sing/

Armstrong's road was an interesting combination of ahead-of-its-time planning elements (staging, including "reverted" turning loops) and some antiquated technology (outside third rail--common back to the '40s or so but not so much later).  Other early fellows, mostly working in O scale, included Minton Cronkite (a big AT&SF man, and the builder of the orignal Chicago Museum of Science and Industry display road), and Frank Ellison (a former theater man who understood the tricks of illusion to make a railroad look real, and the drama of operations and railroading itself that draws us in).

Armstrong, Cronkite, and Ellison are all in the O scale Hall of Fame, sponsored on the the web by 48/Foot O Scale News.  That list is here; you can click on individual names for more information:

http://users.foxvalley.net/~osn/HallofFame.htm

This humor page is included because Mel Torme is in it:

http://users.foxvalley.net/~osn/Laughing1.htm

I don't have a link handy, but Gary Coleman would also be a famous person who is into model railroads.


Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Steve Magee on May 09, 2010, 03:50:29 AM
If we take a whole world approach to this, one of THE guiding lights in the hobby was John Ahern. He was building fully sceniced layouts in the 1930's and they would be quite acceptable today.

His Madder Valley branch is displayed at Pendon museum in the UK - and Pendon is a work of art in itself. Have a look at John Aherns layout at:

http://www.pendonmuseum.com/maddervalley/index.html

Steve Magee
Newcastle NSW Australia
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: J3a-614 on May 09, 2010, 08:26:04 AM
Beautiful!  Just wish there was more of it to see online, including a track plan.

This fellow has an interesting opinion.  Wonder how the idea would go over with the art field's establishment?

http://users.skynet.be/pro-rail/ukca10ea0.htm

Your message got to tickling my brain cells, and perhaps we should recall J. Harold Geissel and his O scale Chester Valley Railway (actually, if I remember, it wasn't 1/48, but something like 17/64th scale to correct for the slightly wider than scale track gauge common in O then and now).

http://index.mrmag.com/tm.exe?opt=I&MAG=MR&MO=8&YR=1939&output=3&sort=A

http://index.mrmag.com/tm.exe?opt=I&MAG=MR&MO=12&YR=1941&output=3&sort=A

Geissel, who was known for all the equipment drawings he had over the years in Model Railroader, for a time had the Chester Valley in a basement in a house in Philadelphia.  This model railroad went around three walls in a long skinny cellar, and had a classically simple trackplan that consisted of a point-to-point main line with three towns, each of which included at most two or three rail served businesses (plus small engine houses at each end) and a passing siding or runaround track (I think the British term is passing or runaround "loop"--didn't someone say Britian and the USA were two countries divided by a common language?), and featured the operation and scenery of a shortline road in Pennsylvania with small, second-hand engines and rolling stock.  Between the limits of what was available and the level of appearance Geissel was pursuing, everything had to be scrathbuilt.  There were no turning facilities; engines had pilots and headlights on tenders for extended reverse running.  Power consisted of two custom-built steamers (by Harold Icken? ), one of which was a PRR D-16 4-4-0 (prototype 1223 survives today in the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania), and a Reading-based Camelback 2-8-0.  Long after it had been dismantled, MR editor Lynn Wescott liked to use it as an illustration that not all model layouts had to feature main-line railroading and track plans that looked like a plate of pasta.

There were a number of other roads that were famous back then and featured in MR; I've got to look some of them up, and list them here to see if they meet the criteria.  One was an enormous British road that made the cover around 1964, and was well known in the British press at the time.  This was either 7 mm. to the foot or 17/64th scale again, and featured beautiful sweeping curves and flowing trackwork, on a layout depicted a junction with very heavy traffic in the pre-WWI era.  Depth of scene was impressive; part of the trick was that access holes in the layout were so well finished (think fascia, although technically this technique wasn't used here) that they looked good, and camera angles minimized them, too.  Scenery was neat and tidy looking, partially a reflection that Britain is probably the world's greatest gardening country, partially a reflection of railway maintenance prior to 1914, and also a reminder that not every location is crusty with junk.  Some of us do overdetail some of our scenes!
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Woody Elmore on May 09, 2010, 11:19:09 AM
I think many readers are too young to have heard of Frank Ellison and his O gauge Delta Lines. While the scenery and rolling stock weren't as detailed as the John Allen pike, Mr. Ellison pioneered running trains on schedule and he introduced the block length that he called a "smile."

Mel Torme was featured in Mantua adds holding a pacific.

The late journalist/TV personality Tom Snyder was a huge Lionel collector. His dad was a salesman who sold  wholesale things like Christmas decorations. Tom once remarked that he used to play with the latest Lionel releases on the Fourth of July because that's when the holiday items would be ordered. On his last TV talk show he had an LGB train running around the set!

Herman Goering had a humongous Marklin layout in his Bavarian Chateau and another one (not so big) in his private railway car.  I wonder what became of the layouts.

The late Jackie Gleason used to have a character called Reggie Van Gleason who was supposed to be a rich drunk. He had a Lionel train that would pop out of the wall and there would be whiskey decanters on flat cars. Reggie would push a button, the train would appear and he'd make a drink, drink it, roll his eyes and say' "smooth!"

I saw an awful Chevy Chase /Dan akroyd /John Candy movie about a lawyer and friend who get stopped in a very weird town in Pennsylvania. Ackroyd played a magistrate and he invites Chevy Chase and others to dinner. During the dinner a Lionel train set pops up with flatcars containing condiments. It also had a Lionel guided missle car that shot pickles! Skip the movie, it was awful.

Did anybody reproduce the American Flyer train setup that appeared in a 'Leave It to Beaver" episode? How about the train set played with by Billy Gray in the classic fifties movie"the Day the Earth Stood Still."
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Guilford Guy on May 09, 2010, 12:27:34 PM
Gary Coleman and his DRGW layout was featured in Railroad Model Craftsman about 20 years ago.
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Jim Banner on May 09, 2010, 02:46:55 PM
Quote from: J3a-614 on May 09, 2010, 08:26:04 AM
This fellow has an interesting opinion.  Wonder how the idea would go over with the art field's establishment?

http://users.skynet.be/pro-rail/ukca10ea0.htm

Like a lead balloon.  I like his term "the 10th Art."  But to the fine art boys, moulding something out of plaster and then carving in the details is an "Art" when they do it but "only a craft" when we do it.  When we slap on the plaster any old way, that is poor craftsmanship and we bash it out with a hammer then try again.  When "artists" slap on the plaster any old way, they call it "impressionist" and sell it for millions.

Ever tried to insure a model railroad?  I have.  My agent told me sure, no problem to insure it for the price of the materials that went into it.  I asked him if the local art galleries insured their paintings for the cost of the paints and canvass.  He acted surprised as he gave me a long winded explanation to the effect that they could insure them for full value because they were works of art.  Arrgh.

It makes me very sad that after John Allen's death and the fire that claimed his layout, the most his estate could collect was the price of some lumber, plaster, and bits of wire for the layout plus the cost of some scraps of brass and paper that he used for his hand built locomotives.  Basically, nothing for a work of art that took a lifetime.

Jim
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: ryeguyisme on May 09, 2010, 07:55:34 PM
Quote from: Jim Banner on May 07, 2010, 10:00:01 PM
Two words say it all:

John Allen

Jim

INDEED
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: ryeguyisme on May 09, 2010, 07:56:17 PM
Gary Coleman is a model railroader
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: J3a-614 on May 09, 2010, 09:08:05 PM
I think you're very right, Jim; that's why I had that line there. . .

If you read my comments about Wheeling photos a while back, you'll recall that I have a problem in that we rail enthusiasts "don't get no resepect."  To a very great deal of the public, we're "Choo Choo Charlies" who are somehow weird.  This is even in the scholarly field unless you are writing dry economic books about the industry.  This even came up to John White, who is the former director of the Transportation Hall at the Museum of American History and Technology of the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.

As recounted by White in his book, "The American Railroad Freight Car" (which I very highly recommend, along with his books on passenger cars and locomotives), he recounted an incident, I think it was at a fundraiser for the Smithsonian, in which some lady with money approached White, and asked him "Which art museum are you connected with?"  White replied that he was not with an art museum, but was with the Museum of History and Technology, and that he had just finished the manuscript for a book on railroad freight cars.  To this, this matron of the ARTS replied "Oh, they don't really make you do that, do they?"

Some years back I got pretty disgusted with what passed for entertainment in film and television (and I'm still not impressed with most of what is fed to us).  I also read that the entertainment industry was desperate for new writers, suggesting even they saw some of the problems they had.  So, I put together a proposal for a television series based on the adventures of railroaders on the job. which, for lack of a better term, would be something of an action-comedy, set on a mainline mountain railroad in West Virginia, its first season to be on the eve of WW II.  Spent two years of virtually all my spare time learning how to write scripts, researching the subject, including operations and personal incidents, collecting background material, and writing 12 scripts and having materials for another 30 or so.  Although set in the early 1940s, much inspiration came from material from the 19th century, including "The General Manager's Story" by Herbert Hamblen, and "No Royal Road," by Edward Custer (and more books that I highly recommend).  Some great stories came out of this and other material; I particularly liked how a division superintendant closed out an accident inquest by pulling out a cigar, lighting it, and saying between puffs to a young Ed Custer in "No Royal Road," "Young man, you have the makings of a first-class railroader.  You can lie with the best of them.  About two weeks (suspension) will fit your case."  Such material is better than about anything anybody can think up.

Lest you worry about copyrights, most of my research material was so old as to be in the public domain ("The General Manager's Story" was published in 1898.)

I couldn't sell the thing to save my soul.

So much for this country being a land of opportunity.

I think we have a culture that got brainwashed somehow, or dumbed down, or something.  The Brits don't seem to have this problem, and I don't think we always did, if the presence of the books I've mentioned and the fiction stories that used to appear in Railroad magazine and in general publications such as the Saturday Evening Post are any indication.  I imagine you may have faced something like it, with your comments about the art establishment and the insurance people.  How did you deal with it?
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Jim Banner on May 10, 2010, 01:07:04 AM
How did I deal with it?  I went down the basement and played trains.  Working as an "Inventor on demand," my life was stressful enough.  Working on my model railroad was my stress reliever.  But eventually I got together with a group of like minded guys and set up a very public model railroad in our local museum.  We had three ideas in mind when we approached the museum with our plans - To share our private pleasures in model railroading with the public so that they could enjoy them too.  To make museums in general and our local museum in particular a more attractive destination for parents and particularly children.  And to become a local center of focus for model railroaders from newcomers to experts.  With the help of the museum, we have been able to meet our objectives for the last 20 years.  We have not and do not expect the art world to ever acknowledge our work as art but I believe there are thousands of museum visitors from our city, our country and from around the world that are convinced it is.  More importantly, we have put smiles on the faces of multitudes and brought tears of nostalgia to the eyes of many more.  We have helped hundreds to become active model railroaders and helped get model railroading out of the closet and into the main stream.  In some cases, we have had profound effects on peoples lives, most often with older people who have been cast adrift by retirement but also with young people who make their way back to Saskatoon and let us know about their careers in railroading and railroad related fields.

With all of that, who cares whether our work is or isn't art and whether it is insured for just the materials or for full value.  We know what it is and we  know what it is worth in terms of people, joy, and happiness.

Jim
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: turnbub on May 10, 2010, 02:17:22 PM
Being a former Canadian, relatively new to this country, I never cease to be amazed at what people in this country have done.
No wonder enthusiasts have spent so much time and effort re-creating a bit of the past.......... it is amazing how the railways
ever got punched thru the mountains......... and over hundreds of miles of (what was then) uninhabited wilderness.
Being in California now, I hope to do a bit of Cahon Pass (Interstate 15), and the pass thru Tehachapie.
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Santa Fe buff on May 10, 2010, 04:47:35 PM
I love the Franklin and South Manchester.

Cheers,
Joshua
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: ebtnut on May 10, 2010, 04:47:56 PM
OK, a short list from memory of some influential layouts (including some already mentioned):

Frank Ellison's Delta Lines - O scale
John Allen's Gorre and Daphetid - HO scale
Allen McClelland's Virginian and Ohio - HO scale
Bruce Chubb's Sunset Lines - HO scale
Tony Koester's Alleghey Midland - HO scale
John Armstrong's Canandaigua Southern - O scale
George Sellio's Franklin and South Manchester - HO scale
Bob Hegge's Crooked Mountain Lines - O scale traction
Minton Cronkhite's Museum and Santa Fe - O scale display @ Chicago's       Museum of Science and Industry
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Jhanecker2 on May 10, 2010, 06:49:37 PM
I remember reading that Frank Sinatra was a big Lionel "O" scale collector and had a layout in his garage .  Don't know what became of it after his death . John II
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Doneldon on May 11, 2010, 12:43:14 AM
ebt-

The O-scale (loosely speaking) layout at the Rosenwald Museum in Chicago was removed about seven years ago and replaced with a very impressive HO one which actually models the Big New Santa Fe from Chicago to Seattle.  The old Lionel ATSF layout had solid rail track, unlike the tubular track we always associate with Lionel, but so many miles had been run on it that the railheads were gone.  The trains were running on the webs of the rails.

          --D
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Kevin Strong on May 11, 2010, 01:42:18 AM
It's not "famous" yet, but it give it time...

The Greeley (Colorado) Freight Station Museum's HO scale Oregon, California, & Eastern Railroad:

http://www.cbs4denver.com/video/?id=70733@kcnc.dayport.com (http://www.cbs4denver.com/video/?id=70733@kcnc.dayport.com)

5500 square feet, a 22 scale mile mainline (70 scale miles of track total), and scenery that's just eye-popping. I think it was in the December 2008 MR. 

Later,

K
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Jim Banner on May 11, 2010, 09:21:33 PM
I am surprised nobody has mentioned Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg.  Widely acknowledged as the world's largest, it has some 7-1/2 miles of track on 3800 square feet of railroad.  Doesn't sound like much until you realize that is 650 scale miles of track and occupies a 21,000 square foot building.  And the final plan calls for it to be 50% larger again.

http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/ (http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/)

Jim
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Jhanecker2 on May 12, 2010, 09:29:26 AM
I remember seeing the earlier version of wunderland on the net ,it is very impressive . It is one of the things that money can buy .   If I ever manage to get to Hamburg , I definitely will stop in to get a gander .   John II.
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: jbsmith on May 16, 2010, 10:56:42 AM
Found a photo gallery of Gomez Addams layout!

http://classic.kodakgallery.com/sirt/main/addams_family_lionel_s
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Jim Banner on May 16, 2010, 03:10:51 PM
I had forgotten how classy the Addams' layout was.  There are lots of layouts in basements, attics and garages, held up by boxes and old fence boards.  But a layout on a beautiful, antique dining table set up in the dining room?  That's class.

Jim
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: J3a-614 on May 22, 2010, 01:48:09 AM
Took a look at the Miniatur Wunderland on the net, and I have to say it's impressive, including that working road system--although I have to say I might do some things differently.

For now, though, a look at the Wunderland in action:

Official promotional video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN_oDdGmKyA

Swiss Federal freight action; I like the pacing shots from another train, and also the shots from a flat in the train, both of which exhibit, in HO scale, the relative movement between cars that is so familiar to someone who has ridden a train.  But what's the big deal with all the Santa Claus figures on this road?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBArNAyODLc

Neat GE sounds, particularly at start-up, but I wonder what is with all the Christmas stuff--or maybe I've got just a touch of the Grinch today. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRhN1L4M3n4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dU_lrhHLmA&NR=1

That Swedish engineer must take a liberal view of speed restrictions on curves!  Plenty of Santa Clones, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnP-Qs5aB0c&NR=1

I have to say the operation of free-sailing vessels (as opposed to models running on an underwater track) is impressive, too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irNHcokFvgg&NR=1

Not on the Miniatur Wunderland, but included because this is a classic-looking vessel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXtQcHjLZ-w&NR=1

Rack operation in the Wunderland:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwTRW3fIlgA&NR=1

A touch of humor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5AtwY1THq4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZOLFB4VBBk&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7olCmsiuJuY&NR=1

Now, let's take this idea a step further.  Specifically, what would a North American variant look like?

Speaking for myself, I would cut back on the "fantasy" aspect a bit (with a couple of notable exceptions I'll mention later); being the nostalgia hound I am, it would be a period piece, possibly multiple periods, i.e., a combined history and geography lesson.  Part of the inspiration for this comes from vintage rail promotional films, such as "This Is My Railroad" (Southern Pacific), "Mainline USA" (Association of American Railroads), and "Operation Fast Freight" (Norfolk & Western); all of these films have an element of what I would call "America the Beautiful."

Warning: Don't try to see all these at one time, you'll be here for a week!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKY9PnkVr1A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM2VzVtEOWg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mXo_ya-kAE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX5ydugXsJg&feature=PlayList&p=7B5E1600BA0D9E21&playnext_from=PL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcQ19n5kKXg&feature=channel

Essentially, my version would tell the story of railroading in America, including some earlier chapters in the 19th century, possibly with different scenes, even in different scales, as was done by the famous General Motors "Futurama" display at the 1939 World Fair in New York.  This film illustrates the effect in terms of scenic effects, although one has to admit that this view of the future is not quite what actually came true.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74cO9X4NMb4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU7dT2HId-c&feature=related

Several Eastern railroads contributed to a miniature railroad display at the same fair; this is the only internet material I could find on it:

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=11367

OK, this gives us an idea of what I think this could look like; what would you specifically put in it?

I think it would be great to have favorite, specific locations recreated in this exhibit.  Examples could include a number of major and secondary cities , some of which had or still have magnificent stations  (Boston, Ma., Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Pa, Jacksonville, Fl., New Orleans, La., Portland, Or., and so on--maybe Wheeling, W.Va. As it used to be. . .); with equally famous rail locations (Zoo Junction outside Philadelphia, Horseshoe Curve in Pennsylvania, the New River Gorge in West Virginia, Donner Pass in California, the Feather River Canyon, and of course the narrow-gauge country of Colorado).  Rail equipment would be appropriate to era  and location.  It sounds like a lot, but remember how large the Miniatur Wunderland is, and that it is not near completed size yet.

Of course, this is still a huge thing to do, and this is a large country--maybe we could use more than one in different regions, perhaps as a franchise system.  Oh, I also said that we could still use a bit of fantasy--specifically, it would be fun to somehow also work in a recreated Gorre & Daphetide and a Polar Express. . .

These are my thoughts; what would yours be?
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: pdlethbridge on May 22, 2010, 08:46:23 AM
Didn't one of the characters of the Sopranos have a layout in his garage?
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: J3a-614 on May 23, 2010, 12:19:14 AM
Found someone else at Disney who was apparently quite a live-steam/large scale man, a bit surpising, I didn't know he was into this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH7vb71oy_M



Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Terry Toenges on May 23, 2010, 08:22:30 PM
I want Donald's layout.
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: jbsmith on May 30, 2010, 01:43:07 PM
Another Famous Layout,,Almost forgot about this one, think i'll pay it a visit tomorrow since it is not too far away

http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/the-great-train-story/

imagine an HO scale Sears Tower on your layout.
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: buzz on May 31, 2010, 08:45:46 AM
Hi
I would have to agree with John Allen and Frank Ellison for the US
For the UK I submit Rev Awdry who was a serious railway modeler
whose accidental legacy is Thomas the tank engine.
Peter Denny very recently deceased whose Buckingham Branch was well known through the UK model railway press.
And the Madder Valley regrettably I cannot remember who built that but that railway is now in the Pendon museum in the UK this also had a number of articles in the UK model railway press.
It was one of if not the first UK layouts to take to take a whole landscape
approach,
Rather than just concentrate on what was within the railway fence line.
Which was the common way of doing things back then.
regards John
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: jbsmith on June 01, 2010, 12:10:21 AM
i went and saw the layout at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago today.
That layout is BIG! No doubt it is the largest HO layout I have ever seen. The Sears Tower model is awesome!
Must be close to 10ft tall. You can see it here in the upper right

http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/the-great-train-story/the-exhibit/how-the-exhibit-was-created/testing-and-maintenance/

The photos in the above link do it injustice.  
In the downtown Chicago section there is an working model of the  "L".
Other sections represent the outer edges of Chicago, the prairies, the Rockies, and finaly Seattle. Yes there is selective compression even on this monster of a layout.
At Seattle there is the Space Needle,the water front with a container ship,King Street Station and other stuff.
Here and there are buttons you can push to make things happen, like sounding the container ships horn and
making a container crane move. There is one that makes a tree fall over and the word "Timber!" is heard from a well
concealed speaker. At another place pressing the button activates a Metra train.

There is 1400 feet of track.
Most of the trains were BNSF and a couple of Amtraks.
Some of the BNSF locos were in a green and white scheme i have never seen before.

I spotted at least one Bachmann loco for certain, a 2-8-0 Rock Island parked on a spur.
I have the same loco, that is how I recognized it.

The rest of the lot, who knows? Probably at least one from all of the usuall suspects.

Most of the smaller buildings are the same ones we can get from any hobby shop. Woodland Scenics, DPM, Walthers, Atlas and so on.
Of course all of the big skyscrapers were custom built.

If you ever get the chance, it is well worth visiting.
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: jbsmith on June 01, 2010, 12:29:28 AM
Only slightly off topic but related to the Chicago MS&I layout.

There is a real locomotive on display, New York Central #999. It is a 4-4-0.
Said to once hit a top speed of 112.5 MPH.
I was blown away by how LARGE this 4-4-0 is. I have seen 4-4-0s' before but none came close to this one. As tall as a Berkshire i swear.
The main drive wheels alone are 7-feet 2-inches tall.

http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/transportation-gallery/the-exhibit/999-steam-locomotive/

in case you are wondering, in the upper right of the photo, that is a Spitfire made to look like it is chasing the Stuka the museum also has.
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Doneldon on June 01, 2010, 01:25:21 AM
jb -

I'm so glad you enjoyed the HO layout at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. (We old Chicago natives refer to it as the Rosenwald Museum because that family built the building for the 1893 Columbian Exhibition -- World's Fair in today's parlance.)  It is the only building still standing.  Contrary to popular belief, the Field Museum of Natural History near downtown, the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium are not left over from the Columbian (which, incidentally was held in 1894, not 1893.  They said 1893 because it was 400 years after Columbus and Chicagoans have never been reluctant to stretch the truth.)

I grew up with the original AT&SF O-gauge layout which was located in the same place as the new set-up.  It was 40'x40' or so and very impressive.  It was installed in the 1930s and rehabbed and retracked in the 50s, all paid for by the Santa Fe which was headquartered in Chicago and well immersed in the City's cultural and financial lives.  But the exhibit ran every day and eventually became antiquated in appearance and a maintenance nightmare.  The rail, which was solid steel unlike Lionel O rail, was so worn that no railhead remained; the trains were running on the tops of the webs!

Somehow the Rosenwald convinced the Big New Santa Fe to build a new layout which accounts for the BNSF equipment and end points.  I see you noticed the El in Chicago but did you also see the subway running under the city?

The NYC 999 is a great loco and it does look huge with those 86" drivers standing on top of the rails and simulated roadbed.  The tops of the drivers are nearly 10' above the actual floor.  I see the museum says the original cost was on the order of $13K.  I understand the rehab cost $1.25, about 100 times as much as the loco cost new.

In addition to the layout and other exhibits in that area, plus tons of high-quality, larger-scale train models in the basement, the large open space adjacent to the main museum entrance houses an AT&SF 2900-class Northern and the original Pioneer Zephyr. 

I hope you looked at more than just the trains.  The whole place is a marvel and a wonderful way to spend a day in Chicago with children.  Next time you go, plan to hit the Chicago Historical Society for some fine railroad and other history, and the Illinois Transportation Museum in Union where they have a bunch of stuff, much of it running.  Union is about 90 minutes northwest of the city, just off the Northwest Tollway.

                                                                           -- D
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: ebtnut on June 01, 2010, 01:41:33 PM
Just for the record, the specs given for No. 999 are for it's as-built design with the 86" drivers.  The NYC rebuilt the engine sometime later with the smaller drivers (72", if memory holds) when 4-4-0's began being replaced in main line service with Atlantics and Pacifics.  These are what the engine has now.  I'm glad to see the engine indoors.  Last time I saw it, it was displayed outdoors, and suffering for it. 
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Doneldon on June 01, 2010, 02:37:31 PM
ebt -

Yes, it was outdoors, just landward of Lake Michigan and the Outer Drive.  The Santa Fe Northern, Pioneer Zephyr and U505 were there, too.  You could see the deterioration on all three as time went by.  And you could see it just driving past; you didn't need to go through the museum to get close access.
                                                                             -- D
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: jbsmith on June 01, 2010, 07:08:02 PM
Doneldon
That was my first time there since i was in grade school [1970s]  and i remember the "O" scale.
Yep i saw the sub-way!
I took my dad with me, we saw the coal mine tour which he in turn had not seen since he was in grade school [1940s].
We saw almost everything, took the Zephyr tour, the free part of the U-505, old  time main street and lots of other stuff.
I think the only things we missed were the Navy tech and the ships part.
The U-505 is now indoors too! you can even touch the hull.  went thru the 727.
I was wow-ed by how much had changed there at the MSI since the late 1970s.
We left when both of us started to get foot sore, and the thunderstorm had mostly passed on over the lake.

Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: Doneldon on June 02, 2010, 02:35:10 AM
jb -

Yes, it's a terrific place.  Having the U505 inside has saved the sub.  It was restored to be fully operational, well, except for the two huge holes through the hull, and the temperature and humidity changes outside were ruining everything.  It was a genuine oven in there on a hot summer day.  The inside tour is better now than when it was outside.  The only down side is that they had to remove the periscopes and radio mast to get it into that futuristic sub pen.  Do the tour next time you go.  I'll bet you'll be happy you did.

Are you an old Chicagoan?  You seem to be very familiar with the museum.  I was born in the city, lived there through high school and college, and again when in the Navy.  I only go now to take the grandchildren as I have no more family anywhere in Chicagoland.  But I'm still proud of being a Chicagoan.  And I mean Chicagoan, not a suburbanite.

                                                                          -- D
Title: Re: Famous Train Layouts
Post by: J3a-614 on June 02, 2010, 02:50:00 AM
Sounds like something to see!  Wish I could get out there.