Creating a model railroad layout that represents a real life environment, and in such a small space is an amazing example of storytelling. This layout, should be an inspiration to anyone who wants to build a model railroad, but doesn’t have a lot of space. I am blown away by the attention to detail, the use of trackage, and weathering, which is very realistic. Bravo on a project well executed.
Thanks David - appreciate the feedback. Small layouts (or shelf layouts where overall surface space is efficiently used) are great ways to really get into the details.
It’s sure is. I have little space and was set on an HO scale layout till I seen this video. I so want to model a combination of the Chicago’s Metro and freight railroad.
This layout never ceases to amaze me. Amazing that this is N scale. Well detailed without being so detailed it looks cluttered. I've seen that on many layouts. Too much detailing and super detailing can very quickly become overkill and ruin a scene. Eric , you got it just right! Damn maybe I should start working on mine lol
I love your use of the space and attention to detail! You've done it in such a way that the scenes feel really big even though they're all so compact! I'm also in awe of the weathering on cars and buildings. Simply fantastic-your project will be an inspiration for my own layout hopes. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Amir. Granted the camera always seems to add a few acres, but I think the way the elements play together does help to give every diorama its own viewing angle and sense of unique, non-overlapping surroundings. Most people who visit the layout in person are shocked by how tiny it is in reality.
This was an unexpected find.verry well done i am from chicago.my father in law worked for bridgeport metals and my brother in law worked for the GT belt line.i moved to NV years ago and now i am doing my lay out.little bigger but you have some verry good ideas! Thank you!
Thanks for writing in Richard. Funny when you run into viewers who know people who worked at some of the real industries represented here on the layout. I've had that happen a few times! My family has deep roots in Bridgeport, my father graduated high school with Richard Daley. Glad you're enjoying model railroading and thank you for stopping by!
Pass the awards,please"To the artists doing spectacular art to capture big city in density, green spaces and lived in grime well done.,,! Beautiful work.
What an absolutely amazing layout! I love dirty city industry scenes! The weathering on the cars is amazing! All the different areas to switch are really fun looking too!
Nice work man ! I’m originally from the North side of Chicago myself (near Wrigley field) .I can see where your many influences for you layout ideas are from.Very nice indeed. Myself as kid I loved looking at that giant layout at Science & Industry museum in Chicago. I always love visiting that place just for the huge layout.
Thank you Christopher - I spent a lot of time around that area when I lived in the city after college. MSI was always a favorite, I saw both generations of model train layout there - the old O scale Santa Fe and the Great Train Story. I was impressed by both, but the current layout is really fantastic.
Glad to hear Jim. The scale does make some things more finicky, but I've generally found 1:1 parity between what can be done in HO versus N in terms of detailing models.
That's awesome. If nothing else I'm shooting for atmosphere, I figure if other Chicago folks see what I see and react the same way then I'm not deluding myself :)
I only recently started following your channel and very much enjoy watching. Being an N scaler, I am always on the lookout for good content, and to be honest, your channel provides a great deal of inspiration for me. About half of my layout is urban, and I find the attention to detail you bring amazing, and somewhat rare in our scale. Thank you for this tour, and have a prosperous new year.
Thank you for sharing and for supporting the channel! I agree it's been more challenging in this scale to do the sort of finescale modeling we see in HO for instance, with all the advances in laser etching and 3D printing maybe this will change. In the meantime, modeling a pile of garbage flowing out of a dumpster still represents a 2024 new years resolution for me.
I really enjoyed this tour. Your attention to detail is beyond reproach. I especially liked the night vision aspect of the tour. Somehow the lighting and detail takes the "toyness" out of the picture. Keep up the good work.
Really cool stuff, I love the weathering and other detailing to really set the age and time period of your layout. It's so satisfying to see so much visual identity and story telling packed in here, especially for its modest size.
Your layout is well thought out. Most guys with a smaller layout put too much track in there space, yours would be fun to not only rail fan but switching also. I am sure when you get visitors the layout tells the story. You have packed in a lot of fun but it is not cluttered. I enjoyed the tour.
Thank you Will, appreciate your perspective and wisdom as always (and I totally agree - easy to turn these door-size things into spaghetti bowls). I really like the concept you describe about the layout telling the story, I don't always think about that in a concrete way but it makes sense. These are visual art projects, and whether a viewer intuitively 'gets it' and connects with what they see on some level is a useful metric.
The more i see of your layout the more mesmerized i am,I'm always seeing something i didn't previously. You are the master at detail and capturing the industrial grittiness of our city sir!
It's an amazing layout with so many details in such a small footprint. Can't wait to see what you add in 2024. Gives me inspiration and motivation to keep at it with my N scale layout.
Wow! Love the layout! I lived in the city for four years before moving to Lake County. I loved riding the El and watching the city go by. Each street, each alley, each corner had a different story to tell. I really want to build an urban layout.
Thanks Darin! It's true, you get a lot of stories colliding in an urban environment, which is part of what attracts me to that genre for model railroads!
Great job! My father worked for Finkl from the 70’s till early 90’s. I remember seeing the Milwaukee MP15AC’s switch out the gons. I can still remember the smells. Keep up the great work. New subscriber!
Hey thanks Greg for sharing the family connection and the memories. Pretty rare nowadays for anyone to work somewhere for 20 years or so. I would have loved to see the old Milwaukee Road stuff in operation, by the time I was visiting Finkl it was being switched by CN or something, prior to the Chicago Terminal days. I do remember that smell though!!! Thank you for supporting the channel!
@@ChicagoCrossingRRI'll keep connected mate! 😉 "Challenging with any creative, handmade details in smallest model-scales is simply something special and just great" 😘 ...Happy modeling 🍀🍀
What a lovely tour. Your layout really is inspirational. It is the details that give it so much character and realism. I was delighted to see the night time shots. There are some very good and very cheap lighted motor cars available from the Chinese markets. They look stunning and could make a useful addition if you could bear to have some foreign cars on your layout. Their BMW replicas are pretty recognisable.
Thanks Mel! I've seen those LED-lighted cars on the market and they do look great at 'night' (I have a bunch of the non-lighted versions from that manufacturer on the layout). I'll very likely be putting some in next time I do a wiring pass on the layout!
What amazing detail you have brought to this layout. The buildings, the vessels, the people, the rivers, the tracks. All extraordinary. I am a freight locomotive engineer with BNSF Railway, and at the risk of being accused of being a “foamer”, I gotta say, this is wonderful and so very realistic. Thank you for this.
Ha, thanks for that, always good to know whether it passes muster at least as a caricature of the real thing with folks who may see this stuff as part of their career.
Dude, Your weathering is amazing ! Even on the containers looks incredible. OMG ! Even the CFD (Chicago Fire Department) Engine No 47 has the correct paint scheme for the city !! You have captured the true essence of Chicago. My ONLY complaint is that the Chicago River is not green enough ...LOL. From a rail fan and former Darien (area) suburban Firefighter...
Thanks Jeff and yep were it St. Paddy's that river would be like radioactive green! The engine is an athearn model and you're right that they got the paint scheme just right. The only mods I'd need to make to it to match prototype are to remove the light bar and add the correct beacons, and then add tray on the front bumper where they added a hose and inlet for a hydrant connection - just that little something that really would make it CFD!
That Conrail is one of my favorite locos, it was the guinea pig for my first crack at hand-weathering a loco and it turned out reasonably well. As a kid, the Conrail blue was my favorite livery behind the Indiana Harbor Belt orange/black. Had I grown up out east, that would have been my line of choice for sure.
@ChicagoCrossingRR I grew up on the NYC Main line from Anderson Indiana to Elkhart yards in Elkhart Indiana it's the Dow line, it got into really bad shape from the NYC to Penn Central then Conrail took over and totally rebuilt it as it was very heavily used North and South everyday, I was modeling in HO but I'm going to N Scale for a 15x10 Conrail layout now!! Keep up the great work, I love seeing how realistic N Scale can be!!!
@@conrailfan6277 thank you for supporting the channel - and makes sense why you enjoy modeling Conrail! I'd see Conrail stuff on the IHB (which was co-founded by NYC after all, guess it makes sense Conrail traffic would show up there), hence my love for those two railroads.
Impressive layout, impressive presentation and impressive thought processes and priorities. Thanks very much for taking the effort to create and post such a thoughtful, comprehensive and polished video.
Great tour Eric! You bought back a lot of memories through your layout. Coincidentally my wife and I were driving on Kingsbury Ave. yesterday, and were talking about how much everything has been gentrified. My wife once had a temp assignment at Finkle Steel on Cortland as an accountant. Funny that she grew up where it is now located . "Big ups 👍 from Chicago "Train Dawg!"
Thank you Steven! I agree that area is nothing like it used to be. I'm happy to see more folks living in the city but something in me misses the dirty industrial version of the Goose Island I knew when I lived in Chicago. I read a couple of news stories from 1-2 years ago about a slag explosion at the new Finkl plant sending hot debris into the neighboring houses and setting fires. I couldn't imagine that happening in the middle of the crowded north side, especially nowadays. Crazy stuff - happy new year to you and your family!
This is a beautiful layout and is very accurate of the Chicago scenes! I could watch all your vids like this, or play on the layout allll day! Very nice work!👌🏾
Really nice Layout on such a small space. I enjoyed you sharing your thoughtprocess. Must be a Trip down memory lane for you in some areas of the layout. I really enjoy detailed layouts where you transport a feeling/a past way of living to the viewer. On some small layouts you can spend hours discovering new hidden sceneries or simply talk with the builder.
Totally agree about the trip down memory lane, and it's a lot of fun. If I could easily get this thing out of the basement I'd probably try to show it at a train show.
This is simply incredible! The level of detail would be amazing on HO, let alone that this is N-scale. Holy cow. This may be a perfect layout - not too much track, but so many opportunities for switching; flows very well, yet is prototypical of the city; and all in a compact space. Amazing. Well done!
Thank you Steve, much appreciated! I wish the layout truly were perfect, I'll admit that the tight curves can restrict what I run and how, and forget autoracks!
Thanks for supporting the channel! Really love the variety of trains and layouts on your channel - I've always wanted to run some European stuff, especially in N!
That bridge reminds me of Lionel Train Town Deluxe for PC. As a european, I had never seen those exact ebridges in real life before. So this definitely reactivated a chidhood memory.
Thank you for reaching out Bill - and thanks for building an incredible layout. It's been a lot of fun studying the Kingsbury. I first saw the layout back in the 90s and it stuck with me ever since.
I love layouts that capture a time and place without needing to be exact scale replicas. Really nice job. I used to ride the Metra for many years and saw a lot of these locations change over time. Lived not too far from Finkl Steel for a while around the time it was razed.
I've really enjoyed working to capture the essence even if I can't build the 'real' thing - always glad it shows through! Good thing you don't live by Finkl now (the new location down south), I think it was a couple of years back a slag explosion at the plant set a couple of nearby houses on fire.
I said this when I first subscribed to your channel, but this review made me want to comment once more. You have done a great job of capturing the look and feel of Chicago in N scale and should be very happy and proud. Happy New Year and Cheers from Wisconsin!
Wow , what an absolutely amazing display. The amount of detail and thought put into this is mind boggling, I don't even want to think about the countless hours you must have put into this beautiful display, the detail on everything is so lifelike and the lighting is absolutely amazing. I have no idea why your channel popped up in my feed but I sure am glad it did. I have subbed as I can't wait to see what else you do to this incredible build. Cheers from Australia
Thanks Wayne - glad you stumbled on the video and enjoyed it. The layout is about 8 years old, so as you can guess it's a lot of time placed into a 3x7 footprint. I'm pretty much the type that prefers to just settle in with a layout and work it over the long haul. Cheers and much appreciated for your support of the channel!
What a lovely piece of modeling! I am retiring in a couple of years and plan to take up model railroading as one of my other time-consuming hobbies. Your layout is an inspiration. Thank you for sharing.
Beautiful layout very well done it is amazing how much railroading you can put into a small area It looks so much more realistic than many large layouts that have too many tracks and industries that are rarely utilized
Thanks Othmar, it's easy to have a spaghetti bowl on a layout. Much more track than what is on there would definitely spoil the layout. Keeping track hidden from view at any one angle also helps, the buildings and trees can provide a decent view block that keeps things interesting.
Excellent! You have an incredible eye for detailing and weathering, I had to double check the video's title to confirm that you're modeling in "N" scale and not "HO". So realistic, very well done.
Creating a model railroad layout that represents a real life environment, and in such a small space is an amazing example of storytelling. This layout, should be an inspiration to anyone who wants to build a model railroad, but doesn’t have a lot of space. I am blown away by the attention to detail, the use of trackage, and weathering, which is very realistic. Bravo on a project well executed.
Thanks David - appreciate the feedback. Small layouts (or shelf layouts where overall surface space is efficiently used) are great ways to really get into the details.
It’s sure is. I have little space and was set on an HO scale layout till I seen this video. I so want to model a combination of the Chicago’s Metro and freight railroad.
@@dalemadison2368 should be a fun project Dale!
This has got to be one of the best N scale layouts I've seen yet! I love the track plan too.
Thanks Harold!
Just absolutely mesmerized by the era detail and how you pulled everything together. What an awesome accomplishment.
Thank you!!
This layout never ceases to amaze me. Amazing that this is N scale. Well detailed without being so detailed it looks cluttered. I've seen that on many layouts. Too much detailing and super detailing can very quickly become overkill and ruin a scene. Eric , you got it just right! Damn maybe I should start working on mine lol
I love your use of the space and attention to detail! You've done it in such a way that the scenes feel really big even though they're all so compact! I'm also in awe of the weathering on cars and buildings. Simply fantastic-your project will be an inspiration for my own layout hopes. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Amir. Granted the camera always seems to add a few acres, but I think the way the elements play together does help to give every diorama its own viewing angle and sense of unique, non-overlapping surroundings. Most people who visit the layout in person are shocked by how tiny it is in reality.
That Chicago Belt Line diesel in the opening scene put a big smile on my face!
One of my favorite railroads, that and IHB :).
This was an unexpected find.verry well done i am from chicago.my father in law worked for bridgeport metals and my brother in law worked for the GT belt line.i moved to NV years ago and now i am doing my lay out.little bigger but you have some verry good ideas! Thank you!
Thanks for writing in Richard. Funny when you run into viewers who know people who worked at some of the real industries represented here on the layout. I've had that happen a few times! My family has deep roots in Bridgeport, my father graduated high school with Richard Daley. Glad you're enjoying model railroading and thank you for stopping by!
Pass the awards,please"To the artists doing spectacular art to capture big city in density, green spaces and lived in grime well done.,,! Beautiful work.
Thanks Allen!! Much appreciated!
What an absolutely amazing layout! I love dirty city industry scenes! The weathering on the cars is amazing! All the different areas to switch are really fun looking too!
Thank you! It's a fun layout to operate, though I find myself spending more time building stuff on it than running trains! 😅
So much railroad in such a compact space, without feeling crowded. Love it, man!
Thank you! Have a great new year, love seeing what you can do with weathering and detailing in O scale - great channel!!
Nice work man ! I’m originally from the North side of Chicago myself (near Wrigley field) .I can see where your many influences for you layout ideas are from.Very nice indeed. Myself as kid I loved looking at that giant layout at Science & Industry museum in Chicago. I always love visiting that place just for the huge layout.
Thank you Christopher - I spent a lot of time around that area when I lived in the city after college. MSI was always a favorite, I saw both generations of model train layout there - the old O scale Santa Fe and the Great Train Story. I was impressed by both, but the current layout is really fantastic.
This has completely changed my view about N scale. The level of detail you can create, despite the small scale, is truly amazing.
Glad to hear Jim. The scale does make some things more finicky, but I've generally found 1:1 parity between what can be done in HO versus N in terms of detailing models.
Wow!!! The detail! The story being told! It's like watching a movie that you wished would never end... Subscribed 😁
Really appreciate the kind words, thank you for supporting the channel!
Excellent layout tour. I'm really inspired by the level of detail and the overall functioning. Thanks for sharing 👍🏾.
Sure thing Ron, thanks for watching and supporting the channel!
Fabulous layout... you could keep busy on it all day without getting bored. Would be a great layout for dad and kids or grandpa and grandkids.
It’s a lot of fun for sure. Granted I spend most of the time working on it rather than operating it!
I've mentioned before how much I admire and enjoy your lay-out. Can't believe how small it is - well done.
Thank you Gary - happy new year to you and yours!
This layout has become my favorite. Definitely reminds me of what I grew up around.
That's awesome. If nothing else I'm shooting for atmosphere, I figure if other Chicago folks see what I see and react the same way then I'm not deluding myself :)
Such a wonderful use of a small space!
Thank you Jerry, have a great new year!
I only recently started following your channel and very much enjoy watching. Being an N scaler, I am always on the lookout for good content, and to be honest, your channel provides a great deal of inspiration for me. About half of my layout is urban, and I find the attention to detail you bring amazing, and somewhat rare in our scale. Thank you for this tour, and have a prosperous new year.
Thank you for sharing and for supporting the channel! I agree it's been more challenging in this scale to do the sort of finescale modeling we see in HO for instance, with all the advances in laser etching and 3D printing maybe this will change. In the meantime, modeling a pile of garbage flowing out of a dumpster still represents a 2024 new years resolution for me.
I really enjoyed this tour. Your attention to detail is beyond reproach. I especially liked the night vision aspect of the tour. Somehow the lighting and detail takes the "toyness" out of the picture. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Jim! I agree - good lighting adds a really nice dimension to the models.
Really cool stuff, I love the weathering and other detailing to really set the age and time period of your layout. It's so satisfying to see so much visual identity and story telling packed in here, especially for its modest size.
Thank you! Small/shelf layouts can be a great way to really drill down and create some interesting scenes.
Your layout is well thought out. Most guys with a smaller layout put too much track in there space, yours would be fun to not only rail fan but switching also. I am sure when you get visitors the layout tells the story. You have packed in a lot of fun but it is not cluttered. I enjoyed the tour.
Thank you Will, appreciate your perspective and wisdom as always (and I totally agree - easy to turn these door-size things into spaghetti bowls). I really like the concept you describe about the layout telling the story, I don't always think about that in a concrete way but it makes sense. These are visual art projects, and whether a viewer intuitively 'gets it' and connects with what they see on some level is a useful metric.
The more i see of your layout the more mesmerized i am,I'm always seeing something i didn't previously. You are the master at detail and capturing the industrial grittiness of our city sir!
Thanks Carl - you’ve been one of the OG supporters of this channel, really appreciate your comments and continued interest. Cheers sir!
Awesome little layout, really captures the essence of Chicago.
Thanks Don! Always happy when the location comes across clearly to people who aren't me!
That’s insane modeling, especially in n scale. Well done!
Thanks Ethan!
It's an amazing layout with so many details in such a small footprint. Can't wait to see what you add in 2024. Gives me inspiration and motivation to keep at it with my N scale layout.
Thank you! You've got a beautiful layout so just go one scene at a time :)
Wow! Love the layout! I lived in the city for four years before moving to Lake County. I loved riding the El and watching the city go by. Each street, each alley, each corner had a different story to tell. I really want to build an urban layout.
Thanks Darin! It's true, you get a lot of stories colliding in an urban environment, which is part of what attracts me to that genre for model railroads!
this was a pleasure to watch! As a fellow n scale modeler, I respect the amount of detail you have shown in this. Thank You
Thanks Andrew! Always great to meet other members of the N scale community!
Great job! My father worked for Finkl from the 70’s till early 90’s. I remember seeing the Milwaukee MP15AC’s switch out the gons. I can still remember the smells.
Keep up the great work. New subscriber!
Hey thanks Greg for sharing the family connection and the memories. Pretty rare nowadays for anyone to work somewhere for 20 years or so. I would have loved to see the old Milwaukee Road stuff in operation, by the time I was visiting Finkl it was being switched by CN or something, prior to the Chicago Terminal days. I do remember that smell though!!! Thank you for supporting the channel!
Damn good job on the layout, but you left me speechless on the video, really nice job.........
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!!
"HAPPY NEW YEAR" Eric🎉 Thanks for your great railroad tour❤ .."👏👏👏" ...Enjoyed it!!! Cheers, Olli
Thanks Olli - happy new year to you!
@@ChicagoCrossingRRI'll keep connected mate! 😉 "Challenging with any creative, handmade details in smallest model-scales is simply something special and just great" 😘 ...Happy modeling 🍀🍀
Outstanding! at 11:43 you can almost see a feral cat running beside the shipping containers in the glow from street light!
totally. 💯❤
Looks like I'll need to add one of those!😆
Fantastic layout!! Superb design and detail !!!
Thanks Alfred!
Very nice work! I had to remind myself that you said "N Scale". I'm doing an industrial area on my HO layout and you have provided several ideas.
Thanks Gary, glad the layout offers some ideas. I love what can be done in HO.
What a lovely tour. Your layout really is inspirational. It is the details that give it so much character and realism. I was delighted to see the night time shots. There are some very good and very cheap lighted motor cars available from the Chinese markets. They look stunning and could make a useful addition if you could bear to have some foreign cars on your layout. Their BMW replicas are pretty recognisable.
Thanks Mel! I've seen those LED-lighted cars on the market and they do look great at 'night' (I have a bunch of the non-lighted versions from that manufacturer on the layout). I'll very likely be putting some in next time I do a wiring pass on the layout!
This is a very creative and artistic success. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Harold, appreciate your comments and support!
What amazing detail you have brought to this layout. The buildings, the vessels, the people, the rivers, the tracks. All extraordinary. I am a freight locomotive engineer with BNSF Railway, and at the risk of being accused of being a “foamer”, I gotta say, this is wonderful and so very realistic. Thank you for this.
Ha, thanks for that, always good to know whether it passes muster at least as a caricature of the real thing with folks who may see this stuff as part of their career.
So very welcome. I’m following now and look forward to any and all updates!
@@RailroadGuy49 thanks John for supporting the channel!
@@ChicagoCrossingRR you betcha!
Super nice, beautiful weathering!
Thank you, much appreciated!
Great modelling! Really enjoyed the update.
Thank you, happy new year!
Impeccable detail, outstanding job...
Thank you Ted, Cheers!
This is an amazing layout. It's seriously impressive the level of detail and operations you've been able to fit in while makin it look realistic
Thanks Matt - I think that's all a benefit of a smaller layout, more time to focus on the small stuff that matters!
Dude, Your weathering is amazing ! Even on the containers looks incredible. OMG ! Even the CFD (Chicago Fire Department) Engine No 47 has the correct paint scheme for the city !! You have captured the true essence of Chicago.
My ONLY complaint is that the Chicago River is not green enough ...LOL.
From a rail fan and former Darien (area) suburban Firefighter...
Thanks Jeff and yep were it St. Paddy's that river would be like radioactive green! The engine is an athearn model and you're right that they got the paint scheme just right. The only mods I'd need to make to it to match prototype are to remove the light bar and add the correct beacons, and then add tray on the front bumper where they added a hose and inlet for a hydrant connection - just that little something that really would make it CFD!
What a great little layout! Definitely captures the feel of Chicago! Thanks for sharing it with us!
You bet! Glad you enjoyed!
Great scenes and excellent videography, too.
Thank you!
Gorgeous layout that captures the scene and tone in such a realistic manner! Your weathering is phenomenal! Your detailing is perfect.
Thank you Brad, glad you enjoyed!
Great video as always! I really love all the details. Gives me a lot of ideas for my own layout.
Thanks and cheers! I must say your layout is already incredibly well developed so I've been paying quite a bit of attention to it in turn.
That is one great looking layout.....Nicely done
Thank you!!
Utterly mesmerising, thankyou.
Thanks Nick, glad you enjoyed. Cheers!
Great layout! Superb job! 😮🔝👏 Greetings from Italy!
Thank you Gio!
This is a fabulous layout - love it.
Thank you Tom!
Amazing work and creativity bro. ❤️☺️🇦🇺👍
Much appreciated, and thank you for supporting the layout and channel!
Just amazing. I wish I had the talent. But I'll settle for enjoying your skill.
Thanks much! It's been quite a few years of trial and error on my part, and still a long ways to go to reallly get 'expert' at this stuff.
Great details! Great imagination! I'll be watching... 😁
Thanks Tom, much appreciated!!
Excellent. Well done layout and well done presentation.
Thanks Jim, cheers!
Magnificent unbelievable detail!
Thanks John!
Very nicely done! Thank you for sharing!
You bet James, thank you for supporting the channel!
One word - “Magnificent”
Thank you!
Very nice modeling, that would be a cool layout to operate after working all day!!! Also nice seeing a Conrail unit working the scrap yard!! 😁😁
That Conrail is one of my favorite locos, it was the guinea pig for my first crack at hand-weathering a loco and it turned out reasonably well. As a kid, the Conrail blue was my favorite livery behind the Indiana Harbor Belt orange/black. Had I grown up out east, that would have been my line of choice for sure.
@ChicagoCrossingRR I grew up on the NYC Main line from Anderson
Indiana to Elkhart yards in Elkhart Indiana it's the Dow line, it got into
really bad shape from the NYC to
Penn Central then Conrail took over
and totally rebuilt it as it was very
heavily used North and South everyday, I was modeling in HO but
I'm going to N Scale for a 15x10
Conrail layout now!! Keep up the
great work, I love seeing how realistic N Scale can be!!!
I just subbed!! 👍👍👍👍👍
@@conrailfan6277 thank you for supporting the channel - and makes sense why you enjoy modeling Conrail! I'd see Conrail stuff on the IHB (which was co-founded by NYC after all, guess it makes sense Conrail traffic would show up there), hence my love for those two railroads.
Very impressive!
Thank you Olivia!
Impressive layout, impressive presentation and impressive thought processes and priorities. Thanks very much for taking the effort to create and post such a thoughtful, comprehensive and polished video.
You bet! Thank you for supporting the channel!
Great tour Eric! You bought back a lot of memories through your layout. Coincidentally my wife and I were driving on Kingsbury Ave. yesterday, and were talking about how much everything has been gentrified. My wife once had a temp assignment at Finkle Steel on Cortland as an accountant. Funny that she grew up where it is now located . "Big ups 👍 from Chicago "Train Dawg!"
Thank you Steven! I agree that area is nothing like it used to be. I'm happy to see more folks living in the city but something in me misses the dirty industrial version of the Goose Island I knew when I lived in Chicago. I read a couple of news stories from 1-2 years ago about a slag explosion at the new Finkl plant sending hot debris into the neighboring houses and setting fires. I couldn't imagine that happening in the middle of the crowded north side, especially nowadays. Crazy stuff - happy new year to you and your family!
This is a beautiful layout and is very accurate of the Chicago scenes! I could watch all your vids like this, or play on the layout allll day! Very nice work!👌🏾
Thanks Warren - it is a fun layout to run!
Always enjoy. Thanks for all the videos you do. Happy New Year
Thanks Mike, much appreciated. Happy new year!
Really nice Layout on such a small space. I enjoyed you sharing your thoughtprocess. Must be a Trip down memory lane for you in some areas of the layout. I really enjoy detailed layouts where you transport a feeling/a past way of living to the viewer. On some small layouts you can spend hours discovering new hidden sceneries or simply talk with the builder.
Totally agree about the trip down memory lane, and it's a lot of fun. If I could easily get this thing out of the basement I'd probably try to show it at a train show.
This layout is top notch. The more I look at it the more I love it.
Your graffiti is great too! Keep it up, brother
Thank you, glad you’ve enjoyed!!
Wow this is the first video I’m seeing of yours and I have to say I’m a huge fan now so much inspiration and ideas I have gained thanks for sharing
You bet, thanks for supporting the channel Mike!
This is simply incredible! The level of detail would be amazing on HO, let alone that this is N-scale. Holy cow. This may be a perfect layout - not too much track, but so many opportunities for switching; flows very well, yet is prototypical of the city; and all in a compact space. Amazing. Well done!
Thank you Steve, much appreciated! I wish the layout truly were perfect, I'll admit that the tight curves can restrict what I run and how, and forget autoracks!
Wonderful tour of a wonderful model railroad, I really aspire to this level of modelling! Thanks so much for posting
Thanks for supporting the channel! Really love the variety of trains and layouts on your channel - I've always wanted to run some European stuff, especially in N!
That bridge reminds me of Lionel Train Town Deluxe for PC. As a european, I had never seen those exact ebridges in real life before. So this definitely reactivated a chidhood memory.
Awesome! I was mid-way through college when that game came out, god knows if I'd learned about it then I probably wouldn't have a PhD now!
Beautiful layout. Well done.
Thank you Jim!
Great layout. Nice to see others modeling urban industrial areas. Also thanks for the shout out!
Thank you for reaching out Bill - and thanks for building an incredible layout. It's been a lot of fun studying the Kingsbury. I first saw the layout back in the 90s and it stuck with me ever since.
So well done, love seeing small layouts done well, in so many ways.
Thanks John - anything larger than this and I probably wouldn't have been able to handle it. This is an 8-year old layout!
Incredible layout you have.
Thanks David!
Truly amazing. I'm inspired with many ideas for my particular railroad.
Thank you and will love to know how it goes - happy new year!
I love this layout. So much going on in a small space.
Thanks David!
I love layouts that capture a time and place without needing to be exact scale replicas. Really nice job. I used to ride the Metra for many years and saw a lot of these locations change over time. Lived not too far from Finkl Steel for a while around the time it was razed.
I've really enjoyed working to capture the essence even if I can't build the 'real' thing - always glad it shows through! Good thing you don't live by Finkl now (the new location down south), I think it was a couple of years back a slag explosion at the plant set a couple of nearby houses on fire.
Nice job my good friend please keep as posted for more videos 📹 thanks
Will do, thanks Horacio.
Such amazing detail for N scale. Very impressive. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Everett!
simply beautiful ❤❤ Happy New Year!
Thank you, and happy new year to you too!!
Nicely done,,thanks for sharing..😊
You're welcome Frank, glad you enjoyed!
Beautiful work, thanks for sharing!
You're welcome, thanks for supporting the channel!
Excellent details. I lived in Milwaukee in the late 90s and early 2000s and can definitely feel those Rust Belt, old industrial urban vibes.
Thanks Jon - I've always liked Milwaukee. Happy new year to you!
I said this when I first subscribed to your channel, but this review made me want to comment once more. You have done a great job of capturing the look and feel of Chicago in N scale and should be very happy and proud. Happy New Year and Cheers from Wisconsin!
Thanks Andrew, happy new year to you and yours!
Amazing layout and a really great video.
Thank you!
Wow , what an absolutely amazing display. The amount of detail and thought put into this is mind boggling, I don't even want to think about the countless hours you must have put into this beautiful display, the detail on everything is so lifelike and the lighting is absolutely amazing. I have no idea why your channel popped up in my feed but I sure am glad it did. I have subbed as I can't wait to see what else you do to this incredible build.
Cheers from Australia
Thanks Wayne - glad you stumbled on the video and enjoyed it. The layout is about 8 years old, so as you can guess it's a lot of time placed into a 3x7 footprint. I'm pretty much the type that prefers to just settle in with a layout and work it over the long haul. Cheers and much appreciated for your support of the channel!
Happy 2024! The layout details are outstanding. Looking forward to the new year of projects.
Thank you, have a great new year!!
Wow this is a beautiful layout, I love the design if I start over it’s gonna be like this similar layout design👍 Happy New Year 🥳
Thanks much! Happy new year to you too!!
Absolutely outstanding mate well done you should be very proud of this. The attention to detail is mind blowing
Thank you Damien!
Absolutely amazing. I wish I had this skill and talent.
I appreciate the kind note - it's a journey to get to where I am with the models, and quite a bit yet to learn.
What a lovely piece of modeling! I am retiring in a couple of years and plan to take up model railroading as one of my other time-consuming hobbies. Your layout is an inspiration. Thank you for sharing.
Absolutely! Good luck and it's a fun hobby, you'll enjoy!!
Nice layout. Great presentation!
Thank you Phil!
WOW!!! Totally amazing.
Thanks Chris!
That is beautiful!!!!!! 🌟⭐⭐🤩🤩
Thank you!
Excellent work, it looks very realistic. I really like the detail in such a small layout. Very nice.
Thanks Lance - the small layout format lends well to really digging in to create dioramas.
WOW! This is a wondaful layout! Most impressive. My hats off to you and your modeling talent. :)
Thanks Sean, cheers!
Beautiful layout very well done it is amazing how much railroading you can put into a small area
It looks so much more realistic than many large layouts that have too many tracks and industries that are rarely utilized
Thanks Othmar, it's easy to have a spaghetti bowl on a layout. Much more track than what is on there would definitely spoil the layout. Keeping track hidden from view at any one angle also helps, the buildings and trees can provide a decent view block that keeps things interesting.
Excellent! You have an incredible eye for detailing and weathering, I had to double check the video's title to confirm that you're modeling in "N" scale and not "HO". So realistic, very well done.
Thank you!! It is n scale, really appreciate the feedback!
Very nice tour! Looking forward to some of the new details (and I also need to catch up on the older videos)
Thanks Joel, much to come and thank you for supporting the channel - happy new year to you!
Beautiful layout
Thank you Ted!
Definitely a study in separating scenes on a small layout. This could be difficult in HO scale, but you've managed it very well in N.
Thank you Thomas!