I am travelling from the UK to visit the O scale March Meet in Chicago in March 2015. I will be in Milwaukee from 09-12 March and then in Chicago 12-15 March.
Does anyone have any recomendations of Model Railroad or railfan locations, events, clubs or layouts I could/should visit during my stay. I wont have a car so i would need to be able to get to them by taxi or public transportation.
[#welcome]
In Milwaukee, Walthers has a showroom and may be able to offer warehouse tour, depending on business from what I understand. Not sure about public transport on this one.
In Chicago south of the Loop near the lake, the Museum of Science and Industry has a great HO layout depicting Chicago to Seattle, highly condensed by still largely impressive. Public transport is readily available. Union Station is also in the general vicinity and there are several locations nearby for a little train spotting action, too.
Another plug for the MoSI layout, it’s quite impressive.
If you’re into old-school hobby shops, while in Chicago, Zientek’s is great-- a little out of the way transit-wise without a car, but worth it IMHO. Neat little treasure-hunting, walls-of-ancient-stock kind of place.
P
For layout tours and/or operating sessions in the Chicagoland area, you may want to check with the folks at AmRail. The members have some really nice layouts, including at least one in O-scale.
Gordon I am sure we’ll have no problems getting some guys together who can show you around to the various railfan locations, events, clubs or layouts during your brief stay in Milwaukee. One place I am sure you will want to visit, if they are open, is the Model Railroad Club of Milwaukee, which is not only located in an unusual and interesting old railroad structure under a bridge, but is one of the oldest clubs in the country and was the club that Al Kalmbach and William K Walthers themselves belonged to. For many model railroad visitors to Milwaukee that layout is regarded as a sort of shrine that must be visited. It is in O scale and is like a trip back in time. There are other fine clubs and layouts that you’d like to see, but frankly public transportation will not get you to some or even most of them. And taxis are not practical because taxis do NOT roam the streets of Milwaukee looking for fares. They park at the major hotels and at the airport and Amtrak station and that is about it. Plus you’d be spending money you’d rather spend on trains.
I will try to leave a message for you in this forum with contact information and as the date approaches we can firm up our plans.
Amended post - well I don’t seem able to send you a message in the forums. Perhaps the feature is not activated in your profile? Can you message me?
I can tell you that Milwaukee and Chicago can be chilly that time of year so bring warm clothing particularly for outdoor railfanning.
Dave Nelson
Thanks everyone for your replies to my post.
Dave I have sent you a friends invite hopefully this will let you send me a messge. I would be really grateful of any help you would be able to give me. It may well be better if I hire a car during my stay and if thats the difference between a layout visit or not then that would sway my decision for sure.
If anyone else would like to contact me I am happy to post my email address so that you can contact me directly.
Thanks again
Gordon