Wasn’t the Chicago one re-done a few years back? I seem to remember one of these public monsters profiled in MR a couple of years ago.
It was the September 1997 issue of MR
Peter Smith, Memphis
Sorry, I thought you meant Northlandz.
Peter
The MSI O-scale layout opened in 1941 was torn down and replaced with the current HO-scale version in 2002. See the link in my sig line.
I think I have the MR articles on the great layouts at the Chicago Museum of Science And Industry right now:
MR March 1941- Original O gauge layout
MR June and July 2003- The new multi-million dollar HO layout
I was fortunate to have visited both.
Peter Smith, Memphis
When visiting with the owner he had stated that he did start out in his house and then gradually more and more people came to see it, so he was pressed into finding a larger location. Fire code was one reason. The current Northlandz is in buliding, or should I say a large warehouse. There is also a music theater and I believe a doll museum. You walk up about three stories as you progress throught the self guided tour. The back down. the worker actuall walk in the layout on the mountain ridges and in the valleys, only to be dwarfed by its size(height).
Both he and his wife are musicians. Symphony cunductors if my memory serves me. Very nice person to visit with. I did purchase the DVD, book and the Nothlandz collector box car. There is a gift shop too.
Been to both Chicago layouts past and present. Quality may be better but the size is no match to Northlandz. Last year I even met the one of the guys working fultime on the layout. He even let me get underneat and see the working inards of it all. Unbelievable. No wonder he had a software and engineering degree and background.
From what I see and hear the Germany layout is the one too see. The lighting and the maount of figures on the layout are spectacular.
The quality of the MSi layout is substantially better.
The size is the only reason to see Northlandz. He sacrified model quality in favor of making a really, really big “train set.” It’s poorly done but there’s a lot of it.
I agree with you, Midnight.
I’ve been to Northlandz twice, the last time in 2004 or so.
The overall size is impressive, but basically it’s a whole series of disconnected loops and lengths of track that start nowhere and end nowhere. It’s scene after scene of topograpical exaggeration, with very little detail to most of it. If you want ten thousand+ square feet of sometimes nearly fluorescent scenic absurdities, you’ll love the place!
Unfortunately, it suffers from a severe lack of maintenance. Last time I was there the longest train they ran was a loco plus two cars. Any more cars presented reliability problems, I guess. Some loops didn’t run at all, and the plaster scenery had cracked and broken plaster all over the place. Many structures were also damaged in various ways. The valley floors and other low spots were covered with dust and dirt and broke white plaster chips that had come off the scenery above.
There were supposedly going to close for a few months several years ago to repair and refurbish the display (I can’t bring myself to call it a layout), but they kept putting it off. The sound of rustling greenbacks is just too attractive, I guess. Anyone else know if they ever did the needed maintenance?