New York Train Exhibit

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I visited the train (HO),(S),(O) exhibit in New York City yesterday at the Citi Center. I was a little disappointed, not very large, DC control.
I spoke to one of the guys taking care of it. Mostly code 100, no ballast, just spray painted cork. All senery was foam, cut with a knife, no plaster

This was built by Clarke Dunham, you can read about his layouts on MR sign on screen news

Bill

2

I’m sure they didn’t have time to “doll” it up since it would be tore down and moved anyway.

3

That’s too bad. The stores there spend 11.5 months getting their windows ready for Christmas. Maybe the train people didn’t have a Macey’s budget.

4

It has always looked that way for as long as i could remember. Considuring that the display is operating 4 or 5 different scales all right next to each other in a very animated fanatsy land, one can’t expect the layout to be that prototypically accurate. Beside, the intended audience for this display isn’t the serious model railroader but for those who are not, especially children. It’s suppose to inspire people to join our hobby or at least bring smiles to people’s faces.

5

Some specific comments to your post.

  1. The layout it self is approximately 750 sq. feet. the roof over the layout is considerably larger while the control tower is 32’ high.
  2. DC Controls are used for reliability and automated running of the trains.
  3. Foam is used because of the weight of plaster and because sections as large as 54" x 168" are transported in tractor trailers on load .beams often 6’ off the floor. Plaster would split and crack and would never make the annual trip up and down the 30 some odd stairs at Citigroup. The Citigroup layout has been displayed also in Chicago one year and typically has a 500 mile round trip each year. It is been around for over ten years. Areas under the layout during transportation are used to store other related items of the display. 2 53 ft. trailers move the Citigroup layout with little room to spare.
  4. While Dunham Studios does a variety of different layouts the Citigroup layout was created for the enjoyment of children and adults alike. The layout was created to a level of detail that the client requested. Many adults never see the O section of the layout but watch the faces of the children when the see the backhoe, swings, and wall erection. Clarke Dunham’s perspective for this layout was "He sees in the exhibit an opportunity for folks to experience the nostalgia of a bygone era and to give them the chance to view that experience through a child’s eyes, as he experienced Railroads on Parade and its model railroads at the 1939 New York Worlds’ Fair as a three year old child sees."the exh

Pictures of the Station at Citigroup Center

6

I’ve got to say that I’m rather amazed by this guy’s evaluation.

“not very large” The Citigroup Station layout is physically larger than many, if not most, home basements. In complexity it out does 99.8% of the privately owned model railroads you’ll ever see. The price tag for the layout amounted to $750,000 …far exceeding the valuation of any other east coast layout I’m aware of.

“DC control” DC is reliable and avoids the many little glitches of DCC that potentially could ruin the general public’s desire to simply see model trains steadily operate. You don’t want whole sections of the layout down while trying to troubleshoot a DCC problem with the public watching.

“mostly code 100 track” Another reliability factor. Only a fool would utilize track of a size/weight that would be truly prototypical for a public display layout.

“no ballast” With the degree of other super detailing in the scenery and the level of familiarity of the viewers to the prototype, very few would ever notice a lack of ballast.

“scenery was foam…no plaster” Probably 90% of all the layouts built today employ foam for forming their terrain. Except for items such as rock castings, plaster is largely relegated to the past as a method of creating major portions of scenery. It can also be sloppy to work with over large areas, such as on this layout, unnecessarily heavy and decidely lacks the resiliency needed by a layout that has to be