Just received this issue in the mail today after ordering it from the back issue archives @trains.com. This was one of the very first issues of MR I read when I first got into model railroading, about 15 years ago. One of my memories of this issue was the cover story. The Rio Poco was quite a magnificent layout. Which got me to thinking, does this layout still exist? This would be a good idea for MR to do a “Where are they now?” issue in the near future. Hope he didn’t get rid of it.
Did a little googling on Mr. Van Osten, he’s still around and found out he retired from Disney a few years ago.