You could put models of the Blues Brothers in front of some palm trees, and people would still say, “Chicago.” [(-D]
Seriously, I would go with the El concept, too. Of course, in the interest of full disclosure, I do subways so there’s some bias to my suggestion. However, this kind of tight, urban modeling gives you the opportunity to build very “dense” scenery, so you won’t run out of space very quickly. Later, when you get more space, this can be the core of a larger layout.
Subways and El trains are naturally bi-directional, so they lend themselves to smaller spaces where the issues of turning trains can be a problem. They are also better suited to tight-radius curves, another plus on smaller layouts.
Wrigley Field is certainly an interesting landmark and the CTA elevated trains are nearby, visible from the stands in fact. But, there are no railroad tracks nearby. [:'(]
So, on a layout of the size contemplated here, Wrigley Field wouldn’t work. [banghead]
You could loop the CTA El around the stadium - and just about fill a 6X10 space. And since when are rapid transit tracks NOT railroad tracks.
Chicago has its loop. Granted that it’s elevated rapid transit and doesn’t carry freight. Tokyo also has a loop - much longer, (mostly) ground level and shared (in various places) with long-distance passenger and freight. The rapid transit cars are heavy rail, and the total traffic density is incredible.
Who says roundy-round running is unprototypical?
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - but not Tokyo!)
Yikes, I think we are getting a bit technical here. Ummm, I guess you could call rapid transit tracks “railroad tracks”, but you know what I mean, Chuck. The OP would like to model Metra passenger trains as well, and there are no Metra tracks in the immediate vicinity. How’s that?
Who says roundy-round running is unprototypical? Gee, I don’t know that anyone said that. Who said that? LOL
You can view a few photos of my layout of Chicago via this post. The footprint is pretty close to 6x8ft. The length is a little more than 8ft but not by much, I think it scales out to 9ft. In N scale, you can pack a lot of stuff in a small space. Good luck.
CHA, I have said it before, and I will say it again. Those are great photos of the Blue Island interlocks and bridges. Does your layout have all five of the bridges at Blue Island?
I used Steam Powered Video’s Railroad Atlas (Great Lakes West) to find the area in Chicago that had the largest concentration of converging lines and intersections from different railroads. I counted the potential for 28 different railroads within a mile radius of Calumet.
My layout is totally freelance, based on a BRC-run branch/link line, over which any of the other RR companies can travel. Not prototypical, but it means that I can run trains from any RR company that passed near Calumet (Sweethome)
The buildings were freelanced from kits to give a generic feel of 1930s-50s Chicago, with ideas and inspiration culled from old movies (Untouchables, etc.), photos and even cartoons (Dick Tracey) resulting in a layout with the feel of a warehouse district, somewhere in Chicago, without being anywhere in particular. Calumet itself probably looked nothing like anything I’ve modelled - I’ve never checked
