Chicago Crossing

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Anybody know this gent? Cause he seems like our people.

[thomasjmdavis]

Thanks for finding that, Ed.

I don't know him, but he's definitely my sort of people- he uses spackle to model concrete (one of his videos), although his work is head and shoulders better than mine.  Lots or really good stuff in those videos.

[John]

Every so often I find a layout video on the Youtubes that really impresses me .. this is one of those - small, bedroom size but extremely well executed .. please take a look

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh yeah!

I've been so impressed with his layout that I've sent it to a couple co-workers.

I'd love to get him to come hang out here.

[chuck geiger]

Yes it's tight!

[BruceStikkers]

It is amazing how he has captured a big city industrial feel and look in such a modest space.

Bruce Stikkers
St. Joseph, IL

[Philip H]

I'm a subscriber.  He has a small video library but its good quality stuff.

[OldEastRR]

Brilliant work, I love the detail. And that amazing junkyard! I want mine to look like that.

However, having grown up in Chicago, I don't remember any mountains on either the North or South side. I don't know why, wherever a track goes through the backdrop, modelers feel compelled to make it a mountain tunnel opening. I saw this once in a heavy industrial area on a layout -- track had to pass through an opening among buildings and then go into a long stretch of hidden track. And yes -- right smack in the middle of a row of big industrial buildings, built into them in fact was a mountain tunnel with a halo of rough granite around it. Granite that stopped abruptly at walls of the buildings surrounding it. I pointed out to the operators that tracks sometime do disappear under a mass of large buildings, with steel/concrete support entrance. And they actually did change the scene.

Mountains are not the go-to solution for hiding a track going through backdrop in a dense urban neighborhood. Tracks do sometimes go under blocks of buildings. Or through a wide tall building with opening for mainline tracks to pass through (like the freeway under the main Chicago P.O.).  Or into a narrow space between two big buildings joined by a covered, elevated crossover so people and materials can cross easily to the other side -- built with just the legal height requirements for clearance. In the NE, I saw tracks that ducked into tunnels for blocks under whole residential neighborhoods.  And of course there's always a wide highway bridge that the tracks disappear under as they enter the backdrop.

I';m not trying to diss the guy's layout. I see it as a means to talk about hiding backdrop track openings that fit the scene.

[Chris333]

I watched that a few weeks back. Nice small layout with everything you need.

[wazzou]

Brilliant work, I love the detail. And that amazing junkyard! I want mine to look like that.

However, having grown up in Chicago, I don't remember any mountains on either the North or South side. I don't know why, wherever a track goes through the backdrop, modelers feel compelled to make it a mountain tunnel opening.

He’s addressed the reasons behind that in other videos.

[signalmaintainer]

Well thought out and beautifully executed. Looks like a lot of fun to operate.

I just subscribed to his channel. ...

[btrain]

The YouTube algorithm came through and suggested one of his videos this week for me. Great techniques and modeling philosophy on this channel. Sort of like Boomer for N scaler.

[Ian MacMillan]

This one popped up on my RADAR recently as well. I like it.

[ChicagoCrossingMRR]

However, having grown up in Chicago, I don't remember any mountains on either the North or South side. I don't know why, wherever a track goes through the backdrop, modelers feel compelled to make it a mountain tunnel opening.

I don't remember any mountains growing up in the city, either . It's fair feedback though.

This was a tough call from an artistic and practical perspective. There were two embedded issues:

1) Originally the layout was built to broadly model areas including western Illinois, where the rock structures on the layout would be more plausible. The concept of a Chicago-centered layout was really a post-hoc adjustment made probably a couple of years in. I don't really recommend that sort of switching conceptual horses in midstream, but made sense to follow where my interest was.

2) Placing tunnels at the two locations on the layout seemed the most effective way to disrupt the continuity of the view of the track. One could imagine using an overpass or embankment, or even a Union Station-style tunnel with built environment above. These structures didn't really fit the dimensions I wanted to cover in a way that made sense, particularly when I wasn't thinking to model Chicago initially.

Generally speaking, the tunnels feel pretty innocuous as they're relegated to corners, so they can sort of hide in plain sight. I don't really imagine ripping them out since it's a lot of work for not a ton of payoff versus some of the more interesting projects I've got cooking (including a new layout). Where I will adjust the scenery is to build concrete retaining walls where the bluffs and rock cuts are.  Those are much more visible, particularly on the branch, and there is ample prototypical justification for these in the city.

We'll see how that goes. Thanks for stopping by the channel

Eric

[ChicagoCrossingMRR]

Incredibly kind of you Ed. Glad you enjoyed the ladle build. Someday I'll get to the rest of the mill (I think I promised this year in the 2024 tour).

Eric