Modeler Rick Wright never quits pushing himself to greater heights in the hobby. In the November 2000 issue we showcased his beautiful O gauge hi-rail layout. Ten years later we are privileged to show you the updated version.
Video of the O gauge CONUS Lines-Two steps beyond realism!
By Roger Carp | September 20, 2010
| Last updated on September 16, 2022
Rick Wright's railroad where he's named sites after modelers who influenced him - the towns of Armstrong, Ellison, Allen, and McClelland are points of interest.
Awesome layout! The CONUS Lines is quite the layout. Frank Ellison would be pleased, Rick!
Excellent use of the camera. Makes you feel like you are actually there in real life. The scenery is awesome! Great layout!!!
Guys, thkx! Ray, I've got two of those SP cabooses…and the smaller scale Lionel stack to add to them. Of course, that's in the "when you have time" file drawer. My big project for the SP beet gon train was to add the sides to 15 MTH and Atlas gons, then paint them, and garner enough Champs decals to correctly letter/number then. Then I had to find sugar beets, build load floors, etc. All told, the project took me five months. Now I'm on to Rio Grande; working on a coal unit train and detailing interiors of "Prospector" passenger cars.
Steve, glad you appreciate, like me, the masters. You'll see in Paul's shot of the turntable/roundhouse complex the station for "Allen" in the upper left hand side of the shot. For each of my towns named after the "masters" I reproduced 3-4 MR/RMC covers that featured their layouts, and had them laminated at Kinkos and mounted under their respective stations. It helps when visitors come who never heard of them to see the level and quality of their past modeling efforts that were such an influence on me.
Hi Rick, started reading the article in CCT magazine and then spotted this video on the CTT forum. As a former SP engineer, I enjoyed seeing those shots of the old beet gons behind SP diesels. I have an SP caboose similar to one in the video. It looks like a K line model with the large smoke stack. I improved the looks of mine by taking that stack off and replacing it with a small one used on Lionel bay window cabooses. Looks better IMHO. I had to fill up the large opening a little for the smaller stack to fit tight. P.S. I worked those beet gon trains on the SP off and on. They were the oldest cars we had on the property built around 1941 I think.
Congratulations on your layout article.
Ray Sugg (SP Man)
This is one of the best layouts I have seen in a long time. I have been in the hobby for 32 years, Rick shows a great eye for detail and composition. I have also been influenced by the hobby greats like Ellison,Armstrong,Allen,McClelland and Tony Koster. Tony Koster and I have operated together, along with Andy Sperandeo on a dear friend's layout that I helped to build. I don't know if Tony will remember but Andy does. This article has brought back some very good memories! Thanks Rick! Steve Blount