MRH $500 Contest - 1
T
otal honesty?
Chicago Fork was not
designed as a build-
a-layout-to-a-price project.
The original Chicago Fork is
an O scale 2-rail micro layout,
Inglenook, built to answer a
challenge from local model-
ers. Following its exposure
on the Small/Micro Layout
A starter layout you can build for under $500
– By Prof Klyzlr
MRH $500 contest
Chicago Fork
A switching layout on a budget ...
1: CB&Q GP38 # 187
prepares to make it’s
next switching move on
Chicago Fork.
website
many visitors to the site requested a HO version track plan, and
the Chicago Fork layout shown here was born.
As a minimum-space switching layout, Chicago Fork utilizes
the popular 3:2:2 Inglenook track arrangement, with a twist.
Instead of two discrete turnouts, a simple sector plate is used
to replace one turnout, thus saving the length of the turnout
and associated clearance distance. The Inglenook provides a
veritable wealth of potential switching scenarios for the mod-
eler to choose from. A generic warehouse as shown with car
spots can fit just about anywhere in the USA. Any industry
which uses car spots could be easily substituted.
In the case of a layout on a budget, switching tends to give the
most play value, so it is a logical option for this challenge. The
2: An overhead build-stage shot of the Chicago Fork scene.
2
MRH-Sep 2013
