The most recent Naperville Railroad Prototype Modelers Conference, now known as Chicagoland RPM, was held on October 10-12, 2024, at the Northern Illinois University Conference Center in Naperville, Illinois.

Chicagoland is one of the premier railroad prototype modeler events in the country, providing attendees with clinics, presentations, layout tours, vendors, historical societies, and more. The best about RPM events is the gathering of friends from around the country for fellowship and collaboration on railroad modeling. More about this year’s event can be found at https://www.rpmconference.com/.

A good RPM meet starts with a good party. A dozen of us from the Prototype Layouts list on Groups.io met at the Embassy Suites bar on Thursday night and got the party started. Above, left to right, is Larry Stoll, Jeff Halloin, Gary Roe and Clark Propst. Below, left to right, is Loren Casey, Tom Klimczak, Tom Wencl, Nate and Lucas Chowan, and Jeff White.

Below. Two great RPMers, Fenton Wells and George Toman, spinning yarns over a beer.

Speaking of Fenton and George…I spent a good, long time admiring their models in the model display rooms across the street at the NIU Center. Both Fenton and George brought large model displays. Fenton’s model of Alton 17248 below is an all-time favorite of mine.

Like Fenton, George is another unstoppable prototype modeler, with many admirable models and a nice home layout in his basement. Here’s on of my favorites, a resin NP flat car with a corn shucker load by Artitech. Great work, George!

Eric Hansmann brough a large display of 1926-era models, including this PRR GR-class gondola. The prototypes are also a favorite of mine. Eric models a by-gone era and his work is excellent. Like me, Eric has moved a lot over the years and he’s built a lot of layouts.

One of the very, very best HO scale model builders out there is Ed Rethwisch. He’s a perfectionist, and lucky for me he models the same era I do (late 40s) so we collaberate from time to time on model building. His work is outstanding–always accurately following the prototype.

Ed doesn’t hesitate to tackle tough projects. This model of CB&Q HT-7 193689, seen below, is certainly a one-of-a-kind. Ed started with an inexpensive Athearn hopper and added the additional braces, then carved in the wood sheathing and added super-details all around.

Clark Propst dazzled with this model of a coffee cup and lid from the Hampton Inn. No expense spared.

Dick Scott brought this well-built O scale GN 50-foot box car for display. My picture sorta makes it look N scale, but in fact it’s O–and about a foot long. It is beautifully finished. Dick brings one or two new cars a year to Naperville and this one’s a winner.

Below. A welcome announcement from Walthers.

A closeup of the forthcoming pilot models, below.

Gary Roe brough a few neat Wabash switchers. VO-660s, VO-1000s and a few Wabash prototype kitbashes. Cool stuff.

This year there was only one large vendor room. There were a lot of interesting vendors, a few historical societies, and one or two photo dealers. There was a lot of action in the vendor room all day on both days.

A new vendor–to me, anyway–was Silver Spike Designs. These guys brought a great display of models including a whole fleet of maintenance critters. These things were beautiful. Check them out at https://silverspikedesigns.com/.

Below. Here’s a closeup of one of the Silver Spike models. It is amazing.

Also there was 3D Central, one of the leading 3D railroad model companies. Matt Herman and his crew are always on the leading edge. Matt’s awesome website can be found at https://3dcentraltrains.com/.

The HO Scale Midwest Mod-U-Trak 2 layout was present again with a display similar to last year. According to their website, this is the second version of the memorable Midwest Mod-U-Trak layout, featuring IL scenes of the Santa Fe, C&WI, and more in Illinois. With a focus on typical prototype scenes, lots of different Midwestern equipment looks right at home on the layout. To read more about this award winning layout, check out this post at the Resin Freight Cars blog: http://blog.resincarworks.com/train-fest-2015-report/.

One of the signature scenes on the layout is this small-town scene featuring a number of elevators and silos.. I photographed it from many angles. Later I met Pete Hall, and discovered that he built this scene. Pete is a retired Navy officer and we hit it off right away. We talked for about two hours on Saturday afternoon. He’s a good guy and obviously an inspirational modeler.

Below. Here’s the same view from the other side. Pete told me the silos in the background took him months to build. They are beautiful, and one-of-a-kind.

Down the hall, the N scale ModuTrak layout had a large room to display and operated their entire layout.

Modutrak is one of the best layouts in the country, modular or not. It is fantastic.

From the RPM Conference site, ModuTrak is an ambitious group of N scalers who set out to build a typical Midwestern theme in N scale. The layout features many prototype locations on the Milwaukee Road and Chicago and North Western in Illinois and Wisconsin. Long trains get lost in wide open scenes, and really show off the prototype-inspired atmosphere.

This year, ModuTrak was showing off a number of very small locomotives, each wired with DCC, sound and lights. it was impossible, but these guys showed it can be done. Included in the impossible category is this Milwaukee Road crane car, which moves on DCC, and has lights.

Below. Here’s one of my favorite scenes on the N scale layout. It’s a small railroad town, like my favorite scene on the HO layout. The scratchbuilt structures here are beautiful and natural. Color, weathering and placement is perfect.

Below. This scene is so great it deserves a second look. Note how uncrowded the industries are.

The ModuTrak layout is outstanding. You can read more at https://www.modutrak.com/about.

Below. Late Saturday I attended a clinic by Bill Darnaby on building Monon steam locomotives in brass. Bill’s clinic was short and he had some really novel ways of rebuilding off-the-shelf brass models into Mono prototypes. I have a soft spot for the Hoosier Line, having lived in southern Indiana for a few years.

And finally one more party picture. A lot of the gang met at the Embassy Suites bar again on Friday evening to celebrate a hard day of RPMing. Since there were no layout tours this year, there was nothing left to do but gather and have a beer. Clark Propst is at the left with the disapproving glare.

Chicagoland 2024 was a fun event. You can read more about it at https://www.rpmconference.com/. – John