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Wow, another tribute to yet another "Giant Among Little Railroads," in less than a week already. This time, we'll be looking at perhaps one of the most famous model railroad artists of all time, and perhaps the most famous freelanced O scale layout in railroading history, John Armstrong and his Canandaigua Southern. Here is two of his locomotives, that did indeed run on his layout on a basis, the 4-8-4 #914 on a express passenger drag and USRA 0-8-0 switcher #59 on coal switching duties. The photo was taken at the The Rock Island South route by Srobertson1956.
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The Canandaigua Southern road, which was supposed to be modeled after the Upstate New York and Western Pennsylvania locale, had been a lifelong passion project for Armstrong. His layout, which he had painstakingly worked on since his teenage years, alongside the help of other railroaders, had completely filled up his 24X36 basement, up until his death due to pulmonary disease complications at the age of 83. Regardless is it was "done" or not, (You know what the always say, a model railroad is never finished!) the layout, once heralded as "arguably the most well documented layout in O Scale" by some unknown hobbyist newsletter, still managed to rope in thousands of visitors over the years. The CS proved to be SO popular, that in one of the O Scale National Conventions in Arlington, customers had to get tickets to relish in the viewing experience of the layout itself.
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The main reason he and his freelanced railroad became THAT famous over the years, even much more so than John Allen and W. Allen McClelland , is because he is considerably the "Godfather of Model Railroad Layouts," which his designs included both the track and its surroundings. "His most significant impact upon model railroading was his ability to create track plans," said Brent Lambert, library director for the National Model Railroad Association in Chattanooga, Tenn. "He definitely had a significant impact upon the hobby that way. He was not only an expert in model railroading but also in creating the prototype." After all, he did start his CS road in his teens, when "the hobby was really primitive. Everything had to be built from scratch." All of his efforts would wildly pay off, as he was inducted into the O Scale Hall of Fame in 1998, and won the National Model Railroad Association's Distinguished Service Award twice in 1968 and 1997.
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Aside from being the chief engineer and mastermind behind the CS, The Canandaigua NY Native also a very active member of such affiliations, including the NMRA, Capital Area O Scalers and the Lexington Group. He was also a contributing editor for the trade publication Railway Age, since his retirement from the Naval reserve in 1979. He also published 13 books and scores of model railroading articles, including the highly coveted 1978 standard text, Railroad: What It Is, What It Does.
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As an "insatiably curious man," he attended Purdue University, graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering, and subsequently became employed as a Naval Weapons manufacturer until his said retirement. His other hobbies and interests include classical music, art, science and history and the cultural resources of the Washington DC area. He also served at the Northminster Presbyterian Church in Washington, and later, Northwood Presbyterian Church in Silver Spring.
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If you want to see more of the Canandaigua Southern in Action; click here at ModelRailroadAcademy.com. You gotta get a subscription first if you want to see the vids in full...

Description
Wow, another tribute to yet another "Giant Among Little Railroads," in less than a week already. This time, we'll be looking at perhaps one of the most famous model railroad artists of all time, and perhaps the most famous freelanced O scale layout in railroading history, John Armstrong and his Canandaigua Southern. Here is two of his locomotives, that did indeed run on his layout on a basis, the 4-8-4 #914 on a express passenger drag and USRA 0-8-0 switcher #59 on coal switching duties. The photo was taken at the The Rock Island South route by Srobertson1956.
---
The Canandaigua Southern road, which was supposed to be modeled after the Upstate New York and Western Pennsylvania locale, had been a lifelong passion project for Armstrong. His layout, which he had painstakingly worked on since his teenage years, alongside the help of other railroaders, had completely filled up his 24X36 basement, up until his death due to pulmonary disease complications at the age of 83. Regardless is it was "done" or not, (You know what the always say, a model railroad is never finished!) the layout, once heralded as "arguably the most well documented layout in O Scale" by some unknown hobbyist newsletter, still managed to rope in thousands of visitors over the years. The CS proved to be SO popular, that in one of the O Scale National Conventions in Arlington, customers had to get tickets to relish in the viewing experience of the layout itself.
---
The main reason he and his freelanced railroad became THAT famous over the years, even much more so than John Allen and W. Allen McClelland , is because he is considerably the "Godfather of Model Railroad Layouts," which his designs included both the track and its surroundings. "His most significant impact upon model railroading was his ability to create track plans," said Brent Lambert, library director for the National Model Railroad Association in Chattanooga, Tenn. "He definitely had a significant impact upon the hobby that way. He was not only an expert in model railroading but also in creating the prototype." After all, he did start his CS road in his teens, when "the hobby was really primitive. Everything had to be built from scratch." All of his efforts would wildly pay off, as he was inducted into the O Scale Hall of Fame in 1998, and won the National Model Railroad Association's Distinguished Service Award twice in 1968 and 1997.
---
Aside from being the chief engineer and mastermind behind the CS, The Canandaigua NY Native also a very active member of such affiliations, including the NMRA, Capital Area O Scalers and the Lexington Group. He was also a contributing editor for the trade publication Railway Age, since his retirement from the Naval reserve in 1979. He also published 13 books and scores of model railroading articles, including the highly coveted 1978 standard text, Railroad: What It Is, What It Does.
---
As an "insatiably curious man," he attended Purdue University, graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering, and subsequently became employed as a Naval Weapons manufacturer until his said retirement. His other hobbies and interests include classical music, art, science and history and the cultural resources of the Washington DC area. He also served at the Northminster Presbyterian Church in Washington, and later, Northwood Presbyterian Church in Silver Spring.
---
If you want to see more of the Canandaigua Southern in Action; click here at ModelRailroadAcademy.com. You gotta get a subscription first if you want to see the vids in full...