Illinois’ rich history isn’t only being preserved in books; it’s being brought to life in model form by modelers like Ray Tutaj, Jr., of LaSalle, Illinois. In this digital book you’ll get a close-up look at three of Ray’s unique historical HO scale projects, two of which are on public display. The first is his operating HO scale layout that depicts Mendota during its heyday, when Mendota’s impressive Union Depot was teaming with activity and dominated the surrounding landscape. The Mendota layout is on display in the Union Depot Railroad Museum in Mendota (www.MendotaMuseums.org).

Ray’s second historical HO model depicts the St. Paul Coal Mine in Cherry, Illinois, site of the infamous Cherry Mine Disaster that occurred on November 13, 1909, and took 259 lives. In his two-part article you’ll learn about the 21 “eight-day” men who survived...and the 12 rescuers who didn’t...and you’ll get to closely examine this detailed diorama built in HO scale. The St. Paul Coal Mine diorama is on display at the Cherry Public Library.

His third model is of the Illinois Central’s two-stall stone engine house in LaSalle that served the railroad to 1985. Originally built as a freight house in 1857, it was converted to an engine house in 1919.

Each article is rich in history, featuring many historical as well as model photos. This digital book is a valuable research tool for both history buffs and model railroaders. Presented in PDF format (Adobe® Reader® 5.0 or later required), all text is fully searchable, and all of the high-resolution photos can be zoomed in on for close examination of every detail...something not possible with printed versions.

PLEASE NOTE: This digital book requires a computer (PC or Mac) with a CD drive and Acrobat® Reader®...it will NOT play on your TV with a DVD player. Because the images on this CD are 300 dpi instead of the usual 96 dpi commonly used, Adobe® Reader® may respond slower than usual since more time is required to load each page.