John Armstrong's Canandaigua Southern is one of the most famous O scale model railroads ever built. The CS has been under construction since 1950 and belongs to the hobby's premier trackplanning expert. Many of John's ideas were first tested in theory and practice on this layout, such as walking with your train and only allowing a train to pass through a scene in one direction.

The Canandaigua Southern has inspired many modelers to build layouts even though John has not finished his layout. As an engineer, John believes in research & development, but once he's figured out how to make or do something, the challenge is gone. He says he has never really finished any project. Of course he explains this with a wink and his gentle sense of humor.

John will show you his famous vertical turnout, layout lighting techniques, modifications to cars for coupling on curves, and how to mount locomotive bodies.

His structures are highly detailed but few in number. His mammoth scratchbuilt locomotives are impressive especially since he built them more than 50 years ago, when there were few parts other than motors. John has contributed to the hobby for more than 60 years by writing four trackplanning books and over 100 articles. And he offers some unexpected thoughts on the good and bad hobby developments over the years.

The CS is a Great Model Railroad because John has used it to continually improve and refine his trackplan ideas and create some distinctive gadgets.