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The (unfinished?) Grand Funk Line...
A Layout Tour

The 'Unfinished' Grand Funk Lines (A layout tour) By Jim Wells Where do you get started describing a model railroad like the Grand Funk Lines? I can tell you this, although technically it is 'just another model railroad', it is unlike any model railroad I have even met before. The GFL reminds me of the feeling I had when I first saw John Allen's layout. Although it is unlike the G&D in most ways, it evokes the same feeling about just how different it is from all other pikes before it. There are similarities between the two pikes. For instance, there is a great deal of high bridgework on the GFL, and in places the scenery starts at floor level and looms overhead. The possibility of a train plummeting to it's grave creates the element of danger, in both. Most of Funk's livery is in relatively good repair when compared to the G&D's roster, but the GFL takes the element of danger to a different level. There is a story behind the route's owner that introduces an element of criminal activity and downright nefarious characters into the layout's entire feel... even before you know the story behind the layout you have a sense of this 'stark reality' about the railroad. Even the route's herald conveys an ominous sense about Funk's empire. Both the GFL and G&D are basement pikes, and they are about the same surprisingly small size when compared to the impression one leaves with. And, they are both HO scale layouts, but that is pretty much where the similarity ends. Perhaps the most unique aspect of the GFL experience is that the entire environment around the visitor is integrated with the layout... heck, the visitor is integrated with the layout one honestly becomes a part of the model. I do realize how this sounds, but trust me, I am not exaggerating in the slightest! Its impossible to quantify just why the GFL drips with whimsy, or precisely how it goes about enchanting a visitor... or exactly why visiting is a naturally magical experience. At the heart of the layout is it owners. This miniature private theme park attraction is the creation of Michael and Hope Lewitzke. To them, it all seems normal enough. Mike and Hope have honestly married the full-scale viewer and scale model in a way that, in the truest tradition and technique of magic and illusion, completely suspends disbelief! You feel like you have really been someplace, when you visit the GFL... and that is no accident. Perhaps I should say you feel that you have visited a real railroad when you visit the GFL. The theme park attraction presentation and staging allows you to easily forget it is 'just a model'. The Experience Lets just try to take this in some chronological order, after all, this is a layout tour. Michael and Hope live in a beautiful home in rural Wisconsin. As you wander down the staircase into the basement, you enter the interior of an immaculate Victorian era railroad station, complete with ticket window, and potbelly stove. Along one wall are glass display cases exhibiting various livery models and proposed elements for the lines, which you can examine while you wait for a Teletype 'announcing' the arrival or departure of your train. There is a guest book at the ticket window; a ticket can be 'purchased', simply by signing it. Your ticket in hand, you board your green passenger observation coach, today it is 'Emma'. Emma has all the posh elegance of a true green lady, she is adorned in oak, brass, wrought iron, stained glass, and GFL monogrammed purple cut velvet. She is equipped with a complete dry bar (one of Funk's private cars?), overhead are luggage racks, and brass sconce. Try to keep in mind that Michael and Hope have designed and built all of this by themselves. And keep in mind that I have not yet described a layout! It takes a very special dedication to spend so much precious model railroad time and money on the presentation of the layout. Most of us struggle to find the resources to complete a working layout, let alone build a complete experience 'around' the layout! But Mike and Hope have. I suspect that they think this is only natural Lets continue on. As you enter the coach, you see the Barbary Coast out three windows at the front end of Emma. This charming fishing harbor scene is at the heart of the Funk empire (more about Funk himself, and the story behind his empire, later). Visible through the windows along one entire side of Emma is the City of America... did I mention that the cities and towns along the GFL's route are named after rock bands? Michael and Hope are not fans, groupies, or even all that familiar with any of these groups (indeed Michael and Hope only got CDs by their cities' namesakes for the first time this past Christmas!), they simply thought that it would be funny... it is. America is a small, 1917 (give or take) city with all the 'modern conveniences' of any vibrant coastal river front city of that era. By the way, if you lean out of any of Emma's open windows and look back, you will see her green exterior, complete with tongue in groove siding! It is almost impossible to see 'back stage' from anywhere along the serpent's tongue. The 'Serpent's Tongue' refers to the incredibly complex (and impossible to comprehend) trackwork. The track meanders from scene to scene, room to room, from level to level, and defies linear understanding. Moreover, the track plan is, and always will be, changing! This is one reason the layout can never be finished. While the majority of the trackwork will remain in place, Mike deliberately designs for future changes. The design allows for a huge number of variations in the mainline run. Mike obviously understands the design intimately, after all, he is building it. But even after spending three days at the layout, the track plan remains a mystery to us. As you walk toward the rear of the coach, you can see a sawmill and logging operations through the windows just beyond the dry bar. When you step out onto Emma's vestibule, you are struck with the feeling of being outdoors as you realize that Emma is parked hanging precariously close to the edge of Squaw Bottom Canyon. Indeed, when you step down from the observation platform to your right (Emma's left), you step onto a rope suspension bridge (across Squaw Bottom Canyon!) leading to the entrance to the Blood Sweat & Tears mine tunnel complex. I know, I know but that IS what you do, honest. The mine tunnels are difficult to describe, but then so is the entire GFL! You can wander around in the tunnels in any order you wish, they are not linear, as such. You can turn left and wind around past the Styx viewing port or head on into the cavernous Credence Clearwater area. Or you can turn to the right and wind around into a bunkhouse (also part of the layout) that eventually leads you back to the station. Michael pointed out four bolts that will allow a part of the mine wall to be removed to allow for a 'future tunnel shaft' that will lead to the Santana expansion. I will not even try to describe Santana to you but it involves standing 'in' a river, and viewing the railroad running along its banks! With the exception of Santana (which has not been started), all of the full-scale scenes feel complete. From a theatrical standpoint, they are complete. Within these scenes, most of the layout's framework, track work and bridgework are already built, although conventional scenery is in various stages of completion. Most of the model structures are built and temporarily set in place, and much of the special sound and lighting FX is already operational. All of the lighting (the entire railroad can be faded into night) and all utility electrical is in place, as are the backdrops and sky. Notice I did not use the word 'finished' to describe any of this; if you ask Michael when something (anything) is going to be finished, he will promptly and cheerfully reply, "never"!) The full-scale aspects are already built the scale model is perhaps half way complete. The entire railroad is comprised of full scale and HO scale scenes... you stand in the full-scale scenes to view the HO scale scenes. Nothing of the basement remains to remind you of its presence. Although cleverly scaled to a small extent, Emma is a 'full scale' (perhaps 2 foot gauge) coach. From her encompassing interior, we glimpse out at the Railroad that Funk built, and it appears quite natural to the eye. Although the concept of a coach interior is not entirely new, Emma transcends interior decoration... she is a real car in every way, yet scaled in such a way as to frame the scenes around her in an easily believable way. The coach is also such a warm and comfortable environment, one effortlessly forgets to question scale... or anything else. The GFL is certainly light years ahead of any other railroad in blending the full scale and scale worlds seamlessly. Whatever degree of completion the scene you are viewing is in, the scene you are standing in is more complete. As anyone who has ever actually built a model railroad layout can tell you, it is an almost insurmountable endeavor. You must stand in awe at the amount of dedication it has taken to create and super detail the scenes around the visitor... before beginning to build a layout! This is not your father's model railroad... The GFL takes a stage and scene approach to presentation. In all cases, you are in one environment, viewing another. In some cases, you are in a theater, viewing a scene on a stage through a proscenium. In some areas, such as Emma, you are in a relatively full-scale theater, surrounded by stages on all sides. When you step outside of Emma, you are stepping outside into a huge canyon (another stage?). You are immediately connected to this canyon visually and aurally, the sky is overhead and the canyon looms around you. Indeed, you walk across the canyon on a rickety rope suspension bridge past a waterfall on your left and a steep canyon logging operation on your right. You are standing in the scene in order to view it, and are encouraged to stop in the middle of a rope bridge to do so. Here again, the visitor is immersed in the scene, physically, visually, & aurally interacting within it. I cannot include the 'obligatory track plan' in this article... there isn't one. Typical of the amazing design philosophy and approach which has created the GFL is the fact that Mike and Hope have never drawn a single formal scale track plan, or even a general layout area plan view. I personally suspect that this is in part the secret to the effectiveness of the GFL experience, everything is translated directly from the imagination... into the layout itself! The GFL has been completely and well thought out, but it went from thought to construction... directly. The Story! No blueprints or CAD plots have been generated, there is no track plan, and the layout is not documented in any conventional manner... nor is it likely that any of this will ever be done. Perhaps more impressive than any of these 'traditional' forms of documentation is the small novel written about Funk, and his various colleagues, organizations and business dealings which allowed him the financial resources to build the railroad and the rest of his empire. Every part of the GFL visually tells the story behind the railroad, whether or not you have read these stories. But the story is there in the layout. For instance, Emma is (as are all coaches on the GFL) named for one of Funk's surrogate mothers in the bordello in which he was raised. The open vestibule railings are all brass bed headboards, for the same reasons. This is one small example, but the entire layout was planned around the story. There is a story behind everything along "the serpent's tongue route", including the motto. Perhaps Michael and Hope can be persuaded to publish the stories someday, they are entertaining in themselves (and very well written!). But the point is this; the GFL has an almost tangible integration within the entire layout, because of its historical accuracy... even if it is to a fictional history. The track plan is a story line that winds its way through Funk's considerable holdings. This 'story form' of layout planning is most often largely overlooked, yet the GFL has evolved with no other formal documentation what so ever! This is a testament to the importance of the story behind a layout. When it comes to planning your pike, document what you wish, but whether fantasy or prototype, never overlook the importance of the story behind the railroad! Fun! Fun is built into the layout in a very methodical way. It is almost impossible to witness the GFL without grinning. Everything is deliberately there to make the experience more enjoyable, and believable. There is a great deal of whimsy methodically built into the super details, including a staggering number of sight gags. There are also a number of references to famous motion pictures hidden throughout the layout. Visitors are encouraged to find these movie references, you can even win prizes if you can locate them all. When finished, excuse me, when more complete, there will be at least twenty custom stereo soundtracks along the Serpent's Tongue (about half are already installed and working at this point). There are musical references built into the aural scenes in an appropriate way (piano in a saloon, chimes in a clock tower, organ in a church, etc.), from popular songs by the namesakes of each city and town where they appear. And there are literally hundreds of tiny sound gags everywhere for the attentive listener. Like the visual image, the sound is both in the layout and all around the visitor. Its an all out assault on the senses, the GFL openly challenges a serious demeanor. If the GFL does not make you smile, then Michael and Hope have failed at the only thing they were trying to accomplish. One of the most profound images we brought back with us from our visit to The Grand Funk Lines was the juxtaposition between Michael and Hope and the layout they have built. These are two of the most delightful, but humble and unassuming people you could ever wish to meet; yet they have created one of the most dangerous and nefarious railroads ever conceived. There seems to be no connection between the creators and the creation, other than an occasional twinkle in an eye... Michael and Hope are genuinely gifted, inspired and prolific modelers. They are also genuinely proud to share their layout with you, but are at the same time concerned that you will not think it far enough along. In the truest traditions of model railroading, the FACT that they are not yet finished... simply doesn't matter in the slightest!