I must confess that I'm not sure if the following articles appeared in OGR or CTT Magazine, having subscried to both for most of the past 30 years.
However, the articles that made the biggest impression on me were those about the following:
Frank Sinatra's layout with structures reminiscent of his hometown, Hoboken, NJ. I believe the article mentioned that he was good at maintaining and repairing his Lionel trains and he hired a highly regarded layout builder to construct his layout.
Several of Phil Klopps's layouts since he was first featured in a 1989 magazine. Phil builds massive around the walls layouts with vignettes, enabling his trains to run through the scenery of all 4 seasons. He has beautiful scenery (including the Horseshoe Curve and Starrucca Viaduct) with Postwar accessories and combines realism with whim and whimsy. I try to emulate Phil's approach of combining realism with whim and whimsy on my own layout.
One of the most inspiring articles was the one about Neil Young's layout. It showed Neil and his son having a great time running their trains on it. I remember the article mentions that Neil's gorgeous mountains were made from wood that came from the Redwood Forrest.
