diff --git a/test/layers/show.jl b/test/layers/show.jl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9c689eba49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/layers/show.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+
+@testset "layer printing" begin # 2-arg show, defined with layes
+
+  @test repr(Dense(2,3)) == "Dense(2, 3)"
+  @test repr(Chain(Dense(2,3))) == "Chain(Dense(2, 3))"
+
+end
+@testset "nested model printing" begin # 3-arg show, defined in show.jl
+
+  # Dense -- has parameter count, but not inside a matrix
+
+  toplevel_dense = repr("text/plain", Dense(2,3))
+  @test occursin("Dense(2, 3)", toplevel_dense)
+  @test occursin("# 9 parameters", toplevel_dense)
+
+  @test Meta.isexpr(Meta.parse(toplevel_dense), :call)  # comment is ignored
+
+  vector_dense = repr("text/plain", [Dense(2,3), Dense(2,3)])
+  @test occursin("Dense(2, 3)", vector_dense)
+  @test occursin("# 9 parameters", vector_dense)
+
+  matrix_dense = repr("text/plain", fill(Dense(2,3), 3, 3))
+  @test occursin("Dense(2, 3)", matrix_dense)
+  @test !occursin("# 9 parameters", matrix_dense)
+
+  tuple_dense = repr("text/plain", tuple(Dense(2,3)))
+  @test occursin("Dense(2, 3)", tuple_dense)
+  @test !occursin("# 9 parameters", tuple_dense)
+
+  # Chain -- gets split over lines at top level only
+
+  toplevel_chain = repr("text/plain", Chain(Dense(2,3)))
+  @test occursin("Chain(\n  Dense(2, 3)", toplevel_chain)
+  @test occursin("# 9 parameters", toplevel_chain)
+  @test !occursin("# Total:", toplevel_chain)
+
+  vector_chain = repr("text/plain", [Chain(Dense(2,3)), Chain(Dense(2,3))])
+  @test occursin("Chain(Dense(2, 3))", vector_chain)
+  @test occursin("# 9 parameters", vector_chain)
+  @test !occursin("# Total:", vector_chain)
+
+  matrix_chain = repr("text/plain", fill(Chain(Dense(2,3)), 3,3))
+  @test occursin("Chain(Dense(2, 3))", matrix_chain)
+  @test !occursin("# 9 parameters", matrix_chain)
+  @test !occursin("# Total:", matrix_chain)
+
+  # ... and only long enough chains get 
+
+  longchain = Chain(Dense(2, 3), Dense(3, 4), Dense(4, 5), softmax)
+
+  toplevel_longchain = repr("text/plain", longchain)
+  @test occursin("Chain(\n  Dense(2, 3)", toplevel_longchain)
+  @test occursin("# 9 parameters", toplevel_longchain)
+  @test occursin("# Total: 6 arrays, 50 parameters", toplevel_longchain)
+
+  vector_longchain = repr("text/plain", [longchain, longchain]) # pretty ugly in reality
+  @test occursin("Chain(Dense(2, 3)", vector_longchain)
+  @test occursin("# 50 parameters", vector_longchain)
+  @test !occursin("# 9 parameters", vector_longchain)
+  @test !occursin("# Total:", vector_longchain)
+
+  matrix_longchain = repr("text/plain", fill(longchain, 3,3))
+  @test occursin("Chain(Dense(2, 3)", matrix_longchain)
+  @test !occursin("# 9 parameters", matrix_longchain)
+  @test !occursin("# Total:", matrix_longchain)
+
+  @test Meta.isexpr(Meta.parse(toplevel_longchain), :call)  # comments are ignored
+  @test Meta.parse(toplevel_longchain).args[1] == :Chain
+
+end
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index a40433d0f1..e603ea2924 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ end
     @warn "CUDA unavailable, not testing GPU support"
   end
 end
+  include("layers/show.jl")
 
 @static if VERSION == v"1.5"
   using Documenter