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I spent 35 years working the real iron for Burlington Northern Santa Fe before hanging up my lantern in 2019. My basement workshop in Duluth is dedicated to HO scale recreations of Great Northern and Northern Pacific operations from the transition era. But here's the thing: if I were starting fresh …

I bought my first Broadway Limited locomotive in 1989 and immediately realized I had a problem: I had no idea what an actual Pennsylvania Railroad freight train looked like. That single question sent me down a research path that, frankly, I never came back from. Now I spend my days as an archivist a …

Look, I spent 28 years fixing things at the CTA's Skokie Shops. I know what it's like to stare at a pile of parts and wonder where to even start. Building your first HO scale structure kit can feel the same way, except nobody's going to fire you if you glue something backwards. Here's what I wish s …

I've killed exactly three decoders. The first two were my fault. Bad wiring, motor not isolated, the usual rookie mistakes. The third? That one still stings because I thought I knew what I was doing. Turns out, "DCC-Ready" on the box doesn't mean what you think it means. This HO scale decoder insta …

I spent three weeks hunting for a Broadway Limited Mikado last spring. By the time I found one, I'd learned more about the HO steam market than I ever wanted to know. The experience reminded me of my day job in trucking logistics: scarcity drives behavior, and the prepared buyer wins. If you're loo …

When my dad passed in 2011, he left me an unfinished N scale layout in his basement. I remember standing there, staring at boxes of track and locomotives, feeling completely lost. Where do you even start? If you're feeling that same overwhelm right now, hunting for the cheapest HO scale train sets w …