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I've built four model railroad layouts since retiring from construction in 2018, and if there's one question I hear more than any other at club meetings, it's this: should I stick with HO or switch to N scale for better detail in a smaller space? After 40 years of measuring twice and cutting once, …

After forty years of building houses, I thought I understood construction. Then I bought my first HO locomotive with a 21-pin socket and realized the model railroad industry has its own building code. The good news? Once you crack the code, HO scale DCC ready locomotives offer the best path to digit …

I've built four HO layouts since retiring from the construction business, and every single one taught me the same painful lesson: the curve radius printed on your locomotive box is about as reliable as a contractor's estimate on a bathroom remodel. That 18-inch minimum they claim? It's technically t …

Hal Lindgren built houses for 40 years in the St. Croix Valley, and when he retired in 2018, his wife told him he needed a hobby that didn't involve her having to look at sawdust in the kitchen. Model railroading seemed like a natural fit-he's built four layouts since then, two for himself and two f …