Blog

Gerry Hoffmann spent 35 years working for Burlington Northern Santa Fe before retiring in 2019, and he's been modeling railroads almost as long as he worked on the real ones. Based out of his basement workshop in Duluth, he specializes in HO scale recreations of Great Northern and Northern Pacific o …

Oscar Lindberg spent forty years as a dental technician in Minneapolis, working under magnification on objects most people could barely see. When he retired, he wanted a hobby that used those same skills-and Z scale turned out to be the perfect fit. His detailed layouts prove that the smallest scale …

Martin Sawicki works as a machinist building precision aerospace components, where tolerances are measured in thousandths of an inch-so handlaying HO scale track feels almost relaxing by comparison. He got into handlaid track after one too many frustrating experiences with commercial turnouts that w …

By Donna KruegerDonna Krueger spent twenty-three years painting sets for regional theaters across Wisconsin and Minnesota, learning to create convincing age, wear, and atmosphere on surfaces that would be viewed from twenty feet away. Model railroad structures are closer to ten inches, but the princ …

HO Scale What Does HO Scale Mean in Model Trains? The Complete 1:87 Breakdown HO scale means 1:87 ratio using 16.5mm track gauge. Learn why it dominates the hobby and how to avoid common compatibility pitfalls. Model T …

Christmas morning, 1978. That's when I caught the bug. A Tyco freight set looping around a plywood oval in my father's basement, and suddenly I wasn't just a kid playing with trains. I was building worlds.Forty-six years later, I still get that same electric feeling when I stand back …