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I've been watching trains run since I was a kid in Cicero, watching my dad set up Lionel around the Christmas tree. After 28 years turning wrenches at the CTA's Skokie Shops, I've learned something about building things that actually work: you measure twice, you follow the specs, and you don't skip …

My dad ran Lionel trains around our Christmas tree in Cicero, Illinois, back when I was knee-high to a boxcar. I never once heard him use the word "scale." It was always "O gauge this" and "O gauge that." Took me years to figure out he was technically wrong. And here's the thing: he wasn't alone. Mo …

I've watched guys pour thousands into garden railroads only to rip them out three years later. Bad drainage. Wrong track material. Frost heave that turned their mainline into a roller coaster. After spending 28 years fixing things at the CTA Skokie Shops, I can spot a doomed project from across the …

I've been running O gauge trains since my dad first set up that Lionel loop around the Christmas tree in our Cicero living room back in 1972. After 28 years of fixing things at the CTA's Skokie Shops, I've learned that the difference between something that works and something that looks right often …

I spent 28 years fixing things for a living, and one lesson stuck with me: the right tool makes the job easier. An N scale train set with DCC is exactly that-the right tool for running realistic model railroad operations when you don't have a spare barn to work with. My basement is full of O gauge, …

I spent 28 years fixing trains for the CTA, and if there's one thing that experience taught me, it's this: you don't need fancy equipment to do good work. You need the right materials, the right technique, and enough sense not to skip the boring steps that actually matter. N scale scenery works the …