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When I inherited my father's unfinished N scale layout back in 2011, I spent three frustrated weeks trying to figure out why his locomotives wouldn't run on some of the track he'd left behind. Turns out, I'd accidentally mixed some Z scale track into an N scale layout while cleaning up his workbench …

I spent four decades building houses in the St. Croix Valley, and if there's one thing that career taught me, it's this: measure twice, cut once, and never skip the foundation work. When I started my first HOn3 layout three years ago, I brought that same philosophy to the workbench. Good thing, too. …

When I inherited my father's unfinished N scale layout back in 2011, I remember staring at those tiny locomotives thinking, "How am I supposed to weather something I can barely see?" My background in landscape architecture meant I had ideas for scenery, but the scale felt limiting. Then a friend dra …

When my husband passed in 2008 and I inherited his half-finished S scale layout, I had no idea what I was getting into. Sixteen years later, I'm still here, still building, and still convinced that S scale at 1:64 hits a sweet spot between the cramped details of HO and the space demands of O gauge. …

I run N scale. My layout fits in a spare bedroom, and I spend most of my time designing custom detail parts on my 3D printer. But last summer, a friend asked me to help troubleshoot her outdoor G scale railway, and I fell down a rabbit hole that lasted months. What I discovered surprised me: the G s …

I spent forty years building houses before I picked up model railroading, and I'll tell you something that applies to both: the foundation matters more than the paint color. Too many beginners grab a starter set, dump it on a 4x8 sheet of plywood, and wonder why their brand-new locomotive keeps dera …