Watch Episodes of The Hills Line with James McNab
Trains.com Video
Purchase the first season on DVD
Trains.com Store
Progress continues on the City Carton area of The Hills Line. Previously I had wrapped up building and painting the large parking lots and numerous roads in the space, as well as constructed the support warehouses for the complex. After the paint and striping was dry, I weathered everything following methods developed by Lance Mindheim. … Continue reading Blend
I'm having to relearn how to model large expanses of concrete and asphalt. On the IAIS Grimes Line I was able to construct the eight-foot long Swanson Boulevard that ran parallel to the PDM Spur out of a single piece of styrene, thanks to a local plastics supplier offering single-sheet purchases. For The Hills Line, it … Continue reading Concrete Jungle
"We're gonna light up the dark of night like the brightest day in a whole new way" -Joe Raposo/Children's Television Workshop- The formal owner of the prototype Hills Line is the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway, a subsidiary of Alliant Energy. Considering its history as an electric interurban, the ownership makes sense. And considering … Continue reading The Electric Company
Model railroading, from a retail perspective, largely remains a cottage industry. While there are a growing multitude of large hobby conglomerates, most of the smaller items you see on layouts come from mom-and-pop operations. Those small businesses are helping me detail warehouses on The Hills Line, and it's always fun to see how these little … Continue reading In The Details
The Hills Line 