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“The inevitable is no less a shock just because it is inevitable.” -Jamaica Kincaid- As the calendar turns to 2025, The Hills Line finds itself in an enviable but inevitable place for a model railroad. The final pieces of the layout are being filled in, and I have to determine what's next for a project … Continue reading Last Steps
Like many modelers, I'm still processing the announcement that Kalmbach has sold their rail-related titles to Firecrown. Model Railroader, Trains, and Kalmbach Books (among others) are now part of the Chattanooga-based company, joining their existing transportation-based publications. To be clear, I work in media. I understand that sales, mergers, and spinoffs are part and parcel … Continue reading Abyssinia, Kalmbach
I don't know how to play chess. To be fair, I've never really tried. I knew guys in high school and college who did; one was even ranked among players in the state. But my knowledge of gambits and grandmasters doesn't extend beyond being able to name the pieces and a vague understanding of how … Continue reading Freight Cars and the Art of Chess
As The Hills Line approaches its fifth year of existence, I find myself continuing to develop new approaches and processes for building and operating the layout. Not that I'm unsatisfied with my concept, but because there are always new avenues to explore in prototype modeling. Those same avenues involve how I document and distribute images … Continue reading Vantage Point: 2024
The Hills Line 