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The three most important things a railroad right-of-way needs are drainage, drainage, and drainage. Excess water in the railroad infrastructure decreases, degrades, and ultimately destroys tracks, ties, and turnouts. On The Hills Line, I've not modeled lineside ditches. Instead, the track is laid directly on the foam board sub-roadbed to replicate the not-as-high-speed-as-the-main look present … Continue reading Drainage
Upon descending the steps into our basement, you're presented with the following vista as your first view of The Hills Line. Not exactly what I would call appealing, is it? However, even in this primitive state, this ultimately represents opportunity. This pile of parts will ultimately become the last section needed to complete the layout … Continue reading The Front Door
"WTF! The whole house is shaking" -My Better Half- Recently I hosted a series of op sessions on The Hills Line. To a person, every single guest present commented on my under-layout sound setup. An update on my arrangement is therefore warranted. The original version of my Mindheim-inspired under-layout sound setup used an old Soundtraxx … Continue reading Mindheim Sound, Redux
The communal aspects of this hobby continue to amaze me. Recently I had the honor of participating in the Around The Layout Podcast Interchange Tour. In a nutshell, modelers were able to sign up to host a Gunderson 50-foot paper boxcar in ATLP livery, operate it on their respective layouts, share a few photos of … Continue reading Stranger in a Strange Land
The Hills Line 