Do Over, Part Two

Despite a tendency to "break every bone in its body" when attempting to build something for The Hills Line, even I occasionally have moments of mild success in constructing something from scratch. For the lattice-truss bridge over the Iowa River I have the advantage of having done it once before. I left the deck in … Continue reading Do Over, Part Two

Do Over, Part One

"There is never enough time to do it right, but there is always enough time to do it over." -John W. Bergman- As I previously mentioned, my friend and fellow Iowa Interstate modeler Scott Thornton generously gifted me a version of his lattice-truss bridge that he built for his HO scale version of the IAIS … Continue reading Do Over, Part One

Mr. January

Blatant self-promotion time returns, as The Hills Line is featured in several publications this month. The first is my article in the always impressive Model Railroad Planning. For the 2024 edition, I share how I can host two separate eras on the same layout. It's always an honor to appear in Tony Koester's annual treatise … Continue reading Mr. January

Vantage Point: 2024

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