model railroader – The Hills Line

Persistence of Vision

May 16, 2020May 16, 2020 by James McNab, posted in Announcements

"To make a film is easy; to make a good film is war. To make a very good film is a miracle." –Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu If you haven't figured it out by my less than subtle demeanor, I make my living as a video producer and editor. For the past 20 years I've created newscasts, … Continue reading Persistence of Vision

Bespoke Operations

January 20, 2020December 2, 2019 by James McNab, posted in Philosophy

Whenever a guest operator would visit my former IAIS Grimes Line layout, I would always include a quick briefing ahead of starting the session. Each time, I opened with the following statement: "This will take as long as you want it to." That somewhat cryptic comment wasn't meant to serve as some sort of Dante-esque … Continue reading Bespoke Operations

Thanks Tony

December 6, 2019December 6, 2019 by James McNab, posted in Announcements

There's been a subtle but steady uptick of web searches for thehillsline.com over the past few days. And while I'd like to think it's because of the quality of my posts, I know better. It's not my writing, but rather Tony Koester's words that led you here. I would hope that I wouldn't have to … Continue reading Thanks Tony

Homage

October 30, 2019October 18, 2019 by James McNab, posted in Design

"If you want something stuck in someone's head, put it in a sequence of three." -Brian Clark- Previously I had written about how I adapted Iain Rice's Linked-Up Logger layout concept for the general design of The Hills Line. Since our basement arrangement requires any plan to be divided into three distinct spaces, I had … Continue reading Homage