CNW RS-3 no. 1616 warms up on a cold morning in Tracy, MN in preparation for its run to Sleepy Eye. Follow along as I walk you through...

It's September of '78 in Tracy, MN and things are getting to the point where you can start feeling a chill in the air when the shift...

It's a late summer afternoon in 1978 as a CNW RS-3 does some clean-up work on the elevator lead behind the yard in Tracy, MN. The...

The turn out of Tracy carefully spots a load of canning supplies at door 2 at Del Monte's Plant 114 in Sleepy Eye. A tank of vegetable...

Model Railroad Layout Design For The Alco Line Project (HO Scale) Construction on The Alco Line Project has started. As work progresses...

An Alco 424 spots a car in front of Sleepy Eye Milling Company in Sleepy Eye, MN. I'm currently building a segment of this fascinating...

Floating shelves can be an efficient means of storing rolling stock. You don't need to be in the hobby long before you've accumulated a...

This logistics warehouse is a composite of no less than eight Walthers kits. Being willing to alter a kit's footprint opens up an...

I recently finished an N scale model railroad based on the BNSF Hi-Line through Montana. The layout, 7 feet by 22 feet in size, features...

Conductors don't have wings. They can't fly. In this view, the conductor is taking a final look at his work before walking back to the...

Settling versus focusing, it’s the most common issue I see in my design practice.  Not being able to make the distinction between the two...

Well over half of the individuals who contact me state that they want a multi-deck layout. The idea of doubling the size of the...

I was honored to be a recent guest on my buddy Ray Arnot's Around the Layout Podcast. You can listen to it HERE. For a full listing of...

A wye with even a modest twenty-four-inch radius has a significant footprint which creates major "human reach in" issues. Turning wyes...

Some subscribers to this site, which is my business website, may not be aware that I also have a rail-oriented personal page,...