–What You Don’t Know About Why You Build Models– Why do we love model railroading so much? Most of us can’t put our finger on exactly why. Sure, we might say we enjoy the craftsmanship or the nostalgia, but there’s something deeper going on—something we feel rather than think Read more…
Somehow I manage to find the most unique railroad equipment to model, and the Harris Palatial Car Company combine/parlor/sleeper Jeannette does not get any better than that—oh, what a find! And usually, as luck would have it, information about the passenger carriage is not easily or readily found. In Read more…
Many hesitate to get into the hobby of model building, particularly model railroading. Building things has always given people great satisfaction in life, perhaps because that is what we were meant to do. In my particular case, at the early age of grade school I had trains given to me Read more…
🎉 Train Meet Magic for Everyone, Everywhere There’s a special kind of electricity that fills the air at a train meet. The tables stacked with treasures, the hum of conversation, the thrill of discovering a long‑sought part — it’s a world that model railroaders know by heart. For decades, these Read more…
Every Friday night, my grandfather would take me to the Garfield Clarendon Model Railroad Club. I’d bring a box of freight cars, hoping the engineers would let me run them on their massive layout. The pike was a maze of tracks, signals, and miniature towns—complex and beautiful. I wasn’t the Read more…
About 2 years ago, in 2023, we worked up a beginners kit for the Chicago Great Western Doodlebug otherwise known as a Gas Electric because it had a gasoline engine and a generator to power traction motors. The title of this kit is: All Nation Line M-300 Gas Electric “Doodlebug” Read more…
A true and documented railroad history written by John Wubbel. In this document, John describes his early life and the important aspects of an historic railroad village of Elizabeth, Illinois. John shared this history with the Chicago Great Western Railway Depot Museum located in Elizabeth, Illinois (Location: 111 East Myrtle Read more…
Whether you’re a curious kid, a busy professional, a STEM student, or newly retired, model railroading offers something magical for everyone. We are developing a brief series of videos and exploring how tiny trains spark creativity, build real-world skills, relieve stress, and connect generations. From first layouts to lifelong passions, Read more…
It seems like every 10 or 15 years, a cycle if you will, and at least since the dawn of the World Wide Web technology, those of us that have had careers in the tech industries, like the computer field, always see the newest thing coming. And this since the Read more…
How Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help to build a complicated kit “Right The First Time” – this from an old engineer. Often times an O Scale kit comes with some fairly comprehensive instructions telling the modeler how to go about assembling and building out the kit. The creator of the Read more…