A friend of mine introduced me to this blog and encouraged me to share the HO scale layout I started building in 2016 in Lakeville, MN. The Red Rock Northern is described as a freelanced short line in rural America. It was designed by Jerry Boudreaux and featured in the June 2007 issue of Model Railroader magazine as an 11x9 which I've stretched slightly into an 11x10 spare bedroom. It operates as a twice around the room point to point but also allows continuous running. Minimum radius is 24" and maximum grade is about 2.5-3%. Main road is Burlington Northern.

For those in the know better than me here is a question for you.  I have an ATT model of the alco century 415.  To me it seems to be bigger  than most of my locos that I have.  My question is this, is the ATT, AHM, and whoever else made them other than in brass, scaled bigger than the real engine.  Kind of like the older blue box Athearn diesels were labeled as wide body because they were slightly bigger in scale due to the motors having to fit inside the shell.

Does this question make sense?

I have a BLI HO SW 1500 that really should have a Keep Alive or Current Keeper because I send it onto seldom used industrial tracks where rail contact is iffy, and it occasionally has to go through an automatic reverse loop section.  

I asked Broadway where I could connect one and got a reply, clearly showing the points where  the chassis ground and 12 volt (+) could be accessed. ( See photo)  (And they cautioned that they don't recommend making any modifications.)

Perks of a Small Model Railroad - Today I am talking about the perks of a small model railroad. I am a huge fan of small model railroads. They are an excellent way to be involved in the hobby. They actually have some benefits over large model railroads. Today we discuss them.