Allen Keller | Model Railroad Academy

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Finishing the Apache Paper Mill Scene

I had to finish up the new Apache Railway scene for my friend Dave’s Chicago Denver & Pacific layout. This required the Walthers Kraft Plant in addition to the power... View Content

Building a Paper Mill for the Apache Railway

I received a request from my friend Dave to build a paper mill for his new Apache Railway. He needed the mill for the town of Snowflake, Arizona, so I... View Content

Building a Power Plant for the Apache Paper Mill

My friend Dave needed a power plant to go with his new Apache paper mill that he was adding to his Apache Railway branch, so I offered to combine his... View Content

Riding Amtrak on the Coast Starlight

When it’s time to leave Portland, we depart from the beautiful Union Station. There are even palm trees planted in front of this hundred plus year old building. The Coast... View Content

Choo Choo Cityrails Southeastern Region Convention

The 2019 convention of the Southeastern Region National Model Railroad Association was held in Chattanooga, Tennessee in late May at the downtown DoubleTree Hotel. About 280 people attended the convention... View Content

A Visit to Tennessee's Official Train Museum

The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga is the state’s official railroad museum although it’s run by volunteers and paid staff. It was started in 1960 and now has 3... View Content

Circus Passenger Cars

After building all my circus flatcars and wagons, I needed some way for the performers and workers to travel, so I decided to construct two passenger cars for my Keljan... View Content

Adding the Dwarf Signals to Bridge Junction

Here is the diagram for Bridge Junction on Allen’s Bluff City Southern. In earlier blogs Kevin Kizer and I installed the approach signals and the train order signal inside the... View Content

Installing Approach Signals for an Interlocking Plant: Part 2

Editor’s note: This blog is part 2 of a series on installing signals for an interlocking plant. You can read part 1 of this series here. We decided to use... View Content

10-Minute Diesel Weathering

This is a new HO scale E-7 diesel. It's well detailed and runs well with sound, but it looks too toy-like to me. There are as many ways to weather... View Content

Cleaning Up an Old Model Railroad Scene

Perhaps you have a scene or series of scenes on your layout that have not aged well. They may be covered in dust or just generally need a little touch... View Content

Installing Approach Signals for an Interlocking Plant: Part 1

On my model railroad of the Bluff City Southern there is a bottleneck, but it's a fun bottleneck. The five railroads that I model come together at this bottleneck. It's... View Content

Making Scale Trees from Hydrangea Blooms

The best material for modeling trees that look like trees is natural vegetation... nothing beats it. For years I've used various kinds of natural materials from the yard, my wife's... View Content

A New Way to Attend a Train Event

For some time now modelers have discussed the costs of going to model railroad conventions and meets. Often the cost has been too much for some people, but the Southeastern... View Content

Allen Keller Builds Circus Flatcars

With spring approaching, the management of the Keljan Circus realized they needed more flatcars to get ready for the new season of performances. In winter quarters the circus crew had... View Content

Allen Keller’s Scratchbuilt B&O Depot

Back in January I got a request from Henry Freeman to build an HO scale depot for his 1957-era Baltimore & Ohio layout featuring the Chicago switching district. The 63rd... View Content