RPO Newsbag
This is the Lowell Smith Signature Series and RailSmith blog, (or perhaps it's better called, ‘stories around the caboose stove’). Either way, bookmark this page for updates as they happen and check back regularly!
2018 National Train Show Experience
This year’s big show was held in Kansas City.  With Kansas City being the geographical ‘center’ of the U.S., I thought this would be a great show and would draw from all parts of the country, and I was right because folks from every corner of the nation attended.  This annual event is the biggest ’traveling’ train show, as it…
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City of Prineville Railway: A new chapter
On January 14th Barb and I celebrated 40 years of marriage. On that day, we moved the last truck of household goods from our home of 27 years in Portland, to the Central Oregon town of Prineville. You may have heard of the ‘City of Prineville Railway’.  You may have been wondering ‘what happened to…
Read More »What size is the train under your tree?
One of the fun things about the holiday season is the chance to have friends and family visit. In our family we enjoy a nice meal and fellowship followed by games being played. Decorating the house has always been a fun thing to do but decorating the Christmas Tree has been one of my favorite…
Read More »Shipping Update!
There’s so much happening!  What shall I tell you about first?  When I open a boxed shipment from one of the manufacturers I use, it really is like Christmas!  After hours of design, tweaking the art, and matching colors, the end product is such a joy to behold!  Today I received the much anticipated Rio Grande…
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American Freedom Train on the Blues
For most it’s a life dream to build a model railroad. For the past 25 years one of my rail buddies, Keith Schaber, has been building his Union Pacific Blue Mountain Division. Built on two levels, with operating signals and many sidings, a train will take a real 50-plus minutes to go from one end to the…
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First time ever on the cover of a national magazine!
Model Railroad News has made the announcement of my first ever ‘O Scale‘ car a headline cover page story! How exciting and so fun to see! This car is impressive to behold, and I’m sure you’ll agree regardless of the scale. The American Fruit Packers ‘Cascadian‘ label car is being produced by Atlas…
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National N Scale Convention
Most every year Barb and I make it a priority to visit a different part of our country with our friends of the organization known as the N Sale Enthusiast. This year the convention was held in Roanoke, Virginia. We had never been to that part of the state, so we knew it would be…
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Oregon Trunk Fishing Trip
Last week I had the special opportunity to go fishing with my son, Jeremy. Life is busy, but given the chance to have a day with him, made me happy to take it! We love to fly fish, and rarely take the time to enjoy such a fun hobby, so off we headed to one…
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Portland’s Meet N March
We had such a great time, last weekend, with all of our rail friends from all around the Northwest! Â Â Â We call this N Scale only swap event ‘Meet N March’. Â It was my grand daughter’s first N scale train meet! Â I think we’ve been having this meet for about 20 years. Â Once-in-awhile we’ve called…
Read More »An interview with Lowell
One of the benefits of having an amazingly talented daughter is connecting with her business associates at Propel Businessworks. Tim Griffin of Mission: Communicate helped Jamie with much of the technical aspects of my new website, and although he lives across the globe, he touches many companies in the world in the area of website…
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