Before the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad it was simply the Lackawanna Railroad, connecting New York City across state to Buffalo, New York and that’s all you need to know. Unless of course you’re a retired police officer in New Jersey with fond memories of running across the Lackawanna Cut-off in a speeder car with your dad. Which then brings us to our guest Tom Schmieder.

After years of preparation, planning, collecting supplies and learning to build an addition to an already beautiful home, Tom Schmeider is well underway with the construction of a model railroad layout for the ages, based on the memories of a young boy riding the “the Cutoff.” We’ve brought in some New Jersey’s most enthusiastic model railroaders to help us find out as much a s possible about Tom and his railroad. It’s a great podcast with tons of info to enjoy!!

Who doesn’t like a party, especially one that celebrates a milestone like the 90th anniversary of Railroad Model Craftsman. We were fortunate enough to convince RMC editor Otto Vondrak to stop by the ole’ AML studios and tell us some of the history of the magazine, learn about some of the previous owners, plus interesting discussions about some of the key players over the years.

The magazine was started during the depression era of the thirties, when the NMRA was getting started beside some industry leaders that are still recognizable names today. Tony Koester played a big part in the seventies and was instrumental bringing Allen McClelland to the fore front of the hobby. We learn of the great contribution Bill Schaumburg made to the hobby as editor, long-time publisher Hal Carstens and a host of others that spent many years working with the magazine. This is a great podcast that we’re sure you’ll enjoy!!

What can we say about our next guest other he’s one of the greatest goalies the people of Durango, Colorado have ever witnessed, standing tall between the pipes this behemoth of a man turns back shot after shot while constantly thinking about ways to improve SoundTraxx decoders and get them out to the world so modelers from all across the globe can learn the infinite possibilities this product can deliver.

But wait, you say you’d like to know the best way to paint your goalie pads?? George takes time out of his busy scheduled to carefully describe the painstaking effort using a rubberized paint to turning you into the best beer league goalie this side of the Mississippi River. Then George takes us on a great tour of his present layout with a detailed description of how it was built in a garage that it shares with a car. This is a fun episode we’re sure you’ll enjoy!!

Lorne James is just one of those people you’re glad to know, someone that always leaves you with a smile on his face. He one of the exciting young men that continue to make this hobby grow beyond anyone’s expectations. Having started in the retail end of the hobby in his teenage years and continuing to grow that business to present day with a great retail shop in Tillsonburg, Ontario.

Never one to sit still, Lorne and his partner have now expanded into the freight car manufacturing side of the hobby with the National Steel Car 6,400 Cubic Foot gondola used mainly in the construction and waste disposal industries hauling waste to transfer sites. This podcast is full of excitement as a young modeler tells the tale of trying to get his new company off the ground. Enjoy!!

“What if we gave away our 1,000th ProtoThrottle to raise money for the Colorado Model Railroad Museum that Michelle Kempema runs??” These words were spoken to me by Michael Petersen whom I hadn’t heard or seen from since we worked side by side as bus boys on the Orient Express during the late eighties. Stunned by the offer, but anxious to help Ms. Kempema who in recent times had taken a job as a t-shirt model to raise money for the museum, I quickly accepted.

Michael stated there were a few conditions that must be met, apparently his time in the Orient had prohibited the fine folks at Iowa Scale Engineering from mailing any ProtoThrottles across the Atlantic and as of this broadcast Bhutan was strictly off limits. But fortunately, if you live in Canada, New Zealand, Australia or the United States of America you’re eligible to enter the free draw at the Amherst Railroad Hobby Show. So bring a pen, a couple of bucks for the museum and you too could be operating your layout with one of the finest throttles on the market today.

What can you say about someone that’s brought so much joy to folks young and old by simply standing trackside with a camera in the great state of Florida. These are the videos of someone with the expertise of a professional broadcaster and the excitement of a teenager railfanning for the first time.

Railfan Danny Harmon was born and raised in Florida, trying to catch all the rail action in Sunshine State while still taking the time to explore railroading as far away as Ohio. Shooting with a Sony AX-700 camcorder, GoPro Hero 7 Black, DJI Air 2 drone, and editing all the footage he’s captured on his iMac with Final Cut Pro X software the final product is well worth watching. This is a great podcast, and you can find the Distant Signal YouTube channel right here:

https://www.youtube.com/@distantsignal/featured

Hey kids, it’s almost time for the annual Springfield Train show time, the Big “E”, the Amherst Show, the “Great” Train Show, the “Big” Railroad Hobby Show, the show that John Sacerdote runs every year with help from a cast of thousands and its official name is “the Amherst Railway Society  Railroad Hobby Show.” Dating back as far as the 1960’s, the show covers hundreds of thousands of square feet in four buildings on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition.

Since 1991, the Amherst Railway Society started an annual grants program that began to support the efforts of other railroad-focused organizations. In the years since, the Society has donated $814,373 to railroad preservation. This is a great podcast with lots of great information that we’re sure you’ll enjoy!!

If model railroad operations is your thing or you’ve never had the opportunity to operate a model railroad of any kind and you’ve got no idea where to start, then you’ve come to the right place. Eric Smith has created one of the most useful tools we’ve ever seen connecting model railroaders and operations-oriented layouts.

OperatingSessions.com is a free service that’s been purpose-built to help support model railroaders host operating sessions. Whether it’s individual sessions on a single layout, or multi-day events with dozens of sessions.

Scheduling operating sessions or finding operators can sometimes be quite a pain but with OpertingSessions.com even the most complex operating weekend can be simplified with ease. This is a great podcast with tons of information that we’re sure you’ll enjoy!!

It’s the day after Christmas and for many of us around the globe it’s known as Boxing Day, while for many others, it’s simply known as Monday and while recovering from heaping mounds of turkey, bread stuffing and Aunt Emily’s Christmas pudding at the AML Nation’s world headquarters, we decided there was no need for a podcast on such a magical day.

But wait, while some of the AML gang were cleaning up the studio after what can only be described as an epic Christmas party, someone hit the switch and microphones went live and we loaded up the recording on our trusty cassette player so everyone could hear what could only be described as our “Boxing Day a.k.a. Monday” podcast. Grab yourself a big bowl of shredded plastic bows, a tall cool glass of week-old tree water and enjoy!!

As another year draws to a close it’s time once again for our annual state of the hobby and with so much happening in the hobby, we here at the ole’ AML world headquarters decided this would be the ideal time for the newest editor of Model Railroader magazine to share his thoughts about where this great hobby of ours is headed. Of course, such an interview wouldn’t be complete without help from everybody’s favorite “Uncle” Dave, who’s always excited to talk all things railroading.

Eric White is a veteran journalist with a wealth of model railroading knowledge behind him, he joined Model Railroader as an associate editor and looks forward to leading it into the future. Leading the hobby’s flagship publication is an important role which Eric plans to take very seriously. He enjoys the operations side of the hobby and meeting readers of the magazine. This is great podcast and one we’re sure you’ll enjoy!!