There’s nothing more fun than a visit down the road to Tillsonburg, Ontario with the sole purpose of a visit to the Otter Valley Railroad shop and visit with our friend Lorne James. You can always be sure that there will be lots of editing, lots of dizzying questions and answers with fun being had by all.

Lorne stopped by the ModelersLife studios to bring us up to date on all the new cars that he’s having manufactured regardless of today’s turmoil in the retail sector of model railroad industry. As always, it’s lots of fun talking to Lorne and finding out what’s happening in Tillsonburg, Ontario. My back still hurts when I hear that word. Enjoy!!

If you live in the Chicago area and a fan of railroading, you will no doubt be well aware of the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad that’s been jointly owned by several railroads over the years. With over 320 miles of track in and around Chicago it’s kind of hard to avoid seeing this famous railroad that began in 1896.

We here at the ole’ AML world headquarters wanted to find out more and it seemed like a natural progression to simply talk to Dave’s dad Herman, who worked as a conductor on “the Belt” for over 30 years. Plus he spent time on the “City of New Orleans” and the “Broadway Limited” during a short stint with Amtrak. It’s a great podcast and one we’re sure you’ll enjoy.

The Pittsburgh, Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad Company was founded in 1897 by Andrew Carnegie to haul iron ore and other products from the port at Conneaut, Ohio on the Great Lakes to Carnegie Steel Company plants in Pittsburgh and the surrounding region. At the end of 1925 B&LE operated 228 miles of road on 631 miles of track; at the end of 1970, mileages were 220 and 489. Enter our next guest who’s carefully modeling the B&LE in the early 50’s.

Ray Brown has worked all over the United States and finally settled just west of Erie, Pennsylvania for two reasons: To experience as much snow fall as possible and to faithfully recreate the Bessemer and Lake Erie in a fifty by thirty-foot basement on a double and triple deck layout. Introduced to us by our in-house medical staff of one, (Mike Hauk) Ray’s story is a great listen and one we’re sure you’ll enjoy!!

Have you ever wondered what happens to all those great model railroad clubs that don’t own their own building or eventually the owner of a private home that houses club passes away?? The most common answer is nothing and so was the case with the Southern Pacific Model Railway club in Rocky Hill, New Jersey. Except in this case a successful TV who also happens to be a lifelong model railroader decided to step in and save the day.

James Murray and his wife, Melyssa, who live a short distance away in Princeton, came to the rescue after an article was published in the Wall Street Journal. This is one of the most heartwarming stories we’ve come across since doing the podcast and James was happy to share the story as he walked us through the adventures of buying the Pacific Southern Railway Club.