a ModelersLife

Another year is in the books, and a new one is about to begin. Across the AML Nation there's hope and optimism, with another chance for all of us to inspire and help each other reach even greater heights. This hobby provides an opportunity for so many folks from diverse backgrounds to come together and enjoy what each of us has to offer.

Scott wants to raise his layout up to even greater heights of completion, Peter has taken on the role of the president for the NMRA's British Region and plans to work feverishly on it for an upcoming convention and Bradd looks froward to installing a signal system on his Railroad. It's going to be another exciting year for the AML Nation, TomStock here we come.

You've had too much egg nog, your dog ate most of the bacon and you keep refreshing the water bowl for your artificial tree but it doesn't seem to get any greener. Christmas is a time to spend holidays with family and friends, the Queso Cowboy has had major dental work done but stills speaks with the velvet tomes of Mel Torme. After a lively discussion about artificial trees we discover that the TableMaster has a seventeen-foot tree set in the main foyer of his estate.

Next was a great discussion about your favorite Christmas movie. Everyone had excellent selections and it was all going along fine until we asked Kelly because little did we know or expect "Kelly's" favorite movie would be a chick flick starring Hugh Grant, yes that's correct "Kelly's" favorite Christmas movie is "Love Actually" a bonafide chick flick, we're all stunned and still aren't sure how to react. Enjoy!!!

The model railroad industry lives and dies on the ability to appeal to the buying public, it seems easy to us consumers that merely have to check out what's in stock and part with our hard-earned dollars. We take a peek behind the curtain to find out what's it actually like to own a store dedicated to this great hobby, what to offer, dealing with wholesalers, consumers who just can't seem to be satisfied no matter the problem and everything in between.

Stephen Atwell owns Midwest Model Railroad in Independence, Missouri a successful retail shop that's becoming a destination, with a large selection of products and a great team ready to help. Lorne James owns Otter Valley Railroad in Tillsonburg, Ontario another wonderful store with an excellent selection of products and some of there own manufactured cars. It's a great podcast with lots of great info from these leaders in the hobby. Enjoy!!

Sports announcers are a breed of their own and few stand out from the rest, such as John Madden in football, Vin Scully known as "Mr. Baseball, Foster Hewitt the long-time announcer of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Dick Vitale who began broadcasting college basketball games in 1979. Each one of these men had a quality you can't teach, their unbridled passion for what they loved was infectious and so it is with our very own "Uncle" Dave.

Dave brings a special kind of enthusiasm that can't be taught, to this great hobby of model railroading and anyone that tries to keep up with him is almost surely going to fall behind. Just listen to him as he describes his new book from Kalmbach about yard design or his self-published book, Guarding the Chicago Line, and his excitement about refurbishing a couple of Kato SD40-2's. It's time well spent with "Uncle" Dave we're sure you'll enjoy!!

Brass locomotives are dead. There's no point in buying them. They're a bad investment. In fact, we couldn't understand why anybody would even want to buy and sell them until we met Matt Dowd at Resourced Rail's. Not only is Matt an avid Model Railroader but he's been an avid collector and trader of brass locomotives in all scales for decades, and now he's turned it into a full-time business.

We decided to have a return visit to find out how this fledgling company turned into a full-time job for Matt who now employs seven people to help him keep up with demand. Plus he tells us all about his exciting trip to the "Land of the Rising Sun" and what model railroading is like in Japan as he introduces us to some of the great brass locomotive builders of our time. It's a great episode and one we're all sure you'll enjoy!!

It's the OVR Pop-Up event #2 with several great guests, a mediocre introduction, and a Marginally Adequate wrap-up show. We'll hear interviews from Nick Masney of ITLA Models, with lots of great products and is as excited about the future of the hobby as anybody, next up is Andrew Duns, who's partners with Lorne James in the OVR Trains manufacturing business, then we hear from our old buddy George Bogatiuk from SoundTraxx who can dispense more information in 10 minutes than most people can in an hour.

Finally, we meet legendary accordion player Walter Ostanek, a three-time Grammy award winning musician who's travelled the world and been on just about every show there is such as Johnny, Carson, Lawrence Welk, Don Ho, Phil Donahue etc. etc. Walter is still going strong at the age of 88 and it was a real thrill to meet him and spend quality time chatting about his life. This is a great podcast and one you're sure you'll enjoy!!

It’s the end of the Ken McCorry forty-seven-part trilogy of one of the best layouts in all of North America, from its humble beginnings in a townhouse to a dedicated thirty-three hundred square foot barn this story about a man and his dream is completed for now. There so much to learn about the Buffalo Line and in this series of podcasts we only managed to scratch the surface.

With an actual quarter mile of mainline and eleven different branches, this one of the most extensive and exciting to run model railroads ever built. But don’t be mistaken, operations on this railroad are taken very seriously and you can’t just step into a job of your choosing without being fully qualified as the Evel Overlord found out. Ken was a great guest and after a brief pause due to medical complications, we were able to bring this series to close. It’s a great podcast and one we’re sure you’ll enjoy!!

Tillsonburg, Tillsonburg, my back still aches when I hear that word. However, one thing that Tillsonburg does have, is one of the best model railroad shops in all of Canada, ideally located about two hours from Toronto, Buffalo and Detroit. Our very own, Lorne James and his wife Sara are the proud owners of Otter Valley Railroad and decided to host a day long show for some of the best manufacturers in the hobby.

The AML Nation decided to send one of its crack reporters to this event for interviews and what’s happening in the hobby. None of those people were available so instead they sent the Evel Overlord, and he got a chance to talk with several of the attendees. It’s a great podcast, so grab yourself a big bowl of shredded sales receipts, all cool glass of left-over soda and enjoy!!

It’s part three of the Ken McCorry Chronicles, and during this episode, we tried to convince him to let us take the Corvette out for a spin. We also investigate the changing eras and railroads on the three-hundred-mile-long Buffalo Line and what’s behind them. We find out how difficult it is, how much different equipment is needed and what’s behind it all.

For this podcast were joined by former Conrail employee Doug Watts who’s been operating on Ken‘s layouts before the barn was even built. Plus, there’s plenty of discussion about how to maintain one of the largest layouts in the country. It’s a great podcast and one for sure you’ll enjoy!!

Back in the studio is a newly discovered AML talent with a resume that would impress any railfan, modeler or locomotive engineer in just about any generation. Mike May has been a railfan his whole life, a steam and diesel engineer for about half his life, the guy in charge of the “Polar Expess” Christmas extravaganza and now has decided to dip his toe into model railroad manufacturing.

About ten years ago Mike began building my third layout, the White Pass & Yukon Route. The railroad is an unusual prototype which led to many challenges and solutions along the way. This turned into an idea to start offering high quality kits of prototypes that haven’t been available for this unique railroad. Hopefully these kits can help others start modeling the WP&YR or find great freelance homes for them as well.