a ModelersLife

The Sipping & Switching Society is a modular-railroading group associated with HO-scale railroading and our next guest has a lot of knowledge about the society and we decided he was the one to talk with. The Society is originally based in North Carolina but there also versions in the Ohio Valley and Cincinnati areas.

With a well-defined "module standard," distinguishing it from other modular approaches the are modules typically 30″ wide and often built in 2-foot length increments but this can vary. Construction uses a "waffle-style" framework to make modules lightweight but stiff enough for transport and repeated assembly.

There's alignment pins/holes to ensure that the track ends match up exactly, typical track arrangement is two mainline tracks close to the "public" side plus an inside track for switching/yard operations. The result: very fast setup and teardown compared to less standardized modular systems. It's a very informative podcast and one we're sure you'll enjoy!!

The National Model Railroad Association has been working on a new branding strategy and long-term vision for the future of model railroading, particularly through their Vision 2035 initiative and we here at the ole' ModelersLife world headquarters thought this topic required a more intense investigation and flew in the NMRA's Publications Manager Riley Triggs and Eastern Director John Doehring.

The NMRA has been updating its image to reflect a more current era of the hobby, making model railroading more appealing to a broader audience. The new branding is part of a broader effort to rejuvenate the organization, to stay relevant in an increasingly digital and interactive world. This is great discussion and one we're sure you'll enjoy!!

The fun part of any hobby is meeting interesting folks with a variety of different talents and Wayman Humphrey is no different. An American artist known for his unique, vibrant approach to many different forms of art, blending geometric shapes, bold colors, and dynamic compositions, that explore both structure and spontaneity.

While not as widely known in mainstream art circles as some of his contemporaries, Humphrey's work is respected for its originality and emotional depth, but more importantly for the listeners of this podcast, Wayman discovered the magic of model railroading just a few short years ago and hobby is far better off with him as a participant. This is a great podcast about a very interesting individual that we're sure you'll enjoy!!

It's a return visit to Mine Mount Models and our friend Ron Klaiss who's always sure to remind his name sounds like "nice." Things are really humming along and there's lots of new items on the website. Ron has been producing excellent craftsman structure kits for your railroad or diorama that create unique scenes on any layout for over seven years.

One of the best things about these kits from are the instructions, it may sound silly, but Ron produces some of the best instructions in the industry. This is a fun podcast as always, so grab yourself a big bowl of shredded strip wood, a tall cool glass of Elmer's white glue and enjoy.

It doesn't matter who they are or what they've done, or what they model, whether they have a big layout, a small layout, or no layout at all. First time guests are always interesting regardless of the topic or any of the other usual interests that we've come to expect from our fellow model railroaders.

Scott Smith fills the bill, he's lived a very interesting life with an interesting vocation, as we find out everything there is to know about our next victim… Errrr, guest. Whether it's boat racing, coal dumps, weathering freight cars of all sorts, or selling some of his creations on eBay. It's all makes for a very thought-provoking and fun podcast!!

There's a new look on the horizon for the National Model Railroad Association, which was unveiled at Milwaukee's TrainFest. The new artwork is inspired by locomotives and rail cars symbolizing that the NMRA is on the move and propelling the hobby of model railroading forward into the future.

We here at the old AML Nation wanted to find out as much as we could about this new logo and the plan going forward and who better to help us understand than association president Gordy Robinson and his trustee sidekick Riley Triggs. Both Gordy and Riley were delighted to fill us in on all there is to know about the new logo and an exciting new vision to shape the future of this great hobby.

We often say that this hobby encompasses so many different aspects that there's always something for everybody to enjoy. Our next guest is all the way from New Mexico and is excellent example someone who enjoys many different aspects of the hobby including operations, building steam pro throttles, rebuilding brass engines working with Arduino's and building his own CTC machines, as well as several other, interesting aspects of the hobby.

John Symanski's story is an interesting one, especially when you consider what he did for a living most of his adult life and to his credit he was anxious to share many of his adventures both in and around the hobby. It's a great podcast and one we are sure you'll enjoy!!!

If your current day to day life is getting you down and you were hoping that ViewerMail would never make a comeback, we can promise you this day is not going to get any better, but we can assure that listening to this latest version of ViewerMail will surely make even the biggest problems seem small. After dealing with catastrophic climate change, flooded roadbed, improper routing through the transportation museum, the new crew finally caught up to the ViewerMail train just outside downtown Pagosa Springs.

We'd like to bring you some of the finest podcast entertainment the model railroad industry has to offer, but once again the crew at the AML Network reached the lofty goal of chronically disappointing. So grab yourself a big bowl of shredded five cent stamps, a tall cool glass of warm saliva and enjoy!!

For those of you that don't know our very own Marcus Neubacher is the Director of Administration for the North Carolina Transportation Museum and every few years or so he'll get the chance to attend a convention for the Heritage Rail Alliance where the free exchange of information among members and working industry professionals is available.

This year the convention was held in Durango Colorado and we hear the ole' AML Network, decided that we'd need to hear as much of the trip as possible. Of course it took us a while to get there, but eventually we managed to cover a wide range of subjects and produce a podcast well worth listening to. Enjoy!!

Old friends can be the best kind of friends, those folks you haven't talked to for several years and then strike up a conversation as if you'd seen them yesterday. That's what this podcast is about, catching up with our old friend Serge Lebel from Sept-Iles Quebec on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River.

We first met Serge several years ago when we discovered his O-Scale two rail layout known as the CN Sanmore Subdivision, a fantastic well detailed model railroad that is slowly developing into one of the finest layouts in North America. It's a great podcast with lots of information and one more sure you'll enjoy.