a ModelersLife

Ken Patterson is one of the best-known personalities in model railroading today. He is a professional photographer, modeler, and media producer who has been published extensively in hobby magazines and has photographed dozens of model railroad magazine covers. He's best known for his "What's Neat This Week" a popular weekly video show featuring model railroading projects, starring the often enthusiastic Joshua Barton and the always peppy Mike Budde. Ken's show features new products, techniques, industry news, and guest appearances from hobbyists and manufacturers around the hobby. Recently there was a major fire on the layout and thankfully the "Dude" is still here to tell us all about it. So grab yourself a big bowl of shredded melted freight cars, a tall cool glass of extinguisher fluid and enjoy!!

George Taylor has been hanging around the AML Nation almost as long as the modeler simply known as "Kelly." We've travelled a lot of miles with George through the years and it seemed like as good a time as any to catch up on what he's been doing. It's a great podcast and one we're sure you'll enjoy!!

Dustin Whitten is a full time 1:1 railroader that's also an HO scale model railroader known for his coal-hauling Appalachian-themed layouts. His current layout was featured in the "Built by Others" series on Trains.com inspired by the Virginian project layout that first appeared in the pages of Model Railroader in January of 2012. Dustin's Norfolk & Western South Branch layout took inspiration from this project and adjusted it to fit his space. His freelance layout, the Norfolk & Western South Branch, models Southwestern Virginia in 1987 during the early Norfolk Southern era. On this podcast he explains how he expanded and customized the original Virginian project plan with broader curves, a redesigned coal marshaling yard, realistic operations based on prototype railroad practices using a mix of Norfolk and Western, Southern Railway, and early Norfolk Southern power. It's a great podcast and one we're sure you'll enjoy!!

Well, the show is over, the vendors are gone, there's no more tickets to be sold and the planning for next year's Springfield show is already underway!! As always there was lots to see and do, from checking out different manufacturer's new releases, fabulous layouts, renewing friendships and looking for deals on that one particular piece of rolling stock you need!! Our favorite magazine editor Otto Vondrak stopped by to give us his take on all there was to see and decipher how the hobby is fairing and where it might be headed. Otto has a wealth of knowledge about the hobby and when you combine that with biggest model railroad show in North America (possibly the world) you've got yourself a great podcast. So, grab yourself a big bowl of shredded floor maps, a tall cool glass of warm hot dog grease and enjoy!!

Blair Kooistra is a well-known railfan and railroad photographer whose work and life revolve around trains and railroading — not just as a hobby but also professionally and creatively and documenting rail operations through images. He's shared thousands of train photos online, especially on Flickr where his photostream includes rail action from classic lines like the Fort Worth & Western. Recently after retiring from the railroad, he set-off on a thirty-seven-day road trip to photograph railroading and visit with friends and several model railroads. Originally a photojournalist, Blair turned his lens toward trains early in life and has published many of his railroad photos in magazines. He later became a railroad dispatcher based in Texas, which kept him close to the day-to-day workings of real railroads. This a great podcast and one we're sure you'll enjoy!!

Another year has come and gone since we last talked to hero Smokin' Joe D'Amato. For those of you who don't know Joe's been a true friend of the podcast since before dinosaurs were born, along with his trusty sidekick, the modeller simply known as "Kelly," he's regaled with all sorts of interesting stories and never been afraid to share his knowledge of the hobby. But's there's been some pretty big changes in Joe's life with the purchase of Micro Trains by the Atlas Model Railroad Company located in Newark, New Jersey. However, the folks at Atlas obviously know talent when the see it and made sure he'd stay on to continue the great tradition and quality that Micro trains is known for. He's been involved with design, production, and community outreach for decades and stopped by to give the inside scoop on this new chapter in his life. It's a great podcast and one we're sure you'll enjoy!!

Springfield is just days away which means it's time for our favorite hobby shop owners, Ryan and Tom to load up the trailer, gas up the truck and head north from York, Pennsylvania to the biggest model railroad show of the year!! This year they've got six tables some really cool estate stuff, a whole lot of paint to sell and very little help. It's gonna be a challenging year for the boys because they decided to go it alone with any help from the shop staff. Tom has decided to go with very little preparation so when you stop by their both be patient and tell them Lionel said to hurry up. Grab yourself a big bowl of shredded purchase receipts, a tall cool glass of tap water from the restroom in the Better Living Center and enjoy!!

Based on this our latest cover photo, you may think were concentrating on the lovely little town of Ellicottville, New York, a village in Cattaraugus County about fifty miles south of Buffalo in the Allegheny mountains region. It's a pretty little town, right out of a Norman Rockwell painting and well known for its festivals, skiing and fall foliage. But as we close the year of 2025, we've also discovered that the owner of one of our favorite model railroad manufacturers, JL Innovative, a popular brand with creative concepts, is owned by one of Ellicottville's most vocal distracters. Known to the kindhearted people of this little piece of paradise as, "that Costello guy." It's an interesting tale of one man's dislike of giraffes and a sleepy little town not far from the Pennsylvania state line. Enjoy!!