Meet the Hosts

Thomas McEwen

Host

Thomas McEwen is the creator of the Montana Northern Railroad, an HO scale model railroad built around a love for realistic scenery, thoughtful operations, and the enjoyment of the hobby. A train enthusiast since the age of three, he has spent years learning, improving, and sharing his modeling journey with others. Through his YouTube channel and Facebook community, Thomas enjoys documenting the progress of his layout, creating how-to videos, and encouraging fellow model railroaders to build and enjoy their own layouts. Beyond model railroading, Thomas has a lifelong passion for photography. He previously worked as a sports photographer covering the NFL, NASCAR, and major college athletics. Today, his camera is more often pointed toward America's small towns, wildlife, and breathtaking landscapes, combining his love of travel with visual storytelling. When he's not in the train room or behind the camera, Thomas enjoys traveling the country with his wife, Michelle, and their miniature Australian Shepherd, Annie Oakley, discovering new places, photographing scenic landscapes, and finding inspiration for both his photography and model railroad.

Anthony Lorch

Co-Host

Anthony Lorch currently works for the Union Pacific as a conductor in San Antonio, TX. A native of San Antonio, Anthony has been with the UP for 13 years. Prior to working for the UP he worked for the IMRL in Kansas City. He been modeling since he was a little boy, starting with N scale then moving HO around 1995 because HO scale was best suited to his interest in detailing locomotives. Anthony has been influenced by the Utah Belt and has been proto-freelancing since 1995. Currently his proto-freelanced railroad is named the Kansas Pacific which follows the route of the original Kansas Pacific but also has extended trackage. Anthony credits his friend Hank Stephens who models the Georgia Road for helping him develop the Kansas Pacific become the proto-freelanced railroad it is today.

Joe Bohannon

Co-Host

The Chinook Lines traces back to 1909, when the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad completed its Pacific Coast Extension—a modern, gently-graded line built to rival the Hill Lines and give the Milwaukee Road its own western gateway. That legacy unraveled in the 1970s as Milwaukee Road management, increasingly focused on real estate over rail operations, decided the western lines were dragging down the company's merger prospects. Despite trackage rights gained through the Burlington Northern merger boosting business on the line, the company petitioned the ICC in 1980 to abandon 1,100 miles of track. A coalition of Milwaukee Road employees, shippers, and bankers—organized as Save Our Railroad Employment (SORE)—offered to buy 3,550 miles of trackage, but the ICC judged the projected returns insufficient to satisfy lenders and approved the abandonment anyway, leaving liquidation to the states. Washington State, suddenly responsible for the orphaned line and wary of the economic and job losses that would follow, opened the door to outside operators for the former Coastal Division. SORE—by then a group of former Milwaukee Road employees backed by local banks—won the bid, launching a leaner regional railroad running from Puget Sound to Spokane and Portland, with BN trackage rights intact from the earlier merger. After debating names, including Milwest, the founders settled on one honoring Washington's heritage, its native peoples, and the resilience of the region's wildlife: the Chinook Lines.

Cody Wilson

Co-Host

Cody Wilson is a model railroad hobbyist, designer, developer, and lifelong tinkerer behind the MP Railroad, an HO scale layout inspired by the rail lines and industry of East Tennessee. Also the owner and creator of RadRail Software. What started as a love for trains has grown into a hands-on obsession with everything that goes into building a layout from scratch: parametric 3D design, custom locomotive paint schemes, branding, and DCC wiring. Outside the workshop, Cody has a genuine curiosity for graphics and web design, and enjoys picking apart how things are built well, whether that's a website, a logo, or a scene on a layout. Always looking for the next snowboarding or camping adventure with his wife Caitlin. He's always chasing the next skill to learn, and brings that same curiosity to the podcast, asking the questions he's genuinely trying to figure out himself.