A Message from Your Editor – Fall 2026
By Michael S. Oher, TCA #18-73531 Fall 2026 e*Train
All Aboard the e*Train, fellow train enthusiasts!
I’m Michael S. Oher, your conductor of the e*Train, and somehow, we’ve already arrived at one of my favorite times of the year.
It’s York season!
Or, as TCA legend Richard “Clem” Clement (Honor Roll Member), TCA #64-987 once said, “It’s time to go Yorkin’!”
For generations of TCA members, fall and York have gone hand in hand. There is something special about pulling into the York Fairgrounds, seeing familiar faces, walking through buildings filled with trains, and reconnecting with friends we may only see a few times each year.
This York feels particularly meaningful to me.
Since my last column, my involvement within the Train Collectors Association™ has continued to grow in ways I never could have imagined when I first joined the organization in 2018.
For the 2026–2028 term, I have been appointed to several committees at the TCA National level, including the Editorial Review Committee, Internet & Technology Committee, Kids/Youth Club Committee, Public Relations and Marketing Committee, and the Membership Recruiting, Retention & Benefits Committee, which I am honored to chair.
While those committees cover very different areas of the Association, I think there is an important connection between all of them:
How do we preserve what makes the TCA special while making sure it remains strong for the generations that follow us?
There isn’t one simple answer.
It means preserving and sharing the knowledge accumulated by our members. It means using technology effectively. It means reaching families and younger hobbyists. It means communicating the value of the TCA to people outside our organization. And it means making sure that once someone joins, they find enough value, friendship, and opportunity within the Association that they want to stay involved.
Those are questions I am especially looking forward to exploring as Chairman of the Membership Recruiting, Retention & Benefits Committee. I am fortunate to have a great group of fellow members serving alongside me, and I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together.
My involvement with the Eastern Division has continued to grow as well. I continue to serve as the Division’s Social Media & Marketing Chairman and Webmaster, Senior Advisor to the President, Youth Advisor to the President, and I have recently taken on the additional role of Director of Information Technology.
Those responsibilities have allowed me to work across several areas that I believe are increasingly important to York and the Eastern Division—from our websites and technology infrastructure to advertising, social media, public outreach, and finding new ways to tell the story of this incredible event.
At York this fall, I will also join the Eastern Division Board as the Interim Chapter Representative for the Upstate New York Chapter while our Chapter searches for someone to fill that position permanently. Since I am also a candidate for Secretary of the Eastern Division, should I be elected Secretary, I would step away from the Interim Chapter Representative position to ensure that there is no conflict of interest.
Whatever roles I may hold, the reason I volunteer remains the same.
I believe in this organization and in the future of this hobby.
The trains certainly bring us together, but the people keep us coming back.
Over the past several months, I’ve had the opportunity to meet collectors, operators, families, dealers, volunteers, and railroad enthusiasts from across the hobby. Some have been TCA members for decades. Others are discovering model trains for the first time. Some collect incredibly rare pieces of railroad history, while others simply enjoy watching a train circle the Christmas tree.
There is room for all of them in this hobby.
That is something I believe we should never lose sight of as the Train Collectors Association™ approaches the future. Preserving our history remains one of our most important responsibilities, but preservation alone is not enough. We also have to introduce that history—and the fun surrounding it—to the next generation.
That means meeting people where they are.
It means train shows and publications, but it also means websites, social media, videos, community events, educational programs, and new ways of telling the stories behind the trains we collect.
One project that I am particularly excited about brings many of those ideas together.
Over the past several months, I have been working alongside Caleb Easter, TCA #24-77822, and Garrett Green, TCA #25-78813, as we prepare to premiere a feature-length documentary exploring the history, present, and future of York.
York is far more than a collection of buildings filled with trains twice a year. It is a tradition that has been passed between generations of collectors and has become an important part of the history and identity of the Eastern Division and the TCA.
Our goal with this documentary is to capture some of that story: where York came from, what it has become, the people and traditions that have shaped it, and perhaps most importantly, where it goes from here.
We are excited to premiere the documentary Thursday during York in the Verandah Room, multiple times throughout the day, and even more excited that the showing will be free and open to everyone.
For those of us who have been coming to York for years, I hope it provides an opportunity to look back at the people, places, friendships, and traditions that made the event what it is today. For someone experiencing York for the first time, I hope it helps explain why twice each year thousands of us make the journey to Pennsylvania and why simply hearing the word “York” means so much to generations of TCA members.
And perhaps most importantly, I hope it starts a conversation about what York can become for the generations that follow us.
Because ultimately, that is what so much of our work throughout the TCA is about:
Honoring where we’ve been while making sure there is somewhere exciting to go next.
That same philosophy extends to TCA e*Train.
Every issue reminds me just how broad this hobby really is. American Flyer, Lionel, Marx, modern scale trains, prewar treasures, layouts, restoration, railroad history, train shows, collecting stories—everyone seems to have a different corner of the hobby that captures their imagination.
That diversity is exactly what I want e*Train to reflect.
You don’t have to be a professional writer to contribute. Some of the best stories in this hobby begin with something as simple as, “You’re never going to believe what I found at a train show,” or, “This train belonged to my grandfather.”
Those are the stories worth preserving.
For me, that connection with the hobby won’t stop when the lights go out at York, either.
I plan to spend much of the coming show season on the road, attending train shows and events while representing both myself as a collector and the Eastern Division. My travels in the next few months are expected to include Fall York, Greenberg’s Great Train & Toy Show in Edison, NJ, Allentown First Frost Train Meet, the Amherst Railroad Hobby Show, and many more stops along the way.
I’m looking forward to meeting collectors, operators, and hobbyists beyond my usual circles, talking with people about the TCA and the Eastern Division, hearing what they enjoy about the hobby, and hopefully introducing some new faces to everything our Association has to offer.
If you happen to see me at one of those shows, please come over and say hello. Whether you’ve been a TCA member for 50 years, 50 minutes, or aren’t a member at all, I always enjoy talking trains—and I’d especially like to hear what you think organizations like ours can do to make the hobby stronger.
For me, that mission is personal.
York was one of the places where I grew up in this hobby. I attended with my father, Jay R. Oher, TCA #96-42851, walking the halls, looking through tables of American Flyer, talking with collectors, and inevitably discovering something else that we apparently “needed” for the collection.
At the time, I was simply enjoying trains with my dad.
I didn’t realize we were making memories that I would carry with me for the rest of my life.
Today, when I work to promote York, publish TCA e*Train, maintain a TCA website, participate in a committee meeting, travel to a train show, or help introduce someone new to the Association, I often think about those trips.
Somewhere out there is another kid walking into a train show with a parent or grandparent who may be beginning the same journey.
Twenty or thirty years from now, they may not remember exactly what locomotive was sitting on a dealer’s table.
But they will remember who was standing beside them.
That is how this hobby survives.
Not simply through trains changing hands, but through stories, knowledge, friendships, and traditions passing from one person to another.
That’s also why I believe volunteerism is so important to the TCA. Every Chapter, Division, committee, publication, train show, website, museum activity, and outreach effort ultimately depends upon members who are willing to give some of their time to something they believe is worth preserving.
And you don’t need a title to make a difference.
Sometimes it means volunteering at a show. Sometimes it’s contributing an article or photograph. Sometimes it’s helping another collector identify something on a table. Sometimes it’s serving on a committee. And sometimes it’s simply taking a child, grandchild, neighbor, or friend to their first train show.
Every one of those things matters.
As you read through this Fall edition of TCA e*Train, I hope you find something that makes you want to head downstairs to the layout, open an old box you haven’t looked through in years, call a fellow collector, attend a train show—or perhaps even write an article of your own.
As always, TCA e*Train belongs to its readers. If you have an article idea, photographs, a collecting story, layout project, historical discovery, or something else you believe fellow members would enjoy, I want to hear from you. Please reach out anytime at [email protected].
As I look toward York and the remainder of 2026, I’m excited about what lies ahead—not because of any particular title or position, but because each new responsibility, each show, and each new person I meet provides another opportunity to give something back to an organization and a hobby that have given so much to me.
The future of the Train Collectors Association™ will ultimately be built the same way its past was built: one member, one friendship, one story, and one train at a time.
So, with October finally here, the halls waiting, and another York Train Fair just around the bend, I’ll borrow Clem’s words one more time:
It’s time to go Yorkin’!
I’ll see you at York—and hopefully at plenty of other train shows along the way.
Until next time, keep the trains running, share the hobby with someone new, and take care of one another.
Ever Upward,
Michael S. Oher, TCA #18-73531
Editor, TCA e*Train
