What is it like to take an idea from concept on paper to a finished segment? “It takes a lot of work,” said Executive producer, David Baule. “People just don’t realize the amount of work that goes into a finished four or five minutes. By the time you account for scripting, research, shooting, editing, audio work and graphics, a four-minute segment can take roughly forty hours of work. If you have multiple locations for a story, then you increase the time. The important thing is that you must tell a story. There are too many railroad programs that just watch the trains go by. But without a story, those are just video wallpaper.” Baule continues to say, “We have tried to use the short segment approach on Tracks Ahead to cover all aspects of railroading. People tell us that they don’t like a particular aspect of railroading. But with Tracks Ahead, they just stick around for the next story and always find something they like.”

"But before we can do any of that," he added, "we have to find underwriters to pay for it all. Just like it takes a lot more time to produce the series than people realize, it takes a lot more money to make this show PBS quality. This isn't just a camcorder set up trackside taping the cars as they roll by." Kalmbach Publishing, whose Model Railroader, Trains, Classic Toy Trains and other magazines are familiar to many, was the sole underwriter for the first series of Tracks Ahead. Model manufacturer/supplier Wm. K. Walthers, Inc., helped underwrite the second and third years of the series, in addition to Kalmbach , and both were joined by the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry in financing the series' fourth year. The fifth season was once again underwritten by Kalmbach Publishing, Wm. K. Walthers, Inc, and joined at the upper levels by Kato, USA, and MRIA (The Model Railroad Industry Association.) The sixth season was underwritten by World's Great Hobby, Kalmbach Publishing, and Wm. K. Walthers, Inc., with help from Trains Unlimited Tours.

After a story idea is put into the "grid", or program lineup, phone calls are made to those who can tell the story on camera or who have more information about the idea. Further research is done, a script is written, and arrangements are made for sending a producer /director, videographer, and audio engineer to the site(s) to capture the story. Frequently, as in the case of the segment on the Pacific Fruit Express in one of the episodes, crews must travel to several states to get the entire story.

When the raw tape is returned to the station, it is time coded and the time for every scene is logged. The writer reviews the scenes and writes a final script. The desired video and audio material is captured in low resolution to a computer system, and the writer assembles the scenes together using computer software. The segment can be adjusted until both writer/producer and the executive producer are satisfied with the result. The result of this is an EDL or Edit Decision List. This is used on a high end, full resolution computer system, to assemble the final segment. The computer systems allow the inclusion of graphics, music, off-camera voices, which can be added, deleted, and moved just as in word processing. The process of on-line editing for a 4-minute segment can take about eight hours. Finally, as more and more segments are finished, a script of transtions is written for the host and the scenes are shot.

Finally, all the segments are assembled with the video and host transitions, open, close, and credits. Now the audio is stripped from the series, and using another computer system, completely broken apart. The audio engineer remixes the entire program, assigning different sounds to different channels, and adding sound and effects. Once this is complete, the audio is relaid onto the finished program.

And there you have it; the latest high definition, all digital series of programs of Tracks Ahead.
From there the programs are sent to a distributor, who satellite uplinks the material to the PBS member stations.