Chuck Zehner and Tracks Ahead

The originator of the Tracks Ahead concept was the late Charles E. (Chuck) Zehner, Jr.  Chuck was always interested in trains, and was a fixture of the rail fan community in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for many years.  Zehner kept a scrapbook about his efforts to bring railroading to he general public.  It recorded Zehner's days as founder of the Lionel Club's "Program Night" rail fan presentations in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, his days hosting and producing the 87-episode public access Just Trains cable TV show, and his work as Senior Producer for the Tracks Ahead program produced for PBS.

To most people, a kitchen table is just a place to eat supper.  But to Zehner, a kitchen table was a place to create a television show about trains that has been shown on more than 200 stations around the United States over the last 16 years.

"It all starts right here, right here at my kitchen table," Zehner told friend David Riddle as he sat at the table flipping through an overstuffed ring binder. "I have a notebook full of story ideas, with a pocket for each idea and any notes, photos, or brochures about the idea. Different fans send me ideas and I have several of my own, and each one goes into the notebook."

For someone whose career is in television, that wouldn't be unusual. But for Zehner it was, because for him it was only a hobby. "I'm just a working stiff with a 40-hour-a-week job like everybody else," Zehner noted.  "My bread and butter comes from working in a factory, and then after work I go down to the TV station.  I don't have a college degree," Zehner said, "but I've got street-smarts. I know what the audience wants, and what will play well with the public. We've got a clean and educational show, one that's interesting, but also one that a mother cannot be afraid to sit down and watch with her children. We receive a lot of fan mail from mothers who watch the show with their children."

Zehner and the other producer for the series, Executive Producer David Baule, made an effective team, with Baule bringing his television skills to the mix and Zehner bringing the story ideas. "We're a regular Barnum and Bailey," said Zehner, who often reminded those around him of circus promoter P. T. Barnum and had created a circus model to go with the HO and O-gauge model trains in his basement. 

Chuck died in December, 2000.  But his vision of bringing the excitement of railroading to a vast audience lives on.