New York Live on NBC came by the club a few weeks ago to film a segment. It was broadcast on Monday 1/13/2020.
Here's a link to it. Enjoy!
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Looks great Chris.
Young Ian is a star in the making - club President by 2040! 
- Greg
That was great !!
Alex
Terrific!!!
Just amazing!! Thanks Chris!!
Was there for the first time a couple months ago. Bravo! What a wonderful experience!
Great!
Great message to the public about the hobby. I love it when an enthusiast train guy gets on camera with a solid delivery of all the fun and learning that our hobby offers. You gotta love the interview with the little guy and then the shots of the reporter taking her own photos on her phone!!!
Yes, it was great for everyone! Nice job again by the NJHR's club. Congrats on the publicity.
You guys should be proud. I'm proud just to say I was there once! I wanted to come back with our youngest grandson who loves trains. It just hasn't worked out so far.
Nicely done segment, congrats!
Great video........ You guys do a great job promoting the hobby!
Peter
Great video, but even better layout. If you all are ever within 100 miles of this layout, it is a must see. The wife and I got to see it about 3 years ago and we still cannot believe how great it is. Thanks Chris for posting this, brought back a lot of memories. Can't wait to see it again.
That is a great video the local television station did! What a tribute to everyone who has ever been involved with the NJHiRailers! 
I'm just sad I live on the wrong side of Pennsylvania to make a day trip and that I couldn't attend the OGR 50th! It's a 6-hour trip across I-80. I need to do as Roger just wrote and get within 100 miles of the layout!! 
More kudos for the Hi-Railers!
Very cool news video from the Big Apple..... Congrats.......
Gary
Outstanding! Some great exposure, for this great place.
Liked reporter Ashley Bellman's enthusiasm, too.
That was good. But it absolutely was made all the better by the enthusiasm of the reporter. You could tell she was having a good time and was both interested and impressed.
Now by the nature of the job, sometimes a reporter has to "pretend" to be interested. It didn't appear she was pretending: The scene in front of the amusement park, with the push buttons for the kids and she quickly added "and adults!" was proof.
Toward the end of the segment, I wasn't quite clear, but it sounded like the smaller, more kid friendly layout shown, was from the Soprano's? Either way, having that smaller, less detailed layout is a fabulous idea. People will obviously be impressed with the main NJ Hi-Railer layout, but then for them to be able to see something that might prompt them to think "Hey, this here is doable" is the best of both worlds. The big layout blows them away, and then the smaller layout shows what might be possible at their home.
There's no possible way any of the train companies could have purchased television advertising time that would have been as convincing or as effective as was this human interest news segment.
EBT Jim posted:Outstanding! Some great exposure, for this great place.
Liked reporter Ashley Bellman's enthusiasm, too.
Absolutely!! She did an excellent job!!!
Brian K-Line, you are so right on Ashley and the small layout refurbished from the television show I have heard much about but never watched.
brianel_k-lineguy posted:That was good. But it absolutely was made all the better by the enthusiasm of the reporter. You could tell she was having a good time and was both interested and impressed.
Now by the nature of the job, sometimes a reporter has to "pretend" to be interested. It didn't appear she was pretending: The scene in front of the amusement park, with the push buttons for the kids and she quickly added "and adults!" was proof.
Toward the end of the segment, I wasn't quite clear, but it sounded like the smaller, more kid friendly layout shown, was from the Soprano's? Either way, having that smaller, less detailed layout is a fabulous idea. People will obviously be impressed with the main NJ Hi-Railer layout, but then for them to be able to see something that might prompt them to think "Hey, this here is doable" is the best of both worlds. The big layout blows them away, and then the smaller layout shows what might be possible at their home.
There's no possible way any of the train companies could have purchased television advertising time that would have been as convincing or as effective as was this human interest news segment.
There are 3 layouts across the hall from the main layout room. We let the kids run them all.
One is a donated layout and 2 are from the Sopranos. The first shown in the video is the layout from Bobby Baccala's garage. The second, less detailed one, is one of 2 made for the rubout scene in TrainLand. We used to have both of them but traded one away for a Hot Dog Cart!
Take a look at the latest issue of OGR Magazine for the story behind our acquiring them.
Chris, Thank you very much for the additional information. I was happy to see the article in the latest OGR, but haven't read it yet.
I have seen or read about the NJ Hi-Railers on many forums. They are truly awesome ambassadors for the hobby. I hope to visit someday. NJ is a long way from CA. NH Joe
I would refer to the NJ High Railers layout as the gold standard in O gauge layouts. Its a virtual show piece, a historical work and a museum all in one. While some very nice layouts exist across the USA, something on this grand scale could never be duplicated again.
Excellent! I have been there an look forward to returning! One note, though... the report was on WNBC the main affiliate of NBC in NYC.
Well done. Great PR for the club.
Excellent!
Mark Boyce posted:EBT Jim posted:Outstanding! Some great exposure, for this great place.
Liked reporter Ashley Bellman's enthusiasm, too.
Absolutely!! She did an excellent job!!!
Brian K-Line, you are so right on Ashley and the small layout refurbished from the television show I have heard much about but never watched.
I'll third the compliments regarding the reporter. Great segment all around. It deserves national exposure. Way better than any of the Today show Lionel bits.
It was nice to see the entire layout from the overhead shots.
Awesome segment! Great exposure to show the world of model trains. Two thumbs up!
Excellent !
Excellent coverage of the awesome NJ Hi-Railer's Club. This is great PR for not only the club, but
the model train hobby. This is how to grow the hobby!!! Way to go!
Jeb
Video is great and Ian was great.
The show found out about us via Youtube. They had seen a video about the club and cold called us to see if we'd like to be on the show.
The power of social media to promote the hobby!
Excellent job! I look forward to visit when I'm home in the summer.
That was definitely cool. What a great layout. Looks like fun.
Nice. Reporter was fantastic, probably the best I have seen reporting on model trains, great enthusiasm.
Very attractive, including the lovely blonde as well as the trains and layout.
