Carl Swanson, Editor

Carl Swanson, a former member of the CLASSIC TOY TRAINS staff and previously a senior editor at Model Railroader, is the editor of CTT.

Carl has spent three of his 12 years at Kalmbach Publishing Co. on the staff of CLASSIC TOY TRAINS. He also worked at Trains magazine before joining Model Railroader's staff. He is the author of the Kalmbach book Faces of Railroading and was editor of the magazine Model Trains Step By Step. Carl was also the founding editor of RailNews magazine, and served as editor of Passenger Train Journal magazine prior to joining Kalmbach in 1997.

An avid model railroader, Carl has a 8-by-12 three-rail O gauge layout. Carl studied journalism at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln and photography at the Woodland School of Photography. He lives in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood with his wife Judy, sons John and Daniel, and daughter Rachel.

Roger Carp, Senior Editor

Roger Carp has been associated with CLASSIC TOY TRAINS since its second issue came out in the Spring of 1988. He has also edited both of its special issues, All-Star Electric Trains of the 1950s and More All-Star Electric Trains.

The history of toy trains in America fascinates Roger, especially the development and promotion of prewar and postwar Lionel and postwar American Flyer. To advance his understanding of that history, he has conducted interviews with many former Lionel and Gilbert employees and written four books on the history of Lionel. Roger regularly travels around the United States, photographing O and S gauge layouts for articles in CTT.

Roger collects postwar Lionel trains and accessories, Mini-Craft stations and newsstands, and Authenticast figures, all for the O gauge layout that he dreams of building.

Kent Johnson, Senior Editor

Kent Johnson joined the CLASSIC TOY TRAINS staff in early 2005. Kent accumulated a wealth of hobby knowledge while working as an associate editor for Model Railroader magazine and as a senior acquisitions editor in the Kalmbach Publishing Co. Books Department for 10 years.

In addition to editing magazines, books, and special issues, Kent has authored several CLASSIC TOY TRAINS features, reviews, and columns, including the popular "Talkin' Toy Trains" series he wrote with his dad. He also appeared in the video production of Dream, Plan, Build: Layouts, Modeling Tips & Prototype Railroads and the DIY network television series "Workin' on the Railroad."

Kent and his wife Ella are the parents of two sons and two dogs. Kent does his best to share his interest in trains, travel, music, photography, basketball, and other outdoor activities with his family and friends.

Kent's layout

Kent's O gauge layout fills a 14- by 48-foot room in his basement. Inspired by travels to various regions of western Canada, Kent is building his layout to include city scenes around Vancouver, B.C., forested mountain terrain, and deep river canyons. Along with the scenery, the layout includes plenty of contemporary command-control locomotives and rolling stock, painted, weathered, and detailed for Canadian Pacific and Canadian National railways.

While finishing construction, Kent opened the layout to Lionel Collectors Club of America (LCCA), Lionel Operating Train Society (LOTS), and National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) members attending conventions in Milwaukee, Wisc.

Bob Keller, Associate Editor

Bob Keller joined the CLASSIC TOY TRAINS staff in 1996. He is responsible for the product content in CTT's News and Reviews departments - he has written nearly 500 product reviews.

Bob has enjoyed O gauge trains since 1955. He currently operates O, S, and British OO gauge layouts in his basement.

Bob's layout

Virtually everything we review is given a torture test on Bob's 16- by 22-foot O gauge layout or his S gauge pike. The O gauge layout features three main lines (two O-72 and one O-42) with track by Lionel, Atlas O, and MTH, while S gauge testing is conducted on S-Helper Service track.

At home Bob powers his trains with an MTH Z-4000, Lionel KW and 1033s, and an MRC TrackPower O-27 transformer. With the exception of a few Pennsylvania and Lionel Lines trains, Bob's roster is entirely New York Central, including U33C, Genesis, and Dash-9 locomotives that he repainted from their original road names

Jennifer Posh, Editorial Assistant

Jennifer Posh joined staff of CLASSIC TOY TRAINS in August 2012. She is a graduate of Beloit College where she majored in creative writing and served on the editorial board of the Beloit Fiction Journal, a national journal of contemporary short fiction. Her tasks include proofing content for the magazine, managing the website, writing the newsletter, and various administrative duties to keep CTT running smoothly.

Terry Thompson, Publisher

Terry Thompson is a native of Grafton, Ohio. He became a fan of the New York Central, the Baltimore & Ohio, and railroading in general at an early age. Before coming to Kalmbach - where he started as an associate editor for CLASSIC TOY TRAINS - he taught at Ohio State, and prior to that he worked for the Chicago & North Western.

His newest layout depicts northern Ohio on the New York Central in HO scale. He is also the editor of our sister publication Model Railroader magazine.