As a youth he built a fairly extensive Lionel layout and worked on his father’s various HO layouts. His dad may have even finally forgiven him for “weathering” two Varney hoppers by taking a soldering iron to the tops and sides. By junior high, he had switched to On3 and started a new freelanced narrow gauge layout, the Deep Creek & Pine Valley Ry. A move back to Denver in 1976 brought about a shift in his modeling, back to his Colorado roots. Armed with some of the then-new Tomalco kits and a scratchbuilt D&RGW long caboose, he began construction of some modules built to the On3 standard popular at the time. Not finding any other local guys building to this standard, the modules served primarily as track-laying and rolling stock tuning exercises and as test beds for his scenery ideas.

After graduation from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Chris set off to obtain fame and fortune as a rock musician. Within a few years it was clear that the rock n' roll lifestyle was not conducive to modeling trains, family life or even eating regularly— all things he enjoyed a great deal. So he got a haircut, a wife, a family, and a grownup job in the printing industry. He also joined the Denver O Scale Club (now the Denver Society of Model Railroaders, the oldest original two-rail O scale club in the nation) and spent the next several years building scenery and equipment. In 1994 Model Railroading magazine was sold to a new publisher and Chris joined the staff as National Sales Manager.

Long before it was introduced, Chris was able to see pre-production models of the Bachmann On30 Mogul. While not polite to get out the scale ruler in front of a client, the models looked to be very good scale models of the Colorado & Southern No. 21 and 22 moguls. After a time of using the Bachmann models as conversion fodder to On3, the thought started to grow that maybe these models should be used as-is. Further research indicated that new On30 releases were putting a great deal of the fun back into model railroading in general and narrow gauge in particular. The new models were attracting a whole new group of modelers who may have had an interest in narrow gauge, but felt that the skills and expense were out of their reach. These new modelers had great enthusiasm but lacked basic knowledge of narrow gauge practices. Chris found himself spending a great deal of time answering questions on the Internet and at train shows. From these observations, the idea for the On30 Annual was born.

Don Strait was quickly recruited as Associate Editor of the new publication, bringing his experience from Model Railroading with him. Within a few months the first issue of the On30 Annual was produced, and it was an instant hit. George Riley came on board with that first issue and has been a fixture ever since. When Model Railroading expired in 2007, Chris joined the staff at Carstens Publications and brought the Annual with him. In addition to producing the HOn3 Annual and On30 Annual, Chris is charged with producing new books for Carstens’ ever-expanding line of hobby publications, in addition to representing the company at train shows across the country.

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During college George was able to get a job working at the local hobby shop which would lead to a career in the hobby industry. Upon completion of his studies in art and psychology he remained at the hobby shop due to a recession in the early 1980s. An opening for a wholesaler’s representative in 1982 and a growing family led to a job change. For the next fourteen years he sold hobby supplies to many of the hobby and craft shops in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

Still active in the hobby both as a livelihood and avocation, he was able to enter the manufacturing side of the industry working for several major model railroad companies in a sales and later marketing capacity. In 2006 George joined Carstens Publications in a marketing and development capacity. This has proven to be the perfect blending of his hands on love of the hobby and desire to promote the industry.

After over thirty years in the industry and a decade prior as a hobbyist, the challenge and excitement of model railroading remains undiminished. George is continually wrapped up with one new project or another designed to demonstrate that anyone can build and enjoy the hobby. His ongoing contributions to Carstens Publications’ magazines are to his mind the most important part of his many duties in promoting both craftsmanship and railroad modeling.

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Don was a lifelong HO modeler and NMRA member who "caught the bug" and switched to On30 while working on the Annuals. His first On30 layout was converted from an in-progress HO layout and his thoughts and methodologies are chronicled in the 2007 On30 Annual.

A move to a different house in 2008 resulted in a new, from the-ground-up On30 layout and it is currently being built in a 14' x 30' basement room. Progress is being made on the new Cheyenne Mountain Southern to the point that there is even scenery being put in place. This is much to the surprise of long time friends who have never seen him advance to the scenery stage of a layout. The new layout is fully operational, and is set up for card order operation. It also serves as a frequent test bed for new narrow gauge products.

While officially retired for a second time, Don is still kept busy helping with the editing of the two Annuals, and making the occasional appearance at trains shows on behalf of Carstens Publications.

Please contact us if you have a question or comment
you'd like to share about the HOn3 Annuals.