Wow, this is a tough one…kind of like naming your favorite dessert!
For me, the staffer who has increased my personal enjoyment of the hobby above all others would have to be Allen Keller. He came on board with the magazine in the early 80s to produce and manage the Kalmbach Video arm of the magazine. I still have all of the original how-to and layout tour videos he produced, my favorites being “Building Realistic Scenery” and “Weathering with Malcolm Furlow”. I watched Layout Video Tour #1 again over the Christmas holidays for the ump-teenth time. The segments still look fresh after all these years.
Once he began his Great Model Railroads series under Allen Keller Productions, the quality and scope of the tapes really took off. I own all 55 volumes in his series and have learned so much from watching them countless times. I would have to say that Allen’s contributions have increased my enjoyment of the hobby above anyone else - MR staffer or not. Without him, I would not have had the chance to learn, up close and personal, from such pioneers as David Barrow, Chuck Hitchcock, Howard Zane, Dick Elwell, Rick Rideout, George Sellios, Allen McClelland, Tony Koester, John Armstrong, Gary Hoover, the Reid Brothers and Gil Freitag.
It is very humbling for me to know that I will join that fraternity this May when my MA&G becomes Volume 56. As Wayne and Garth so eloquently put it, “I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy!!”
In closing, I would say that everyone who has had a hand in producing my most cherished of all periodicals, Model Railroader, over the past 40 years deserves my heart-felt thanks. As with Allen’s videos, the hobby would be stuck in a vacuum for me without MR.
Thanks to all of those, past and present, who continue to carry the torch!