This one is for all my fellow rail enthusiasts out there like
@TheMann. This is also in the context of many of my railroad ideas documented across the site so bare with me.
Scholl-Jarrett Productions
This company was founded in 1986 by two rail enthusiasts, Indianapolis native Leslie Jarrett, and Cincinnati-born Greg School.
Born in Independence, Kansas, Jarrett spent his early years living a block from the Santa Fe depot. Many summer evenings (and some mornings), his parents would take him over to the depot to see the Santa Fe's
"Tulsan" or
"Oil City Flyer" make their station stops. Other memories include being invited up into the cab of a Great Northern F unit at Duluth (Minnesota) Union Station, riding New York Central and Pennsylvania passenger trains into New York City, and rides on Amtrak during its early days. Of course a major happening was being bitten by the steam bug while riding the Cumbres & Toltec in 1972.
Greg Scholl's history with railroads also began in childhood, but had been there before in his father Warren W. Scholl. With Greg and his brother Randy, Warren often would take them to see the trains that operated along the places they went on vacation in. Or they would go to the Norfolk & western mainline near their home and savor the sight of the mighty articulateds and sleek Js, was well as the engines of N&W's parent company the Pennsylvania Railroad.
The two men first met in 1984 when Jarrett had gone to lunch at a cafe in Cincinnati. That morning, he had chased Nickel Plate Berkshire 765 as she hauled a freight on the Baltimore & Ohio's mainline from Indianapolis to Cincinnati via Connersville, IN (This footage was later among many occurrences featured in their 1992 video
Modern Steam Freights). During a chat with some other patrons, the subject came of several videos Scholl and his brother Randy had shot of working steam in South Africa. Eventually, they maintained a good freindship and decided to jointly make films out of their footage dedicated specifically to railfans.
Their first major success was the 1988 video
Roanoke Homecoming, which featured Norfolk & Western steam icons 611 and 1218 at the 1987 NRHS Convention in Roanoke, VA. As well as on later excursions in the area. At this time, PBS saw their videos, and thought of having the two men film some footage for TV. The end result was
America by Rail, a series of films consisting of various Amtrak rides like the Ney York-Oakland
San Fransisco Cheif and the Chicago-Florida
Floridian. With additional footage of various tourist railroads and other attractions, train-themed or otherwise, throughout the shows.
Today, Greg and Les still work with much success from PBS, where their shows are considered very enjoyable from a railfan's perspective. In addition to PBS, their footage has also appeared on educational segment for
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends since that show's Season 6 in 2000.