Tracks Ahead

Tracks Ahead is a television series about railroading, produced by Milwaukee PBS, originally solely for their station WMVS, then syndicated to public television stations, starting in 1990.

In general, the series examines all aspects of railroading, both in the United States and in the rest of the world. Content covers a wide range of railroad-related materials. This includes scenic rail journeys, short-line railroads, layouts (in various gauges of model, tinplate, scale, garden), artists, photographers, and other railroad related material.

At the dawn of cable television, Chuck Zehner, a Milwaukee train enthusiast, began producing and hosting the interview format show Just Trains on Milwaukee's local access channel on Viacom Cable. Eventually the show was picked up on the cable network around Milwaukee, After 72 shows Milwaukee's WMVS Channel 10 (PBS) agreed to air a new magazine format show On Track in the Milwaukee market. For the second season it was renamed Tracks Ahead and expanded to the PBS network.

The first season (released 1990) was hosted by Charles E. "Chuck" Zehner and the second season (released 1992) by Ward Kimball. Both were repackaged and re-released with Spencer Christian as the host. All subsequent series have featured Christian.

The primary audience for the series is women (ages 25–63) and children (ages 3–18) by 63.4%. The remaining audience is railroad interest groups.

Season 5 was the first in 1080i high definition; season 6 was the first to incorporate 5.1 enhanced (surround sound) audio.

Tracks Ahead 7 started airing in January 2009. As with the previous two seasons, it is in high definition, with digital 5.1 surround sound. The 14-part season includes segments from Japan, the Caribbean, Patagonia, and all around the United States.

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