{"id":417,"date":"2026-10-06T22:00:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T22:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmodelrailroading.com\/?page_id=417"},"modified":"2026-10-25T20:58:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T20:58:01","slug":"tom","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.artofmodelrailroading.com\/index.php\/hosts\/tom\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Davey"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-coblocks-social wp-block-coblocks-social-profiles has-text-align-center has-colors\"><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SoutheastHobbiesLLC\" title=\"Facebook\" class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-block-coblocks-social__button wp-block-coblocks-social__button--facebook has-padding\" style=\"border-radius:40px\"><span class=\"wp-block-coblocks-social__icon\"><\/span><span class=\"wp-block-coblocks-social__text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns alignwide is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-roboto-font-family has-custom-font wp-elements-1 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#000000;font-family:Roboto\">Tom Davey is the owner of Southeast Hobbies and a lifelong railroad enthusiast whose passion for trains began while growing up along the Erie Lackawanna Mainline in Hammond, Indiana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-roboto-font-family has-custom-font wp-elements-2 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#000000;font-family:Roboto\">Growing up, Tom spent countless hours watching trains roll past his hometown, developing a fascination with railroading that would stay with him throughout his life. His interest quickly expanded into model railroading when he and his father built a small HO scale layout in the family basement, allowing him to recreate scenes from the Erie Lackawanna Railroad that he admired so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-roboto-font-family has-custom-font wp-elements-3 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#000000;font-family:Roboto\">Like many hobbyists, Tom stepped away from model railroading during his high school years as other interests and responsibilities took center stage. However, the hobby&#8217;s appeal never truly disappeared. In 1996, he returned to model railroading and rediscovered the creativity, craftsmanship, and community that make the hobby so rewarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-roboto-font-family has-custom-font wp-elements-4 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#000000;font-family:Roboto\">Tom attended Purdue University, where he met his wife Carol, and went on to build a successful career in corporate finance. Over the years, he held leadership roles with HSBC, Bank of America, and several other financial institutions. After a distinguished career spanning decades, he retired from the banking industry three years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"410\" height=\"547\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artofmodelrailroading.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_0186-edited.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-482\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.7495536670713419;width:472px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artofmodelrailroading.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_0186-edited.jpg 410w, https:\/\/www.artofmodelrailroading.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_0186-edited-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 410px) 100vw, 410px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"alignwide has-text-color has-link-color has-roboto-font-family has-custom-font wp-elements-5 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#000000;font-family:Roboto\">Retirement marked the beginning of a new chapter. Driven by a desire to pursue something he genuinely enjoyed, Tom founded Southeast Hobbies. What started as a passion project quickly became a thriving business serving model railroaders and hobbyists across the country. Today, he combines his entrepreneurial spirit with his lifelong enthusiasm for the hobby, helping customers find products, discover new aspects of model railroading, and enjoy the same experiences that inspired him as a child.<br>Tom is currently preparing to build his first personal model railroad layout since grade school, transforming a bonus room above his garage into a dedicated railroad space. While the Erie Lackawanna remains close to his heart, his modeling interests have expanded over the years to include the Chicago, Rock Island &amp; Pacific and the Chicago &amp; North Western railroads.<br><br>As host of <em>The Art of Model Railroading<\/em>, Tom brings a unique perspective that combines decades of business leadership, a lifelong love of railroading, hands-on experience as a model railroader, and the insights gained from operating one of Today&#8217;s growing hobby businesses. Through conversations with fellow enthusiasts, industry professionals, and layout builders, he hopes to inspire others to explore, enjoy, and share the art of model railroading.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tom Davey is the owner of Southeast Hobbies and a lifelong railroad enthusiast whose passion for trains began while growing up along the Erie Lackawanna Mainline in Hammond, Indiana. Growing up, Tom spent countless hours watching trains roll past his hometown, developing a fascination with railroading that would stay with him throughout his life. His [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":84,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"Roboto,Roboto","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","hide_page_title":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-417","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmodelrailroading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmodelrailroading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmodelrailroading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmodelrailroading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmodelrailroading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmodelrailroading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":484,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmodelrailroading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/417\/revisions\/484"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmodelrailroading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmodelrailroading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}