Al C. Kalmbach

Who was Al C. Kalmbach?

Al C. Kalmbach was the founder of Kalmbach Publishing, a publisher of magazines and books geared towards enthusiasts of several different hobbies.

Albert Carpenter Kalmbach was born in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. He grew up in Milwaukee, not far from the shops of the Milwaukee Road.

He was ambitious from an early age. At 12 he spent some of his savings to buy a small hand operated printing press. He would publish the Milwaukee Sun, a neighbourhood paper, until he enrolled in Marquette University. In 1932, after graduation, he had a job offer working on the Pennsylvania Railroad's electrification project, but the job fell through due to the Depression. He started a new printing company, The Milwaukee Commercial Press, which specialized in church newspapers, besides commercial job printing.

His interest in railroads began during his early life in Sturgeon Bay. The rail line that served his relative's business was the Ahnapee and Western Railway. His interest in model railroads came from helping his friend Frank Zeidler with electrical problems on the O Scale layout Zeidler was building. Al was hooked and began construction in 1928 of his own layout, the Great Gulch, Yahoo Valley & Northern, in his parent's attic. In the winter of 1932-33 he helped to organize the Model Railroad Club of Milwaukee.