Trains.com is the ultimate online portal for anyone who loves trains of any size. Brought to you by Firecrown Media, our membership site is filled with exciting videos, articles, blogs, and photo galleries, carefully curated to appeal to rail enthusiasts whose passions and interests range from model railroading and toy-train collecting to train watching and railway history.
The Trains.com site features distinct sections for each of these brands, enabling visitors to immerse themselves in their primary interest areas. Site membership opens up unlimited access to all content on the site, across all brands. One key membership benefit is access to the complete digital magazine archives, which for Trains and Model Railroader covers more than 80 years each.
Trains.com also features exciting new material daily, including premium video programming, content from well-known Trains media bloggers, and breaking news from the railroad and hobby industries. The site also features an array of exclusive feature stories covering current and historical railroading, as well as model train how-to articles from respected authors, collectors, and modelers.
Your destination for all things trains.
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About Us
Interested in model trains? We are too. Model Railroader magazine has been the industry-leading model train magazine since 1934.
The Magazine
Each month, Model Railroader features step-by-step modeling and construction projects, fascinating photo tours of model train layouts, insightful reviews, how-to tips from the experts, and much more!
* Layout tours – Each layout story features a detailed track plan, and behind-the-scenes modeling and construction tips. Many stories include extra features available only on our Web site, and don’t forget to browse our on-line database of hundreds of layout track plans that were previously published in the pages of our magazine.
* How-to projects – Whether it’s building a mountain, wiring track feeders, or adding brake details to a freight car, our how-to articles cover all popular scales and include all the things you need to complete your project including detailed parts lists, illustrations, photographs, and helpful techniques to make your project a success.
* Prototype information – We help you build and operate your models and layout like the real thing. We take great pride in the accuracy of the technical drawings of prototype locomotives, equipment, and structures we feature in the magazine. We also provide detailed historical and technical information on how real railroads function.
Every month you’ll find these regular departments:
* Workshop – Helpful modeling and operating tips, plus answers your questions.
* Step-by-Step – Tackles a different project each month to help you build a better layout.
* Information Desk – Learn about the prototype (real railroads) to help you be a better modeler.
* DCC Corner – Get to know model train operation using Digital Command Control.
* Trackside Photos – Inspirational photos featuring the work of fellow hobbyists.
* Trains of Thought – Every month model railroad expert Tony Koester looks at the philosophical side of model railroading.
Our news coverage includes:
* Product reviews – A look at the newest models on the market and how well they perform. Subscribers can access hundreds of previously written reviews by using our on-line product-review database, write their own reviews and read other hobbyist-written reviews, and watch videos of new trains in action on our staff layout.
* New product announcements – Provides manufacturer listings of new models and includes details about the product, suggested price, availability, and contact information. Products announcements are updated weekly on our Web site and subscribers can watch our regular new products/modeling tips video show hosted by staff member Cody Grivno.
* Industry news – The latest information about events in the model railroad industry can be found in the pages of our magazine and also on-line.
* Weekly e-newsletter – Model Railroader publishes a weekly hobby e-mail newsletter as well. You can register on our Web site to receive it for free.
And if you are looking for additional help in a specialized area, we feature annual magazines, download story packages, and a variety of books on model railroading, including:
Model Railroader’s 80th anniversary issue, January 2014Model Railroader’s 1st issue: January, 1934
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* Information Station, a resource section of our Web site that bundles together themed stories from the pages of Model Railroader in convenient, downloadable PDF form. The dozens of how-to topics covered by Information Station range from using Digital Command Control, to track plan drawings, to specialty modeling in areas such as logging railroads. Some topics are covered in our Video PDF series, which includes video as well as text how-to information in a single computer file.
* Great Model Railroads, an annual magazine that features the work of the outstanding modelers in the hobby. If you are in need of a little inspiration, a look at a few of these dream layouts will help you get started.
* Model Railroad Planning, another annual magazine, features great track plans, planning tips, design tips, and advice on building a model railroad that operates like a real railroad.
* Model Railroader magazine’s on-line forum, with tens
of thousands of questions and answers for beginners, intermediate hobbyists, and experts.
* Books from Model Railroader can also be helpful in your modeling, with topics ranging from prototype information, to weather locomotives, to track planning guides.
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About Us
Garden Railways is a website home for all who love working with large-scale trains — especially outside in gardens! Founded by Marc Horovitz in 1984, Garden Railways published regular issues until 2020 when it converted to a web-only presence on Trains.com. Now all of Garden Railways’ content is available via a Trains.com Unlimited membership.
Here’s just a selection of products we offer online:
Plant index
A library, a picture index, a useful catalogue — no matter what you call it, these articles are each devoted to one plant, shrub, or tree ideal to represent a living miniature of real life. Information includes size, range, and sunlight tolerance and includes at least one picture of the plant in question.
Product review videos
See before you buy! Watch as our staff pull-out of the box and play with locomotives, rolling-stock, and gadgets for the garden railroad.
Archives
Read our very first issue from 1982 — online. With a new website, we’re able to offer PDF-versions of our entire catalogue of regular issues.
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Classic Trains unabashedly celebrates North American railroading from the 1940s to the formation of Conrail. First published as Trains Classic in 1999, Classic Trains emerged as a regular publication in Spring 2000 and has since delighted railfans and rail historians each quarter with photos and stories that command attention.
Besides publishing a cascade of rare photos found in Kalmbach’s David P. Morgan Library, Classic Trains regularly features articles that often share the untold stories of railroading from a prior generation.
Here’s just a selection of products we offer online:
Photo of the Day
A week-daily update of vintage photos from the lenses of famous or fortunate photographers who captured North American railroading in all its forms.
Railroad of the Month
Each month, Classic Trains editors celebrate one of the many “fallen flags” of railroading with an article that introduces the railroad in the first week followed in weeks two through four with photo galleries featuring passenger trains, freight trains, and locomotives.
Archives
Read our very first issue from 2000 — online. With a new website, we’re able to offer PDF-versions of our entire catalogue of regular issues.
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Classic Toy Trains celebrates the fun of collecting, playing with, and displaying toy trains, especially from the 1930s to the 1960s and 1970s. The first issue was published in Fall 1987 and has since grown a loyal following of readers eager to read and share stories about childhood, Lionel, American Flyer, Marx, among other toy train topics.
Classic Toy Trains features articles written by such notables as Roger Carp — a.k.a “Professor Carp” a toy train aficionado and holder of a Ph.D. in American History; a regular Questions & Answers column; track plans you can build; how to stories; product reviews of the latest from the toy train industry, as well as helpful tips and advice on maintaining decades-old toys.
Here’s just a selection of products we offer online:
Track Plan Database
A searchable index of PDFs and plans for trains and track primarily in O and S gauges.
Layout videos
Video recordings from Classic Trains staff and contributors as well as submissions from readers of toy train layouts from around the country — many of which are rarely seen publicly.
Archives
Read our very first issue from Fall 1987 — online. With a new website, we’re able to offer PDF-versions of our entire catalogue of regular issues.
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About Us
Trains: The Magazine of Railroading is one of the world’s leading publications on railroading and trains. We specialize in articles, photos, and video about North American railroads and content on superlative international topics from a North American perspective.
Kalmbach Media founder Al Kalmbach started Trains in 1940. Ever since, Trains staff have delivered the most independent news and commentary on railroading, valuable insights and stunning imagery in monthly magazines, special issues, videos and — more recently — through our websites.
Here’s just a selection of products we offer online:
News Wire
A weekday news service that features original reporting from Bill Stephens and Bob Johnston, important updates from the rail heritage and steam locomotive preservation community, as well as digests pulled from regional news outlets around the country and industry news releases.
Railfan videos
Drew’s Trackside Adventures, “Postcards”, and Trains Presents are three series of videos we offer that put you side-by-side with Trains staff and contributors on their adventures around the country (sometimes the world!) as they record rail operations and passing trains for your entertainment.
Archives
Read our very first issue from November 1940 — online. With a new website, we’re able to offer PDF-versions of our entire catalogue of magazines.
