Winter Rail Memories

Celebrate the winter season with Classic Trains’ compilation of Winter Rail Memories, featuring four articles and stunning images showcasing some of our favorite snow-filled stories. In Long Way Home for Christmas, author David Ingles recounts his trip home from college in 1965, when he ventured on a rail odyssey from central Illinois, to Dearborn, Mich., […]

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VIDEO: January 2018 Model Railroader preview

    We start off the new year with a new project layout in the January 2018 issue of Model Railroader magazine. Don’t miss part 1 of the HO scale Winston-Salem Southbound Tar Branch project layout. Other stories include a tour of a classic Texas & Pacific model railroad that found new life as a […]

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Understanding track and wheel standards

There are standards for many of aspects of life, and these are generally good things—they help to make more different things work together easier. For example, when you plug something into the USB port on your computer, standards that govern that interface ensure that what you plug in will work with your computer. One would […]

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A Beginners Guide to Toy Trains

A Beginners Guide to Toy Trains

Welcome to the enjoyable and exciting hobby of toy trains! Folks enter this hobby a number of ways. Perhaps you found your childhood train set after many years and want to relive the fun you had with those toys. Maybe you picked up a vintage toy locomotive and cars at a yard sale or an […]

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Workshop tips: Roads and streets

Model roads look best when they are built to the proper size. By planning for the streets and roads at the same time you design your layout, you can be sure you have enough room for them. Rest assured that if you plan ahead and follow the prototype, your streets will realistically enhance your layout. […]

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BNSF’s Willow Springs

Trains Magazine columnist Fred W. Frailey takes a look inside BNSF Railway’s busy Willow Springs intermodal yard, near Chicago. In this free download, you’ll get a peek behind the security fence to experience the rush to move priority UPS traffic into and out of the Windy City. […]

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Locomotive 2017 DVD preview

Red-and-yellow locomotive moving over a bridge.

Get a sneak peek at our new Locomotive 2017 DVD! You’ll see locomotives old and new from both Class I freight railroads and short lines, and passenger carriers, too! Be sure to check out the Locomotive 2017 annual, too! […]

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Locomotive 2017 DVD preview

Red-and-yellow locomotive moving over a bridge.

Get a sneak peek at our new Locomotive 2017 DVD! You’ll see locomotives old and new from both Class I freight railroads and short lines, and passenger carriers, too! Be sure to check out the Locomotive 2017 annual, too! […]

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Build this Retro 4 x 8 Railroad

Build this Retro 4 x 8 Railroad

Large layouts are cool, no doubt, but we thought that something smaller that combined postwar trains with modern materials also sounded like fun. We told Classic Toy Trains Editor Carl Swanson what we were thinking, and he challenged us to actually follow through. Uh-oh. This special 13-page magazine supplement contains step-by-step instructions for creating a 4 […]

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