Welcome to the new home of Classic Trains!

Man gesturing before a gray-white graphic background.

Welcome to Trains.com, the new home for Classic Trains Magazine online and for all the content we publish on BIG trains from the 1920s through the 1970s. In this video, Trains.com Executive Producer David Popp talks about how to log-in to the new Trains.com website so you can get the most out of a Classic […]

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On calling stations . . . and cows!

Rail motor car departing station

Sixty-odd years ago, I was a youth living in Palmyra, Wis., where my father, Ben Eller Sr., was the station agent for the Milwaukee Road. Palmyra, 42 miles west of Milwaukee, was on the Madison Division, the original line to the state capital via Milton and Janesville. When I was 12, I got braces on […]

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Spring 2021

Classic Trains' Winter 2021 cover

Welcome South of the border, the show went on Head End A potpourri railroad history, then and now Fast Mail Letters from readers on our Winter 2020 issue True Color Canadian Pacific “Royal Hudson” Mileposts Commentary by Kevin P. Keefe The Way It Was Tales from railfans and railroaders Car Stop Winnipeg trolleys Classics Today […]

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Remembering the Seaboard Air Line Railroad

Stainless-steel streamliner crossing bridge.

History of the Seaboard Air Line The Seaboard’s beginnings date to 1832, when the Portsmouth & Roanoke was chartered to build from Portsmouth, Va., to Weldon, N.C. Opened in 1834 the companies’ backers saw great potential to link the North with the South’s agricultural and forest products and with its developing potential for industry. P&R […]

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Pullman: America’s Hotel on Wheels – DVD Preview

Black and white image of craftsmen wearing ties and in a woodshop.

In the golden age of long-distance train travel, Pullman trains offered impeccable overnight services that were second to none. In this Classic Trains special preview video, learn more about America’s Hotel on Wheels through first-person recollections, detailed explanation of car routing, and examination of the various Pullman car types. Enjoy, and then order the full-length […]

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Remembering the Newfoundland Railway

A steam locomotive at the head of a train releasing steam in a rail yard.

History of the Newfoundland Railway When Canadian National closed its rail operations on the island of Newfoundland — the former Newfoundland Railway — in October 1988, it marked the end of common-carrier narrow-gauge railroading in North America. Although other properties have survived or been resurrected as operating museums or tourist lines — think East Broad […]

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