VIA Rail Canada Siemens Venture Trainset

From Ottawa, Ontario (OTTW), to Montréal, Québec (MTRL), join Trains.com staffer/frequent rail voyager Kent Johnson for a quick overview of VIA Rail Canada’s all-new Siemens Venture trainset (5-car)! Amidst Business Class amenities from station to station, you’ll get to see the perks of being aboard the quickest and cushiest train on VIA Rail Canada’s Corridor […]

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Lionel postwar 44-ton locomotives

Red toy train

Lionel’s postwar 44-ton diesels may be the most overlooked O gauge locomotives of the era. Collectors focus, instead, on the firm’s models of F3 cab units by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors and the Train Master road diesels made by Fairbanks-Morse. Operators also like those powerful diesels as well as the big and small […]

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Amtrak Pacific Surfliner along the California Coast

Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Join Trains.com staffers Kent Johnson and Ben Lake, for a narrated ride aboard Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner! From Downtown San Diego (SAN) to Burbank-Downtown Station (BBK), you’ll follow Ben on his early morning roll-out in Unreserved Coach Class. And then, tag along with Kent as he continues from the L.A. metro area, amidst […]

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Colebrookdale Railroad’s rebirth

A dark blue diesel locomotive next to a yellow depot with brick buildings beyond

The Colebrookdale Railroad’s rebirth as a successful tourist railroad breathes new life into a former Reading Company branch in southeastern Pennsylvania. The revival was sparked by a determined man named Nathaniel Guest and a supportive community. Guest, a Pottstown native, learned the railroad was going to be officially abandoned. Believing the line’s history made it […]

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Lionel Catalog Volume 1 for 2024

Lionel Catalog Volume 1 2024 Cover

Lionel Catalog Volume 1 for 2024 is filled with plenty of treasures. What’s there? How about fantastic locomotives loaded with tons of special effects and realistic details as well as lots of superb pieces of scale rolling stock and entertaining operating cars of all sorts? And plenty of spectacular and enjoyable train sets for modelers […]

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Five tips for railfanning with kids

Black steam locomotive inching forward among railroad photographers.

Railfanning with kids can be the most rewarding and/or the most frustrating experience. Regardless of a child’s interests or capabilities, the amount of enjoyment adults and children get out of watching trains together depends primarily on the adults in charge. If you don’t already have your own style and methods for taking kids to watch […]

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LEGO control systems overview

Join Trains.com staffers Bryson Sleppy and Rene Schweitzer as they examine the systems and devices used to put motorized LEGO trains into motion! Looking for more information on LEGO trains? Find additional videos under Classic Toy Trains’ LEGO trains category! […]

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Where to buy model trains

Color photo showing front of a hobby shop located in a shopping plaza.

The holiday season is when many people get introduced to model railroading. It usually starts with a train set that contains a locomotive, a few freight cars, a caboose, some track, and a power supply. Eventually, you’ll probably want another locomotive or some new cars. Here are some ideas on where to buy model trains. […]

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Design a toy train layout

Toy trains on track

Design a toy train layout — O, S, or Standard/Wide gauge — it requires above all making one fundamental decision. Each operator must decide what sort of look he or she wants the layout to have. To be specific, each modeler has to figure out the extent to which the layout, regardless of size or […]

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Trainfest 2024 dates and location set

red logo

In a press release sent to Kalmbach Media, Great American Train Shows has confirmed the dates and location of the 2024 Trainfest show. The event will be held from November 23-24 at the Baird Center, located at 400 W. Wisconsin Ave., in Milwaukee, Wis. According to the GTS website, consumer tickets will go on sale […]

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Ride aboard a private train

Private cars, also called “private varnish”, represent a mode of passenger railroading that’s intriguing and seemingly elusive to most viewing trackside. Who’s in that car? Where is it going? How are they able to do that? All questions that Trains.com staffer Bryson Sleppy has also pondered…and can now help us answer! Follow video highlights of […]

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Elementary school layout project completed

locomotive on kids' toy train layout

In December, we shared a story about students at Seaview Elementary School in Linwood, New Jersey building a toy-train layout. Dominick Andrews, the art teacher at the school, sent us an update with photos of the finished layout. We’re delighted to share the project with you. (Read the original item here.) Approximately how many kids […]

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