Meet Gerry Leone

Meet Gerry Leone How did you get started in the hobby? Although my dad had a Lionel layout in our basement, I was not involved with it. I just played with the loop around the Christmas tree. At one point, he traded his Lionel stuff for a Tyco HO starter set and bought an older […]

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Meet James Kottkamp

Meet James Kottkamp How did you get started in the hobby? My interest in model trains came from the real thing. After church on Sundays, Dad would park the car next to the Missouri Pacific Railroad tracks in Kirkwood, Mo.  Kirkwood was the crest of the hill; westbound from St. Louis and eastbound from Valley […]

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Meet David Popp

Meet David Popp What was your first train set? With a dad and grandfather both into model trains, I was surrounded by model railroading from an early age. The first train I can remember that I was given was a colorful plastic version of what we would now call Brio trains. It had silver-colored plastic […]

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Meet M.R. Snell: Model railroading is a multi-faceted hobby

Model railroading is a multi-faceted hobby What was your first train set (or locomotive)? My first true model train piece was an Athearn Chessie System GP35. Oversized and clunky, that was the acceptable standard back in the early 1980s, much as model railroading then was less about prototype practice and operation than the trains themselves. […]

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Meet Dave Abeles

What was your first train set (or locomotive)? Meet Dave Abeles: My first train set was the Tyco ‘Silver Streak’ set in HO scale (1984). I had loved trains since before I could walk or talk. In the late 1970s, my parents told stories of me always asking for trains and standing for hours anywhere […]

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Meet ClassOneModelWorks.com

Meet ClassOneModelWorks.com A new face is joining the model railroad marketplace. ClassOneModelWorks.com., based in Kansas City, Mo., is led by president and chief executive officer Mike Brusky and chief operating officer Stephen Priest. The company plans to introduce several HO scale locomotives and freight cars in the coming months. A brief history Brusky founded and […]

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Meet John Ciesla

What was your first train set (or locomotive)? Meet John Ciesla: I grew up with my father’s prewar American Flyer trains. These were the famous S scale, O gauge trains that came out in the late 1930s. With the advent of WWII, new cars and locomotives were nonexistent, but he still managed to find a […]

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Meet Milwaukee’s ambitious layout builder

The layouts most recently showcased here have reflected the hobby activities of two of the top performers of the second half of the 20th century, each of whom has a reputation for greatness spanning the earth. In fact, if beings far out in the solar system have a toe to tap, they probably are doing […]

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Meet Walthers Open Class Contestant DJ Arlia

WAUKESHA, Wis. — It’s mid-April and the second-annual Walthers National Model Railroad Build-off is well-underway. Across the country, modelers are hard at work on their layouts. With four different categories and hundreds of contestants, the judges are sure to see no shortage of talent from this year’s submissions. “Open class” contestant Domenic Joseph Arlia, otherwise known […]

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Meet the Staff

Trains Magazine Staff Carl Swanson, Editor cswanson@kalmbach.com A veteran railroad editor and journalist, Carl Swanson was named editor of Trains, the nation’s largest-circulation railroad-industry publication in April 2022. Carl came to Trains from Model Railroader, where he served as editor for  three years. Before that he led Kalmbach’s Classic Toy Trains for 13 years. As […]

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Preview CTT March and April 2024 content

We’re always adding new content to our website. Here’s some recent items you may have missed.   Lionel No. 3474 boxcar upgrades any collection Add a colorful car to your collection. Learn more from Roger Carp. Use Lionel’s Bluetooth tower to add sound Add sound effects, music, and more on your layout. Learn more. Meet […]

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