Trains

TRAINS, the monthly magazine from Kalmbach Publishing in Waukesha (suburban Milwaukee), Wisconsin, is the pre-eminent periodical aimed at "railfans" in general.

People who read TRAINS are as varied as regular commuter-train and light-rail system riders, current and former railroad employees, people interested in the latest high-tech components of railroading (Intermodal, for example), and people interested in North American railroading as a business.

A typical issue might have an in-depth cover article about an individual railroad company or a history of rail transportation in a particular town or city; a column called "City Rail" about commuter and light-rail transit; an editorial; several shorter features; a "Map of the Month" comparing, say, railroad freight shipments through Kansas City in 1945 versus 2005; a book review; and a stunning end gallery of photographs, most of them submitted by amateurs. The periodical also maintains a very active web site.

TRAINS is probably number two in circulation among the periodicals Kalmbach edits, the clear number one being MODEL RAILROADER, whose name describes its reach. So that not too much time in TRAINS is taken up by nostalgia or passenger trains pre-Amtrak (1971), several years ago the company spawned a new quarterly, CLASSIC TRAINS.

But TRAINS itself remains the go-to place for information about pretty much all kinds of North American railroading. The only critique I have to offer is that the magazine is not committed in any particular way to railroading in other parts of the world, such as India or Western Europe. Still, TRAINS is a wonderful, multi-faceted read and I always enjoy getting my copy in the mail.

I'm not saying there are not better magazines for specialized railroading interests, but if you are looking for the "New York Times" of North American railroad magazines, "Trains" is probably your best choice. It features the top relative news stories that are easy for most casual railfans to understand, accompanied by fantastic photography.

I have noticed the addition of "Trains For Kids" on newsstands. If you know a child who likes trains, you should definitely consider this. It is very colorful and informative.

My only suggestion is that the publisher offer all of their magazines in the iPad format. Like many readers, I have been collecting them most of my life and cyberspace is about the only space I have left for periodicals. It is the only thing preventing me from becoming a regular subscriber.

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Trains Magazine used to be the greatest thing for rail fans. It used to have interesting articles about preservations and tour lines as well as articles about how trains worked. Today it has become more of an industry magazine. Meaning it caters to those who own or work on a railroad and not necessarily those who just like to watch or learn about trains. There are now articles about new diesel engines, not the locomotives but the big engines inside and how you could use them to re-power the locomotion on your railroad. I don't own a railroad and this is a waste for me. The ads are for actual locomotive manufacturer or repair services, not historical books or other information. Measures of fuel economy and how to pump fuel in are only of slight interest to railfans. Like wow, I didn't know it took 30 minutes to fuel a train engine, but I don't need a full page article discussing the pros of a new system and how to outfit my locomotives to use it so that I can save labor costs on a railroad I don't own.

If you live in the Eastern US then Railpace Magazine is a much better magazine. It has more content per page and its content is more interesting to the railfan, plus its photos are a lot better. For the past year if there was a something of local interest covered in Trains it was at least a month behind it appeared in Railpace and had less information. Perhaps there are magazines like Railpace for other areas and if there is one for your area then I highly recommend it over Trains.

When Railpace arrives each month my wife rips into that as quickly as she can. She might read Model Railroader, if there's an article listed on the cover that interests her, but she never reads Trains magazine. She's not a train-nut like I am, but I think this speaks to the relevant interest level of these magazines that if a non-train-nut skips this one every month there's something boring about it.

I'm going to give Classic Trains a try to see if that is of any more interest to our household, but I'm pretty sure that this will be my last year with Trains Magazine as a regular subscription. If they happen to do a cover story on a local railroad I might buy that single issue, but that's going to be about one issue every two years or so.

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I had been up in the air for awhile about subscribing to Trains because it has a steep subscription price. But a railfan I am and eventually I was unable to resist what is hailed as the premier train magazine.

I have received three issues now and have no regrets what-so-ever. The issues are of decent size and the stories and photographs contained within do not disappoint. I read these cover to cover and have learned more from these three issues than much more time with various other sources. The features are fantastic and you will also receive much bonus material such as track maps (then and now), listings for museums, tourist and exhibition trains, etc.

If you are a railfan that does not yet have a subscription to Trains, do yourself a favor and subscribe today!

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My husband really looks forward to the arrival of his next magazine. He loves it and spends hours pouring thru the pictures and articles.