Folks,
The new forum format has the ability to view threads via an RSS reader. If you notice at the end of each listing of threads there is an RSS Feed button. Press this to get to the RSS feed page. To a human, this looks like a mish-mash of text and HTML, but to an RSS reader, this is gold.
I personally use the bloglines reader service (www.bloglines.com). Using a reader like this allows you to view blogs and other dynamic content (like these forums) in an interesting way. My reader automatically shows only the newest threads (or those with new entries) in a listing along with the first new message in each thread. This is a great way to look at just the newest content on the forum along with a preview of each thread.
Of course, if you want to contribute to a thread you just click on it in your reader and it will take you to the trains forum within that thread.I think I may be using an RSS reader to view these forums for now on.