Trains Archives

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

If you signed up for the unlimited subscription you get access to one of many archives from Kalmbach. I must say it is worth it! I’m am having a blast going back and finally getting a chance to read Mr. Iconoclast himself John G. Kneiling’s columns. Also reading the editorials of D.P.M.

I had to chuckle a bit as I was reading the April '62 issue and came across a picture of Big Boy 4014 heading to Southern California for display as a museum piece. 59 years later it’s steaming again. How much has changed and remains the same in certain regards. I hope those who can access the archives are enjoying them as much as I am. Time to head back and get my fill of history!

2

My local library has hard copies going back to the 40s.

I have found it particularly interesting going back and reading about the landmark mergers, from back in the times that it was fresh news. Wabash and N&W, Erie and D ,L, & W etc.

And of course the prelude and aftermath of Penncentral

3

I probably have an almost complete set of Trains and MR going back to the late 1970’s. Several other magazines, as well, especially “Firehouse.”

I have a lot of them sorted and grouped by date, others not so much.

But you’re right - every now and then I’ll randomly pick out an issue and look through it. It provides an interesting window into years past.

4

Is there a search function for the magazine archives?

I would like to search for the word “Alco” and see a list of all articles containing that word. This type of search was possible on the 1940-2010 archive on disc, but I have not been able to find a similar type search on the website.

5

I have the 2010 DVD’s of the Trains and Classic Trains archives, and in addition have the first three years of Trains in bound volumes from late father-in-law. With that, the Trains archives don’t provide anything new, BUT the DVD’s are only usable on my oldest computer so having the archive on-line is nice (also helps that I have a 240Mbps internet connection. Another advantage of the archive is that it is being updated.

Other than the missing search function, the on-line archives are a bit better organized than the DVD collections.

I DID have a lot of fun perusing the MR archives, catching up on articles that I saw reference to when getting occasional issues in the 1964-67 timeframe (MR subscription started Jan '68).