Train Orders.com

[nkp_174]

For 1:1 steam railroading, it is pretty much the site. In terms of knowledgeable people, every major rail preservation organization follows TO. They usually don't post, but they do follow it. You will never find a greater collection of people whom really know what is going on, but the standard practice of such people is to sit in the shadows and occasionally comment. If you know some of the major players on the national scene...you'll see them there from time to time. You'll also get some amazing multimedia that isn't available anywhere else.

The only comparable forum I know of is the narrow gauge discussion forum...ngdiscussion.net. If you follow it, and especially if you know the names, you'll find major players from nearly every narrow gauge organization across the country visit there. Many of them are active only there and TO.

Dave, since you like steam, camp out in their steam section for a while. Ross Rowland posts on there. IIRC, some of the Friends of the 4449 are there. Plenty of the 765 crew love to lurk there. And many more.

Edit: An example

Want the reason why things were as they were at Train Festival...or why it wasn't Foamer Festival?
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I've met Jason Johnson a couple times. The first time was when I had a cab ride on the Ohio Central with him firing. His post is informative because he was THE organizer/promoter of Train Festival.