Eastern Railroad Discussion > Your Favorite/Least Favorite Railroad Forum

Curious as to what many TO members feel about various railroad related forums.  The one you like best and the one you like the least, and who knows, through this we may become aquainted with forums we may be unaware of.

My favorite is this one, Trainorders.  I like the way its catagorized and must compliment most members as they stay true to catagory and its intent.

My least favorite is Trains Magazine's forum.  Poorly monitored and seems to be controlled by a handful of people who use it to communicate among themselves, posts that have nothing to do with railroading or the hobby of being a railfan (i.e. Windows 10, drinking coffee, aircraft and others), or threads that rarely stay on track.  (one individual who always reminds people he was in the Marine Corp, which is great, but not railroad related)  Sadly this shadows those on that site than can contribute some interesting info.

So, if you have winter related cabin fever and would like to pass on some interesting railroad related forums...please do.  Thanks!   

The RailPictures.net Railroad Photography forum is my least favorite.  It seems to be dominated by the same dozen or so participants.  They take a lot of enjoyment in picking apart photos that the screeners accept into the database there.  I have over 1,200 images that have been accepted at RailPictures.net but I very rarely post in the forum.

The forums here at Trainorders.com are my favorite.  I have received a lot of good heads up info on train movements, heritage locomotives, etc.  Well worth the small fee to be a member.

Richard Kaminsky
North Royalton, OH
THE RAILFAN GALLERY

I favorite is this one, I have a love hate relationship with railroad.net, because many people over there bad mouth TO a lot.
Cheers,
Nick

Posted from iPhone

As a paying member of Trainorders, I guess I would say that I enjoy it.  If I didn't like it I would go somewhere else and save a few bucks.  Most people are friendly and quite knowledgeable and willing to share what they know.  I have an interest is some topics and less in other area and can spend time looking at those that interest me.  I dislike some of the politics, however, they do play a part in the industry.  I would just rather read the facts and stories about the railroad.  There's other places to talk politics.  There is a small minority that like to pick apart others but I can ignore them.  There are some great photos on TO and some rather nice videos.  The drones have added a new angle to view the railroads.   I love the stories on the "Railroader's Nostalgia" discussion.  The contributors are great story tellers.  

I won't really mention the ones I dislike, mostly because I seldom visit them.  Why hit your thumb with a hammer if you don't like it?  I do belong to a local Facebook group.  The content is nowhere near the quality of what is on TO but it contains a lot of local information.  I know that 2 or 3 people on that group are also on TO.  Generally, the pictures on that forum are cellphone shots,  Not all of them but quite a few.

I try to be a contributor if I have something of interest or if someone has a question that I can answer, and there are no dumb questions. 

BTW, interesting question for this discussion.

John

Many enormously knowledgeable people on TrainOrders, very willing to share their opinions and outlooks.  Good place to challenge your own beliefs and expand your horizons.

Sure, there a few jerks. Anywhere you go there will be some.  But they're way out numbered by good, smart, experienced people.

I prefer TrainOrders as a railroad forum. I learn a lot from the list members here. 
Second would be our YahooGroups, SERails and Florida Railroading.
Third would be the Facebook Groups to which I belong. FloridaRailfans, ACL&SAL HS.

Danny Harmon
Tampa

I peruse TO about 75% of the time.  The other 25% would be in Yard Limits.

TO has great photography, indepth debate, and in my opinion covers more topics than any other forum.  There are a few cranky folks but heck, show me a forum where there isn't.  There are a few people in TO where I look forward to read what they have to say and many more where I appreciate their contributions.  I think TO is a bit over moderated at times but TO is still worth the price of admission.

Yard Limits appears to be made up of more railroaders.  I can get  better information on events that affect railroaders and Yard Limits is way more union friendly for the most part.  There are several people there who I feel believe the same as me when it comes to a strong union.  That's a huge plus for me.  I also like the way YL forums are broken down by individual major railroads, plus they have other threads that pertain more to railroaders in general.  I just wish more railroaders would take advantage of what YL has to offer.

I subscribe to TO because it is the most informative and enjoyable of any of the forums I have checked out.

I really like TO because of the wealth of knowledge shared among the members of the site. I also enjoy reading the posts from the various rails on this site, some of whom are practically industry experts. As for least favorite, I would say RP.net forums simply because of the lack of activity/ new posts. However, if you have a shot that is rejected, some of the senior members can be quite helpful when it comes to critiquing and giving you tips on how to improve the photo and get it accepted to the database.

Posted from Android

T.O. Is my favorite.
I think it's well run, has plenty of interesting categories, and appeals to a wide range of folks.
Also, I think Todd hard at keeping the site updated.

The 'sources' on T.O. Are very reliable, and their sense of commitment shines through. 
There are plenty of "newbies" to railroading, and to the ranks of fans.  Newbies are the ONLY  way to grow the business.
I like the fact that folks are willing to state their opinions freely and openly concerning their positions, corrections and comments.
The stronger the stated reasons, the more carefully the contrary 

I especially like the questions that are posed relating to areas of confusion, bad memory, etc.

The pictures are terrific, fun to study and expose to to so many categories of interest.

The 'Spell Checker' used to work fine, now it is hardly useable, about how you can't revert back to the composition being crafted --- from the current spell checker  ----- which freezes at the end of the spelling.

THANKS, 

WES C.
 

It hasn't been mentioned and sort of narrow (yuk-yuk) interest, but the Narrow Gauge Discussion Group is very
good and the negative stuff seems to get squashed pretty quick. And TO, well it's TO, what else can you say. Sorta
like 110 in LA, you get on and take your chances.

Out

RYPN is another one of my goto forums. I feel like there are more professionals on there and they provide good information. TO seems to be better for current news, pictures, and "railfan" type information.

TRAINORDERS! Hands down.
Ed K. cp Laurel Run

I love Trainorders.com, with one exception.  The passenger trains dicussion (and I am huge passenger fan, both historic and contemporary), is overrun with political whack jobs who attack everything about Amtrak, apparently to promote their "I hate anything about government" wingnut philosophies.  Amtrak has its problems, for sure, but attacks upon it as a Trojan horse for anti-government diatribes gets really old, really fast.  

I am sick to death of having radical politics (left as well as right, I might add) shoved down my throat in every sphere from my local hometown newspaper, to Facebook, to the national media.  I go to Trainorders.com to escape to enjoy my hobby, and for the most part I do, but even here one cannot escape from the political hatchetwork that threatens to engulf us all, 24/7/365.

For God's sake, True Believers, give it a rest.

Art House

Love TO. I discovered there are lots of other railfans like me and I am not a lone nutter.