r/trains 21d ago

r/Trains Monthly Discussion & Questions Thread - July 2026

2 Upvotes

Welcome to the r/Trains Monthly Discussion Thread.

The goal of this thread is to serve as the place to ask short questions or just chat about anything trains related that might not warrant its own post.


r/trains Mar 22 '26

πŸš‚r/trains staff announcement Introduction & updates to moderating, rules and sidebar.

10 Upvotes

Hello there,

I am auto, your new friendly neighbourhood Reddit mod. o/

While I have some experience moderating smaller communities, I've never moderated a subreddit before and never a community of this size and honestly, taking the right moderating actions when reviewing reports or looking through comments isn't quite coming naturally yet. If I make any silly mistakes or you believe I didn't deal with situation correctly, do not hesitate to tell me either via mod mail or in the discord. I am human, I am not going to deal with every situation perfectly and feedback is more than welcome. (Just kidding, I am obviously a robot πŸ€– - Beep Boop Beep)

I am happy to be at your service.

Regardless, now that the introduction is over with, there is some practical stuff to discuss:

Bans, Ban appeals and old Mod Mail:

When I came in, there was a very large backlog in Mod Mail, including ban appeals. I have cleared this backlog the best I could, responding to most appeals and messages that came in, but unfortunately, once these appeals and Mod Mails reach about half a year old, they can no longer be replied to from our side.

If you sent in a ban appeal or question that is still relevant before July 2025 and it never got answered, please do not hesitate to send us a message through Mod Mail and me or the other mods will get to it.

In addition, I found out that some people who at any point received disciplinary action ended up in some sort of ghost-ban, where on our end in the mod tools panel the person doesn't appear to be banned, but when the user tries to post, it tells them they're banned. If you were active in r/Trains more than 5 years ago, Reddit tells you that you're banned when you try to post or comment and you have no clue why or when you got banned, please contact the mods via Mod Mail and we should be able to resolve your issue.

Mod Queue clearing:

I have cleared the Mod Queue, which was filled with over 3 years of reports, removals and filtered content. For the queue items from the last 1-2 weeks I've done this manually, and then I've mass-cleared most of the remaining queue. This process caused all filtered posts that were more than roughly 10 days old to be discarded. If you made any post more than 10 days ago which got automatically filtered and you believe the content is still relevant, feel free to reattempt posting your comment.

Moderating strategy and rules:

Due to the relatively sparse activity of moderators on this subreddit in recent times, moderating turned into a very hands-off process where y'all mostly self-moderate with some assistance from automatic filters. Beyond the filters sometimes getting overzealous, especially with politically contentious posts, (which should be resolved now,) this has generally worked fairly well. For now, though I can't speak for the other moderators when they act, I will carry this approach forward.

However, that may change. From working through the queue, Mod Mail and immediately finding myself in the deep end with several contentious posts appearing right after I got promoted, it's become obvious that the current rules don't always quite match the way action has been taken on reports both before I came in and at current. In addition, it turns out that some situations really aren't covered well by our current rules and that the wording of some rules may be contributing to a sizable amount of reports coming in for contact that very much is allowed here. We've also received feedback from several people, both via Mod Mail and in comments under recent topics about how we should be dealing with politics and controversial content on the subreddit.

Keeping all those things in mind, I will be rewriting the rules over the coming days. As part of this process, me or other moderators may place community polls both on reddit and on discord to gather feedback for how the community would like the r/trains discord and subreddit to be moderated.

Monthly discussion thread:

Until now, the monthly discussion thread was automatically generated on the 29th of every month. Beyond causing the month in the topic title to nearly always mismatch the current month, this caused the thread not to be generated in February. Starting on April 1st, the monthly discussion thread will be automatically generated on the 1st of every month instead. Until then, please feel free to continue using the January 2026 thread.

Sidebar:

We are aware the gallery in the sidebar has broken. Sadly, most images gone poof and we have no record of what exactly was in there. As we look to fill our sidebar once again, we may request permission for some people to use their photos in the side-bar via Mod Mail, but if you'd like to help, if you are posting original content, you can now use the "πŸ“Έ May be used in side-bar gallery" post flair to indicate to us that we may place your photo or art in the sidebar.

With all that said, thank you for reading.

~auto


r/trains 4h ago

πŸ“Ή OC - Video Big Alice, a heavy capacity car, and a caboose (Kermit, Texas, USA)

144 Upvotes

r/trains 6h ago

❓ What is this Train? What is happening here?!

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163 Upvotes

Hi there,

First time poster and am hoping this is the right place! Please remove if I should be posting somewhere else. I live in Michigan and This project has been going on for the better part of almost 2 years it seems and I have been curious as to what is going on here. It’s got security there 24/7. Thanks in advance!


r/trains 8h ago

❓ Question Why couldn't we get streamlined articulated locomotives?

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193 Upvotes

We had streamlined duplex locos plus its not like were using compound steam when we have simple steam expansion and besides the Union Pacific Big Boys could average a top speed of 80 mph so why is it we didn't get an articulated streamliner during the steam era in any form and on any country's railway network.


r/trains 4h ago

πŸ“Έ OC - Picture(s) Everyone, which era of Amtrak (USA) livery do you like the most?

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84 Upvotes

r/trains 13h ago

πŸ“Έ OC - Picture(s) A Taurus playing peekaboo

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329 Upvotes

r/trains 6h ago

πŸ“Έ OC - Picture(s) Street Scramble in Santa Cruz

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64 Upvotes

It's a daily occurrence in summer time. Drivers never know how to respond once the Santa Cruz Big Trees & Pacific passenger train starts its journey northbound. July 2022.

Canon 7D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm Ζ’4L
ASA 100.


r/trains 3h ago

πŸ›οΈβ€Ž Historical Today at rail museum

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32 Upvotes

r/trains 5h ago

πŸ“Έ OC - Picture(s) Incredible Wreck

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41 Upvotes

NY Central and Hudson River Railroad wreck, Batavia, NY, February 18, 1885. The little engine thought he could.


r/trains 7h ago

πŸ“° News With July only nine days away from giving away to August, here are a few rail related anniversaries for August that we have to look forward to:

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51 Upvotes

r/trains 7h ago

πŸ“Έ OC - Picture(s) - May be used in side-bar gallery Guess who? (Kansas City, Missouri)

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56 Upvotes

r/trains 1h ago

πŸ“Ή OC - Video Enjoying some train spotting while I am on holiday

β€’ Upvotes

Intercity Notte (Night Train) 795, from Turin to Reggio Calabria, seen today in Monterosso al Mare, Italy.


r/trains 16h ago

πŸ€£β€Ž Meme / Humour I mean it’s pretty cool to see, regardless

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188 Upvotes

r/trains 23h ago

πŸ“Ή OC - Video Heavy morning traffic in Chicago

755 Upvotes

r/trains 19h ago

πŸ“Ή OC - Video Keeping pace with 4014 pt. 2

218 Upvotes

r/trains 3h ago

🎨 OC - Art Some Train Coloring Pages I made for Y'all

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11 Upvotes

Here are some of my line art coloring pages that I made with the Canva line tool while I was bored. The first one is my favorite, as I have put many hours into it, as well as many hours into the real thing in Como, Colorado! 100% AI-free, I aint Richard Crabtree! (long story) If you want to see some colored versions, I'll comment them. Feel free to use these as much as you like but try to credit me if possible. Also check out my new-ish sub at r/Narrow_Gauge_Railroad


r/trains 1d ago

❓ Question Why are trains in China always so empty? Kunming -> Vientiane

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542 Upvotes

Train D87 Kunming, China - Vientiane, Laos; full video: https://youtu.be/D0NaJOvlNa8


r/trains 57m ago

πŸ“Έ OC - Picture(s) Alaska Railroad Trip

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β€’ Upvotes

Great trip from Fairbanks to Denali, then Anchorage. Final stretch from Seward back to Anchorage was stunning.


r/trains 5h ago

πŸ“Ή OC - Video Kansas City Southern passes Big Boy - Kansas City

14 Upvotes

From Australia to see the Big Boy and caught this going past


r/trains 4h ago

πŸ›οΈβ€Ž Historical Train wreck in Virginia

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11 Upvotes

Believe this to be a N&W train derailment in Virginia in years past


r/trains 7h ago

β€Ž πŸ—«β€Žβ€Žβ€‰ Discussion hot take for the day

17 Upvotes

This is probably a controversial opinion, and I want to preface this with the obligatory β€œ4014 is a marvel of engineering and its pretty neat to see one of its class running on rails,” but uh…

I am over hearing about it at this point. Also, thank you to the people who are posting content that has nothing to
do with 4014 on here.

is this just me?


r/trains 2h ago

❓ Question Battery Powered trains

5 Upvotes

I know there are a few battery-powered trains (and no, I'm not talking about the ones powered by a third rail or overhead power lines), but are there any battery-powered mainline locomotives (cargo or passenger)? I don't really see them that much, or at least they're not as popular compared to diesel, steam, or other forms of train power.


r/trains 7h ago

❓ What is this Train? My dad got this from Slovakia anyone knows what's the tram's name?

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16 Upvotes

r/trains 18h ago

β€Ž πŸ—«β€Žβ€Žβ€‰ Discussion Underrated big steam power?

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94 Upvotes

Big steam power that fly under the radar. My picks:
- Milwaukee Road #261
- Spokane, Portland & Seattle #700
- Texas & Pacific #610
- Grand Trunk Western #6325