Hi! We are Ross and Jenny Waters, founders of Trackside Model Railroading. We have been married for 20 years and live in Washington in the United States. We started Trackside together in 2013 with the launch of the digital magazine. We are both creatives and have found our niche in creative tours of model railroads. Ross has been interested in trains since he was quite young and developed an interest in photography. Jenny was the opposite; she had a serious interest in photography since she was quite young and later developed an interest in trains. Together, we create layout tours that bring the hobby to life and showcase the strengths of the railroads we visit.
Our hope is that Trackside can give modelers a venue to share their work and their story, to help modelers to express their creativity, and to be an encouragement as we share ours. Building model railroads involves many different skills and abilities, and we hope to help model train enthusiasts develop their skills as they explore and enjoy the hobby.
Trackside started as just the digital magazine, but has grown and changed since then as we have added the free edition of the magazine and are now producing full-length movies of model railroads. We started the movies in 2016. That was a difficult time for us, as I (Jenny) was diagnosed with cancer just as we started. (I continued working during my treatment and it was a challenging time, but I am well now.)
Since 2013, we have been learning and honing our skills in the many facets of production that are unique to what we do. We have more things in store that we are working on and look forward to sharing. We also are starting to offer some of our content in Spanish and hope to increase that in the future.
If you love model trains, then come check out Trackside Model Railroading’s model train tours. We showcase everything from small N scale train table layouts to examples of large model railroad construction. You’ll enjoy the stories and movies of the model railroads. Many also include prototype history or creative backstories and interviews that are educational. Many of the layouts we feature are HO scale (because of its popularity), but we also share layouts in the other scales: O, S, G (indoor), N, and even TT.
¡Hola! Somos Ross y Jenny Waters, fundadores de Trackside Model Railroading. Hemos estado casados durante veinte años y vivimos en el estado de Washington en los Estados Unidos. Comenzamos Trackside juntos en 2013 con el lanzamiento de la revista digital. Ambos somos personas creativas y hemos encontrado nuestro nicho en tours creativos de ferrocarriles modelos. Ross ha estado interesado en los trenes desde que era bastante joven y desarrolló un interés en la fotografía. Jenny era lo contrario; ella ha tenido un interés serio en la fotografía desde que era bastante joven y más tarde desarrolló un interés en los trenes. Juntos, creamos recorridos en videos de los ferrocarriles modelos que dan vida a la afición y muestran las fortalezas de los ferrocarriles que visitamos.
Nuestra esperanza es que Trackside pueda dar a los modelistas un lugar para compartir su trabajo y su historia, ayudar a los modelistas a expresar su creatividad, y ser un estímulo a medida que compartimos nuestro trabajo. La construcción de ferrocarriles modelo implica muchas habilidades diferentes, y esperamos ayudar a los entusiastas del ferrocarril modelo a desarrollar sus habilidades a medida que exploran y disfrutan de la afición.
Trackside comenzó como sólo la revista digital, pero ha crecido y cambiado desde 2013, ya que hemos añadido la edición gratuita de la revista y ahora estamos produciendo películas de ferrocarriles modelo. Comenzamos las películas en 2016. Ese fue un momento difícil para nosotros, ya que yo (Jenny) me diagnosticaron cáncer justo cuando empezamos. (Continué trabajando durante mi tratamiento y fue un momento difícil, pero ahora estoy bien.)
Desde 2013, hemos estado aprendiendo y perfeccionando nuestras habilidades en las muchas facetas de la producción que son únicas a lo que hacemos. Tenemos más cosas que vienen en las que estamos trabajando y esperamos compartir. También estamos empezando a ofrecer parte de nuestro contenido en español y esperamos aumentarlo en el futuro. (Todavía no tenemos películas completas en español.)
Si le gusta los trenes modelo, entonces venga a ver los recorridos en videos por Trackside Model Railroading. Mostramos todo, desde pequeños diseños de mesas de trenes a escala N hasta ejemplos de construcción de ferrocarriles de gran modelo. Disfrutarás de las historias y películas de los ferrocarriles modelo. Muchos de los tours en video también incluyen historia prototipo o historias creativas y entrevistas que son educativas.
Tenemos un canal de YouTube en español aquí: Videos en Español
Por favor, subscríbase si le gustara ver nuestros vídeos como recorremos ferrocarriles modelos.
Free Edition
Trackside's Lite Digital Magazine
The digital magazine is published in two versions: a lite Free Edition and an imagery-heavy Premium Edition. Trackside's Free Edition gives you a sampling of the layouts that are featured in the Premium Edition. We make the latest three magazines available to read at no charge.
Premium Edition
Trackside's Premium Digital Magazine
Trackside's Premium Edition is much more in depth and includes many photos of the layouts. You'll learn the process of the layouts' construction, design, and operations. We also tell the story of the railroads, often with a fictional, creative backstory of how they were founded.
DVD and Blu-ray Movies
Trackside's Layout Tours on Physical Media
We create full-length movies touring the layouts. The movies include video of the layouts operating, often from a railfanning perspective, and the story of the layout’s development. Sometimes Trackside’s movies include interviews with layout owners, actual operating sessions, educational information, and cab rides around the layouts.
To view our list of titles, go to:
Trackside's Movies
Movies on Streaming
Trackside's Layout Tours Online
Many of the same layout tours that are available on Blu-ray and DVD are also available on online streaming. These features are listed by the individual layouts and are streamed through our channel on Vimeo.
See our layout features here:
Video on Demand
Our Video Channel
Trackside's Short Videos
Follow our YouTube channel to see model railroad videos (short versions of the tours we produce) and prototype railfanning videos. We share videos in English and Spanish on our YouTube channel. Check out our channel here:
Trackside Video Channel
New Travel Vlog
Trackside's Travel Channel
Recently, we started a travel channel that will share videos that are not just about trains (but sometimes are), which we make during our travels for the business. We will be adding to this channel and kept it separate for those who are interested in a more "behind the scenes" look.
Travel Channel
Jenny and Ross, Thanks for sharing the free video of Walker’s N-scale layout. What an awesome layout and the storytelling by Jenny was great, talking about the railroad’s history. I was able to “escape” the real world for 40+ minutes as I watched the video and listened to the stories of the railroad on the brink of going out of business. Applicable for where we are in our world, but fun to escape for a little bit, nonetheless. Thanks for sharing the video with all of us!
Bob M
I enjoyed your December issue of Trackside immensely. 138 pages of great model railroading. I loved the creative history of the Big Turn, which has inspired me to do the same for my railroad. The grass and the scenery, in general, is amazingly realistic. There’s a lot of great modeling in that 4×8 layout. That’s one of the reasons I like N scale.
Greg W
Holy cow! I wasn’t expecting that! Thank you very much! The magazine is awesome! The articles are amazing. The photography is mind-blowing. And the layouts you all showcase are simply unbelievable! That alone was enough to keep me renewing my subscription. But with customer service like yours, I’ll undoubtedly keep it going! Thank you so much for your assistance. And keep up the great magazine!
Bryan W
The 1/32nd layout article and video alone are worth the price of the annual premium subscription! Prior coverage in other publications always left me wanting more. Well done to the layout owner and the crew.
Bill U
I love seeing the product of those that truly have a passion for it. Nothing is more incredible to me than layouts like these where you have to squint to be able to tell that you’re not staring at the real thing.
Kory S
