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.
Haga Clic Aquí Para EspañolTrackside’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.
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.
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 Layout Tours on Physical Media
Movies on Streaming
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: Trackside’s Layout Tours Online
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’s Video Channel
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.
Check out our channel here: Travel Channel