Trains Magazine, the world’s leading publication on railroading and trains, has launched TrainsPRO as a new website under the Trains.com family of brands.
TrainsPRO features articles on railroad industry news and analysis, covering areas such as freight rail, passenger rail, mechanical, maintenance of way and regulatory updates. These coverage areas are nothing new for Trains – we have reported on these very subjects for many years under the Trains News Wire branding. Now, News Wire has been folded into TrainsPRO.
The new TrainsPRO site features the same level of reporting, expertise and industry insights — and the same authors — as News Wire, but improved categorization will make the industry content easier to find.
In the coming weeks, look for continuing coverage of railroad industry happenings, from merger analysis to operational management to details on the technology and innovation that will improve safety and efficiency for railroads in the years to come. The Trains staff has always gone beyond the press release to report not just on the “what” but on the “why.” We remain committed to helping readers understand the increasingly rapid evolution of the rail industry, and believe TrainsPRO will present that coverage in a way that is easier to find and follow.
Meanwhile, heritage rail, preservation, and rail travel content that has been part of Trains News Wire will continue — again, with the same authors — as part of Trains.com. Readers will also find new categories for those topics.
Trains.com members, Trains All Access members, and Trains subscribers will still have access to all industry news under TrainsPRO, just as they have had access to News Wire.
Update, Aug. 4: Trains subscribers may have been unable to read Trains Pro since it was launched because of a log-in issue. That issue has now been addressed. Other updates and fixes to the site continue. We apologize for the issues.
David Lassen says if you want to see newswire in the old format, click on “see more” in the “Today’s News” section. Just where is the “Today’s News” on the Train Pro page.
There are 3 articles in today’s main page dated 8/18. If I click on See More I get and endless list of articles from all the categories with no dates. Is that list all articles newsewt to oldest?
i’ve been reading Trains magazine, since 1973, and a long time subscriber, just renewed for 3 more years, thought about it, almost didn’t renew, had a phone conversation several years ago, with the than editor, about a real safety issue, train lineups and fatigue in the railroad industry. he didn’t want to talk about it or accept a story on it, as a railroad employee, industry news and safety are my issues. i read many sources, trains is not what it was or has been, this recent change in the newswire, is the worst, in my opinion, will not renew again, you have 2 years to change my mind.
NOT impressed. It is a pain to jump around to various sections when just a few days ago I only had to go to one.
This new format is horrible. There is no need to sub-divide the content in to Freight, Passenger, Mechanical –and whatever else. In the previous layout, one could just read the headlines /logos /pictures all on one simple screen & decide what to read. What will you people do when an article is applicable to 2 or 3 sections? No need to reinvent the wheel, nothing was wrong with the NewsWire layout. LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS!!
Steven, we have listened to our readers and added a “view all” feature in Trains Pro, if you click “see more” at the bottom of the “Today’s News” section. — David Lassen
This new format seems to me to be a big backwards step. I enjoyed the old News Wire.
The old format was easy to understand and navigate right from the opening. All the articles’ subjects were iimmediately visible for quick selection, not “balkanized” by category as they are now. As so many above have aptly stated, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it..
Bring back the original News Wire format. If it works, don’t fix it. IF any improvements need to be made, just allow us Trains News Wire posters to edit and/or correct our own comments. KISS: “Keep it small & simple”, that was the polite version. 🙂
It’s all about increased ad “clicks” for revenue generation.
An update: As mentioned above, the log-in issues should now be fixed, and you should be able to access all Trains Pro articles. We are now experiencing some issues with our server, which our contractor is addressing, and other upates on the site are continuing; we will keep you posted. — David Lassen
David,
Good to see that an all-topics page has been created. Now all that is needed is to have each thumbnail on that page display the time/date stamp.
There is a new problem, however: the entire trains.com website is not reachable with Mozilla Firefox. The result is: “Error establishing a database connection”.
Thanks for your help –
Hi, Jeffrey: I have advised IT of that error message to see if they can advise further. As I understood it yesterday, that was an unfortunately timed problem with the server, which is handled by a contractor, and we believed it had been address. If learn more, I will pass it along.
Hi, Jeffrey: Contacted IT and the short version of their message was to try clearing the cache on your web browser.
Here’s the full version: “He is likely cached locally. If he is able to try the website via Incognito, it should work. To fix his non-incognito, he would want to clear his recent browsing history to clear the cache.”
Hope that helps.
A good start. Now get IT to put dates/times back on the thumbnails (again, like it was before the “improvements”) and stop serving a popup “free hat” ad every time I load the site. I don’t want the stupid hat and an upgrade, I want to access the content at the level I’ve already chosen to pay for.
I appreciate your respectful answers to the angry mob, but it staggers me how companies small and large make the same mistake over and over in rolling out flawed “upgrades” or “redesigns” that no one asked for except for some genius in marketing, without actual consultation with the customers that use the product.
Hello, everyone — I want to again apologize for the continuing problems, and have two pieces of news:
— We have identified the log-in problem for Trains Magazine subscribers, which resulted from a programming bug. We are working to fix it as quickly as possible and hope to have that rectified soon. Once again, I emphasize that there are no new feeds, charges, or paywalls because of this redesign.
— We have also heard your concerns about how the stories are being presented and are planning to make an “all news” feed available in Trains Pro as well as conetinuing to show the stories by category. That may take a little longer; I do not yet have any indication about the time line. Similarly, the new preservation and travel stories are not showing up in the “Most recent” section on the Trains Magazine home page, which they should. We’ll be addressing that as well.
We will keep you posted on these fixes as they are completed. Again, we apologize for the issues.
— David Lassen, senior editor, Trains
The new layout is terrible. Go back to one News Wire page with all the articles. Plus, with no dates on the articles, I found myself reading old articles I thought were new. Hate it! Change it back!
Jeff,
Good to see I wasn’t the only one having this problem. The articles in each section appear to be ordered randomly.
Yet another bug inserted by the script kiddies responsible for this mess.
I don’t understand the rationale (reasons) to change TRAINS News Wire. I’m a longtime reader (subscriber since 1968, bound copies back to 1960). I can’t imagine David P. Morgan nor Dave Ingles rolling out such a bad product/service as this.
Time for Trains staff to ring the “fire alarm” at Fireclown.
My first thought on seeing the new “Trains PRO” was: Good, they’re coming out with a new magazine focused on the current railroad scene.
What drove me here was getting Trains magazine to read up on the current news and any expansion of that would be a wonder for me. Keeping your existing customer base happy while expanding it is always hard and those that can do it deserve their success and for that reason I wish you success.
As a complete aside, would it be possible to offer your special issues, such as the Locomotive Annual, as a PDF? I really don’t have room for all that paper. Do hope I’m not the only one who feels that way.
deleted my cache and all that stuff, and nothing. Still not working. The Trains website has been very poor since the last “upgrade” a couple of years ago! Time to get a new IT company. Sooooo many adds on every single page click, that’s huge overkill for us subscribers! You’re trying to nickel and dime us at every angle, every page on the site! Not too savvy
Agree about the ridiculous pop-up ads. I pay for access to Trains Unlimited. I SHOULD NOT have to mess with endless Ads that have nothing to do with trains. If this is what Firecrown (or Fireclown as some are saying) is about maybe my time (as well as other readers like me) with Trains has coming to an end. Yes, David Morgan and Dave Ingles would also disassociate themselves with such a “hack” operation.
After I click on an article I go to my settings and turn on “airplane mode “ which stops the pop up ads so I can read the article in peace. Then I turn airplane mode off to click on the next article.
I’m locked out without paying additional monies. No thanks. I. T. Excuses. Reminds me of the NS computer meltdown on Conrail split day. Dump TrainsPro and revert to Newswire.
Think I will let my subscription lapse upon renewal after 45+ years. I’ll read it at the library. Keep pushing people to RAILFAN. FIrecrown salvation appears to be the failure we all feared.
Am still locked out. Another 6 months that will be a repeat of access to the Trains forum?
“Trains.com members, Trains All Access members, and Trains subscribers will still have access to all industry news under TrainsPRO, just as they have had access to News Wire.”
Not so.
I find that I can access the stories in TrainsPRO if I am signed out of Trains.com. If I am signed in, the articles are behind a paywall.
It appears that the new owners are no more tech savvy than Kalmbach was.
Attn David Lassen,
Trains Senior Editor —
In addition to the format changes that are confusing so many readers and are problematic for all of us to now try to navigate the site, there are a couple of login issues that are affecting access and which need to be corrected by the IT department. Among those are an indicator in the upper right corner of the first page, where it says SIGN IN. Once signing in, then many stories are blocked by a page that requires signing in again! Then nothing happens. And the article remains blocked and cannot be accessed.
If you sign out, then the same stories that were blocked, now suddenly appear and can be read!
LOL, this seems to be a new development. Wasn’t the case when I wrote my original comments, but now someone has added this additional bizarre “feature”. For the love of trains, just pull the plug on this entire “upgrade” and put the site back the way it was.
If subscribers have access to all the old Newswire features in the TrainsPro format, why do I keep getting messages that I can’t access an article unless I pay more?
Had to navigate too many places to see the railcam at Rochelle Il. Put it back the way it was.
This “upgrade” is a “solution looking for a problem”!
I have tried unsuccessfully to access Trainspro in order to reach Trainswire. I have been a subscriber for over 50 years and you have virtually destroyed my once wonderful experience of getting Trains magazine. You fix my access and don’t throw it back to me to fix because someone there thinks this is wonderfully new and easy. It aint!! Disgusted Australian!!!
I’m a fan of David Lassen. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. But what NUMBSKULL came up with this Newswire/Trains Pro? It’s clunky and requires more clicks/inputs to find relevant information.
The proverb: “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”!
I thought I had no choice but to upgrade, which I did.
Still cannot access.
But now I understand that as a TRAINS subscriber my access to NEWSWIRE should continue with no need to upgrade
I thought it was me! Clicking articles and ending up elsewhere. They could have let us all know before the changes. But, in this day and age, that would never happen. No concern for the customers of their products, just like railroads don’t care what their customers need or expect. Here is the bill pay it and get what you get.
Folks, I am sorry for the problems everyone is experiencing. I want to emphasize there are no new fees, charges, or paywalls for the content as a result of this change. You should still be able to read everything you could read before. If that’s not the case, it reflects issues that are, to my understanding, resulting from the changes to the website which we are still working to address. (I will note here that I am not an IT person and asking me to explain or correct them is like asking a newspaper reporter to fix a printing press.) Also, during the course of this process, some of the older News Wire content may be hard to find while it is retagged to fit the new system; that, unfortunately, is a slow, manual process.
I understand that we have changed the way the news is presented, but it will all still be there at no additional charge. I apologize both for the problems and the fact that the changes were not communicated better in advance, and believe me, I am in many ways as frustrated as you are. But I will ask that you please be patient while we work through these issues; we’ll do it as soon as we can. And I will be communicating everyone’s concerns to the appropriate higher-ups.
In the meantime — and once again, I am not an IT person — I will suggest that you might try a “clear cache” on your web browser. That has solved some problems relating to website changes in the past. If I learn anything else, I will pass it on here.
Again, I apologize for the issues you are experiencing.
David Lassen
Senior editor, Trains Magazine
Please add a new category called Recent News and display news from the last one to two days.
Or put the dates on each individual article like they used to be.
I’m a Boomer and sometimes don’t realize I’ve read the article before until I’m partway through it, wasting my time.
Most people here are not concerned about whether they can access the content, they’re concerned about the redesigned organization and presentation of the content. It doesn’t matter if all the content “is still there” if it’s more difficult to find and/or doesn’t get read because it’s hidden from the main news page we’re all used to browsing and we have to click six different links to see the same content that used to be on one page. The point most people are making is that this “update” redesign is not at all what they want as paying customers.
I also do not like the new TrainsPRO design format, for the same reasons stated by many other commenters — specifically, it’s no longer possible to simply scroll through the previous News Wire grid format & read the news articles, from whatever railroad category, that appeal to me & disregard the ones that don’t. Previously, with News Wire, I found it very enjoyable whenever I had a spare minute to open up Trains.com & scroll thru the articles, now with the new TrainsPRO format, I no longer find it appealing to me to access the website, so much so that I’m considering giving up my Trains.com Unlimited subscription & going back to relying upon, and enjoying reading, the print copies of Trains & Classic Trains magazines to which I subscribe.
Put it back the way it was. IT WAS FINE!! It didn’t need “improved”.
You say that Trains subscribers still have access to Newswire. That is absolutely not true. This is the only TrainsPro article I can see. All the others require me to pay 4.99 or 6.99 per month. Further there is a plan comparison table that explicitly says you can only see Newswire/TrainsPro articles if you pay one of the two additional fees.
Hello David.
I understand you are not “an IT person”. But I am (well, actually a software engineer with roughly 50 years experience in the field). I can guess what the specific problems are, an d all t hat would bore you and the rest of the readers in this forum as well. They don’t care WHY it doesn’t work, they just care THAT it doesn’t work. And I won’t go into the egregious design decisions made which make this “new, improved” website neither. Instead I want to address the rollout.
Software engineering professionals know you don’t simply roll out a new software product (website, application) etc.) without first testing it. Thoroughly. (Unless your name is Microsoft, which fortunately for all involved, it isn’t.) This, on the other hand, stinks of a set of changes that were not properly tested (if they were tested at all) which is probably the result of schedule pressures (or extreme hubris on the part of the “programmers” — or both). The login fiasco on the new site can only be explained by lack of testing (the poor programming involved aside, of course).
Simply put, what your developers should have done was create the web site, put it up on a separate (perhaps private) URL, beat the living snot out of it, fixed the (inevitable) problems that would have resulted from that, then let a select, limited set of actual Trains users come in, and have *them* beat the snot out of it (and fixed the problems, resulting from that trial). That’s what professional “IT people” do. Of course, if that had happened, the hew and cry about having to go rooting around in several places to get the stuff that used to be all in one place under Newswire would have been raised, and I’m sure the script kiddies’ poor little egos would have been crushed. the net result would have been a longer delay, but rolling out a superior product than…this.
/rant
Look forward to the trains newswire every Saturday over coffee. The rest of the website is to confusing with banner ads and video ad’s popping up. Wonder who and what task force is in charge of these types of “upgrades.”
I cannot access any of the articles on the Trains newswire. It looks like you have to subscribe at either $4.99 per month or $6.99 for complete. Previously any Trains subscriber had access to the Newswire. I have seen a subscriber for 53 years.
The response here is overwhelmingly negative but it’s not at all clear whether anyone important looks at these comments. But you can send a direct email which I’d bet someone relevant WILL see:
Send your website questions and comments to our digital editor at questions@trains.com
BRING NEWSWIRE BACK. Or at least place TrainPro in the top line of the initial page. Most of Treins.com is bad design – this just makes it worse.
Who designs and builds Trains.com anyway???
Maybe, given time I’ll like these changes. But I doubt I will.
This may be what the “modern railroad professional” wants, but the average railroad enthusiast (who I would guess are the majority of subscribers) want one stop shopping for their railroad news.
Even for a professional, Amtrak employees may primarily be interested in “passenger” but certainly would be interested in “freight” articles that may impact freight roads they run on. Now they need to look in two different parts of the website.
?
To help some of us sift through this new mass of illogical confusion more easily, would you kindly restore the “wallet sized” photograph (icon ?) adjacent to each title to save us the additional effort expended in trying to locate a previous article to read when time becomes available (bookmark function ?) ? (The larger photographs interspersed among article paragraphs remain excellent ! ) And while I have Firecrown’s attention, I still wish they would give more credit to individual authors instead of the generic term “Trains staff.” If multiple authors, the abbreviation “et al” after the primary author’s name would be sufficient. WALTER FRITZ…OBER, INDIANA…574-772-4766
This is a very bad redesign, and I can’t find anything anymore…
Immediate reaction is that this is much worse, not an improvement. I liked being able to skim through all railroad news in one place. My interests don’t necessarily fit into neat silos of “passenger” or “freight”. And now I have to open multiple more links and pages to access the same content that used to be a simple grid of stories on one page.
It drives me crazy when outlets feel the need to redesign without actually asking users whether it’s needed.
This is the problem, I agree 100%
It would have been so much simpler to just introduce some form of tags, so that people who wanted to read one category only could click/bookmark that tag, while leaving the site’s basic functionality alone for the rest of us.
I also preferred having everything in one place.
The layout of Newswire was MUCH better. Everything in one open window. Can’t figure out “improvements” when it isn’t needed. Go back to the previous layout and call it what you will. Navigating a bunch of different choices isn’t an improvement.
I don’t know if this is an improvement. With Newswire you opened it, saw a list of news items, which I quickly looked at and picked what looked interesting to me and ignored the rest. It now looks like I will be having to open additional windows to see if there is anything I would want to read.
The “web programmers” who wrote this …thing … have never heard of the First Rule of Computer Science; namely: If it works, don’t fix it!
Where in Trains.com is preservation/tourist railway news? There is no longer any link under the TrainsPro rebulid of the Newswire. I find no other link to such news under either Trains/com or the Classic Trains section.
Hi Carl – you can find that content under the Trains Magazine website in a new Heritage Rail category, which you can navigate to via this link: https://www.trains.com/trn/railroads/heritage-rail/
Carl, in addition to Angela’s comment, I’ll note that we’ve been a little thin on Preservation/Tourist news this week because of everything going on in terms of the UP-NS merger announcement and similar industry news. I’ll try to put up a new item or two and see if that makes it a bit easier to find.