The Spring 2026 issue of Classic Trains, which has arrived in subscriber mailboxes, will be the final standalone issue of the magazine that for 26 years has explored the golden age of railroading. Our quarterly time machine is not going away, however. We’re bringing it back home to the monthly pages of Trains.
Longtime readers will recall that Classic began as Trains Classic, a special standalone issue, in 1999. The next year it was spun off into its own quarterly magazine, rebranded as Classic Trains.
By folding its content back into Trains we’ll continue to bring you stories about steam locomotives, early diesels, great passenger trains, fallen flags, and the notable photographers who chronicled the magical middle four decades of railroading in the 20th century. And, in the process, we’re expanding Trains to 68 pages.
In addition to running at least one Classic-style feature story every month, Trains will continue to cover the latest preservation news. The Classic website will live on, too, complete with its archive of every issue.
Some readers no doubt will miss having a separate Classic Trains. I understand that. As a 26-year Classic subscriber myself, I have always enjoyed opening the mailbox to find the latest issue waiting for me. Four times a year the pages of Classic Trains transported me back in time. Now, beginning with the July issue of Trains, we’ll provide readers with the same time-traveling joy — but 12 times a year rather than just four.
We want to make the Classic-to-Trains transition simple. So we will convert your Classic Trains subscription to a Trains subscription. As a bonus, each remaining issue on your Classic subscription will be counted as three issues of Trains. In other words, if you have three issues remaining on your Classic subscription, you’ll receive nine issues of Trains.
If you subscribe to both magazines, your Trains subscription will be extended, too. If you don’t already subscribe to Trains, our goal is to give you enough of a feel for the expanded Trains that you’ll choose to renew.
Since 1940, The Magazine of Railroading has covered the industry’s past, present, and future. That won’t change. But bringing Classic Trains back into the fold will better balance our presentation of railroad history, contemporary operations, and stories on where the industry is headed.
We also aim to strengthen Trains by pausing the creation of periodic special-interest publications that focus on a single topic, such as railroad technology, short lines, and individual railroads. Why? Because all that great storytelling and photography belongs in the pages of Trains, the magazine where it all began.
Bill Stephens
Editor
Trains Magazine
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I’m sorry to hear this as like you Bill, I enjoy being transported back in time to the Golden Age of railroading. But on the bright side, both my Classic Trains and Trains subscriptions are paid up through next year so I look forward to my Trains subscription being extended basically for free. Any chance you could extend that to Model Railroader? :))
While this is sad, it is understandable.
My concern is that in the past year+ since Firecrown bought the Kalmbach magazines I have not seen much in the way of improvement to the product. The website is slightly better, but still lacking.
I once asked Jim Wrinn at a Trains forum in Chicago a number of years ago how Kalmbach was pivoting for a post-print era. He acknowledged the need and that it would be a challenge. Now a decade later we have the ability to subscribe digital-only but the product still print-first.
You say the final issue is with subscribers yet I have yet to see mine! I am sad to hear that CT is at the bumper post I do not think this is a good move at all, it will be interesting to see if the “fold-in” works.
I’m not looking forward to this change. Trains magazine already features way too much content about the “OLDEN” days of railroading. It does not need more.
What Trains magazine needs is more modern content so the younger readers will read it.
Thanks for listening.