By Maribeth Keane — We’ve been operating Dan’s Train Depot, which is the parent company of BrassTrains.com, for about 11 years now. We bought out a very large brass dealer about five to six years ago who owned the site and we revamped it. I started out as a collector and I still enjoy the hobby. I don’t have a huge personal collection because we have such a huge turnover here. Generally I fill up my display cases and then something new comes in that interests me a little more. I got into trains just like...

Train Talk with the National Model Railroad Association's Brent Lambert

By Maribeth Keane — The NMRA library’s original purpose was to focus on model railroading, but over time we’ve also received donations that have helped us become a historical resource for information on prototype historical railroad subjects. I’m interested in railroad history, more the prototype than actually modeling, but I don’t collect personally. I’m from Chattanooga, and of course we have a rich railroad heritage here, so that’s one factor, but I also love history. I was a history major in college, and I...