Building a Railroad History Channel

When I launched Western Rail Archive earlier this year, YouTube was always part of the plan.

The goal of Western Rail Archive has never been to create just another railroad website. From the beginning, the vision has been to build a home for railroad history, preservation, photography, videos, and firsthand stories from across the American West. The website was the first step, but I knew that many of the stories I wanted to tell would ultimately be better suited to video.

Like most projects, however, getting from an idea to a finished product takes time.

Over the past several months, I have been developing the Western Rail Archive website, establishing a presence on social media, organizing thousands of photographs, researching articles, and thinking about what a YouTube channel should look like. Some channels focus on train operations. Others focus on railroad history. Some cover museums and preservation. I realized that Western Rail Archive didn’t have to choose just one of those paths.

Instead, the channel can become an extension of the archive itself.

That means future videos may include railroad museums, historic railroad locations, preservation projects, special events, operating equipment, photography excursions, and the stories behind the railroads that helped shape the American West. In many cases, the goal will simply be to document things as they exist today so that future generations can understand what was preserved, what changed, and what has been lost.

After weeks of planning, the time finally came to publish the first video.

While visiting the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris for Perris Appreciation Day on October 17, 2026, I recorded a short introduction explaining the mission behind Western Rail Archive and what I hope to accomplish with the project. The museum was a fitting location for the channel’s debut. Preservation is at the heart of what SCRM does, and preservation is ultimately what Western Rail Archive is about as well.

The video also includes footage of ATSF 108 and COASTER 2105 operating at the museum that day, offering a small preview of the type of content viewers can expect in future uploads.

This first video is not intended to be a grand production. Instead, it serves as a starting point. A marker in the timeline of the project. The moment Western Rail Archive expanded beyond photographs and articles and began telling its stories through video.

There is still a great deal left to build. More articles to write. More locations to document. More museums to visit. More railroad history to preserve.

But every railroad starts somewhere.

For Western Rail Archive, this is the first train out of the station.

Watch the First Video

The first Western Rail Archive YouTube video is now live:

🎥 Watch “Welcome to Western Rail Archive” on YouTube

Thank you for following along as the archive continues to grow. I hope you’ll subscribe to the channel and join me for the journey ahead.