RailServe.com is a leading provider of rail information services to individuals, organizations, and businesses worldwide. Since 1996, RailServe.com's dynamic advertising solutions have served more than 200 clients, ranging from sole proprietors to the Fortune 500, with an annual retention rate exceeding 95 percent. Acclaimed by newspapers, magazines, books, radio, and numerous online publications; linked to from more than 50,000 web sites around the world; serving nearly 10,000 visitors per day (see details) - RailServe.com is the premier source for rail travel, hobby, and industry.

This page provides an overview of RailServe.com's mission, history, and founder, as well as a review of select media appearances. For information about promoting your business, organization, or event, please see the Advertising Section. For user support, media inquiries, and general feedback, please see the Support Section.

Note: RailServe.com is in no way related to Railserve, Inc., North America's leading contract rail services authority, located at www.railserveinc.com.

Contents of the "About" Section

1. What's In It For You?
   Overview of RailServe.com

2. So Who Exactly Is RailServe.com?
   Information about RailServe.com's Creator

3. The Tracks We've Made
   Chronological History of RailServe.com Development

4. RailServe.com Select Media Appearances
   Newspaper and Magazine Articles about RailServe.com and its Creator

5. RailServe.com Select Book Appearances
   Listing of RailServe.com Features and References in Books Since 1996

What's In It For You?

"If you have room for only one railroad bookmark, you absolutely must choose RailServe.com."
 - Sam's Teach Yourself E-Travel Today, by Mark Orwoll

RailServe.com's mission is simple: provide the leading worldwide resource for finding rail-related content on the Internet. More than 17,000 quality resources are carefully organized into 156 categories covering all aspects of rail travel, hobby, and industry. These well-defined categories provide easy browsing of any rail-related topic, with content covering past and present railways in more than 130 countries. For more focused queries, RailServe.com's keyword search technology includes both directory search and index search options and can suggest specific sites to match your interest.

Access to RailServe.com is always fast and reliable thanks to investments in the latest technology. Hosted at the same Equinix facility (Ashburn, Virginia) that serves Google, Yahoo, IBM, and many of the Web's most popular sites, the performance of Sun (UNIX) servers, reliability of redundant connectivity, security of a state-of-the-art data center, and 24/7 monitoring of USA Domains staff ensure RailServe.com is always available.

So Who Exactly Is RailServe.com?

"The most amazing thing about this award-winning site is that it was started in 1996 by a 13-year-old boy named Christopher Muller." - The Complete Idiot's Guide to Planning a Trip Online, by Julia Cardis et al. RailServe.com is the personal work of Christopher Muller who began the site in 1996 at age 13. All features, support, and ad sales are managed by Chris. In addition to operating RailServe.com, Chris also provides web development, photography, and consulting services to the rail industry. His railroad photography has appeared in books, magazines, calendars, timetables, and advertising materials worldwide and is available for sale at SteamPhotos.com.

Chris graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in information systems in 2004 and a master's degree in economics and investment management in 2005. His interests include travel, investing, website design, transportation planning, economic policy, industrial history and preservation, college basketball, hiking, running, musical theater, and film.

The Tracks We've Made

Christopher Muller's Home Page: The Early Years

"If you're new to the Internet and you're looking for railroad-related Web sites, this is a great place to start." - Model Railroader Magazine, April 2003

RailServe entered the World Wide Web on May 10, 1996 by 13-year-old Christopher Muller. Chris was new to the Web and had a love for trains and computers. When Chris first came on the Web he found it challenging to find rail-related sites, so he started his own directory of railroad web sites. During its first week online, RailServe received its first review, from Program One Radio Network. Before long, Chris was receiving many new link requests from his visitors and the directory was rapidly expanding. By September, Chris had turned 14 and his site listed approximately 700 sites (amazingly complete for 1996!) and was receiving 100 visits per day.

Next Stop: RailServe.com: The Concluding Weeks of '96 As RailServe traffic increased, Chris decided it was time for a few new community features that would be of use to those trying to locate rail-related resources. A chat room was soon added, open 24 hours a day for railroading discussion. Next, RailServe added a message board for railfans to communicate ideas and hold discussions. By year's end, RailServe had over 800 sites listed and had received more than 17,000 visits! RailServe was ready for a new look and its own domain!

Searching for Time: New Search Technology Takes Significant Effort

"When you want to find out about a specific train route or find train info about a region, don't conduct an involved Web search. Instead, I recommend first checking with RailServe.com" - Travel Planning Online for Dummies, by Noah Vadnai & Julian Smith

On January 2, 1997, RailServe made the move to a new server and also took on a new domain, www.railserve.com. RailServe.com continued to receive increased traffic and by February was serving about 300 unique visitors per day. With the directory constantly expanding, some RailServe.com users wanted the option to search by keyword. Chris embarked on the first major redevelopment of the site since its founding just one year prior. The task involved programming scripts and re-entering the data for more than 1,000 sites into a database, but greatly enhanced the site's ease-of-use.

Something to Talk About: Upgraded Chat and Awards Arrive

"There's no better information source than RailServe.com." - Smart Computing, November 1999

By early '97, RailServe.com's existing chat room technology was no longer practical for the wide audience it served. It was soon upgraded to a Java-based (a programming language used for interactive Web content) chat room at the beginning of March and use increased significantly.

During the search and chat upgrades, RailServe.com received recognition from several sources. The site was awarded LogCity's Site of the Day on February 12, 1997, followed by NBNews's Editor's Choice Award, another review on Program One Radio Network, and recognition in Computer Currents Interactive Magazine. But the most valuable RailServe.com publicity of early '97 was USA Today's Hot Site of the Day award which resulted in a 2-day surge of visitors when listed at www.usatoday.com on March 26 and then in the print edition on April 1.

Meanwhile, RailServe.com designer Christopher Muller began web design for local businesses and organizations. His computer knowledge was well known in his school and community and on September 28, 1997, RailServe.com was published on the front page of the regional "Neighbors" section of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The article gave a description and history of Chris's computer work including the development of RailServe.com. This would be the first of dozens of major newspaper appearances for RailServe.com in the coming years.

Happy Birthday!: RailServe.com Thrives In Its Third Year

"From Baku, Azerbaijan to Yokohama, Japan and all stops in between. Whether you want the timetable for the Taegu line in Korea or route maps for the Philippines, you'll find it here." - TIME, May 15, 2000

Free classified ads were installed at RailServe.com in March of 1998. The response during the first two weeks was exceptional and Chris was contacted with positive feedback about this new feature. In April, Chris offered Brian Thompson the opportunity to host his "Railfans & Model Railroaders" ICQ List at RailServe.com to increase the visibility of his efforts. ICQ was the world's most popular instant messaging program at the time, prior to the rise of AOL Instant Messenger and others. During the next couple years at RailServe.com, ICQ list expanded from 60 to more than 700 railfan contacts.

RailServe.com continued to receive recognition in 1998 from Starting Point's Hot Site Award, TrainNet's Web Gem Award, Majon's Most Prestigious Award, the Oddvar Website Award for the Top Railroad Site, and the Tourism Promote Award from LDS Tourism Services.

1998 Goes Out In A Flash: RailServe.com Improves Performance Worldwide

"RailServe.com is also useful for digging up rail information in less traveled regions, such as Africa." - Internet Travel Planner, by Michael Shapiro

As RailServe.com traffic expanded and advertisers signed-up, speed and reliability was an increased concern. Chris was disappointed with the performance of RailServe.com's web host, so in October 1998 the site was moved to USA Domains, a start-up web host committed to excellent performance, reliability, and connectivity. Many visitors to RailServe.com quickly noticed substantial performance improvements in accessing the site, and the excellent reliability rate of over 99.9%.

Also during the web hosting move, Chris spent several weeks writing new software that would significantly enhance RailServe.com's search, advertising, and user support functions. The layout of the directory/category pages was much improved, and a new database system allowed for quicker additions and modifications to the directory. Chris didn't know at the time that these efforts would provide the foundation for the next ten years of RailServe.com's growth.

RailServe.com in the 21st Century: Train Simulator Brings Railfans To The 'Net

"Enough to satisfy any curiosity." - The Jerusalem Post, June 16, 2000

PC-based train simulators existed for years, many of them distributed as freeware known only to a niche market of rail enthusiasts. Commercial simulations such as Maxis's A-Train and MicroProse's Railroad Tycoon were both successful products for years, but neither developed an extensive online following. Then came Microsoft Train Simulator, a program that developed a notable online presence a full year prior to release. Dozens of extensive web sites had already been developed before the first copy was ever sold in stores. Promising to include extensive development tools so that users may develop everything from their own locomotives to their own routes, Microsoft knew from years of experience with Flight Simulator that this product would only be successful with an extensive online following of free add-ons and more.

In June of 2001, Microsoft Train Simulator ("MSTS") was released, and a wealth of freeware add-ons arrived shortly after. RailServe.com launched the Microsoft Train Simulator Add-Ons Site and began daily updates of a file library and searchable index of all the latest user creations. The success was phenomenal, as this feature introduced a whole new audience to the wealth of resources provided at RailServe.com. Two months after the launch, the Train Simulator section was receiving more than 50,000 views per month.

Full Steam Ahead: RailServe.com Records One Million Visitors in 2002

"Whatever you are looking for related to the railroad is likely to be found on this site." - You Are Here Traveling with JohnnyJet.com: The Ultimate Internet Travel Guide, by Eric Leebow

RailServe.com maintained steady growth through 2002, indexing more than 7,000 rail sites in total by year end. For the first year in its history, RailServe.com topped 1,000,000 unique visitors in 2002.

Search enhancements were made in 2003 including a new "Index Search" option, making RailServe.com the first true rail directory and search engine. This new search method indexed the full text of all resources found in RailServe.com's directory, useful for more specific or obscure search terms that may not be included in titles or descriptions. Like the existing Directory Search, only sites specifically reviewed and approved for listing at RailServe.com were included, ensuring quality results.

The (Rail)Road Ahead

"This speedy, comprehensive, and easy to use directory of rail sites is a vast labour of love." - The Rough Guide to Travel Online, by Samantha Cook & Greg Ward

As the scope of Internet resources expands exponentially, there is an increasing need for specialty web portals that provide high quality content in well-organized directories. These sites, such as RailServe.com, enable users to truly browse by topic or interest rather than rely on broad Internet search engines.

Today, RailServe.com indexes more than 17,000 websites in 156 categories, serves nearly 10,000 visitors each day (see details), and is experiencing robust advertising growth. These results demonstrate RailServe.com's ability to reach the rail travel, hobby, and industry audience while delivering exceptional value for advertisers, sponsors, and partners.

To reach Chris with comments or suggestions for RailServe.com, please use the Contact Form.

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RailServe.com Select Media Appearances (25)
including RailServe.com designer Christopher Muller
 

The Inquirer Philadelphia, PA September 27, 1997 Feature on Christopher Muller (Link)	Bucks County Courier Times Bucks County, PA May 10, 2000 Feature on Christopher Muller (Link)
Bucks County Courier Times Bucks County, PA July 14, 1999 Feature on Christopher Muller (Link)	Yardley News Yardley, PA July 22, 1999 Feature on Christopher Muller (Link)
USA Today March 26, 1997 "Hot Site of the Day"	The Wall Street Journal August 11, 2003 "Riding The Rails" Feature
The Washington Post Washington, D.C. September 23, 2005 September 26, 2004 September 15, 2002 "Taking the Train" Annual Feature	Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California March 28, 2004 "Low-cost route to riding the rails starts by surfing the Net"
Model Railroader Magazine Kalmbach Publishing April 2003 "10 Favorite Web Sites" Feature	Sunday Times London, England February 27, 2000 Essential Travel Site
TIME May 15, 2000 (Vol. 156, No. 19) Recommended in "Do-It-Yourself Luxury on Thailand's Railways"	Daily Herald Chicago, Illinois September 10, 2000 "Web-based guide a must for every traveler"
The Jerusalem Post Jerusalem, Israel June 16, 2000 "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" Feature	Sydney Morning Herald Sydney, Australia April 29, 2000 "Steamy Stuff" Feature
L'Ordinateur Individuel France December 17, 2002 "Pour mieux jouer" recommends RailServe.com's Train Simulator add-ons	Associated Press Various US Cities November, 2003 "Cybertrips: Track down a tourist train for an easy scenic trip"
The Wall Street Journal May 3, 2005 "Rail Stations No Ticket to Success" quotes RailServe.com designer	Mail on Sunday London, England June 2, 2002 "Life in the fast train to Europe"
Knoxville News-Sentinel Knoxville, Tennessee August 31, 2003 "View fall leaves from the tracks"	Montreal Gazette Montreal, Quebec, Canada September 12, 2008 "Going Green"
Dallas Morning News Dallas, Texas December 12, 1999 "Beyond low fares: 21 cool Internet tricks for travelers"	Cincinnati Post Cincinnati, Ohio January 21, 2000 "From quilts to crosswords, find your hobby online"
Centre Daily Times State College, Pennsylvania December 8, 2008 "Railroads offer scenic journeys through time"	Smart Computing Magazine November 1999 "Where To Buy... Train Tickets"
Associated Press Various US Cities April 16, 2009 "In recession, some child's play is still free"

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RailServe.com Select Book Appearances (45)

How To Travel Practically Anywhere Susan Stellin Houghton Mifflin (2006)	Sams Teach Yourself E-Travel Today Mark Orwoll Macmillan (2000)
Travel Planning Online for Dummies Noah Vadnai & Julian Smith Wiley, John & Sons (2000)	First-Time Around The World Doug Lansky Rough Guides Limited (2006)
50+1 Fun Things to Do With Kids During Summer Ann Kepler Encouragement Press (2007)	USA by Rail John Pitt Bradt Travel Guides (2008)
Rough Guide to Travel Online (2nd edition) Samantha Cook & Greg Ward Rough Guides Limited (2004)	Rough Guide to First-Time Europe (7th edition) Rough Guides Limited (2007)
Marketing Through Search Optimization Alex Michael & Ben Salter Butterworth-Heinemann (2003)	Hassle Free Business Travel William Mitchell Ten Speed Press (2003)
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Planning a Trip Online Julia Cardis & Kendall Smith Que (2000)	Encyclopedia of the Industrial Revolution in America James S. Olson Greenwood Press (2001)
You Are Here Traveling with JohnnyJet.com Eric Leebow Yahbooks Publishing (2003)	Internet Travel Planner Michael Shapiro Globe Pequot Press (2002)
World Stompers: A Global Travel Manifesto Brad Olsen CCC Publishing (2001)	The Traveler's Handbook: The Insider's Guide to World Travel Globe Pequot (2006)
Technologieführer Hans-Jörg Bullinger Springer (2006)	Le voyageur branché Gilles Bélanger Éditions MultiMondes (2003)
The Travel Guru: Turn Your Love of Travel Into a Rewarding Home Business Bill Reitter Xlibris (2001)	Lessons in Your Rucksack: The Complete TEFL Survival Guide John Hughes Modern English Publishing (2005)
Getting Started in Garden Railroading Allan W. Miller Krause Publications (2001)	MTV Europe Various Authors Frommers (2006)
Que's Internet Yellow Pages Que (2001-2007, Annual)	Compton's Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Britannica (1997)
Best of the Internet Joe Kraynak Que (2002)	Harcourt Learning Travel Agent Course Harcourt Learning Direct (2000)
Guide to English Language Teaching 2005 Simon Collin Modern English Publishing (2005)	The CyberUnion Handbook Arthur B Shostak M.E. Sharpe (2002)
The Capstone Encyclopaedia of Business Capstone John Wiley & Sons (2003/2007)	Baltimore Civil Engineering History Bernard G. Dennis, Matthew C. Fenton American Society of Civil Engineers (2004)
Traveler's Tool Kit Rob Sangster Menasha Ridge Press (2000)	Online Travel Ed Perkins Microsoft Press (2000)
The Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages Jean Amour Polly McGraw-Hill (2000)	Buying Travel Services on the Internet Durant Imboden McGraw-Hill (1999)
La Familia Hayburg: On the Opposite Side of the World (Vol. Two) Juanito Hayburg iUniverse (2007)	Great Scouts!: Cyberguides for Subject Searching on the Web Nora Paul, Margot Williams Information Today (1999)
Walking With Your Ancestors Melinda Kashuba Writer's Digest Books (2005)	Cyndi's List Cyndi Howells Genealogical Pub. Co. (1999)
Green Jobs: A Guide to Eco-Friendly Employment A. Bronwyn Llewellyn Adams Media (2008)	BikeBuch USA / Canada Clement Carle Reise Know-How (2004)
Internet Outdoor Family Fun Yellow Pages Jack Sanders McGraw-Hill (1999)	Raising Bookworms Emma Walton Hamilton Beech Tree Books (2008)
Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History Joel Mokyr Oxford University Press (2003)	Privatization of Roads & Highways Walter Block Ludwig von Mises Institute (2009)
Microsoft Bookshelf Microsoft (1998)

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May 19 - 26, 1997

March 26, 1997