About RailServe.com

"There's no better information source than RailServe.com." - Smart Computing Magazine

RailServe.com is the world's largest and most popular online rail directory, serving millions of visitors with an interest in rail travel, hobby, and industry. This page provides an overview of RailServe.com's mission, history, and founder. For questions and additions, please select the appropriate form in the Support Section.

Note: RailServe.com is in no way related to Railserve, Inc., a provider of contract rail services.

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 Founder

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 Founder

5. RailServe.com Select Book Appearances
   Listing of RailServe.com Features and References 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 19,000 quality resources are carefully organized into 180 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 125 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.

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. In addition to managing RailServe.com, Chris is also a railroad historian and photographer. His photography has appeared in books, magazines, calendars, maps, timetables, video games, murals, and advertising and is available at SteamPhotos.com. Chris graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in information systems in 2004 and MBA in 2005. His interests include investing, startups, travel, historic preservation, transportation planning, trail running, hiking, basketball, hockey, and nature photography.

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 then 13-year-old Christopher Muller. Chris was new to the Web and had a love for trains and computers. When Chris first went online he found it challenging to locate rail-related sites, so he started his own directory of railroad web sites. During its first week online, RailServe received its first review, from the (now defunct) 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.

Searching for Time: New Search Technology Takes Significant Effort

"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 its own domain, 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.

Happy Anniversary!: RailServe.com Receives Its First Awards

"This is a fascinating site." - AAA Travel Tips You Can Trust, by Anne McAlpin

By its first anniversary, RailServe.com was receiving recognition from a variety of sources. The most notable of  these was USA Today's Hot Site of the Day award which resulted in a surge of visitors when listed at www.usatoday.com on March 26 and then in the print edition on April 1. Meanwhile, Chris was using his experience from RailServe.com to begin web design services 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 included a narrative of Chris's computer work including the development of RailServe.com. This would be the first of many major newspaper appearances for RailServe.com.

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

"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 Magazine

As RailServe.com traffic expanded and advertisers signed-up, speed and reliability was an increased focus. The site was moved to a new server and 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 decade of growth.

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

"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

PC-based train simulators existed for years, many of them distributed as freeware known only to a niche market of rail enthusiasts. Then came Microsoft Train Simulator, a program that developed a notable online presence a full year prior to release. Promising to include extensive development tools so that users may develop everything from their own locomotives to their own routes. 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

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

RailServe.com maintained steady growth in 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. 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 solely on broad Internet searches.

Today, RailServe.com indexes more than 19,000 websites spanning 180 categories and serves millions of visitors per year. To reach Chris with comments or suggestions, please use the Contact Form.

RailServe.com: "Enough to satisfy any curiosity." - The Jerusalem Post