Your railroad deserves an audience. Not just the twelve people who attended your last open house — anyone in the world who loves model railroads and happens to search for what you've built.
RailScanPro's public railroad page is your layout's home on the web. A URL you can print on a business card at a train show. A page that loads in under two seconds and shows your collection, your layout photos, and your story — without requiring visitors to sign up for anything.
What a Public Railroad Page Looks Like
At its simplest, a public railroad page shows:
- Your railroad name and description
- Scale, prototype road, era, and general location (region)
- A collection count and category breakdown
- Any photos you've chosen to make public
With more configuration:
- A hero banner photo of your layout
- An "About This Railroad" section with the history of your pike
- A public roster of selected equipment with photos
- A photo gallery
- Upcoming events (open houses, operations sessions)
- A contact form
Setting Up Your Page
- Go to Settings → Public Page → Enable
- Choose a URL slug — this becomes
railscanpro.com/r/your-slug - Write your railroad description in the About section
- Upload a banner photo
Your page is live immediately. Everything else is optional.
Controlling What's Visible
By default, your public page shows your railroad details but not your individual items or photos. You explicitly choose what to share:
Items: Open any item → toggle Show on Public Page to On. Or select multiple items and use Actions → Make Public.
Photos: On any item's Photos tab, toggle individual photos as public or private.
Your identity: Your real name is never shown on the public page — only your railroad name and username. Your exact city is also never shown — only the state/province you've entered.
The Roster View
When you've made enough items public, the roster view becomes compelling. Visitors can browse your collection, filter by category or road name, and click through to individual items you've made fully visible.
Many operators use the public roster as a "what I have available for ops sessions" list — so guest crews can see what locomotives they'd be working with before they commit to attending.
Embedding Your Page
The public page generates an embed code you can paste into a forum post, a club website, or your personal site:
- Go to Settings → Public Page → Embed
- Copy the iframe code
- Paste it anywhere HTML is accepted
The embedded version shows your latest layout photos and roster count, with a link through to the full page.
Train Show Business Cards
Several collectors have found success printing a simple business card with their railroad name and public page URL — railscanpro.com/r/wagnerlines — and handing them out at train shows. It's a conversation starter that lets visitors explore your collection on their own time.
Next Steps
- Creating Public Galleries — detailed photo gallery configuration
- Following Other Collectors — build your community after going public
- Telegraph Office — connect with the wider community