Silver Rails
Created in 1995
Out Of A Love For Rail Travel
Stephen Grande created a railroad related website in September 1995 after his first railroad trip with his two young daughters on the
Amtrak Coast Starlight from Seattle, Washington, to Los Angeles, California. Originally that website was zq.com/trains but was later moved to
TrainWeb.com.
Stephen and his spouse, Barbara Cepinko, have been involved in the computer and engineering sector since the early 1970s.
In 1979 they formed MIDCOM Corporation, a workforce solutions company providing software & hardware
engineers to the aerospace & defense industry. They sold that company in 2013, but have continued to use their computer and information skills in
further venutes. Stephen brought his computer and information skills to the railroad sector to build one of the largest railroad related websites,
TrainWeb.com.
TrainWeb.com provides a vast array of online information for train enthusiasts.
Silver Rails also created a free web hosting service at
TrainWeb.org where other train enthusiasts and rail organizations coould share their interests,
knowledge, railroad photosgraphs, and historical information with others. Currently TrainWeb.org hosts over 800 railroad related websites.
These websites contain over one million railroad related images and over 200,000 web pages of railroad related information. About 5,000 individual
train enthusiasts visit these pages every day viewing over 240,000 web pages at TrainWeb.
Silver Rails has been involved in other railroad related ventures over the years. Silver Rails used to own the
Depot Inn & Suites and the
Silver Rails Event Center
near the Amtrak Southwest Chief Station in La Plata, Missouri, and still works with the new owner to encourage business to these facilities.
Silver Rails also created the 501(c)(3) non-profit
American Passenger Rail Heritage Foundation (APRHF).
Although no longer actively involved in the management of this organization, Silver Rails contiues to encourage membershp and visitors to their
attractions in La Plata, Missouri, especially the
Rail Lookout Cabin & Deck.
Silver Rails also owns and operates
Silver Rails Vineyards & Winery, a 40 acre vineyard & winery located near the
Amtrak Station in La Plata, Missouri.
A new separate service line of Silver Rails is a technical recruiting and professional job placement service. This is actually a return to our prior
expertise as founders, owners and maangers of MIDCOM Corporation for 30 years as mentioned above.
Click here for more information about this aspect of our business.
Silver Rails has also started a new set of web sites and web information services that will not be related to railroads or rail travel.
These web sites reflect other interests of Stephen Grande and Barbara Cepinko.
As indicated below, some of these websites have already been launched with content growing daily.
Others will be launched in the near future. Please visit the Silver Rails web sites listed below:
- ColumboTV.com -
A fan web site with information related to Peter Falk and the Columbo TV series.
- CruiseRookies.com -
Photos, travelogues and suggestions regarding cruise ships and traveling on cruise ships throughout the world.
- IndianRestaurants.us -
A list of Indian Restaurants, mostly in California, that have been visited and reviewed. Plans for this website include expanding the geographic area covered and expanding the
information and depth of review of each restaurant, plus adding the ability of visitors to add their own reviews, comments and photos.
- InTownVancouver.com -
Businesses, entertainment, events and restaurants "In Town", Vancouver, Washington.
- JazzDens.com -
A resource of jazz venues, jazz bands, and performance calendars, including reviews, photos, and visitor feedback. Venue menus will also be added shortly.
Initially this website will only cover the Pacific Northwest and Southern California.
Eventually we will be seeking volunteers to help expand the geographic coverage of this web site.
- OwlCams.com -
Highlight images that were captured in 2010 from a live webcam of a pair of owls nesting in the attic of a house in Anaheim Hills, California.
The sequence of images show mating, a nest full of eggs, the male bringing mice for the female to eat, the hatching of the eggs, and then an attic full of baby owls
as they grow larger over a few months!
- SilverRailsWinery.com -
Silver Rails Winery including a tasting room in the heart of Missouri serving wine by the glass, the bottle, wine flights,
beer and light snacks.
- SouthwestWashington.wine -
Wineries and wine tasting rooms of Southwest Washington state, especially near Vancouver in Clark County.
- TeslaTouring.com -
Reports and photos from Tesla road trips and Tesla events from multiple Tesla owners and drivers. Also includes photos and
ammenities of several Tesla Supercharger locations across the nation and even a few from the London, UK area.
- TheFlingCocktailLounge.com -
The Fling Cocktail Lounge, a dive bar in Santa Ana, California, with live music 6 nights a week starting at 9pm.
- TrainWeb.com -
Over 20 years of reports and photos from 1996 through today of passenger rail travel as well as extensive photos and information related to model
railroading, railfanning, railroad history and more.
- TrainWeb.org -
A hosting site for over 1,000 railroad related websites created and managed by independent organizations and individuals.
- TrainWeb.US -
A hosting site for archived railroad related websites that contain valuable historic information and photos that are no longer being updated by
the organization or individual that creaetd the website.
- TravelRookies.net -
Photos, travelogues and suggestions regarding traveling throughout the world.
Planned SilverRails Web Sites With Limited or No Content Yet:
- Advaitism.com -
Discussion and comments about non-duality.
- EarthEgg.com -
Philosophy of the world being an egg from which earth life will be born and expand into the universe.
- LibertyTao.com -
The Tao of Liberty.
- NotFakeNews.US -
Links to the few trusted news sources that are seldom a source of fake news.
- VikCue.com -
A personal blog web site.
