Welcome to our Internet Awards Page -- the area of our website that we have dedicated to displaying trophies that were given to us.

* * * Click on the icon to read about the award.

Our Train-Related Trophy Case

Our Trophy Case for Other Awards

In some cases we had to apply for the trophy and in other cases we were approached by the sponsoring website. The criteria varies from award to award and therefore some of the trophies are more meaningful than others. However we will continue to be proactive in seeking out the right to display these Internet honors as we are always interested in finding out what others think of our website.

* * * Click on the award in the first column to go to the sponsoring website.

About the Awards
	The "Smokin' Award" came from the (now-defunct) Ol' Hook & Eye website. This website had established criteria for presenting the "Smokin' Award" to railroad-related websites. Each website was graded on a point system: 40% of the grade was based on content; the remaining 60% was based on design, interface and accessibility.

	This award came from TrainNet.org -- a website with prescribed criteria for granting the "Web Gem Award" to railroad-oriented websites. The TrainNet staff are all involved in railroading.

	This award came from the (now-defunct) All Aboard N Scale Trains website -- a place to find information on N scale train layouts, join a group, or just check out the links and pictures. Awards were granted to well-designed websites containing train-related material that was displayed in an "eye-catching" manner.

This award also came from the (now-defunct) Ol' Hook & Eye website. The "Roundhouse of Recognition" badge of honor was created as part of a program to pay tribute to those websites (with railroad interests) that had been credited by other awardmasters with five or more awards. That recognition system was created specifically to acknowledge websites that had achieved the distinction of earning multiple independent awards.

This award came from the Tandem Associates website, which is a valuable online resource for Lionel and American Flyer electric train collectors and operators. The "Green Light Award Program" recognizes website creators who have built extraordinary sites on the web about trains or their model variants. There is an established set of criteria for presenting this award" to train-related, family friendly websites. Each website is graded on a point system based on these categories: content, construction, navigation & design plus a special discretionary bonus section.

This award came from Steve's Railway Pages -- a (now-defunct) website that was established to serve the model railway community by providing useful information on model railways. Awards were provided to those sites providing extensive information on their given topic and therefore recognized to be excellent resources for model and prototype railway information. Dave's Trains received the award because of the Soviet Union Trains section of our website.

This award came from the (now-defunct) Minitrains website. It was given to sites that met the following criteria: 1) the website was updated often with new photos and/or information; 2) the website contained information on miniature and/or Narrow Gauge Railways and/or model railways; 3) the website was well designed with interesting and useful content. Each website was reviewed by two judges. Award-winning sites were listed on the Minitrains website and were rated using a 5-star system. Those sites were re-examined periodically and the rating was altered accordingly.

The "Highball Award" was created by the (now-defunct) Train Gifs Station website as a way to recognize and reward outstanding websites that dealt specifically with railroad and rail-oriented topics. They had established, published criteria for bestowing the "Highball Award" to websites that could pass the rigorous requirements. Using a point system, the total score was based on content, design, ease of use and functionality.

	The "Tracks of Excellence Award" was created by David Worrall, an individual who created a (now-defunct) website dedicated to model and prototype trains. The criteria for the award was subjective but in general was granted to those websites that were deemed to be professional and family oriented.

	The "Nutsplitter Award" is sponsored by the (now-defunct) "Canada My Home Sweet Home" website whose webmaster was a "nutsplitter" - a railroad mechanic who could split a nut using a chisel without damaging the bolt threads. The award was granted to an applicant website that was truly family friendly.

	The "Web Select Award" came from Majon International -- a website with a recognition service to further develop and encourage creativity, quality design and usefulness in purpose for Web site owners and creators.

	This award is presented by the International Association of Web Masters and Designers. It is given to those sites whose web design, originality and content have achieved levels of excellence deserving of recognition.

	This award came from Links2Go -- a (now-defunct) website that once provided online businesses and end-users with search and directory services. They selected the set of "Key Resources" related to each topic in their database and determined eligibility. The Links2Go Key Resource award was both exclusive and objective.

	This award came from Critical Mass -- a (now-defunct) website once dedicated to helping individuals navigate the World Wide Web. The "Critical Mass Award" was given to sites containing useful content, good design and presentation with an easy- to-navigate format.

The "Great Site Award" came from Arlana's Corner -- a website offering various awards for virtually any type of website. The stated purpose of those awards "is to give hard working webmasters the credit they deserve." The criteria for some of the awards depends on the type of website being considered while the criteria for the other awards include some of the following: design, organization, graphics and visual effects.