Since our last major post was a look back, the question is, what can folks expect from the channel and Main Street Railfan in 2026? 

VIDEO CONTENT

Goodbye Daily Compilations
There were some really important lessons that we learned in 2025. First – that it is completely unsustainable to do full daily compilation videos for every stream. It simply boils down to a time issue. For every 12 hours of livestream footage, it takes about 2 hours to do the compilation – which includes time for the download, video edit, thumbnail creation, writing the description,  rendering the video, and then uploading to YouTube. Sometimes it takes a bit longer, sometimes a bit shorter. But in the end we were investing a minimum of 4 hours a day in just doing the compilations. And that’s ok. We don’t begrudge that time. But we also found out through trial and error, that posting more than one video a day meant that we weren’t getting any more views – we were just splitting the number of views across more than one video. Now life isn’t wholly about views (well, maybe on YouTube!), but it just didn’t make sense to put that much time into content that people weren’t really watching. So, we are discontinuing the daily compilation videos. We still have a few that are completed that haven’t been uploaded yet, and we will still be putting those up. But after that, we will only do a daily compilation if something really interesting comes along. And don’t worry, the full livestream archives will still be available for people who are interested in going back to train watching on any given day.

Hello Monthly Highlight Compilation

Instead of the daily compilations, we are going to create a monthly compilation of all of the more interesting locomotives, trains, and other track happenings. We hope that this will be a more efficient use of our time while still giving folks a great livestream recap. Right now the plan is to show heritage and other special locomotives, interesting or unusual trains (like the Geometry trains), and even track maintenance vehicles. Let us know if there is anything else that you would like for us to highlight in these videos. 

More Trackside Videos and Potential New Series

We will still be bringing you trackside videos as we get to them. We have a few episodes shot already, but they are stuck in the edit queue at the moment. By freeing up time from the daily editing, we are hoping to launch two new video series, but these are still in development at the moment and we don’t even have a basic timeline for them yet – making this a very premature announcement. The first video series would be exploring a very rural line in southeastern Ohio, and the other would be a more “behind the scenes” creator’s take on starting and running a livestream/railfan channel. Again – we’re not sure if anyone is interested in these topics, so we will see how it goes. We have to keep reminding ourselves that it’s all a learning experience and is a work in progress…

HELP SUPPORT THE CHANNEL – Like, Subscribe, Comment
You know the mantra – every YouTuber says it. Like, Subscribe, Comment – it’s even become its own meme. But seriously, it really does matter to the algorithm to get our content seen by other viewers. The other thing that we’ve tried to be very relaxed about is channel memberships – but it is seriously the best way to support the channel. Part of our “behind the scenes” is to talk openly and honestly about what it takes to be part of the YouTube partnership program and the realities of monetization on a channel like ours.

MAIN STREET RAILFAN SHOP

Right from the beginning, we had requests for channel merchandise. After doing a bit of research, we were able to put up a store with some basic items. But we have quite a lot of ideas in this direction, but like everything else, just needs time to develop. Look for a separate announcement very soon for a more in depth update on this. We are really excited about our plans!

DISCORD

We have plans for this too, but it currently resides close to the bottom of our 2026 priority list. We have found that our older demographic isn’t really connected to this technology, and given all of the other demands, we have put this on the back burner for a bit.

OTHER TECHNOLOGY

When funds become available, we would like to upgrade some of our equipment so that our content is even higher quality. It would be a dream to get a heavier drone – as we have found that our current light one is very difficult to fly in windy conditions – which on the lake is ALL OF THE TIME! But this would represent a huge financial commitment and also we would have to take the correct courses and pass an exam in order to fly it. So right now we will just be waiting on this as well – and if the opportunity arises, we’ll take it.

TLDR

We have an exciting year planned – and we’re grateful for those of you on this journey with us. Please let us know what you are excited about in the coming year!

Now…it’s a new year! Let’s go catch some trains!

Sonja & Don

Main Street Railfan