by henry6
TRAINS was a fantastic magazine under the direction David P. Morgan and his loss has been greatly felt over the years. In fact there has been a lot of floundering like a ship going in different directions. Jim Wrinn had done one of the best jobs in steering TRAINS in a direction which I think is both relative to today's railroading while holding on to some of the past. Overall journalism today is rather shallow, lacking depth and detail and even "feeling" if you will, and TRAINS does suffer with this along will others. No, I don't expect David P. to return, nor anyone like him for that matter. He was first class with a deep love and respect for trains, railroaders of all rankings, and for his readers unlike any other editor of any publication ever. I always liked that TRAINS was as much a part of the fan scene as the railroad scene with readable business stories along with operations and history. (Freeman Hubbard made RAILROAD Magazine much the same in a more "blue collar" way; he was able to mix the on the ground railroaders with fans in a close up way and presented a fun magazine, too.) Kalmbach has CLASSIC TRAINS which delves more into the history angles and leans heavily on TRAINS past, thank goodness. If anything I would like to see more detailed reports of cab rides, logistics, and operations, but again that is not today's journalism standards. I get both of these magazines because they seem to present the broadest sense of rail fanning than any of the others (which seem to be wrapped up in mostly pictures with little editorial content). What I do miss is the fiction tha was presented in RAILROAD magazine but understand why no one publishes any today.