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  • Is Trains magazine a disappointment?

  • Discussion related to railroads/trains that show up in TV shows, commercials, movies, literature (books, poems and more), songs, the Internet, and more... Also includes discussion of well-known figures in the railroad industry or the rail enthusiast hobby.
Discussion related to railroads/trains that show up in TV shows, commercials, movies, literature (books, poems and more), songs, the Internet, and more... Also includes discussion of well-known figures in the railroad industry or the rail enthusiast hobby.

Moderator: Aa3rt

 #509672  by BobLI
 
I just received my April Trains magazine and this has got to be the smallest issue ever!! What a disappointment when I went to read it.
What happened??

Otto, I'm not sure where to post this, please move to an appropriate area.

 #509725  by Dieter
 
I don't see a problem with posting it here, as most of us take from Trains magazine for detailing our model empires.

A friend recently dumped his subscription to Trains due to a lack of Canadian Content which he somehow measured at less than 9%. For myself, I have to ask, how many pictures of Santa Fe, Union Pacific and Powder River Basin coal drags can anyone look at? How many retro articles about The Milwaukee Road can anybody take? It would seem that covering their own backyard from Milwaukee has led to a "Twiggy" of an issue.

Turning the page, how about the Trains DVD set they're trying to shove down subscribers throats? I bought the first one, about BIG POWER. Nothing Canadian, one or two shots of a NS locomotive, I don't think there was anything about CSX or any local lines outside of Wisconsin.

There's a whole world out there to cover, and it's like both Trains and Model Railroader are running out of gas sometimes. Granted my interests are non-ATSF/UP/BN, but that leaves other roads in the west and the rest of North America. Thank Goodness there are other magazines for balance, but you are correct;

Trains staff needs a new supply of BEEF!!

D/
 #509942  by Komachi
 
Dieter asked,

"How many retro articles about The Milwaukee Road can anybody take?"

** Holds hands out with palms out and speaks in best Oliver Twist voice ** Please, sir, may I have some more? :-D :P But then again, I'm biased in that I'm a Milwaukee Road man.


I have not yet paged through the latest issue, so I can't comment on it, but, I will say that they do seem to focus quite a bit on a select few roads...

How about a series on some of the more obscure shortlines? How about a running series on the few remaining ALCo. bastians (yes, I'm an admitted ALCohaulic, so, again, bias there)? How about they put someone on the Canadian and report back on the current service? Operations in the Yukon Territory?

But, then again, how much content comes from the Trains staff and how much comes from we the readers? If we wish to affect change, should we not get off our oversized rear-ends, grab a pen, pad and camera and submit?

Just a few random thoughts on that subject.

 #509995  by Plate F
 
Actually, I thought this was one of the nicest in a few issues. I really liked the article on street running. Also I don't know if anyone else noticed, but there were 2 pictures in it from Rochester and Syracuse, NY. The Amtrak article on growth has a nice big picture of the station at Rochester. And the Syracuse one in the street running article depicts an old steam locomotive moving down the street.

 #510167  by jdl56
 
I haven't seen the issue, so I can't comment on its size relative to previous months. But issue size is often determined by the amount of advertising that is purchased: More advertising, larger issue; less advertising, smaller issue.

Again, don't know if that's the case here, but it's worthwhile to remember that subscriptions rarely pay the majority of the cost of publishing a magazine. That's the role of advertising.

John Longhurst, Winnipeg

 #510411  by scharnhorst
 
I my self dumped Model Railroader a few years ago my self. I'm sick of seeing nothing but Midwest and Western Railroading.

I'm begining to wonder if anyone even models the Northeast anymore? I also have an intrest in Canadian roads as well.

Railmodel craftsmen seems to cover more Northeastern and Canadian layouts and topics.

 #510536  by graftonterminalrr
 
Agreed. MR was the worst for it; leafing through my back issues from 1986 on down, EVERY issue seems to have a Milwaukee Road related article or even photo included. "Model the Milwaukee's Distinctive Cabooses" or "Electrification on the Milwaukee" or "Kitbash a Boxcab Electric" (with big pics of a MILW unit) or "Kitbash an Athearn Boxcar into a Milwaukee Boxcar" or "More Pictures of the Hiawatha" or "Why the Milwaukee Road is Prospering" or whatever. Then the Milwaukee got bought up by the Soo Line. Now it's Bob Rivard and the unending articles on "How to Model a Soo Line F7/GP30/Caboose/GP9/FP7/GP38-2/Freight Car/SD60/whatever." And if it ain't the Soo it's the Wisconsin Central. Now, the whole thing is CN or CP when they look out the window, but do we see the corresponding articles? I've NEVER seen a "Kitbash a CN GP9RM" article for example.

TRAINS at least has coverage of other railroads, but seem firmly stuck in the West, unless it's commuter stuff that to me at least is uninteresting.

I get my Canadian stuff from RMC, Canadian Railway Modeller, and Railfan and Railroad. Good coverage there.

 #510654  by Gilbert B Norman
 
I have my problems with the Fred Frailey coverage of all four Class I's of late.

While Mr. Frailey, who I have met face-to-face 'along the way', is a competent journalist, it seems as if the material has simply been rubber stamped by the roads' Public Affairs Depts. Now I recognize and respect that "access has its price' and suffice to say, the roads' want control over the copy disseminated in the industry's pre-eminent publication.

But can't there be a little 'balance"?, especially since Mr. Frailey has had to do investigative reporting at his previous stints with US News & World Report and Kiplinger's.

Somehow, the material would have more authenticity if there were to be an occasional 'discouraging word'?

 #510657  by RailBus63
 
I may be in the minority, but I think Trains has actually improved in recent years. News was a big part of the magazine's traditional role, but this has changed in the Internet age, and I think the publishers were wise to focus more on in-depth articles and highlighting trends in the industry.

In response to Mr. Norman's comments, I do agree to a certain extent that Fred Frailey's articles seem to be 'rubber stamped' by the railroads, but that is my only criticism of his work. He is an excellent journalist who has a great ability to take the reader behind the scenes, and I always look forward to reading his features.

Jim D.

 #510693  by mxdata
 
Actually I am very pleased just to see the content of the commercial magazines coming up for discussion on this forum, Kalmbach or Carstens alike. I am sure that it is very helpful to the people who research and write articles to get some feedback on what you guys think of the published results. All too often this stuff just drops off the edge of the world and the people who wrote it are left wondering if anybody saw it at all.

Much the same is true of programs and presentations, which are a central part of most railfan activities but are often taken totally for granted.

I can assure you that TRAINS does indeed see a flow of articles coming in the door that are "different" in scope and from outside their home area, I have sent them some too, but whether or not they chose to publish them is their decision.
Last edited by mxdata on Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

 #510704  by Dieter
 
Otto Vondrak wrote:Are we talking about the April issue in particular, or a critique of Trains magazine as a whole?

-otto-
It would be unfair to put a publication before a firing squad for one issue, my comments were an overall summary. Other malcontentions with other publications I believe are also in line with the topic.

I picked up the latest Issue of MR, and saw the words "CAJON PASS" on the banner once more. Great Klambake Publications trivia question; How many issues of their two train mags have had articles about Cajon Pass in them since 1968? I think the answer would choke a horse.

Yes we all have our preferences, but there has to be a balance unless a hobby, enthusiast or trade publication caters to a specific region. For the hobby, I would have to commend RMC for a better effort at regional balance and variety.

D/

 #510726  by mxdata
 
I can tell you that the folks at Railroad Model Craftsman are very cooperative to work with and have a strong committment to excellence in the production of their magazine. I think the scope and balance of their issues in this anniversary year has been particularly impressive.

 #510776  by Otto Vondrak
 
Okay then, let's keep this discussion to Trains magazine (the subject of the original post). If you want to discuss other magazines, please start a new thread.

I think the editorial content of Trains has improved dramatically, and I enjoy Fred Frailey's articles very much. But sometimes it's hard to tell where the smiles and handshakes end and the real story begins.

I have not subscribed to any Kalmbach publication since 2000. I pick up issues on the newsstand when I really want to read it.

-otto-

 #514433  by Noel Weaver
 
I too noticed the size of the March and April issues of Trains. It is a sad
situation brought on by the general economy, people are not buying
things that they can get along without and everything that is or has been
advertised in Trains as well as the other national magazines is stuff that
we might like to have but we can do without.
The March issue had 66 pages while April has 68. This is the lowest
number of pages in Trains in many moons. I would have to dig to find
when the last issues were that thin, I have all of them back to January,
1950 and many of them before that as well. At one time 66 pages were
the standard for this magazine.
Outside of the Kalmbach ads, there is only two full page ads in the entire
April issue. I don't think the reading content has been reduced as yet.
If this problem is not corrected soon I think we can again expect the
cover price and subscription price will go up and more of us may well
decide to drop it at that time. I have cut my regular monthly magazines
down to three although I still buy some others that do not come out as
often but a visit today to a local hobby shop resulted in my passing by
some regular publications that in the past I would have been looking for.
$5.95 is a lot for 66 or so pages and as I stated, this may well increase
again before too long.
Another thing that is causing this problem with Trains is their policy of no
more wrapper on the magazine for subscribers, I have not received this
magazine by mail since they made that regretable decision. The fact that
we can get up to date news on a more or less daily basis on this as well
as a number of other web sites does not help them either.
I have thought for some time that we would see a reduction in the number
of railroad publications but I thought Trains was safe. I am not so sure
of this now.
Incidentally, I think the April issue has a well rounded selection of good
reading. I especially enjoy reading about White River Junction, Vermont
which was a real busy railroad town of years past. I can still remember
the winter of 1957 which was the last for steam on the Central Vermont.
The station in the middle of the night was a beehive of activity with
people, express, mail, baggage and parcels all over the place. A little
while before the Montrealer came in on the B & M from Springfield, a
Canadian National 4-8-4 absolutely spotless would quietly drift down from
the CV engine house and steam softly just north of the station waiting for
the arrival of the train from Springfield. A half dozen trains to Springfield
and beyond, five or six trains to Boston, two different routes to Monteal
(CPR and CV/CNR) and northern New Hampshire as well. Lots of freight
activity too, both the B & M and CV yards were 24/7 operations and one
switcher worked the station as well (usually a CV in this case). When you
look at Northern New England today, White River Junction did not fare as
badly as some places did.
I have not really got into this issue yet but from the start, it looks quite
well rounded and I think I will enjoy reading it.
Noel Weaver