End Of a Era.

[Green_Elite_Cab]

I was also pretty unhappy to hear Carstens went under. Though I never subscribed, RMC seemed to be the only magazine with articles I could really get into. In fact, they published a lot of NJ Transit related articles, as well as good articles on modeling specific prototypes.

Model Railroader doesn't really seem to carry the same kinds of articles, though Model Railroad Hobbyist does occaisionally.


As useful as the internet is for research, its not always 100% useful. Sure, If I ask a small technical question, I'll get an answer. But if I ask about how to super-detail a given engine, or about modeling a particular structure, I suspect forum responses would not be as useful. Most people don't maintain lists of detail parts for specific engines, nor do they have the scale drawings that these magazines tended to print.

Using the internet requires that you know where to start and what to look for. The difference between something useful and something irrelevant can be as simple as spelling (Instead of NJ Transit, one might type New Jersey Transit, or just NJT, and get totally different results). It can be very frustrating if you don't find a friendly expert.


While a magazine can't tailor an answer to a specific question like an internet forum can, it will usually at least include indepth, well researched information and tends to be slightly more helpful.