Kalmbach rail magazines, Trains.com sold to Firecrown Media

[ezdays]

It was somewhat surprising when it was mentioned here in the Hobo Camp thread that Kalmbach Media Co and all it's magazines had been sold to another magazine company. I could not find anything on their website until I googled it, and then I found a link to their announcement. Google also lead me to several discussions on other forums and I could not find one comment that showed anyone was disappointed. A few folks were surprised that there was anyone willing to pick up these assets, and many voiced their opinions and stories about how bad things had gotten both on their forums and magazines. I tried to view the MRR forums but couldn't log on since they made those changes a while back and it was rare that I ever went there anyway. I did go to Firecrown's website and they show ownership of all those Kalmbach magazines with links to the Trains.com sites.

I'm still waiting for my June issue of Model Railroader, as are a few others. I'm also waiting for them to bill me to extend my subscription but I really don't have any interest in renewing. I realize that it's expensive to print a full-color magazine, but I have my limits on what I'll pay for an ever-smaller issue that seem to be dedicated to just a few well-known modelers and it appears that a few advertisers feel the same way.

What's your thoughts on this? Will it improve what these magazines offer? Will it enhance and possibly attract new people to the hobby? Or perhaps, is it a bad move and we can look for further lack of interest by folks who have never been in the hobby?

My only other comment is that it had to be a real shock to the Kalmbach staff to find this out on the day the change took place when you can be sure that management knew this long before then.

[Charlie B]

I have to admit I like the internet better for information and ads. When I was a subscriber it was more for the advertising than the articles but the internet has taken the ads away from the magazines and that more than anything has caused them to increase prices to the point subscribers are saying ney.  Tech has always been a destroyer of the status quo. Look at the jobs killed by the invention of the steam engine. Time marches on.
Charlie

[jim currie]

from what i see the printed page is dying out seems most use the internet or some form of books that they can listen to as for MR I haven't looked at one in several years if fact I haven't looked at RM for at least two years nothing in either one has what I'd be interested in.
Jim

[nachoman]

I was just going to log on to start a similar thread

I get the print version for the past two years, after a few decades hiatus. My 7 year old loves it and looks forward to it every month. I like to browse it and am making a conscious effort to do things that don't involve a screen (especially a phone screen), considering that is what I do all day at work. Model Railroad Hobbyist is online and free - yet I have little interest in reading it. Like most people, I see a change in the magazine, and get much less enjoyment out of it than I did when I was a teenager. But I am real that change has more to do with changes in the hobby or changes in how I view the world than a negative change in the magazine. In other words, there may be less articles of interest to me, but that has nothing to do with the magazine and more to do with changes in the hobby. Most of the missing volume are ads - and as a kid I certainly liked looking at the ads and dreaming. The lack of ads has more to do with the lack of hobby shops, and that is something I sorely miss. In this whole metro area, there are 3 stores left that carry any model railroad selection at all (excluding hobby lobby) - and even their stock is dwindling. When I was a kid, I think I had 5 hobby shops that carried trains within a 15 minute drive of my house. In addition, there were 2 toy stores that carried toy train items (mostly tyco-bachmann-life-like), plus they sold train stuff at Michael's. That is what I miss, and the change in the magazine is a reflection of that. I also miss articles that dealt more with freelanced railroads, scratchbuilding or kitbashing, and innovative approaches using common items. But I think many in the hobby have moved away from that, and Model Railroader has turned to focus more on prototype accuracy, highlighting new products, and people with a lot of space to build a big layout.

Since renewing my subscription, I have considered submitting articles that I think people would find interesting. I'd like to write articles about my 3x4' HOn3 micro layout, kitbashing an Atlas Turntable using 3-d printed parts, and using what you have. Not sure if the editors would be interested in that. But right now it seems like their website is only half-functional. Perhaps I wait for the dust to settle first.

[FiatFan]

I seldom use the website other than for the MR forums, which by the way are back up to full speed as of this morning, but I do enjoy the forums. As mentioned above I have not yet received my June MR but have sent an e-mail to customer disservice. I've been a subscriber off and on (mostly on since the 80s) and snatch up the archive DVDs as soon as they appear. Much easier than dragging around the printer versions. I do keep the printer versions until the archive DVD appears.

My impression recently is that after the switch to the newest editor the content seems to be improving again. Time will tell.

Tom

[Amalynn]

I mostly just buy issues off the newsstand at Wal-mart or wherever when I see articles that catch my attention now and then, but otherwise I just get NG&SL Gazette and the Timber Transfer through the Friends of the East Broad Top and been pretty happy with that.

[FiatFan]

My June MR finally showed up Saturday. The forums ran fine over the weekend but are very slow to respond this morning, similar to the response tome at RR Line.

Tom