Comments on: 40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 8

By: Jeff Hunter

Jeff Hunter — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 22:48:54 +0000

The decline in Model Railroader’s circulation began when the internet’s popularity began in the mid 90s. I’m not currently a subscriber ( I buy issues at Barnes & Noble). I see on MR’s web site that subscribers have access to web content that non-subsribers don’t have access to. How useful is subscriber web content? What I wish they would include on their web site are online copies of all their back issues at a reasonable price.

I agree that internet popularity is proving to be a challenge for magazine publishers. The day will come when today’s magazines will be accessed on wireless electronic readers that will download an issue for reading. Thus, today’s magazines may one day exist exclusively as web accessed content. The magazine rack will some day no longer exist!

By: Nicholas Kalis

Nicholas Kalis — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 00:28:51 +0000

Two pet peeves of MR. They generally fail to mention any other of their competitor magazines. As the leading magazine in the hobby, it would be a magnanimous, if not simply useful to their readers, to mention articles that appeared in “competitor” magazines. Of course, I don’t see the various model railroad mags as competitors — I see them as complimentary.

By: David Henderson

David Henderson — Mon, 28 May 2007 03:43:55 +0000

I hope you are going to send your observations to the MR editors. I think they could benefit from them. It has to be a tough job these days. The “video game” generation rarely sees a train, and thinks of them as some kind of still moving dinosaur that contributes to global warming!
Or, is on the news because it ran off the tracks and is leaking dangerous chemicals.

I am a 50 something and I can see that the world has changed so much since I became interested in model railroading. When gas is $3 a gallon the cost of any hobby becomes suspect! Maybe we should be grateful that MR has been able to survive. But they do need to find that magic ‘something’ that will enable them to inspire the next generation. That and a better web-site! But maybe that’s the same thing?

I wonder how Model Railroad Craftsman is doing by comparison. I rarely see their magazine at news stands these days.

Thanks for reading.

By: Daniel Swearingen

Daniel Swearingen — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 05:25:33 +0000

Despite my overall negative tone in my MR comments, I’m trying to get a handle on what could be done differently at MR to “get it back.”

I agree that the ads have always been something I like in MR (and other modeling magazines). The only exception has been in the very rare case that a non-modeling oriented ad gets into the magazine. This has been extremely rare in MR.

It may very well be the case that the world has changed: fewer people do-it-themselves, the Internet, etc., and MR may be doing all it can and the changes I do not like are demanded by the market.

By: Dick Bradley

Dick Bradley — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 23:43:00 +0000

I found your blog last night and have enjoyed catching up with your postings.

I started reading MR in 1945 and still subscribe. But I stopped saving issues in 1996 – I felt there was little of lasting interest in them. I’ll go to the sixteen pages of solid information in the bridge article of the June, 1954 issue rather than the six pages of color bridge photos in the October, 2006 issue.

It is the ads in MR which keep me informed about current offerings. That yellow background ad by the DCC sellers has more product information than the monthly DCC column.

And MR in trying to appeal to a wide audience, rather than one closely focused on a single topic (historical society publications are good examples) every so often brings to light a topic or idea which broadens my model railroading concepts.

By: Daniel Swearingen

Daniel Swearingen — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 15:34:04 +0000

I’m trying to think about what the good web-magazine tie in is too. I’m wondering if maybe new MR issues should tie in the fact that there are years of issues behind them and list other significant articles in the past that relate to a current article.

By: nick

nick — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 21:39:18 +0000

Interesting observations of the changes in MR.
MR started as a zine for railroaders to trade ideas sniping cardstock and tin cans into model trains. Over time it became the main publication of a large industry of produced models. Where it goes now is anybody’s guess. It is a good generic railroading mag, but it cannot be as specific as some of the smaller mags. I’m a little nonplussed by articles that begin with “buy this $300 model and a $200 tool”. I have a set of late 50′s MR’s and they
are chock full of inspiration using cardstock, styrene, and some elbow grease.

I bet MR could make a small growth in their publishing by posting those 50′s articles on the web to get at a percentage of new generation who wants to step away from these infernal computers and get their hands dirty, cut, burnt, painted, and electrocuted.