I am a ATSFH&MS member and get Warbonnet, it's well worth the price of membership, but even they have the odd issue that doesn't interest me, for example the last had two lengthy, one could almost say tedious articles, one on the late 19th century Red Express and another on building HO semaphores, I had a quick flick through the issue and set it aside. All mags have good and bad days, the October MR had several articles of interest to me.
Renewals I'm also faced with renewal of Trains and MR at this time. Next comes the renewal for Classic Trains and NSR and NS oh yea theres also the NSC membership (but at least I get a free car with membership)!!!! So without a doubt, I have to let some of them go and at $42.95 I know which will be first! I do enjoy reading all of them, but I would rather save the subscription fees and buy something for the layout!! There is also so much info available on line anymore, print mags are going to have a hard time of it as it looks like I'm with the majority!?! Chuck
There are also plenty of ATSF resources on the web, which lessen the relevance of magazines even more.
Drop your subscriptions? What a novel idea, what are you going to do with those long winter evenings? Although, since everything is due for renewal, the suggestion raises the possibility of dropping NSR ( all contemporary, humungous layouts and mostly Pacific NW in coverage - just not my bag) but not NS which has improved of late. RMC has good coverage of the short line prototypes, MR is just too generally usefull and CT is priceless. I did drop Trains about 1980 but kept issues through #1 when the industry was more interesting. I guess this is the price you pay for being a "reader". Now if I could just become a "doer".... Ernie C
Hint: Could lack of editorial content be a good reason to drop MR? PS: What is a "long winter night?"
This is the second time you've mentioned editiorial content. Forgive my stupidity, please, but what do you mean by this?
I was faced with the same question a year ago. I seriously thought I'd just cancel MR. Instead I opted for a three year renewal. And I'm happy I did. This past year has been great.
Well first of all you guys are paying way to much for your magazine subscriptions. I just got MR for less then $57 for 2 YEARS! I always search online for the best subscription deals. At $43 a year I would not be subscribing either for much the same reason as most people here, just not enough every month that pertains to my interest and alot of repeat articles. I have thrown around subscribing to the n-scale mags as well but so far haven't been blown away with what you get for the price. I'd just as soon hang out on forums which have very knowledgeable people and I can search for what I need.
RatonMan, A "long winter evening" is when it's snowing outside (in Arizona yet), the fireplace is glowing and I'm just too lazy and cozy to go in the train room. Have fun, Ernie C
I too wonder about "lack of content." Frankly, I think its pretty consistent, but its just not possible for any magazine to have a dozen articles I am interested in a given month. (Until they publish "Stuff Jeff Likes" magazine...... I still like reading in bed, and sometimes bring the laptop there, too. I know I said earlier that I would keep the subscription and had my reasons, I guess my reasons are that I still like the mag more than I don't. Same is true of NSR and NS. Less true of RMC, but i bought the current issue and its great. So, in the end, you will do what you want, probably joining the other 60,000 lost readers in the last decade (from about 220,000 down to about 160,000). So, despite my personal opinion, the numbers say that your decision to jump the shark will be justified.
Fighting for content today is a vicious endeavor. Editors can't wave fistfuls of cash at contributors. Well, they never did unless your name was Hemingway or Mailer. I think the economies of the new publishing world haven't been worked out yet. I'm only familiar, and that barely, with the economies of publishing a magazine with ten thousand subscribers. With a "hard-copy" magazine, that's tough, leading some publishers to go e-zine. But that's tough too. But then publishing has always been a tough, cut-throat market, so what else is new?
I believe the real question here is, can I afford to subscribe? If you are on a set or limited income it may not be possible to subscribe to more then one magazine at a time. The next question is: What are my real interest and which wig wag best represents them? Not every magazine will produce a wig wag that suits our interest with every issue. Prompting you to ask the question would I be better off to buy those that strike my interest, from the news stand or my LHS? This is how I arrive at making my decisions. Most of the time I will purchase the wig wag that best captures my interest from the news stand. Weeding out all those useless issues and meaningless articles. I hope that helps. Have fun!
I think MR may be losing subscribers across the board, not just from N scalers, if you look at all the 'subscribers only' content on their website trying to entice you to subscribe.
I'm not giving up my subscription to the Warbonnet though, so that they keep publishing it and I get the 9 out of 10 issues that do interest me.
I was in a similar position a few months ago, wavering whether to renew my MR subs. I finally decided not to because MR hardly has articles on N scale except new product reviews which I feel they are obliged to do. I have not missed MR in fact, I saved quite a lot as I am an overseas subscriber and used the subs I saved to get an additional SD70Ace! The forum is a great source for information and tips for N scale. Cheers,
Big Brother must be watching this thread 'cause I just got an message from Kalmbach with a Subuscription offer for $29.95 per year! https://secure.kalmbach.com/offer/?c=IC9BT&CVINumber=
At one time our wig wags aka model railroad magazines was just about the only way we modelers had to communicate with each other. Not so today. There was scratch building articles, how to get started issues, talk about the early Lionel, Marx, American Flyer and other early toy trains. Articles on how to build your own power pack, transistorized throttles, early pulse systems. I found myself looking forward to the advertisements. Early electronics was a big item and you could by the parts at Radio Snack. I found myself, anticipating each new issue and wondering what Athearn was up to, what were they going to put out next? Is Tyco really doing a Santa Fe warbonnet passenger engine? Any new buildings? How about some new prototypical track? Does this sound anything like today? Sure it does. Only the action is taking place here on the internet and we read about it months before it hits the wig wags. If you depend on the wig wags for new information you may be disappointed. Some not all show-up months after the latest announcements have hit here on TB, Atlas, TO and other model rail websites. Sadly our favorite wig wags are loosing sight of what's important and so are the authors. The is present company exempted here from said comment. I look forward to reading an article prepared and submitted by someone I know. It used to be you were seldom or never paid for an article because, it was important to donate your information feed to other fellow model rails. It was also important that we have the latest advertisements and new product announcements...on time. The best advice I can give to the editors is to visit home and club layouts. Featuring not only the layout but the people who built them. Note: The odd and interesting things...the unusual. We don't always need to see finished layouts. A work in progress and a revisit can be fun as well. Get back to demonstrating how to scratch build...before it becomes a lost art. Tour the States, Aussies, Europe and England. If need be develop special issues that cover these locations and the interest of these people. For Trains, keep up with the current steam operations and dinner trains. Feature one of these every month. Interview and talk about current issues as seen by the railroad leaders and employees. Keep in touch with diesels being retired and new ones coming on line. Keep the lines of communication open with the rails. Keep a special history section going in both the model rail and train wig wags. Stay current with the railroad lingo being used on the 1x1 foot scale railroads. Noting lingo used around the world. And, bring the cost down to something affordable. What? Do you think I'm qualified to run a paper...nope. But, if I did it would only have articles that catch my eye, are interesting to me and would delight most of my subscribers. Ok, I'm dreaming. How about a fold out...errr...that's a different kind of magazine...oops. Ok, it's not impossible but a series of article where the magazine features maps or plot plans in a pull out. Larger pictures of full sized 1x1 foot scale locomotives, including measurements and details. Followed by a scratch building plan on the back side. The same could be done for railroad buildings along the right of way. Commentaries lot's of commentaries. Me thinks I just upped the cost of the wig wags. So, how would you run a model rail wig wag? What would you include? Just my two cents. How would you make each publication fair and interesting to all the interests there are?
