He didn't retire or at least nothing was mentioned and no word about why he was replaced by a person who has never completed a layout. Were sales down or what?
Seems like, in the old days, editors of model railroading magazines were dyed-in-the-wool model railroaders who became businessmen (e.g. Linn Westcott, etc.) and now, it seems they are businessmen who happen to develop an interest in model railroading. Doug
Hopefully they do not view it as merely a job related tool, (like a desk, stapler, etc.), used as part of the job and really are model railroaders.
There seem to be varying accounts posted online. One has him retiring to Mexico while another suggests that he was laid off.
I personally feel that they have truly lacked a direction for years, and most of their articles have been a sponsor advertisement.
Unfortunately, too many use an executive position as a stepping stone. I experienced that where I worked years ago. These guys, who were buddies, came in and got positions of authority and, as soon as they deemed they had been there long enough to enhance their resumes, they were gone. I hope that's not happening at MR. Doug
I am reluctant to say, but I dropped my subscription to MR decades ago when it became a showcase for a small clan of near-professional modelers. As a reader with limited skills and resources, I couldn't hope to achieve anywhere near what I saw in MR's pages. I longed for the MR of old, where the staff featured work of readers from all walks of life, work I could aspire to. In any case, keeping a specialty hobby magazine alive in this era is a challenge. RMC worked through a tribulation and survived, and perhaps MR is facing a need for some changes too.
So he has been with Kalmbach for 20 years - hope he has a pension or at least his 401k built up. Because a man with experience in print journalism is going to have a hard time find a job in his field - especially if he over 50. The previous MR editor landed a job with Walters and I am sure he looking for job in that field.
Dunno about his last articles but here is some background on the change at MR (below). In summary Neil was planning on retiring, but MR laid him off months early and it was a shock to the associate editor Pelle. The lay-off was unexpected. Posted over at MR Forums early July this summer - reportedly the quote is from contributing editor Pelle: >Well here's the source of the rumor from a contributing editor at MR. >"This morning Cody, Kent and Drew picked me up at my hotel to go on a rail fan/research trip in the area before my meetings at the Kalmbach offices. Kent works for MR Video Plus so of course every move was recorded. He even had a GoPro mounted on the windshield of the car pointing at my face We had a great time and apparently the CN use their Tier 4's a lot. One train had one as second unit and another had one as lead engine. We also drove by Neil's house so I could say proper good bye to him. To you who don't know, Neil Besougloff was laid off just before I left for my trip. It was a shock to everybody, Neil included. In the afternoon I had a meeting the new editor Hal Miller and he told me that nothing will change regarding me. They still want me to contribute to the magazine as much as I can so you have to put up with me a little longer" "Hal Miller has been named as his replacement." "According to the DCC Guy, www.dccguy.com/?p=4767, Neil has retired." I would doubt that the lay-off was a discipline action but rather the magazine owners have probably been watching a steady decline in subscribership and revenue, and decided it had gone on long enough and want a change. It's been modus operandi for too long and something needs to change. The old way of doing things at MR isn't "doing-it" any longer. Whoever is in charge has asked to keep contributing editor Pelle around, obviously because MR needs to maintain content going forward, but I would interpret this as an effort to shake things up a bit and reduce the hemorrhaging if possible. MR magazine as we have known it for the past 5-10 years may be changing - hopefully for the better. RMC has changed with Cartens bowing out and White River Productions taking over and a new crowd running the magazine - and it is much improved. MR needs to do the same thing or it may end up losing relevance and go the way of Sears, Kmart and other sharply declining, and soon to be gone, company names.
I do admire Kalmbach's diversification with its prototype magazines. After subscribing to Trains for many decades, I let it drop in 2005 after the Editor Mark Hemphill left. Mark produced a fine publication, inspiring interest in modern railroading. Trains has since morphed into both a railfan magazine and trade publication, and I find little of interest in it. Happily, I diverted my subscription dollars to Kalmbach's Classic Trains, which is superb in every way. It covers the wide expanse of an older era, with great photography and involving stories. I hope Classic Trains is able to survive the storms at Kalmbach.
Neil was planning to retire next year, after 20 years he had a pretty hefty salary, new guy less salary. Easier to lop off one big salary than a couple of associate editors. Of course in the heyday of MR they did it with 1 editor, 1 senior editor and 2 associates, I think they can drop some of these associate editors as they do not do many in house articles like they used to. Rick Jesionowski
Rick, Although we may never know the reasons, salary after 20 years is something the publisher wanted to axe; like you noted, a new Chief Editor could be significantly lower relieving pressure on the bottom line. I had read that Neil was planning on retiring this fall, but maybe my memory was wrong on that. I guess the magazine couldn't wait that long to cut their costs. I think Pello was/is an associate editor but is he in-house? I didn't think he was.
I got my October issue, and Miller introduces himself. The announcement is also made that Jeff Reich, another longterm Kalmbach employee, replaces Miller as managing editor. I looked at the masthead, and I don't see other reductions. It looks like some associate editors are shared with MRVP, too. No mention is made of Besougloff. It's hard to draw conclusions. Andy Sperandeo was moved laterally out of the editorship apparently for underperformance, but he was clearly well-liked in the company, and his death was heavily covered. I'm assuming that if Besougloff wasn't given a big public sendoff, he may have been leaving on other than the best terms. Judging by his Linkedin profile, he's about 60, but early retirement isn't completely out of the question. He was a 20-year Kalmbach employee and seemed to have a career path similar to Miller and Reich, so I assume he was always with the basic program. Who knows?
Yes, laid off, yes surprise, and articles that some interpreted as "the hobby is dead", negative reflections on collectors, etc. Greg
It's certainly possible that he said something that rubbed Walthers or another big advertiser the wrong way. That got Koester canned from RMC with no announcement.
