that Carstens Publications is closing their doors. Bummer.
Holy crap, guess that spells the end of RMC unless some other publisher will take then on. Has there been any word on that?
Yep, heard the same. Friends that have subscriptions have been complaining of poor delivery last couple of months.
Well that’s a shame, I always found RMC to be a breath of fresh air compared to the stuffy content of Klambake’s tome. I honestly haven’t been a reader of any of the small scale magazines for over a decade now. Looks like another case of Klambake being the only game in town. I was getting ready to deep six all my old MR’s and RMC’s but if Carstens goes under maybe the old issues will become collectors items and will sell for big bucks on evilbay 
That’s a shame. I was hoping that they would do a DVD like MR did. I find it very useful and I would love to see some of the old RMC issues again.
"It is with regret that Carstens Publicatons, Inc. will be closing permanently at close of business on Friday, August 22, 2014. Carstens Publications, Inc. has been a leading publisher of leading hobby magazines for over 50 years. Unfortunately the current economic climate has placed us in this position. Discussion is continuing with several parties who expressed desire to take on the continuance of the magazines. At this point there is still hope that all three titles will remain in existence. But I can offer no guarantees. We thank you for your patronage over the years, and wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.
–Henry R. Carstens, President
Carstens Publications, Inc."
Not quite the end, but we’ll see. I think this is just another indication of the model railroading hobby losing the interest of the general population. Also demise of the “print” media. Sad.
How sad. I’ve seen only a few issues over the years, but the ones that I read I kept, because there was stuff in there I wanted to archive. Alas, it’s too late for DVDs, Bruce, especially if the doors are closing.
I think that in some cases, the publisher/editor just runs out of emotional and creative steam and wants to truly retire. Put Uncle Russ Reinberg in that camp. I spoke to him and he gave me myriad reasons for why he closed Finescale–including making a living. On a tangental note, there’s a popular photo blog I visit called"Strobist," which taught me a lot about flash photography and stuff, then kinda dialed back, except for the occassional new post. The guy who started it, David Hobby, and who wound up doing clinics and things in Dubai and such, said that he wanted to spend more time with his family, etc. I get that, because that’s one reason I retired from the best job ever in the magazine business.
Everytime I read The Gazette, I wonder how long Bob Brown is going to keep at it. As some of you know, his is one fine magazine, a genuine keeper. Bob’s into several scales including F. But he’s no kid and I’m wondering how much longer he and his wife will keep at it. I wish them both the best of health.
…Everytime I read The Gazette, I wonder how long Bob Brown is going to keep at it.
Me too…NGSLG is probably THE best for my money and I look forward to every issue.
It’s rather odd , my local magazine distribution centre said that the Craftsman was no longer available , so my collection stopped a couple or so years back .
I can’t help but think that if we were to contact Bob and Lady Bob and thank them for doing a fine job of the magazine , it may give encouragement for its continued availability .
A year or so back I emailed Bob and thanked him for producing such a fine magazine which gives me a lot of enjoyment .
His succinct reply was “That’s why we do it” .
Mike Brit
RMC has been sold, White River Productions will continue publishing RMC
http://www.modelrailroadnews.com/PDF/WRP-Press_Release_140829.pdf
That’s great news for subscribers and the hobby.
So Bruce, there might be hope for a DVD yet if ownership of previously published material was included in the deal.
Mike Morgan said:
I can’t help but think that if we were to contact Bob and Lady Bob and thank them for doing a fine job of the magazine , it may give encouragement for its continued availability .
A year or so back I emailed Bob and thanked him for producing such a fine magazine which gives me a lot of enjoyment .
His succinct reply was “That’s why we do it” .
Mike Brit
Mike,
The Gazette is my favorite model railroading magazine! The sheer quality of the articles, the paper used and the overall presentation of Bob’s magazine is a definite “keeper”. Stopped my subscription to GR a few months ago after comparing it to my previous GR’s from years back and it is now a mere shadow of itself. JMHO
Thats great to hear. I wonder if the new publishers will go to a bi-monthly release. GR and the Gazette do that and I think its a big reason they are still around. Lot less pressure than trying to fill out a monthly rag.
Here is an interesting email I had forwarded to me:
Subject: Re: [on3] Status
/ Carstens Publishing
Guys,
A slight bit of additional information. Pretty much
everything you’ve read about the printer change etc is all true, but it doesn’t
draw the complete picture. Allow me to fill in the blanks a little bit.
Any business owner will tell you, it is all about cash
flow. You may have all the sales you can handle, but if you don’t get the money
in the door in a timely and steady manner, you are going to have issues. And
that has been the case at Carstens for some time. We have been on a “pay
to play” deal with our printer for years…We’d send the mag and the money
to print it…then we’d send the money for postage and they’d mail it. And these
were not insignificant dollar amounts.
From 2008 on, as the recession kept going, people kept
losing their jobs or taking work that paid less, our sales diminished also. We
had increases in the book line, primarily due to the On30 and then the HOn3
Annuals, and our ad revenue stayed pretty steady. But over time, the cash
coming in, and the frequency of it inched downward. Our costs (payroll, taxes,
printing costs, mailing costs etc) kept going up, and in the case of mailing,
significantly so.
When Super Strom Sandy hit, we were out of power for
10 days (no phones, no computers) and we counted ourselves lucky compared to
some on the east coast. But there was basically a half month that we could not
generate any revenue, and of course many folks on the east coast couldn’t buy
from us if they wanted to because they didn’t have power or were dealing with
flooding issues. Then we had the polar vortex and the winter that would not
end, and had many of the same issues. Those hurt our cash to the point where we
were missing print windows because we didn’t have enough cash to print, and we
had to delay. That delay hurt subscriber confidence and you can see the death
spiral picking up steam. There were any number of things that you could point
to, but Quad Graphics (our printer in St. Cloud for the last 15-16 years)
making the decision to shut the St. Cloud plant down and move us (and they let
all the people we’d worked with go) and put us with a new plant and new people,
that was basically the end. We had very little money coming in, and with the
delay, small prospects of any coming in. We scrapped enough up to do the June
and get it out, but the July will never see the light of day as a Carstens
product.
Now two companies are bidding to buy RMC &
Railfan, and so they will continue in the future in some form. What that looks
like I don’t know. The Annuals future is somewhat more vague. It is my hope and
certainly my intent to continue to serve as the editor and bring those out, but
that decision is mostly out of my hands at this point. My last official day
with Carstens is Friday.
I don’t want anyone to feel bad for me, I will be just
fine and it was my pleasure to serve the model railroad community and
especially the narrow gauge community as a member of Carstens. God willing, I
will be able to continue to do so in some other form, but I likely won’t know
what that might look like for at least another week or so, and likely longer.
All
the best,
Chris Lane- Editor On30 Annual
[email protected]
http://www.on30annual.com/