I just came across this. New owners Firecrown publishing. Personally I think mergers are never good especially for subscribers. Prices go up and quantity usually goes down. I am currently subed to Classic Toy Trains and Classic Trains. I was going to renew CTT but wondering about the long term of the publication. My main worry is that the new owners will have very little interest in quality just monetizing the publication. We shall see.
I saw this somewhere maybe a month or so ago, Trains Mag Facebook page probably.
I agree that buyouts rarely result in good. My doctor’s group practice was recently bought by a big medical investment group that is heavy on marketing. What was once a friendly place with people who cared has turned into a place filled with robot-like workers. They even put up a quota leader board for the doctors to compete. How low can you go? My doctor wouldn’t put up with it and quit, going back to practice in her home country of Romania.
1 Like
Lost interest in “Clambake” after they killed off Garden Railways, then offered to finish to end of subscription period with Model Railroader. Not a good call.
Regards, David Meashey
1 Like
Highly suggest you watch this
From what I read , the new publishers seem to be showing some interest in a renewal of GR, which would be a nice thing , the story I read said they are not thinking of cutting any magazines off the roster
2 Likes
Here is an update , the latest edition of Trains has a full page from new owner Craig Fuller. In it he states, “ I love print magazines” and when he bought Flying he was thinking of going to digital only he “remembered how he felt each month when he opened and read a magazine”!
The playbook got the Kalmbach titles will be”
“Invest significantly in print magazines .” Later he says “over the next year you will see a relaunch of print magazines and you will be glad to know that we are committed to the modeling community and the railroad brands we just acquired.
Reading the whole article it sure sounds like a relaunch of a better quality magazine and a relaunch of Garden Railways may be in the the works. That can only be good news!
Later he talks about introducing their 5 kids to hobbies that “don’t involve screens and devices “ and he has a small Lionel layout he is building with his 5yr old son. Hope things continue to look up and hopefully we will have a print magazine to augment the best website for GScale trains!
3 Likes
He also states coffee table worthy (where else to you set them, coffee table or bathroom) magazines with gorgeous photography and stories that engage the reader. Print magazines should be something readers want to keep. This guy sound like he has some good ideas
Can I get an AMEN !!
At least one Amen from Oregon.
2 Likes
I just went to the Firecrown site, and they do indeed have many offerings… bolstered now with the Kalmbach lineup.
Interesting that only their trains sector (with the Kalmbach assets) involves, as far as I can tell, model-making. The others, planes, marine, space, seem strictly prototype-related.
If they consistify, they’d either add modeling mags/assets to those other sectors, or reduce them in trains, I’d think.
Just thoughts… I’ve no idea where this is heading. As Pete pointed out though, GR is now “back,” in the sense that it’s listed in the FC lineup. The seems like a good omen.
We’ll know Firecrown is serious about GR articles when Bruce gets a royalty check for an unpublished article he submitted years ago.
1 Like
Craig,
Didn’t think you guys were interested in that type of modeling anymore? Thought everything was 3D printing these days.
This was just redone July 1st of this year but I have the original issue. Used to try and tell folks how to make the roof easier however it was like talking to a wall so I would share pics with all the info on LSC and it was still like talking to a wall.
There’s plenty of scratch building and kitbashing around my workbench besides 3d printing. 3D printing isn’t the end all to everything.
Right now I’m working on a kitbashing project.
I personally look at 3d printing right now as detail parts.
I hope it survives for those who buy magazines, for myself I haven’t purchase any magazines in probably the last 14-15 years. My main reason for purchasing then was the get the hobby shop sales ads that were my main source of purchases back in the day. Today just about all who advertised model railroad stuff are all gone, or have online sales if there still around. I waited each month for the ads, Train World, Train Land, Watts Train Shop, and others who sold G Scale modeling stuff. Magazines like newspapers will probably not be around in 10 years, it’s not something the younger generation care anything about, like many other things they have opted to not buy.
Well, I’m going to renew my CTT sub to keep my forum access. Let’s hope things get better in the coming year. I would love to see GR get revived.
1 Like
You can have an Amen from Missouri
Friday; I went to an eye appointment carrying my latest copy of Trains Magazine. I put it on the table in the waiting room. There were 12 people waiting in the waiting room, all with their eyes glued to their personal GADGETS…no pleasant conversations, no contact whatever with each other. Used to be at least a pleasant smile or greeting from someone.
Over a period of a 30 minutes (I was early for my appointment) no friendly contact whatsoever. No-one even glanced at the magazine I left on the table.
After my appointment, I glanced at the waiting room on my way out. There were again a group of people, all glued to their devices…no interaction at all, and my magazine was still in the position I had left it in.
This was the same as my previous appointment at another doctors office/clinic a month or so earlier, with an earlier copy of Model Railroader.
What an interesting, “Unfriendly” world we are living in…and you get the idea of what value a simple magazine is to the people of the world today.
Will the new owner of “Klambake” succeed ?..I do hope so, but they are taking a gamble, few investors would take these days.
Fred Mills
My theory that waiting rooms are built around piles of magazines was substantiated when I found 6 year old magazines in a 2 year old hospital waiting room in Newcastle.
Apparently, the newest generation get most of their information from searching videos rather than google or books. That will certainly have to figure in for all publishing if there is a new generation to come aboard.
Your observance of people today with their devices is commonplace wherever you go. I won’t go into that as I feel were pretty much in agreement with devices and their effect on the people today. As far as magazines go I feel they are pretty much out, with computers today all the info that you will find in a magazine by the time it comes out, its old info. I will say here I do enjoy searching on the computer for info on what I want to know about, a great pastime.
I know of one office where they installed a phone signal blocker. People would sit and talk and some actually left. Wonder what the world is coming to that rates doctors by signal strength.
Might be a cool idea if that office was for an eye doctor. Would they get the hint?
Deneh