Please note:...

[CBQ_Guy]

"Please note:MR Express has changed from commentary on the hobby by the
staff of Model Railroader to an outlet for breaking news."

````````
Why can't it be both? I want more, not less. First contacting the staff was pulled, now the staff themselves have been pulled. MR Express goes from every week to every other week. The reader polls are gone...what's next?! The newsletter is turning more and more into a "here's what you can buy" flyer rather than a "here's what' going on in the hobby publication". I don't appreciate this, pure and simple. It decreases the value of the newsletter to me more and more, little by little and...

Pretty soon there will be no reason left for me to remain a subscriber.

[Anonymous]

It does seem the Express has become too much advertising, and the magazine seems to be heading that way too.

[orsonroy]

What did you expect after they killed off "One Reader's Opinion"? Pretty soon, there won't be anything left to READ in Kalmbach publications, except for what we post on this forum!

Bring back Bull Session, I say!

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by orsonroy

What did you expect after they killed off "One Reader's Opinion"? Pretty soon, there won't be anything left to READ in Kalmbach publications, except for what we post on this forum!

Bring back Bull Session, I say!

Once again I agree with you 100 percent Ray. It must be an "auld pharte" thing. [:)]
(I wi***hey could bring back Linn Westcott, too!)

[Anonymous]

"Please Note: Effective August 1, 2004, Kalmbach Publishing will be changing the name of MR to 'Buying Model Trains.'

"This title will more accurately reflect the content of this magazine, which has completed its transition from content describing how to build a model of a railroad to material intended to show how one can most efficiently purchase new model railroad-related products and place them on a layout. "

Just a little note...

[Jacktal]

We could comment all we like,that won't motivate them to do anything towards a better product,for us I mean.We want content and they want revenues.Content costs while advertising brings in the cash...and if this wasn't enough,we pay increasingly on top of it.

In the past,I believe there was a reasonable balance between magazine contents but now there's a noticeable unbalance,and this situation is reflected in most magazines by the way,not only MR.Why?Simple....we keep buying.

They could hear messages by the trainload,the only one that gets listened at is the one that hits the painful spot....the administration board.

[Anonymous]

I stopped looking at MR Express some time ago. The current format has nothing for me.

Randy

[StillGrande]

I stopped subscribing and reading another magazine when it went from being "this is how you can do things yourself" to the incredible shrinking advertisement. A friend of mine gave me a bunch of MRs from '94-'95 and the difference is startling. I miss some of the columns, regular features, and even the here is a plan articles which are getting more and more scarce.

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ACL Fan

"Please Note: Effective August 1, 2004, Kalmbach Publishing will be changing the name of MR to 'Buying Model Trains.'

"This title will more accurately reflect the content of this magazine, which has completed its transition from content describing how to build a model of a railroad to material intended to show how one can most efficiently purchase new model railroad-related products and place them on a layout. "

To quote a "friend" of mine on the lists...the new slogan on the mag should read:

"Dream It. Plan It. BUY It!"

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Jacktal

We could comment all we like,that won't motivate them to do anything towards a better product,for us I mean.We want content and they want revenues.Content costs while advertising brings in the cash...and if this wasn't enough,we pay increasingly on top of it.

In the past,I believe there was a reasonable balance between magazine contents but now there's a noticeable unbalance,and this situation is reflected in most magazines by the way,not only MR.Why?Simple....we keep buying.

They could hear messages by the trainload,the only one that gets listened at is the one that hits the painful spot....the administration board.

I tend to agree with you in regards to the magazine. What I'm specifically speaking of here is the email newsletter, though. After all it's free, so I'm just ASSuming a reader's opinion may count for more in this case. If nothing else, I like the notion that I have individuals who are real people I can contact with my two cents...even though I may not agree with their reasoning or response.

That's better than I get from my cable company...

[dknelson]

I hate to gripe but I think too many of the newer editors at MR are toy trains guys. Nothing wrong with toy trains but they have a magazine of their own.
Case in point: review by David Popp in the May 04 issue of the new LGB trolley car. I have read and re-read that review and for the life of me I cannot find where or if he mentions the ONE fact that should be central to any review of model traction ----- does it pick up power through the trolley pole? A model railroader would have mentioned that. A toy train guy would never think of it.
Dave Nelson

[mondotrains]

I agree that MR is becoming more advertising and less "How To". I think one problem they have and might not realize it is that they pay "peanuts" for an article. I've spent hours writing an article and taking digital photos to support it. My article may take up 2 full pages and they want the narrative submitted on floppy disk and the photos on a CD. They won't even consider email. It all has to be mailed in.

I think they will pay a couple of hundred dollars for the article and once they've published it in the magazine, they own it and can include it in a book if they desire so they can sell it and make lots of money. Come on MR! Who the heck is going to spend the time to write for a couple of hundred dollars. I guess they think that the ego trip one gets from having their article published is supposed to be satisfying. Well, tell that to all the starving authors out there. Let's face it. Money is a motivator and a couple of hundred bucks isn't much incentive.

Mondo

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mondotrains

...I think one problem they have and might not realize it is that they pay "peanuts" for an article. I've spent hours writing an article and taking digital photos to support it... I think they will pay a couple of hundred dollars for the article... Come on MR! Who the heck is going to spend the time to write for a couple of hundred dollars. I guess they think that the ego trip one gets from having their article published is supposed to be satisfying...

Mondo right.

I've written a few articles for some newsletters, and I would like to take the next step and write something for a magazine like MR. I actually would do one just to have an article in a magazine that I have read since I was a child. But to do so, I would pretty much have to invest in a much better camera and the like, and it would take four or five articles to cover that cost (that's if I have something that MR would actually be interested in). Now, I don't expect to pay for my modeling with a few articles or anything, and I'm not expecting to make a mint off of this, but in my situation, it is a steep hill to climb. So I don't get any farther than simply entertaining the idea of writing articles.

As i understand it, other magazines don't pay any more. And for all I know, MR has as many articles and writers as they want, and have simply chosen those articles because that's what they want to put in the magazine.

---jps

[michaelstevens]

Snippetty, snippetty -- this is America -- the World's biggest defender of the (World's largest portion of the) Capitalist System.

Everyone has the write to make an honest living. Whether we like them or not.

Thank you U.S. voters -- for DEMOCRACY !!

[timthechef]

I don't know, look at the current issue there are at least four aricles dedecated to building a model railroad. Lional Strang has a good article on building DPM building kits, there's an aritcle on making magnetic uncouplers for an N guage railroad, Model a pond by Lee Vande Visse, Light dudy pile trestle by Andy Sperandeo, not to mention other articles giving good examples of other peoples work to draw on for your own inspiration. I have learned a lot from reading Model Railroader. I'm building my first layout and I have a lot to learn. I learn a lot here and in the magazine.