Student Fare

[Anonymous]

How ironic! Just this morning I was looking at a 1993 edition, and I wished student fare existed today. The need to reach and excite young people about trains is obvious, and not all of us have DCC and complex signaling circuits, etc. Several of my friends are like me, with our old MRC Tech 2's or older, Bachmann trains, and old style scenery, but boy, do we still have fun! The magazine features and caters to the rich and technologically literate. Many of the articles are about home layouts of engineers, architects, etc. while the good ol' boy truck driver friend of mine who has one fine layout in his garage feels like an outcast. A new name for Student Fare wouldn't hurt, but even more articles about simple but beautiful layouts with basic power packs and old cab control wiring would reach more people than you seem to realize. Several of my friends no longer subscribe because you are out of touch with the little guys.

[Anonymous]

What is student fare ? I am 12 so this might intrest me.

[Anonymous]

student fare was a part of the mr web site a few years ago that would give you tips on how to be a modelrailroader on a budget, not sure if it was part of the mag awhile ago.

[trainfan1221]

Student Fare was an interesting column in MR that gave an overview of some of the younger people just starting out. They featured diagrams of their layouts sometimes.
This and some other columns were eliminated a while back during one of the
magazines revamps. They promised to still cover the topics in a different way in a
different section, but never really did. It was a shame really.

[Anonymous]

I freind of mine created this poll about student fare: http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9222&results=1

[Anonymous]

My impression of Student Fare was that it was always a little bit more "basic" than the rest of the magazine, because it dealt with topics raised by or written by teenagers or young-ish modelers. It seems to me that the entire magazine lately has been "dumbed down" to roughly the same level, unwilling to let their articles become too burdened by words (and thus become too informative). I can't imagine the MR of today running a series as monumentally ground-breaking as Keith Guitterez's first Command-Control system, which was technical in the extreme and absolutely revolutionary, and also happened to require loads of text without the benefit of pretty pictures. Back then, I skipped over it each month, lacking any interest or skill, but I did keep all the mags because I recognized their worth as reference material. But I have digressed...

One great thing about Student Fare was that it made the magazine seem accessible to the young; I never contributed, but I liked knowing that I could. I don't think a full layout spread of an SF contributor ever happened, but I would have loved to see that! I know it might have been sub-par compared to the regular cover-photo layout, but I would love to see the efforts of teens and college students, who usually must resort to budget-stretching and space-saving techniques. I think MR lost a lot of its personality, its soul, when it lost SF.

[Anonymous]

Avondale,
Bruce Chubb's recent series isn't exactly for the simple minded. I only read Bruce's stuff when I'm wide awake and prepared to grapple with new concepts. Getting rid of student fare is one of the dummer things MR has done. My son stopped reading the mag the day he read the announcement, I think Bull session was canned as well.

However, MR is entitled to make dumb decisions regarding their pub.

But why not give MR a run for their money and ask where the teen forum on the internet is that they promised to replace student fare with.

[Anonymous]

I agree that the loss if student fare is tragic, The magazine has never been the same since. But then almost all the people that made the magazine so good during that time are gone as well. Thinking back, the only people still at Kalmbach From when Model Railroader was a true modelers magazine, is Andy Sprerando, and Jim Hediger. Of course, Tony Keoster is still doing Trains of Thought, but he has long since lost his comedic touch that made the column so interesting. Which is sad to. becasue trains of Thought is the only section in MR that is still recognizable.

[Eriediamond]

Geoeisele, I see this is your first post and a good one. I agree with all thats been said above and would like to add that with all the new "high teck" stuff swiftly coming into our hobby, I can see to a point where magazines are being hard pressed to keep up with it all. However, I firmly believe they still need to cater to the knew people to the hobby as well, regardless of age. I also point that coment to manufacturers as well as from where I sit, the high prices are going to keep a lot of people out of the hobby. Where will this hobby wind up if we don't entice the younger folks to join in on our fun and relaxation? Thanks, Ken

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rsn48

Avondale,
Bruce Chubb's recent series isn't exactly for the simple minded. I only read Bruce's stuff when I'm wide awake and prepared to grapple with new concepts. Getting rid of student fare is one of the dummer things MR has done. My son stopped reading the mag the day he read the announcement, I think Bull session was canned as well.

However, MR is entitled to make dumb decisions regarding their pub.

But why not give MR a run for their money and ask where the teen forum on the internet is that they promised to replace student fare with.

Rick,

I kinda liked the One Readers Opinion section, too.
(Is that what it was called?)

[Anonymous]

I actually wrote a one pager for One Person's Opinion. I don't know if you recall but some guy wrote about how wonderful the transition era was versus the modern era. When I read it, I thought MR would be glutted with guys who would disagree - guys like me who love the modern era - but they weren't. So I wrote up an article and was prepared to mail it off, only to discover that "One Person's Opinion" was cancelled. I liked it to, the only reason I can think they canned it was they weren't getting enough submissions... but who knows.

[Noah Hofrichter]

I love digging through my old MRs and reading the Student fare and Bull session collums, to me they hold alot of information. Sometimes when I'm looking at purchasing an old MR, I'll check to see if the Student fare, Bull Session, and Work shop have anything that interests me as one of the first things, as soon as the cover catches my attention. I'd love to see MR bring it back. It's to bad that they don't though.

Noah

[trainfan1221]

GBQ-guy, you're right. I wondered what happened to one reader's opinion also. It was interesting while it lasted. Especially the guy who was modeling the CR-NS Southern tier.
It must have been a good cheap layout because he wouldn't have to actually buy any TRAINS to run on it!

[Anonymous]

My three favorite columns, Student Fare, Bull Session, and One Reader's Opinion, were all canned. As a result, I like older issues of MR best. Do I still like MR? You bet. But you can be sure I like older ones better

[randybc2003]

I agree that the old "Student Fare" was good, especially as I rember it starting. I think Andy S wrote it. It did cover a lot of basic stuff, and did run comprehensive pictures, diagrams, and commentaries on the work and questions "students" sent in. I did note that after 10 or 20 years, it seemed to repeat itself some. I think most of the stuff they covered is covered today, although in different forms.

I particularly enjoy reading their "project railroads". These small, simple layouts seem to be the introduction to Model RR that a lot of starters need. I admit that the use of new (expensive) materials is a challange to highschool students, but examination of alternate articles and starter books will point to economicies. I also try to follow the "begining work" columns - such as scenery, etc. I would encourage any starter to just "grab the bull by the horns and DO IT."

As for feeling "overwhelmed", - you are reading from one who started out reading about Ben King, (intimidating for the begining scratchbuilder), Jack Work (scratchbuilding brass, timber bridges, and huge redwoods ??!!), and John Allen - (he might give an budding empire builder an inferiority complex!!) Re Lynn Westcot & Burce Chub - I never realy understood TRANSISTORS until about 10 years ago. & Now we have Intigrated Circuts, DCC, Computer Control, and etc. And there are STILL skills I haven't mastered yet!

Yes, I do miss some of the veterans - those mentioned above, and others like Bill McClanahan (I have his book on scenery), Jim Finley (I rember his Korea Comedies), and some others. I do wi***hat the Editor's letter had retained the title "AT THE THROTTLE". However I now also build scenery w/ foam and Sculptamold, convert my cars to KD couples, and run a lot of my locos, etc w/ DCC.

Just Have Fun!! Collect the magazines, read what interests you, and save them! The rest of the mag will make sense later. Even if you don't have expert skills, take some pictures and sent them to "Trackside Photos". I remember a cover shot of a Santa Fe F7 crossisng an Atlas Pier system with NOTHING UNDER THE TRACK!. They said they felt they should run a "typical" picture.

Kids, continue to write in to this forum. Some old rascle like myself will answer, even if we start with "I remember when......." Continue to try, be willing to fail, and have fun. If somebody says "thats not right"- just rember: "IT'S YOUR RAILROAD, AND THAT'S THE WAY YOU RUN IT!!"
[C):-)]