Garden railways magazine has come to an end. It is a Kalmbach publication. Last issue is in the Fall. I do believe that is the last of the large scale magazines. The upside should be an increase for MR as those rticles should be appearing there again. When Kalmbach bought GRM, the large scale articles mostly moved to GRM. Wonder how many readers know that magazines like that need articles from the readers to keep going? To make it worth while for advertisers to spend the money to advertis. Maybe MR should put a half page notice in the issues to be a reminder and way to get more contributions.
I have a locomovtive that is scratch built. The orginal article appeared in GRM in the 90's by the original builder. It has since traveled the world (literally) and is in my hands undergoing an extensive rebuild. It needed it bad. I was hopeing to write it up and have that appear in GRM along with the story of its travels.
Shane
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
My interest in building a garden railway came and went pretty fast.
When I had the landcape curbing put around the house 15 years ago, there are "balloons" that are integrated into the design that were intended to house the loops of track.
It never went anywhere, and now I have funny looking landscaping..
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I was bitten by the garden railroad bug in the late '90s.
IMG_1129 by Edmund, on Flickr
LGB, Aristo-Craft and USA Trains were three of the "big players" back then. One of the big frustrations was coupler compatibility. Yes, Kadee has a large selectoion of replacement couplers but the compatibility of mounting, for me, was still an issue.
After several remodeling projects I've taken up all my track and actually built a large shed to house the equipment. At 64 I don't know if I'll ever get around to ever laying any track again.
Depot_view by Edmund, on Flickr
I doubt I'd get 10¢ on the dollar if I wanted to sell it off.
Cheers, Ed
I got the Garden Railroad bug in 2004 and it was great until . . . . Varmints got the better of it. There wasn’t any mention of the Varmint problems in the magazine. Maybe it was just Bakersfield Varmints.I should have known better and anticipated the problems but the G gauge stuff got the better on me. Both my wife and I really loved our garden railroad.Between the Bakersfield Heat, ants using the rails as freeways, spiders everywhere, pigeons doing their thing, frogs homesteading in the buildings, and pets digging up everything our garden railroad only lasted two summers. When everything went right it was wonderful.
It wouldn’t have been much longer before the garden railroad would have to come to an end, old age and Arthritis would have put an end to it. By 2008 I couldn’t get down on my knees anymore and it’s a lot worse now.Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
RR_MelI got the Garden Railroad bug in 2004 and it was great until . . . . Varmints got the better of it.
I should have opted for the "Extra-Strength" Goat Repellant!
Curious Goats by Edmund, on Flickr
Wow, Ed.At least our varmints didn’t eat our garden railroad but having to run a track cleaner before running my trains was a pta. If the wheels crush the freeway ants and you don’t clean the rails their body acids will eat the rails and the wheels. Again nothing about that in the magazines.Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
NVSRRThe upside should be an increase for MR as those rticles should be appearing there again.
I hope they find a place, but I would rather that not be between the MR covers.
Since I'm fairly new to model railroading, I was interested in a garden railroad.
One of the big improvements for that scale is the battery power and radio control. The tracks can get dirty, there's not the issue of digging for wiring, etc.
That said, I was surprised at the cost.
York1 John
I have always liked the idea of a garden railroad, and would have attempted one at one time. However, I came to the hobby quite late, in my 50's, and by then I had been bitten by the HO world and all that was available and being promised/promoted. So, for me, it soon became another pipe dream gone by.
That said, if someone nearby proclaimed their intent to build a large outdoor G-Scale layout on an acreage, and said they've love some help, I'd be there at sunup in June.
There are some really neat public garden railroads.
One of them is in Omaha's Lauritzen Gardens. It was after I saw this that I decided to get into model railroading. I couldn't do the garden route, though.
RR_MelAt least our varmints didn’t eat our garden railroad but having to run a track cleaner before running my trains was a pta.
Looking back, using chicken grit as ballast while raising free-range chickens may not have been the best choice either!
I hired some cats to keep the chickens at bay and all they did was fall asleep on the track!
Spring 2010 217 by Edmund, on Flickr
Spring 2010 225CROP_edited-2 by Edmund, on Flickr
The only G Scale layout I ever seen was a around the walls of a basement..
I know there is a private G Scale club in Wyandot County. I found this out by a talkative railfan from that area while railfaning 4 years ago..
Ed, Do you know what they call chickens in Southern Ohio? Walking Sunday dinner.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I just got to say I missed that goat. It's good to see him again I forgot the cats name Ed but man thats a big kitty. Unless that's a picture when the goat was little.
My MR Club host Gary has a G scale train and track he wants to lay out in the front yard. Then have a portal in the fence so It can go in the backyard to be safe at night. Which reminds me I got to make some time to get over there and help him with that before the Summer's over.
TF
Last week I received a popup ad wanting me to subscribe to the magazine. Was this sudden decision?
Also got notice today that Scale Auto (another Kalmbach publication) is also coming to an end. Apparently it is going to be blended in with Fine Scale Modeler.
Actually, I'm not surprised. The cost of the magazine has gone up exponentially over the years with less content. Maybe these combinations will bolster the overall content of the two magazines. As for what's new articles, they are for the most part, old news by the time the magazine reaches the news stand.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
Well, I think the closing of ARISTO CRAFT a few years ago was very telling about the future of large scale and garden railroading.
I had some friends that were into it in addition to HO, and I knew of several others here locally with moderately large garden layouts.
BUT, they were/are all older than me (I'm 63), several have passed away, others are now having health issues which limit these kinds outdoor activities.
Right away, the very first time I saw a garden layout, I saw "high maintenance", I don't really like yard work..........
I think the popularity of large scale ran hand in hand with the revival of three rail O guage, which also seems to have "run its course" somewhat compared to 10-20 years ago.
We have a local shop here that built its whole business mainly around O and large scale. The owner is now just hanging on to sell off what he can and retire completely. 25 years ago he started the business as a "retirement gig". Not sure how that worked out for him?
He says interest in O gauge and largescale is way down.
Sheldon
I wonder if part of the problem was it being only about "garden" railroading and not 'large scale' in general. There are folks and clubs out there who have 1:20.3 or 1:29 scale indoor layouts too. Kinda like how "Classic Toy Trains" usually omits stories about 1:48 'hi-rail scale' model railroad layouts.
Most leading model railroading magazines in my country cover all scales - from Z scale all the way up to G scale indoors or outdoors. There are a number of smaller publications specializing in O scale, or G scale, but they are struggling nowadays, as hobby money gets tighter and forums have taken over much of the role of those special magazines.
Model railroading is a niche hobby and I leave it up to smarter guys than I am to debate, whether a segmentation of a small niche into even smaller niches is sustainable under the given circumstances.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
Tinplate Toddler Most leading model railroading magazines in my country cover all scales - from Z scale all the way up to G scale indoors or outdoors. There are a number of smaller publications specializing in O scale, or G scale, but they are struggling nowadays, as hobby money gets tighter and forums have taken over much of the role of those special magazines. Model railroading is a niche hobby and I leave it up to smarter guys than I am to debate, whether a segmentation of a small niche into even smaller niches is sustainable under the given circumstances.
The news of Scale Auto Enthusiast is not fully surprising. I have been a subscriber on and off for a few years.
There is a very limited amount of topics you can cover. There are not that many different ways to build a model of an automobile. The content is pretty repetitive.
That said, their equivelent of Trackside Photos was always amazing. There are two types of modelers that I think stand head-and-shoulders over the rest of us. Scale Automobile Modelers, and Commcercial Airliner Modelers.
These two guys can make ZERO mistakes. If you are building a model of a show car, it must be in show car condition. Commercial Airliner models also need to be perfect.
The Model Railroaders, Figure Painters, and Military Modelers can always cover mistakes with weathering, warts/wounds, or battle damage. If a Scale Automobile Modeler makes a blemish, the model is ruined.
You think NKP modelers are picky about Berkshires? Try entering a scale model of a 1973 Chevrolet Corvette into a modeling contest... it will be nitpicked to shreds like nothing any model railroader has ever been subjected to.
Every model in Scale Auto Enthusiast was always very impressive. I have never built a model anywhere near perfect enough to be in that club.
The SAE content should roll nicely into Fine Scale Modeler. I subscribe to FSM also, and have for years.
I hope this move assures that Fine Scale Modeler has a solid future. We model railroaders would dream to have all the resin detail/conversion parts available that Scale Auto and Military Modelers have. Most of these are still Mom & Pop Garage Businesses, so the advertising sales might be easier and a better fit.
These modelers are still quite craftsmen, and the ready-to-run world has not hit their hobby like ours.
Fine Scale Modeler has also done a very nice job rolling into the future and widening their unbrella. They are no longer the "World-War-II-Centric Stuffy Scale Military Magazine" of days past. They display all types of models. Science Fiction, Role Playing Terrain, Anime Figures, Shadow Boxes of Rock Bands, Bart Simpson as Frankenstein, Wargaming Armies, and even Model Railroads.
I hope these type of fun articles will find their way into Model Railroader.
I am sorry to see them go, but not surprised. Hobby magazines have been ending for several years now. It appears that the advertising is going down and the costs are going up. I suspect that several others will cease in the next few years.
I'm not sure if this represents a decline in the number of large scale/garden railroaders or they just get their info from other places on the 'Net.
Paul
I remember in the early 1970's when MR published Charles Small's article on his "Lake George & Boulder" railroad, perhaps the first outdoor LGB layout in the US. In the years after that, MR occassionally did reviews or other articles on "large scale" trains.
I suppose from MR's view it's a bit of a problem re how much 'large scale' stuff to include now with GR gone, since many folks building outdoor layouts (certainly not all of course) are more gardeners than model railroaders - folks who are more casual regarding trains and are unlikely to read MR, join the NMRA, etc.
I let my subscription lapse for Model Railroader just a month or two ago, and have been thinking lately about what kind of changes to the magazine would make me renew the subscription, and one thing that would certainly help would be improving variety.I am not much of a G-scale fan, so for me bringing G-scale into Model Railroader isn't going to do much to help; but I do admit it is a nice step to bringing something new back to the core magazine. If Classic Toy Trains ever goes down, likewise the addition of 3-rail and S-scale could also bring some new variety into MR's pages. With that said, my interests are usually in the more scale modeling aspect, so HO, N, 2-rail O or Proto:48 and stuff like OO are always going to draw my attention more than Tinplate and Garden stuff ever will. I think its in part generational too, I have no childhood nostalgia for 3-rail other than the one Lionel Southern steam engine that seemed to be a "christmas tree staple" with some of my extended family and neighbors. I have said it before but my childhood toy train of choice was Lego, and well the Lego hobby already has its own internal coverage with dedicated websites and magazines... so I really don't see it making much inroads into the model railroading press. Probably the biggest steps to get me to resubscribe would be improving the quality and variety of the articles. My favorite issue of MR these last few years and my only "must have" multiple years in a row is the "Model Railroading: The Ultimate Guide" series. I am sure the content there is familiar to those with the MR Plus video subscriptions, but I find the Ultimate Guide very refreshing and a nice change of pace from the main magazine, and it seems to hit more of my interests without giving me the "more of the same" feeling that has permeated most of my interactions with Model Railroader's main magazine issues these last few years. I honestly wouldn't complain if the special issues were scaled back to put more of their content into the mainline magazine, since those are qualitywise both the most interesting and diverse content that Model Railroader puts out each year. I know some of the special issues are reprinting old Model Railroader content, but the places like the Ultimate Guide that tend to have new content feel like they would be very useful in beefing up the main magazine. I think one of the things that makes Model Railroader sometimes feel more the same is the heavy reliance on staff layouts and projects. I still feel the words "Beer Line" bouncing in the back of my head everytime I think of my subscription to Model Railroader, and likewise the work of Tony Koester and Pelle Soeborg are permanently linked to MR in my brain. But with that said as great as it is to see a Soeborg or Koester or a staff project so regularly, it kind of contributes to the samey feel if that is what is constantly in the magazine's pages month after month after month after month. One of my favorite moments from "the other magazine" last year was several months were they covered Utah based layouts (many of which I have visted, some operated on) leading up to the NMRA convention. It was surprising how covering those layouts connected in theme by location still managed to be shockingly diverse in subject (Chris Brimley's NYC waterfront theme on his Hudson Terminal for example seems unlikely to be a layout built in Provo, yet there it was among the Utah line-up). Speaking of "the other magazine" while I have strong memories there of unique layouts and features showing diverse reader contributions, I have no clue what the editorial staff like Otto Vondrak models in their spare time since unlike MR's last few years the other magazine doesn't feature their editor's work as heavily every other issue (I had to ask a friend and they reminded me that Otto is a commuter rail nut and I wasn't paying enough attention to it). I know RMC has stuff from its editors, but it never seems to draw the spotlight as much as MR does with their staff layouts in particular, helping to put more of the focus on the reader contributed layouts.
xboxtravis7992 My favorite issue of MR these last few years and my only "must have" multiple years in a row is the "Model Railroading: The Ultimate Guide" series.
The larger January issue this year was amazing, and I loved it from cover to cover.
I actually think the quarantine issues are better than what was published 12 months ago. They seem to be using articles that do not feel as repetitive.
If this trend continues, I will be a happy subscriber.
We need to be careful not to bash our host in a thread on this forum.
Not a Garden railroader myself, but I have enjoyed visiting some, and did read through Garden Railways now and then. It is an interesting offshoot of the hobby and has some very good modelers and imaginative modelers who participate that is for sure. I feel sad for any staffers who find themselves without a job in this weird world we now live in.
Before there was a Garden Railways magazine, or rather I should say before Kalmbach published the magazine since I think it existed before they bought it up, there was a modest but fairly regular amount of garden and large scale content in MR, perhaps because then editor Russ Larson was a garden railroad enthusiast. He was also into narrow gauge and that too seemed to get more attention in MR.
Similarly before Kalmbach created Classic Toy Trains there was some attention paid to tinplate in MR (and there always was a lot of tinplate/toy train advertising in MR). Back when Linn Westcott was editor there was a great deal more live steam coverage in MR than you see now.
Live steam, largescale/garden, narrow gauge, and tinplate are not direct interests of mine but I did not and do not mind seeing their content in MR. MR could stand having more advertisers that is for sure. Shocking how few there are now
Dave Nelson
Ed, I have heard stories of catzilla,raccoonzilla,possumzilla and dogzilla but,never a goatzilla.
BRAKIEEd, I have heard stories of catzilla,raccoonzilla,possumzilla and dogzilla but,never a goatzilla.
As it turns out, Larry, they could do quite a bit of damage. When their hooves are small they fit right between the 45mm gauge and they push the ties right out of the spikes!
Bad Goats! We didn't let them roam free very often
What the goats do...I mean doo... makes the mashed ants a relatively minor problem
azrailWhat the goats do...I mean doo... makes the mashed ants a relatively minor problem
Too bad the doo is a little too big to be model taconite pellets
It does help the compost heap which makes the plants happy!
Personally, if there was a conflict with a goat and a G scale layout outside. I would keep the goat outside and a smaller layout inside to resolve the problem. The goats gotta go would not be a consideration, nor bringing him inside
Or, build a Corral around the layout and none around the goat and keep both outside