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Obtuse, Doubled? Thoughts on Dec editorial

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[quote user="carnej1"] [quote user="greyhounds"] [quote user="solzrules"] This is the exact reason why I did not renew my subscription to Trains magazine and will not.  I got real sick of paying for a magazine that kept demanding that we pay even more taxes to fund an enormous investment in high speed rail for reasons that are just plain stupid. [/quote] Yeah. Jim Wrinn has taken the magazine in a direction that I don't like.  It's been a part of my life for almost half a century.  I first subscribed when I was 12 (using my father's name.) with my paper route money.  I'll be 59 in November and I wonder if I'll renew.  My EX used to say that it was always a good day when the Trains Magazine arrived.  No more.  Wrinn supports High Speed Rail in the US.  He's got a perfect platform to do the supporting.  But instead of publishing articles that present solid, reasoned arguments in favor of HSR, he chooses to basically denigrate those of his readers who think differently.  I'm "Howling"? I believe Wrinn doesn't provide such articles because he can't.  1)  I don't believe a solid, reasoned argument in support of HSR is possible, and 2) he's not an analytical kind of guy.  In the November 2009 issue he tried to present an argument for forced, taxpayer funded, electrification of the US rail network.  The resultant article was an inane joke that claimed electrification would divert 83% of truck business to rail and add 175 million jobs in the US.  How he could possibly read that nonsense and publish it is beyond reason.  This leads him to lash out at those of us who disagree with him.  I respect people who disagree with me as long as they stick to facts and don't lie.  I don't respect those who can't deal with my disagreement and choose to denigrate me personally.  I'm "Howling"? If he tried to do the same for HSR I think the result would be the same.  Another inane joke of an article. He simply doesn't focus on the "analytical aspect" of things.  He goes more with emotion and the artistic side of things.  If that's the way they want to go, that's fine.  It's their magazine.  But they might just wind up doing it without me sending them some money. I think the December issue is decent.  But it's largely about taking pictures of trains rather than about the trains themselves.  Again, Wrinn is focused on the art, not the trains. Check page 33.  The top photo.  There are two very interesting pieces of rail equipment in that consist.  That rotary snow plow was obviously fabricated by the BN (or a contract job shop) from a locomotive.  It would be nice to learn something about it.  But there's nothing written at all about the machine.  It's a nice photo.  And if you're interested in the photos instead of the trains I guess that will do. But I subscribe to Trains, not Photos.  (The other interesting piece of equipment is that Jordan on the rear of the train.  No mention of that either.) The article on page 38 - well let's see, that's about taking pictures of trains instead of trains too.  We've got photos of the outside of a bar, the inside of a bar, a bed, some blured trains, a tale about getting stuck in a snow drift, etc.  The photo on pages 42-43 is nice.  But there's more information about the church than the train.  The train is incidental.  What train is it? Where is it going?  What is it hauling? What locomotives are powering it?  I want to know about the train.  That's why I subscribe to Trains Magazine.  (I did like the article, but it was only remotely about trains.) The article on Page 46 is flat out about photography, not trains. I could live with this artistic focus (if I must) if Wrinn and company would acknowledge legitimate opposing points of view.  His December editorial indicates he doesn't.  And I will not subscribe to a publication that prints outright lies such as forced electrification of the US rail net would add 175 million jobs.        [/quote] Points noted..Yet, you will continue to post on a free forum provided by that publication?..interesting [/quote]   I am looking forward to reading Wrinn’s editorial, but I can’t find the magazine yet on the newsstands.  I happen to agree with most of Greyounds' views on the direction of the magazine, but I don’t see how that is inconsistent with posting in their free forums.  In fact, if I were publishing a magazine, I would sure want feedback, both positive and negative to help me match the market preference as well as possible.
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