I hate to say this and maybe I shouldn't but I really feel like TRAINS Magazine is not the magazine it once was. It's kinda like a shadow of its former self.
I used to look forward to my latest issues of TRAINS and reading up on all the news that's taking place in the railroad industry. Huh! Nowadays there is next to no news in the magazine. There are just a couple of "feature articles" and a few editorials and that's basically it.
I guess they figure that TRAINS readers can and should just go to the website to get the latest news. Well, I can do that but I'm afraid I'm just a bit old fashioned. I enjoy sitting down on a cold, snowy winter afternoon with a good (printed) magazine.
It seems like the printed version of the magazine hit a peak in the '90s just before the internet began to proliferate. Since then it's been downhill all the way.
Another question, what ever happened to Fred Frailey and "The Potomic Pundit"? Were they forced out? Or, did they just get discouraged and leave?
I especially miss Frailey.
Regards,
Fred M. Cain
Fred retired.
BackshopFred retired.
Retirements can be 'forced'.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Times change, and not always for the better and not just with nit-picky details as the OP raises. But what is the alternative?
BaltACD Backshop Fred retired. Retirements can be 'forced'.
Backshop Fred retired.
Maybe with Don, but I didn't see that with Fred.
Print publications like Trains are between a rock and a hard place. Printing costs go up, the cost of staff goes up, yet the readership goes down.
The 'Net gets a lot of the blame there. If I want to look at pictures of trains, I can have hours of viewing with a few key strokes. If I want to learn about a given railroad or location, there's probably a website for it. I don't have to wait for my next issue to see if the editorial staff thought it was worth the space.
I can't speak to the issue at hand - but that's part of the issue: I don't know railroading in that area, and may not really care. Now, if there was an error concerning railroads around me....
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Mistakes in captions and articles are nothing new. I've seen some in articles and photos from the 50's. I only know because I have knowledge of the area in the specific article or photo. Most readers won't have knowledge of specific locations and won't ever know, or maybe even care. Yet to those that do know, it stands out like a sore thumb.
Most are innocent mistakes, probably made when written by someone other than the original writer/photographer with limited, if any, information provided. Others are when the original person made mistakes when making notes.
Jeff
Beer Line Bill And I do get annoyed by Bob Johnston's convoluted sentence structure, feeling he could use a sharper editor.
I have no real complaints about the magazine,.. it is what it is. But, I have to admit that on more than one occasion over the past few years I've had to take a paragraph out of Johnston's articles and disect and reparse some of the sentences to make sure I knew what he was talking about.
LOL Sometimes you have to weigh what the preceeding and following sentences appear to be saying, and just infer what the one in the middle must be trying to say.
Convicted One Beer Line Bill And I do get annoyed by Bob Johnston's convoluted sentence structure, feeling he could use a sharper editor. I have no real complaints about the magazine,.. it is what it is. But, I have to admit that on more than one occasion over the past few years I've had to take a paragraph out of Johnston's articles and disect and reparse some of the sentences to make sure I knew what he was talking about. LOL Sometimes you have to weigh what the preceeding and following sentences appear to be saying, and just infer what the one in the middle must be trying to say.
In my over 51 year career - in the early years, while I may have disagreed with decisions of superiors, I respected those decisions as they were made by individuals that were older and had seen and experienced more than I had and were making those decisions from, I thought, a more extensive knowledge base than I possessed at the time.
In the later years I recognized those 'superiors' were just as dumb and illogical as any other employees in the company.
Even if a 50+ year old Army posessed the same physical abilities as the 20 year olds that are today's fighting forces - they would not be a mentally malleable as their additional 30+ years of life experience would have their BS meters pegged and blowing the pop off valves from severe over pressure.
BaltACDIn my over 51 year career - in the early years, while I may have disagreed with decisions of superiors, I respected those decisions as they were made by individuals that were older and had seen and experienced more than I had and were making those decisions from, I thought, a more extensive knowledge base than I possessed at the time.
I hear ya Balt. I think sometimes when we are green, the seniors feed us explanations that suit their ambition at hand, representing to us as "rules", when they are anything but.
Things such as who has first pick for vacation schedule, or who is first in line for emergency call in on holidays, stuff like that. Sometimes we are just too dumb to know we are being conned.
I know things aren't as they used to be...each editor has his own focus (but I'll agree that editing ought to be the primary focus).My own opinion--and I'm probably wrong--is that the Waukesha staff ought to spend mor time in the field, not just on special occasions, but to see what railfanning and/or railroading is like. I was happy to welcome Kathi Kube into Proviso back in the day (It can be told now...what're they going to do--fire me?), and I'd show folks around a bit of Chicagoland (only a couple of hours away from the office!) if they had things they needed to address.When I became editor of the C&O Historical Society's Newsletter eons ago ("hardly a man is now alive..."), I made a point of covering my territory as best I could--in the first five years I'd covered nearly branch in Michigan and Virginia, and a lot of the other places, too (eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia were areas that I wish I'd seen more). One can forgive the staff for this year...I don't travel like I'd like to during the Pandemc, either. But there will come a time when they should get out and get away to the more obscure corners...not just for aticles, but to add a chapter to their personal and collective railroad encyclopedias.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Convicted One on more than one occasion over the past few years I've had to take a paragraph out of Johnston's articles and disect and reparse some of the sentences to make sure I knew what he was talking about.
I do the same, but I find that I have to do that more and more often lately with all my reading, so I don't know how much of that problem is just my 80 year old brain fading into the crabgrass. When I was in my 20's I could read a technical manual and immediately understand and remember it. In later years, I'd have to read something a couple of times before it would sink in.
I do miss the news articles in the front of the magazine. And I find the interviews with various executives tend to be mostly a bunch of managementese cliches.
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Paul of Covington I do the same, but I find that I have to do that more and more often lately with all my reading,
Surely not my thinking makes you wonder?
Convicted One Paul of Covington I do the same, but I find that I have to do that more and more often lately with all my reading, Surely not my thinking makes you wonder?
I've been concerned about my old brain for the last decade or so.
I'll say it again, as I did in a thread I created a while back, that it just isn't the magazing it used to be in terms of editing. I too spend quite a bit of time trying to figure out what the heck a writer is saying. Sometimes I finally just throw in the towel.
I'm not sure these things are always the writers' faults; I think editing for brevity sometimes compromises coherence. I think the magazine at this time does a nice job with photos, better than in some other periods. However, the use of large photos (which are fun to see, for sure) means less space for the words, and stories seem to be paying a price for that.
I just read the story about the creation and demise of of the PC. It mentions "PRR's Saunders," but does not say what his title was. Then, when speaking of the merged roads, it makes clear that Perlman was the big dog. However, it continues to frequently mention Saunders, again without telling us what his position was at PC. Also, in the brief bio info, we are told that Saunders had been president of NW; but no mention of whether he went directly from there to PRR, or what. (We are told, though, that he was chubby.)
I very much enjoyed seeing the very large photos of the Alco Century-led freight, and the E7-led passenger train, but they use up lots of space. Maybe if you want to tell that epic tale in eight pages, it would be better to devote more space to words. (Then edit them for clarity!)
Just my opinion, of course. I'm sure the staff works hard, and no doubt the financial state of print journalism these days plays a hand. It is not my intention to offend anyone.
Regarding web vs. print: if I want to do research or get news (or, like now, play), the web is great. But relaxing in bed or on the couch reading a physical book or magazine is one of my great pleasures. I look forward to Trains and Classic Trains. If they ever go digital-only, I'm not sure I'd subscribe. I never do extended reading from a screen.
"Huge"? .....really??!! I guess I didn't feel when the earth shifted off its axis because of a caption typo.
and who are you that you must have a "formal and prominent correction with hat in hand"?
for goodness sake, it's a train picture in a fan magazine, not a violation one of the commandments.
get over yourself.
Beer Line Bill I emailed the below comment the day I got the December isssue. I have not gotten a response. Did anyone else notice the error? Is anyone bothered by it like I am? I have been a Trains subscriber since the early 70s. I have never before submitted a comment. The magazine has always been well put together and professionally produced with high journalistic standards. In the last year or so I have noticed the occasional typo and grammatical errors, which I would never see in the past. And I do get annoyed by Bob Johnston's convoluted sentence structure, feeling he could use a sharper editor. But I have never bothered to send feedback until now. I received the Dec issue on Oct 30th. I looked forward to the Gallery of photos by founder A. C. Kalmbach. I was appalled to read the caption "Classic caboose". It identifies the train as an eastbound headed to the Menomonee Valley yards and the line to the left as the route to the downtown station. This is completely wrong! The view is looking north, not south. The train is headed north onto the Northern Division, which goes up the northside of Milw to lines north and to the Beer Line. The route to the left is the mainline that heads west through Wauwatosa (past the Kalmbach office) and on to St. Paul. The orientation of the photo is made obvious by the arch of the Wisconsin Ave viaduct and beyond it, the Wells Street trestle. This may seem nit picky, as errors do happen. However, this is not any ordinary error. Milwaukee area railroads and their history are part of Trains Magazine's DNA. That this, and basic Milwaukee geography, could be ignored is very troubling. This is an affront to the memory of Mr. Kalmbach. And J. David Ingles, and David P. Morgan and Rosemary Entringer, none of whom would have allowed such an error to go to press. A formal and prominent correction is needed, hat in hand, both on the website, and in the January issue. And please respond to me.
Fred M CainI hate to say this and maybe I shouldn't but I really feel like TRAINS Magazine is not the magazine it once was. It's kinda like a shadow of its former self. I used to look forward to my latest issues of TRAINS and reading up on all the news that's taking place in the railroad industry. Huh! Nowadays there is next to no news in the magazine. There are just a couple of "feature articles" and a few editorials and that's basically it. I guess they figure that TRAINS readers can and should just go to the website to get the latest news. Well, I can do that but I'm afraid I'm just a bit old fashioned. I enjoy sitting down on a cold, snowy winter afternoon with a good (printed) magazine. It seems like the printed version of the magazine hit a peak in the '90s just before the internet began to proliferate. Since then it's been downhill all the way. Another question, what ever happened to Fred Frailey and "The Potomic Pundit"? Were they forced out? Or, did they just get discouraged and leave? I especially miss Frailey. Regards, Fred M. Cain
Yes, the older folks that retired some had railroading backgrounds and others had friends in the railroad industry they could talk to. The new bunch is more isolated and not as networked. So basically, they read the press releases like the rest of us and openly opine on them vs having inside contacts that give them more background to a story.
The Potamic pundit quit because nobody could see the value he was adding, either in the Washington publications or at TRAINS or so he indicated. Nobody wanted the inside story anymore and were starting to ask why it was even relevant. He was let go from his Washington publications. So one could surmise the stipend from TRAINS alone without the Washington publications was not enough to sustain him.
Paul of Covington I do the same, but I find that I have to do that more and more often lately with all my reading, so I don't know how much of that problem is just my 80 year old brain fading into the crabgrass.
Just for argument's sake, read his article "Via at 40" in the November 2018 issue of trains. At the time I first read it, I really wondered if I had experienced a stroke. Unusual word choice ("understated" when a more appropriate choice of words would be "overstated", in context with the value of good customer service) as well as a few meandering phrases I'm not sure what they belong to.
I was so beside myself at the time that I went back and re-read Frailey's piece just to reassure myself that my mind hadn't slipped a cog. Frailey's piece made perfect sense even the second time through...so I'm pretty sure it wasn't me.
Beer Line BillA formal and prominent correction is needed, hat in hand, both on the website, and in the January issue. And please respond to me.
Beer Line,
Mistakes happen. Take a deep breath. Thanks for letting us know what the caption should read. I can tell you are bothered by this, but your post is a bit over-reacting.
Re the December 2020 Issue article on the Penn Central:
It was informative - one of the better I've read- though a bit dense of a read. Many vaguely informed forum comments have referred to Staggers Act/ deregulation. My opinioin, this article is hugely informative, and really helps out to flesh out the background to this massive change to the industry.
The problem that I had with the PC and Deregulation articles was that two of the bigger PC photos were taken in Chattanooga on the Southern. One I could see, but 2/
Is Kalmbach diluting its effectiveness by producing too many different publications? Hocus pocus...loss of focus?
CMStPnP Beer Line Bill I emailed the below comment the day I got the December isssue. I have not gotten a response. Did anyone else notice the error? Is anyone bothered by it like I am? I have been a Trains subscriber since the early 70s. I have never before submitted a comment. The magazine has always been well put together and professionally produced with high journalistic standards. In the last year or so I have noticed the occasional typo and grammatical errors, which I would never see in the past. And I do get annoyed by Bob Johnston's convoluted sentence structure, feeling he could use a sharper editor. But I have never bothered to send feedback until now. I received the Dec issue on Oct 30th. I looked forward to the Gallery of photos by founder A. C. Kalmbach. I was appalled to read the caption "Classic caboose". It identifies the train as an eastbound headed to the Menomonee Valley yards and the line to the left as the route to the downtown station. This is completely wrong! The view is looking north, not south. The train is headed north onto the Northern Division, which goes up the northside of Milw to lines north and to the Beer Line. The route to the left is the mainline that heads west through Wauwatosa (past the Kalmbach office) and on to St. Paul. The orientation of the photo is made obvious by the arch of the Wisconsin Ave viaduct and beyond it, the Wells Street trestle. This may seem nit picky, as errors do happen. However, this is not any ordinary error. Milwaukee area railroads and their history are part of Trains Magazine's DNA. That this, and basic Milwaukee geography, could be ignored is very troubling. This is an affront to the memory of Mr. Kalmbach. And J. David Ingles, and David P. Morgan and Rosemary Entringer, none of whom would have allowed such an error to go to press. A formal and prominent correction is needed, hat in hand, both on the website, and in the January issue. And please respond to me. Yes I saw it as well and a Milwaukee based publication should know better if the train is facing Wisconsin Avenue (formerly Grand Ave) and the tracks veer to the left, there is no way it can be pointing South or the tracks going straight would lead right into the Milwaukee River. Also there are other queues in the photo. For those that do not know the former Wells Street Trestle carrried the Milwaukee Electric Lines into downtown from the Western Suburban lines. Oh well, what can you do? The old timers are gone and the replacements never bother to learn the history of the area they are living in.
Or, a human being made a mistake and another human being overlooked it. It happens. Lighten up.
Hillyard Beer Line Bill A formal and prominent correction is needed, hat in hand, both on the website, and in the January issue. And please respond to me. Beer Line, Mistakes happen. Take a deep breath. Thanks for letting us know what the caption should read. I can tell you are bothered by this, but your post is a bit over-reacting. Re the December 2020 Issue article on the Penn Central: It was informative - one of the better I've read- though a bit dense of a read. Many vaguely informed forum comments have referred to Staggers Act/ deregulation. My opinioin, this article is hugely informative, and really helps out to flesh out the background to this massive change to the industry.
Beer Line Bill A formal and prominent correction is needed, hat in hand, both on the website, and in the January issue. And please respond to me.
You seem to be referring to the deregulation article, not the Penn Central article.
I thought both articles were interesting and informative. I found instances of poor writing or editing in the Penn Central one, but not in the deregulation story.
Lithonia Operator I'll say it again, as I did in a thread I created a while back, that it just isn't the magazing it used to be in terms of editing. I too spend quite a bit of time trying to figure out what the heck a writer is saying. Sometimes I finally just throw in the towel. I'm not sure these things are always the writers' faults; I think editing for brevity sometimes compromises coherence. I think the magazine at this time does a nice job with photos, better than in some other periods. However, the use of large photos (which are fun to see, for sure) means less space for the words, and stories seem to be paying a price for that. I just read the story about the creation and demise of of the PC. It mentions "PRR's Saunders," but does not say what his title was. Then, when speaking of the merged roads, it makes clear that Perlman was the big dog. However, it continues to frequently mention Saunders, again without telling us what his position was at PC. Also, in the brief bio info, we are told that Saunders had been president of NW; but no mention of whether he went directly from there to PRR, or what. (We are told, though, that he was chubby.) I very much enjoyed seeing the very large photos of the Alco Century-led freight, and the E7-led passenger train, but they use up lots of space. Maybe if you want to tell that epic tale in eight pages, it would be better to devote more space to words. (Then edit them for clarity!) Just my opinion, of course. I'm sure the staff works hard, and no doubt the financial state of print journalism these days plays a hand. It is not my intention to offend anyone. Regarding web vs. print: if I want to do research or get news (or, like now, play), the web is great. But relaxing in bed or on the couch reading a physical book or magazine is one of my great pleasures. I look forward to Trains and Classic Trains. If they ever go digital-only, I'm not sure I'd subscribe. I never do extended reading from a screen.
Personally, I thought the PC article was very informative. I think you're nit-picking.
It’s good to see all the discussion and it’s good to see that other folks care about this magazine.
I still think Trains is "the magazine of railroading". They just need to step up the editing and proofreading. Of course, it’s not the magazine it once was, but neither is the world. Overall, I think they still do a great job, especially if consider all the publications and platforms. And they are staying afloat, not an easy task given the economics of print these days and what I assume is an aging readership.
They just need to proofread better.
This is not just a local fan indignant that they got his local geography wrong, as tree68 and jeffhergert point out. This error is in a caption to a photo by their founder in a gallery of his photos celebrating their 80th year, shot at a key location in their hometown. It’s like the Wall Street Journal miscaptioning a picture of Wall Street. It really sticks out.
CShaveRR says the Waukesha staff ought to spend more time in the field. They do get out. Here is a picture posted on the Trains Facebook page, of the new CP heritage units, shot in Oct ’19 by Editor Jim Wrinn just a few hundred feet south of A.C.’s location. You can see the arches of the Wisconsin Ave viaduct. They do get out, and locally too.
And edit Bob Johnson better. I glad others agree.
Finally, I want to thank ExRRmgr and Hillyard. I did over-react. Sorry. I am over myself now.
Here, I hope is the image from Trains Facebook. I am in that aging demographic that isn't good with technology.
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