The end of Ctt

[Anonymous]

Thank goodness there are some outlets for guys (and gals) who like to write more than a few hastily chosen and often misspelled words on forum threads, and who are willing to devote the time and effort to helping spread the word about the hobby and share knowledge and experience in a way that cannot adequately be duplicated in any other medium.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Allan Miller

Thank goodness there are some outlets for guys (and gals) who like to write more than a few hastily chosen and often misspelled words on forum threads, and who are willing to devote the time and effort to helping spread the word about the hobby and share knowledge and experience in a way that cannot adequately be duplicated in any other medium.

You are right, Bigboy 4005 makes a lot of sense.
[tup]

[Anonymous]

When I first seen Classic Toy Trains Magizine it rekindled my interest in
trains. I had did the HO and N scale and for a short time American Flyer.
from 1986 till 1994 i had no trains at all. A very good friend of mine
who hasa since departed Mr John Hearld had a subscription to CTT. he would give me the ones that i found interesting. After the demise of the Excursion
Program at NS i wanted to see steam locomotives running. So i decided to
get one of my own. I knew I could not have a real fire breathing locomotive and
i did not have the ca***o do so "Capt. John" ran his realistic O gauge locomotives . I was hooked. so i hope that CTT does not fall to the wayside.
frankly I dont think it will. I do miss Kent Johnson's "talkin Toy Trains".
Kent and his father seem to have a great relationship and they have a common
interest and bond with the trains.

[Anonymous]

I like CTT much better now that it has a greater focus on operations. At times I will read about the boxes or postwar engines[I have the Southern 2333 F-3s and old "Service Station sets ,early Williams brass and others] but in general I have lost interest in postwar. But I recogonize that other readers are devoted to the postwar era of models. I enjoy tallking and argueing with O-gauge friends who could care less about my scale Command equipped steamers and early diesel.

I subscribe to both CTT and OGR for 3 year periods and after awhile I give the issues plus TRAINS to my primary level teacher daughter-in-law who along with other teachers uses them from time to time in her classes.

During the late 1980s I first bought both magazines at Chuck Anderson's "Inside Track" hobby shop in Greensboro but soon decided to subscribe. About the same time I stopped my MR subscription but still buy it often.

[ChiefEagles]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Leonard


I subscribe to both CTT and OGR for 3 year periods and after awhile I give the issues plus TRAINS to my primary level teacher daughter-in-law who along with other teachers uses them from time to time in her classes.

Now that is a good idea and use of old issues. Helps the kids get interested in the hobby. Good job Leonard. [tup]

[Anonymous]

If you dont like it, dont read it.

[Anonymous]

As several of you have posted, there are a number of logical reasons for the size and content of CTT. I have subscribed to both CTT and OGR since joining the hobby in 1999.

I look forward to each and every issue to see what is happening within the hobby, what new products are being introduced and to see how other collector/operators are displaying their layouts and collections.

I also know that the current economic conditions such as high energy costs are affecting everyone in the hobby. At a recent train show, a friend of mine and a noted dealer, admitted that the high cost of gas has had a dramatic impact on his business. In order to control his costs, he is evaluating the number of shows he can attend and how much money he can afford to budget to advertise in both CTT and OGR. He is seriously considering curtailing his advertising to subsidize his travel expenses.

This is just a small example of the kind of decisions people make in order to absorb the unexpected rise in fuel costs we have all had to live with in recent months. This trickle down effect has to also affect the advertising revenue of CTT, MR, OGR, etc.

CTT and the other publications will have to do their best to weather the storm until things settle down and advertising revenues once again begin to grow. All they can do is offer the best product they can publish with the resources available.

Steven Tapper
Northern Central High Railers

[DCmontana]

I have been a subscriber since the Spring of 93. Within a year of subscribing I had cobbled together a layout and was running my old trains again. Two layouts later I have the biggest pike ever, 5 X 12, not much by many standards, but it is a lot of fun. There are very few articles that I don't appreciate and I read the magazine cover to cover every issue. It is slick copy, well layed out, and really well done by journalistic standards. I have liked some issues better than others, but have never been displeased. I like to see layouts of any size. Small 0-27 layouts jammed with the old accessories all the way to giants designed and built for a customer. They are all fun for someone! I never appreciated standard gauge, but articles in CTT made me look at the pre-war stuff in different light. I don't appreciate any body that believes my way or the hi-way. All aspects of toy trains are fun and need to stay that way. I do have one complaint, I am echoing from above. Oh how I wish CTT came to my home every month! We are now in the doldrums! No April, June, August issues! How will I survive the coming lean months? I shall dig into the back issues from the nineties! Keep those articles on all aspects of toy trains as a hobby!

[superwarp1]

Lets, see. I subscribe to CTT, Trains, Classic Trains, OGR. But back to O gauge. CTT and ORG have there strong points and there not so strong points. I like CTT product reviews(even though the Kline berk review was way lacking) and I like the layouts on OGR.

The content of both magazines and the amount of pages has shrunk for both. Sign of the times. The bubble of the late 90's if not burst, is deflated a little.

Regards,

Gary

[mackb4]

I smell a conspirator on the forum,or a bad egg.CTT has always produced a top rate magazine,and website.To think the market has dried up is ludicrous.CTT and the other "O" gauge magazines complement each other on the amount of articles that there is to write about.Meaning for more than one magazine to survive covering a hobby,has to mean there's plenty of news,articles,new products and people in the hobby to keep on going.I think CTT and the others,will survive as long as printing is free press in this country.When freedom of press is gone.Than so will your rights as hobbist.Don't stop the windmill from turning as long as there's wind.[2c]

[dlagrua]

What we are seeing is that the demographic of those who buy and collect the trains is changing. Hence the train publications like CTT and Model Railroader must do their best to adjust to this changing market. It appears that the market is still strong for certain products, and weak on others. It will be interesting to see what the train collector market will look like in 10 years, when some in the "Baby Boom" generation retire, relocate, and go home to meet the Lord. You can bet that collectible trains will aways be with us, but perhaps on a smaller scale...and if the next generation remembers dads trains and "discovers " toy trains as they themselves reach middle age, then who knows what will result. The hobby may be transitioning but is it far from dead.

[Anonymous]

I enjoy CTT all the way. I hope the list of layouts I sent them, that were never shown in the magazine will be featured in some future issues. I would also like them to "revisit" some of the greatest layouts shown in the magazine to see what changes were made.

[prewardude]

One layout that CTT really needs to feature is NORM CHARBONNEAU'S. That is the nicest O gauge layout I have ever seen, period. Norm has managed to do in O gauge what George Sellios has done in HO. The guy's incredible!

Regards,
Clint

[Anonymous]

I believe Norm's layout is scheduled to be featured in an upcoming (November) issue of "O Scale Trains." That being the case, I wouldn't expect that you'll see it in CTT or elsewhere, at least in the near future. As a general rule, magazines do not duplicate content that has already been covered in a competing publication.

No question about it, though, Norm does some superb work.

[FJ and G]

Norm's layout is the best detailed layout I've ever seen in any scale or gauge. With different camera angles and topical material, it could be written in just about any magazine, and duplicated too.

While not done frequently, duplication is possible. For instance, a layout called Buckeye Central (or something to that effect), was published in OGR and I believe in Kalmbach's Great Layouts series or MR (one of the 2). It is 2-rail O. I think OGR picked it up last. But as a rule, mags don't duplicate content. But Norm's work is exceptional.

[Anonymous]

As someone with almost 20 years in the magazine business, there is an ebb and flow to it. Ad content will dictate edit volume in nearly every circumstance; like Brian stated, it pays the bills. NO ads, and regardless of how many subscribers you have, you'll quickly go out of business. This spring may be especially hard if all of the retail guys are down on revenue, because, despite us year-round customers, all the hobby businesses make thier big money in the Oct-Dec holiday quarter. We should be glad we even get a magazine we like; take it from someone who tried to self-publish a quarterly, this can be a financially terrifying business without long-term planning and solid money in the bank. It will make you moderately rich if you start out a millionaire and are not managing it all the time.

In reading the above comments, the real question that comes to my mind is how much is e-commerce /the Web changing the marketplace? Everybody with an ebay account becomes a dealer, drawing money through the hobby but not through the traditional outlets. For those of us who like news, we are getting a spoonful of it everyday here at trains.com and other sites. For the most part, we still expect the internet to be a free forum, but someone needs to generate the content as well as eat. I know the few sites I do commercial work for do not pay enough to be comfortable with them as full time employment. So, my guess is that, sooner or later, we will be subscribing to places like this and will consider the 20.00 a year it costs to be part of our everyday lives just like a regular paper subscription.

But don't worry; that probably won't happen until the flat panel screens are cheap enough we can hang them up on every bathroom wall opposite the john....