"Not enough S-scale in Classic Toy Trains", what's your opinion?

[WRGMILW]

I have a subscription to CTT !  

I have read various articles & ads for S - GAUGE/scale.

I believe with MTH getting into s-gauge , maybe we will see s gauge climb in popularity again !

MTH made O gauge rise from the ashes in the late 1990's .

With prices rising quicker than our wages, maybe we will be lucky just to keep our train hobby alive ! 

just my two cents worth !

[Dave632]

 I imagine that the reason they cater to the Lionel crowd is that they are in the majority. Personally I have never had an S gauge of any kind but I can understand the reason readers who like S gauge are complaining. Posts like this will probably help but I think the majority will still rule.

[Penny Trains]

I just want to chime in and mention that being able to have discussions like this is what makes America great.

That being said, my Christmas layouts will be in either the December or January issue (not sure which) and I use O, S and Standard Gauge.  That article wouldn't be happening without the response to the postings I've made right here on this forum.  Based on my experiences I have to believe that they DO listen.

Becky

[LittleTommy]

I am a Flyer "Hi Rail" kind of guy and have been a subscriber from the 1st issue of CTT.  I preferred the "classic" articles (covering Ives, Marx, Flyer[Chicago Flyer and Gilbert Flyer], Dorfan) and liked the Standard Gauge as well as the Garden Railroad articles.  I was disappointed when the Garden Railroads went to their own magazine and, if I am disappointed as a "Flyer Guy" imagine how the Marx enthusiast must feel.  If we are talking about Classic Toy Trains, a few articles about wind up trains should be in order, but they also are absent.

On the other hand, the Layout Visit articles are much more instructive than they were in the first issues and the quality of writing is much better.

 

Although the articles about Flyer are not as frequent as I might like, they are well written.  Many of the Flyer related articles in the early issues had severe errors of fact, but this has not been the case in many years.

As a S gauge Hi Rail kind of guy, I read Model Railroader, Model Railroad Craftsman and Classic Toy Trains and I take and adapt ideas from the HO guys, the Lionel guys and even the N scale guys.

If you don't like the current editorial policy of CTT, wait about 2 years and it will change again.

Little Tommy

 

 

 

[wallyworld]

I subscribe to three other Kalmbach publications, Trains, Classic Trains and Garden Railways, each of which are excellent, however I dropped my subscription to CTT for the same reason and a common comment is that the magazine should be titled Classic Lionel  among ex subscribers. In it's own way it tries to achieve a balance and you cannot please everyone but it seems to be divided between new product which does not fit the classic selling point or Lionel, Lionel, Lionel. I stopped posting here for that reason as it seemed pointless for me personally. However I am sure Lionel fans would comment otherwise. Another issue I had was the lack of reasonable and affordable layout plans, which seems to have improved somewhat. I added up the cost of some of these and they were staggering to my budget. Standard Gauge is a classic but I think all of this simply boils down to getting over the misnaming of the magazine..Its a good magazine for beginners per their repetitive how to articles that are fantastic for newbies but are of not much  use to veteran modelers. It strikes me as a generic sort of O scale magazine written demographically, which some like , some do not.

I made a comment that criticized a new Lionel transformer on it's weak points and it was never published, it was then I realized you can't fight city hall. The magazine is what it is and it's very doubtful it will ever change. Each to their own. Many forum members that I used to banter topics around with have moved on. I do stop by from time to time here, but there doesnt seem to much going on but the problem could lie with my own interests if thats a problem, who knows? Its their editorial policy to do as they please but on the other hand, while the last S gauge layout coverage was excellent, one article does not a subscription make. It's probably just me but the fact that subscribers write a great deal of the magazine always struck me as odd. It certainly is a less expensive option. The content became predictable in the ways as I mentioned earlier, so I simply moved on.

[Demay]

I’m not trying to cause any problems, but since some of you stated you no longer subscribe to CTT, I decided to review the last four issues to see what CTT contained concerning S gauge/scale.  CTT has run the following S gauge/scale articles recently.  This is in addition to other tidbits or photos of S gauge/scale and pre-war items. 

September 2013 contains two S gauge/scale articles:

1. Achieving realism on a great room-sized S gauge railroad, pp. 60-64
2. Ride in style (product review), pp. 70-71

July 2013 contains one S gauge/scale article:

1. Take a good look at American Flyer’s New Haven passenger sets (Focus on Classics), pp. 60-64

May 2013 contains one S gauge/scale article:

1. Rod Price brings a New Generation into S gauge modeling, pp. 58-63

March 2013 contains one S gauge/scale article:

1. American Flyer’s no. 772 water tower (Collectible Classics), p. 31

I certainly enjoy all scales/gauges of toy trains, but maybe since I’m not an S gauge/scale collector/operator the previous list is enough to meet my expectations of the magazine.  I know this topic has come up before and I’m sure it will again.  I believe last time I saw this topic, CTT’s response stated they run more O gauge/scale articles because the amount of hobbyists in that gauge/scale and also they receive more article submissions on that gauge/scale.  Brent’s suggestion is correct and CTT has stated that before as well. 

Please note I do not work for CTT, just providing my observations.

Regards,

Joe

[lion88roar]

So why don't you write a couple articles and submit them for publication?

[aflyer]

Over the past 8 or 10 years I have restarted and stopped by CTT subscription  2 or 3 times for the same reason.  When there are articles or stories about S layouts or products they are well done, but they are too few and far between.

Lionel has stepped up their S offerings and MTH is getting into S pretty big.  There are several other suppliers out there and it would be great to see tests and articles on more of their products.  Hopefully we will have a larger S showing in the magazine based on new products coming out.

As for the forum, as was said previously that is all about us as S collectors and operators.  If we don't contribute we can't expect others too.

Aflyer

[arnoldafl]

A couple of years ago I decided to drop at least one or two of my magazine subscriptions because i was receiving more than i could easily read in a month. Looking at Classic Toy Trains I found I was not getting my money's worth out of it since there was not enough S gauge articles. In fact it looked like a Lionel O gauge magazine with only a token short mention of American Flyer or other S gauge. So I no longer subscribe.

Bill

[AF53]

Stebby - I have to agree with you on this and this is not the first time it's been brought up. I enjoy the interaction that this web site provides and if there aren't enough threads about American Flyer here, you can only blame the posters, us.

But the magazine is different. I also ended my subscription a while back because, I felt, it lacked not only American Flyer, but Marx and the other "Classic" manufacturers.

I'm sure I would have continued with the magazine if it had more "Classic" articles, but I felt it needed more Pre-War layouts and articles.  

Although I'm not the person you mentioned above, I do understand why he cancelled his subscription.

[stebbycentral]

I was just in the American Flyer interest group on Facebook.  One of our regulars posted a message to the effect that he has ended his subscription to CTT because of the relative absence of articles related to American Flyer, or other S-Scale.  His posting was greeted with a long list of "AMEN, brother!" type of replies. 

So I thought I'd bring that discussion here; what do you think?  Is CTT too slavishly devoted to three-rail?  After all the magazine describes itself in it's banner as "O and S gauge for the operator and collector".   Yet the last major Flyer article I remember was from September of last year.