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I'm still skeptical that the decline in MR's page count is caused by a decline in the hobby overall. For instance, I ran across two issues of Mainline Modeler, the same month (can't remember which) in 1998 and 2002. The page count was exactly the same, so a number of magazines apparently aren't as much affected by the economy. A comparison of page counts for the same month 1998 vs 2002 for MR would likely be very different. Consider too Athearn's apparently very successful launch of its Athearn Ready to Roll products. Good paint and good presentation are letting Athearn make big bucks out of 30 and 40 year old die work. Somebody got a bright idea, it looks like -- can't say the hobby's necessarily in decline for that. Somebody said MR became "technical" under Paul Larson and Linn Westcott, but if you consider that MR's circulation was near its peak about 1977 when Westcott retired (with far fewer people in the hobby), I'm not sure if this is the answer. In fact, about 1977-80 is when the new magazines like Prototype Modeler, Mainline Modeler, and Model Railroading got started (or turned into monthlies). These mags were picking up the readers who didn't feel challenged by MR, in many cases, and instead ran a little too much Malcolm Furlow. This is where MR began to leave serious money on the counter. Apparently MR still believes it shouldn't challenge its readers, and circulation and ad figures ought to be convincing them otherwise.
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