Only 64 pages...
"Ask Trains" featured only two questions and the "Gallery" featured all of one picture.
I "re-upped" my subscription recently, but if this is the future of the venerable TRAINS magazine, I'll have to think about subscribing next time...
Disappointing issue. Maybe its all the snow.
I was really dissapointed. I receive 'free' professional journals that are more substantial than that.
ouengr wrote:I was really dissappointed. I receive 'free' professional journals that are more sumstancial than that.
Yes. When I pulled that issue from the mailbox, at first, I thought it was perhaps a special advertising issue or maybe a bonus issue.
But it wasn't.
Probably something to do with the weather there - I hope...
I, too, thought something was wrong when I picked it up the first time. Apart from the cover having smudges all over it (no protective covering anymore), it felt light as a feather. Just 64 pages! I flipped through it to make sure that no pages were missing, but none were. In the news section, just one page each for Technology, Locomotives, Passenger and City Rail, when there's usually two. And just one Gallery photo, when there's usually three or four.
For fourty-some bucks a year, I would expect Trains could do better than this. I just hope it's a one-issue thing. If it persists...I don't know. Maybe I'll quit buying their DVD's they keep sending me...
stevewf1 wrote: ouengr wrote:I was really dissappointed. I receive 'free' professional journals that are more sumstancial than that.Yes. When I pulled that issue from the mailbox, at first, I thought it was perhaps a special advertising issue or maybe a bonus issue.But it wasn't.Probably something to do with the weather there - I hope...
....That's unusual. No protective cover on mine.
I did like the article on restoring of depots. But the mag. does seem a bit "thin" this month, down from the normal roughly 80 pages.
And the KCS business train article was interesting too.
Quentin
When I first pulled the March issue out of the mail, I noticed its thin state.
I believe the ad count is way down, especially it you don't count the Kalmbach ads. There is only 7 total pages of non-Kalmbach ads, not counting the 3 pages of classifieds/misc small ads at the rear.
66 pages seems to have been a long time standard for Trains 20+ years ago, let's hope this is only a temporary visit to the past.
Jay
Yep. 63 pages, only 2 Ask Trainses, one page of fantrip, only a little of News & Photos.
All I can ask is, why?
Poppa_Zit wrote: I do think you have a huge set of stones to come on a forum paid for and supported by Trains magazine to announce you've canceled your subscription to Trains and ask for input about which competing magazine you should switch to.
I do think you have a huge set of stones to come on a forum paid for and supported by Trains magazine to announce you've canceled your subscription to Trains and ask for input about which competing magazine you should switch to.
chefjavier -- when it is time for you to take a meal break at work, do you announce to your boss you're leaving his restaurant to buy your meal at a competing restaurant?
Chico
eolafan wrote: chefjavier wrote: My Magazine came without the cover and slim. I thought it came from Panini press. I have been a Trains subscribers all my life. I just recently cancel the subscription due to my differents in the thread before. I am now trying to decide from Railpace or Railroad Illustrated magazine. Do you have any recommendations? ThanksSuggestions??? Actually yes, I do have one if you really have cancelled your TRAINS subscription...go away, far away, to anyplace but here. Well, PZ, I don't have near the patience for such "stones" and will say pretty much what I think until I am voted down, and even then......
chefjavier wrote: My Magazine came without the cover and slim. I thought it came from Panini press. I have been a Trains subscribers all my life. I just recently cancel the subscription due to my differents in the thread before. I am now trying to decide from Railpace or Railroad Illustrated magazine. Do you have any recommendations? Thanks
My Magazine came without the cover and slim. I thought it came from Panini press. I have been a Trains subscribers all my life. I just recently cancel the subscription due to my differents in the thread before. I am now trying to decide from Railpace or Railroad Illustrated magazine. Do you have any recommendations?
Thanks
Suggestions??? Actually yes, I do have one if you really have cancelled your TRAINS subscription...go away, far away, to anyplace but here. Well, PZ, I don't have near the patience for such "stones" and will say pretty much what I think until I am voted down, and even then......
He's one of the most active people here, too, Jim. You'd think a chef would be grateful for a free lunch...
So Kalmbach's ad pages are down in this issue. Down from what? The large issues of the past few months? That's how the industry goes. Anyone check the page count lately in the daily newspapers in the nation's largest cities?
Next thing, with the spring slowdown on the railroads, we'll have rabid foamers calling the railroads complaining they don't have enough trains or their trains are too short.
Railroad Illustrated? Isn't that a coloring book?
Poppa Zit: That's what PM's are for.
I have noticed reduced pages, which is rather annoying, but I still think it's a good magazine. Plus I get the subscription as a gift, so I don't have to pay for it!
TrainManTy wrote: Poppa Zit: That's what PM's are for.I have noticed reduced pages, which is rather annoying, but I still think it's a good magazine. Plus I get the subscription as a gift, so I don't have to pay for it!
True enough Tyler...I have been a TRAINS subscriber since the mid 1970's and still very much look forward to receiving my monthly edition. Is every edition 100% top notch, NO, but with any such publication we can't expect perfection every single time. However, the folks at TRAINS do a wonderful job and for anybody to use this forum to crucify them over a single issue (or even several that don't meet his lofty expectations) is enough for me to banish him or her to some other mag and some other forum...but that's just one man's opinion.
Protective covers? What are they? My RMC used to come that way as late as the (I think) early 80's. All my Kalmbach's now come open with a peel-off label. No signs yet of the USPS mailperson leaving a bit of lunch between the pages or having a conversion to the true faith. We can only hope!!!
As for the "light" March issue, I found it pretty meaty. Maybe it was a light news month. I sometimes think that where I live, the Washington Post and Channel 4 puff up slow days with the relentless minutiae of stuff that people can start a conversation with.
But then, maybe the paper or ink didn't arrive on time.
Yers,
RIX
rixflix aka Captain Video. Blessed be Jean Shepherd and all His works!!! Hooray for 1939, the all time movie year!!! I took that ride on the Reading but my Baby caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride.
Go away...any place but here? Ouch bro. OK maybe his statement wasn't that tactfull. Maybe it was tongue-in-cheek. The chef can cook up what ever he wants. He has to eat it. Someone elses turn on the soap box now.
Guy's!
One thing we all have in common. That's the love of Trains.. I learned in Marines to take the feedback good or bad and move foward. Learn by your mistakes but do not make it twice. On this forum, I have learned alot about trains even though I am not in the industry. As you notice, I post alot of questions & pictures to share with my railfans and to find the answers.
I write my personal opinion and the truth. The truth would set you free. If I offended anyone by it. Sorry! Please don't take it personal. It just forum.
Semper Fi
chefjavier wrote: Guy's!One thing we all have in common. That's the love of Trains.. I learned in Marines to take the feedback good or bad and move foward. Learn by your mistakes but do not make it twice. On this forum, I have learned alot about trains even though I am not in the industry. As you notice, I post alot of questions & pictures to share with my railfans and to find the answers.I write my personal opinion and the truth. The truth would set you free. If I offended anyone by it. Sorry! Please don't take it personal. It just forum. Semper Fi
OK, all's forgiven...besides, anybody who served or serves our country in the U.S. Marines can't be all that bad...thanks for your service! Now, let's get back to the train watching.
rixflix wrote: Protective covers? What are they?Yers, RIX
Protective covers? What are they?
Well, the protective cover I was refering too was the clear plastic sleeve the magazine used to be delivered in. They discontinued this, at least to my house, many years ago, and replaced it with the peel-off address label. To my suprise, I've never really got an issue that's torn up, just wet or dirty, which makes me really wish the sleeve was back.
More recently, Trains has also had a heavy tear-off cover on the front of some of their magazines, advertising a special issue or something. This kind of protects the actual cover, but this only happens on a few issues per year.
Besides this issue's lack of pages & stuff, I think Trains is the best train magazine out there. I can't imagine getting any other one. The others are cool, but I don't think any of them compare to Trains. They're always interesting, very informative, and are enjoyable to look at even years later. One of my biggest non-internet resources for trains is, well, Trains! I hope they continue to make the great magazines they've made for years, no matter how big they are.
There's a lot of possibilities why the March '08 Trains issue is a slim one. Rising costs in printing, and paper, fewer non Kalmbach publishers advertising their wares on the pages of Trains Magazine, or a temporary drop in the number of stories submitted to Trains for consideration of publishing.
That being said, the article on the SP operations at Surf, CA. was a great read, as were the stories on the KCS office car train and the interest in hometown train stations. And how about the news articles written by Don Phillips and Roy Blanchard? Good, informative articles.
My copy of the March issue arrived in good condition, save for a few minor smudges on the front cover, and a small tear on the bottom of the back cover. Nothing a little clear tape can't handle. At least it wasn't like the November '07 issue that showed up in my mail box hammered. Sometimes the Post Office does a good job of not mangling the mail, and other times it's as if somebody's danced the Irish Jig on my mail.
You can shop 'til you drop, but I really don't think you are going to find a better publications for the rail fan than the five Kalmbach publications you find named at the head this page. Of the hundreds? thousands? of magazine titles, the Chicago Tribune put Trains in a list of the top 50. Not bad.
Does every article in the magazine flip my switch? Of course not. If the magazine produced only what I like, I'll bet more than half the readers would walk. As PZ noted, printed magazines (and other print media) once THE source for information now face enourmous competition from other information providers and the mad scramble for finite advertising dollars is intense.
By the way, while total page count may be down, have any of you compared the volume of editorial content over the issues of the past few years? Seems like that might be a better measure of the direction of content volume rather than raw page count.
The story of the plastic cover is one of change to a more efficient and somewhat less costly distribution system. The covers were used when the magazines were shipped from the printer in the US Postal Service. Seems that the folks at the printing company had some good ideas about shipping printed matter. Now the Kalmbach magazines being printed at about the same time of the month are sort by zip code down to the carrier route order, bundled by post office and delivered to the regional postal centers or if the volume is large enough to individual post office. The carrier handling that leg is none other than United Parcel Service. If your magazine was a little messed up, ask your local carrier to take a little better care. He is just about the only person handling your copy.
That distribution tooks some fun out of the forum. "I got mine today" was a frequent forum subject and the spread from "I was first" to "finally was often as much as two weeks. Now, most of us will get ours within a three day spread.
"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics
SchemerBob wrote: rixflix wrote: Protective covers? What are they?Yers, RIXWell, the protective cover I was refering too was the clear plastic sleeve the magazine used to be delivered in. They discontinued this, at least to my house, many years ago, and replaced it with the peel-off address label. To my suprise, I've never really got an issue that's torn up, just wet or dirty, which makes me really wish the sleeve was back.More recently, Trains has also had a heavy tear-off cover on the front of some of their magazines, advertising a special issue or something. This kind of protects the actual cover, but this only happens on a few issues per year.
My March issue arrived in a sealed, clear plastic sleeve.
SOOTOWER wrote: My March issue arrived in a sealed, clear plastic sleeve.
...The issue I ordered and recieved several months ago was sealed in a plastic cover: The Railroads and World War II. That was from Kalmbach.
Zip code demographics? I have lived in several DC neighborhoods since 1965. Sealed in plastic issues from RMC, MR, TRAINS, etc. were the rule in 1980 Brookland (NE) and 1982 18th and California (NW) but not in semi-ritzy Crestwood MD which was just across the Western avenue line.
I would guess that Kalmbach wants the mags to get to the subscriber and the people handling distribution know how to tailor the packaging to the 'hood. Is the weather or the neighborhood so bad that protective packaging is necessary?
I like to live on the cheap side of life and have seen neighborhoods change. My rent for a place where I can't shuffle (no strides here!) six feet without bumping into something is $1200 a month. The former diversity of people here has declined to the point where pedestrians won't even smile back to me, let alone say G'morning. It's probably disappointment and guilt that they are paying big dollars to live in the vibrant multicultural neighborhood that was advertised and now find themselves living with their vacuous, mortgaged up to here, clones.
I'd still like to find my mailperson thumbing through my Classic Trains. We would have a chat!!!
Rick
...I don't know Rix.....We've built and lived here for years and I've had my magazine both ways....In and without the plastic cover. And seemingly, not too many months ago, a plastic cover. It's not a ritzy location but should qualify as at least normal...It is a golf course community.
So I doubt that has anything to do whether it is, or is not in it's plastic protective cover.
Those "thicker paper advertising covers" that are sometimes on the magazine do help keep it in good shape in my opinion.
SchemerBob wrote:Besides this issue's lack of pages & stuff, I think Trains is the best train magazine out there. I can't imagine getting any other one. The others are cool, but I don't think any of them compare to Trains. They're always interesting, very informative, and are enjoyable to look at even years later. One of my biggest non-internet resources for trains is, well, Trains! I hope they continue to make the great magazines they've made for years, no matter how big they are.
Agreed!
The simple fact is that Trains has gone down hill for the past several years. The magazine has taken the perspective of promoting taxpayer supported passenger rail and ignoring arguments that disagree. I wish that trains would go back to being objective and getting out of the politics of promoting Amtrak. I understand reporting on the actions of politiccians but I really do not want to read the political propoganda.
I remember when I was a teenager and received 'the Farewall to the Caboose' issue. I read that issue to the point where it fell apart. I wound up buying couple of copies a few years ago and it is amoung my most favorite issues ever. In years past, Trains did a great job of reporting and avoiding the extreme politics of the current magazine.
I can understand the desire to cancel your subscription and consider other options. I do no think that it is bad to ask about the competition. Perhaps it is intended to remind Trains that the customer matters and they we are unhappy.
ouengr wrote: The simple fact is that Trains has gone down hill for the past several years. The magazine has taken the perspective of promoting taxpayer supported passenger rail and ignoring arguments that disagree. I wish that trains would go back to being objective and getting out of the politics of promoting Amtrak. I understand reporting on the actions of politiccians but I really do not want to read the political propoganda. I remember when I was a teenager and received 'the Farewall to the Caboose' issue. I read that issue to the point where it fell apart. I wound up buying couple of copies a few years ago and it is amoung my most favorite issues ever. In years past, Trains did a great job of reporting and avoiding the extreme politics of the current magazine.I can understand the desire to cancel your subscription and consider other options. I do no think that it is bad to ask about the competition. Perhaps it is intended to remind Trains that the customer matters and they we are unhappy.
I fully agree with ouengr that everybody should periodically look at competitors of the companies you are currently doing business with...this competitive environment tends to stimulate better service for all customers...this applies to each and every aspect of our lives. On the subject of TRAINS and all competing magazines, I have subscribed to virtually every one in the past and given the rising prices of all of them, I needed to make a decision about which one provides the best value (i.e. coverage, breadth of subject matter and my general level of interest and enjoyment when reading the contents) and have found TRAINS to be the very best I can find. Now, is TRAINS a solid 10 on the 1-10 scale of value, no it is not, but it is certainly a solid 8 to 9 (depending on the particular issue) and the others don't even come close in my opinion.
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