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.
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…[;)]
I’ve bought occasional Trains at the hobby shop. I just subscribed and March was my first delivered issue. I thought, “Hmm. They must have separate printings for subscribers.”
My copy is in a protective cover.
…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.
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? [:(]
I loved the article on the SP station at Surf.I was on fantrips to that point from L.A. in 1972 &73.It certainly was a lonely outpost. The article on the KCS business train was very informative.The cover photo was great! My issue had no protective cover.
[tup]
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
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![swg]
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
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… [swg] 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! [bow]Please don’t take it personal. [#oops] 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.
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! [:D] 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. [:(]