Guess what I got in the mail today? The monthly Model Railroader
Model Train Update from Trains.com. They are having a contest
to give away an HO train set to new model railroaders.
http://sweepstakes.kalmbach.com/sweeps/default.aspx?swID=41&auth=H2hkGUBUNB
I bet that the editors don’t see anything wrong with annoying
~38% (other scales) of their readership. They are actively
promoting HO to new modelers, instead of giving the winner
a choice of scales.
Tony Burzio
San Diego, CA
Tony,Nothing new under the sun there.MR has always been pro HO.
ive seen where they have had other scale train set give aways u just got 2 look but there there
usually contests like this are in part to the manufacterer donating the prize, so MR probably just took what they could get for free.
Tony
I think you need to check MR’s list of past winners for MR’s online contests. A complete set of S trains from S helper, a G scale power pack, and an N scale set, among others. They can’t be everything to all modelers, and they do play more to the larger audience.
That being said, If you don’t like the prize, don’t enter. It will improve my chances!![:D]
I agree that MR has become more HO oriented over the last several months, about the time they changed editors. Our N scale club met last night and everyone agreed that MR has become more focused on HO to the exclusion of other scales. Even the product reviews and new product column which were balanced before are now more HO scale than ever before.
Ed Schultz
Last time I saw survey info, about 70% of scale modelers were into HO scale. Maybe there is something to that free HO train set. Do you also complain at local shows/meets when the door prizes usually are HO items? The fact is that most modelers are into HO. That said, I have a lot of N scale, and some G as well. My LHS sells at least 90-95% of their train stuff to HO modelers, and they do have a good selection of Kato/Atlas/Micro-Trains items in N scale.
I have noticed that in larger metro areas one sees a lot of N scale, but in the outstate areas I see mainly HO layouts(and hobby shops).
I have been to regional meets where Canadian modelers complain about not enough CPR/CN stuff in the states, and then see US guys complain about the lack of US stuff when the meet is in Canada! You cannot please everyone, and when the price is FREE as in door prize, I find it had to understand the logic. Sorta like kicking a gift horse in the mouth. I won a P2K CN gondola last year in Thunder Bay at a meet. It really was too modern(lettering) for my layout. I sent the Hobby shop that donated it a nice email thanking them, and then sold it at a ‘flea market’ - the guy who bought it really wanted that car! It all worked out in the end…
Jim Bernier
I’ve been reading Model Railroader for 40 years and some people have been making your complaint for all of that time. I still like the magazine and I switched from HO to N in 1968.
When was the last time MR did a review of a TT guage piece of equipment? I have never seen one. Although they try to please as much of the market as possible, they have to serve the majority…it’s a business kinda thing.
BC