I see in the December 2020 issue that Keith Wills’ Heritage Fleet column is being discontinued, and that Larry Puckett is retiring from the DCC Corner, to be replaced by Allan Gartner. The November issue had the last of the monthly N scale columns. Change is often good, but given that Kalmbach just killed off Scale Auto Magazine, I am wondering if these changes are to change the direction of the magazine a bit (which could be good) or are cost-cutting measures (bad.)
Larry Pucket sounds familiar; didn’t he used to have a regular DCC column in another magazine, although I can’t remember which.
I noticed there seem to be a lot more advertisements in the December issue, and that is very good.
-Kevin
Puckett has cranked out his youtube videos to two a week and expanded into layout construction, not just DCC. Maybe he is bored with writing on how to install a decoder in this or that.
There are people who have quit their day jobs to make a living producing Youtube videos. He’s going to need more followers than his 9,000. Luke Towan has 1 mil, Kathy Millat 47K and the It’s My Railroad guy 19k
I see this fluidly. If the magazine doesn’t evolve continually, if unwisely, it stands a good chance of losing relevance, currency, appeal, and ultimately market value. No-one has made the case, yet, that the changes are unwise, so I’m willing to accept on good faith that they know what they’re doing, and why they feel it’s a reasonable series of changes. As for cost-cutting, this is a no-brainer. It’s NEVER a bad idea to cut costs where costs can be cut reasonably. The results may not appeal to everyone, but the alternative might be so far as to lose the publication. Everyone has to make a buck, nobody likes culling staff, especially after they’ve become friends, and cutting frills might make a lot of sense in lean times…which increasingly times are for paper publications of all kinds.
He was a columnist for Model Railroading magazine. Those MRG issues from the 90’s were great.
I am concerned that the print magazine, along with people like me, is becoming a thing of the past. They have moved a lot of content online already, and sometimes it seems like the print magazine is losing importance in the new electronic age. Sometimes, print articles are really just short teasers to point subscribers to online content.
MR is the only magazine I get. I used to take a couple of issues with me to read on the plane, or sitting in a hotel room, but I’m retired now and don’t travel as much. I don’t think the magazine has fared well over the last couple of years, and I may not renew my subscription when the time comes.
I find it much easier to read on a computer that a magazine, troble is they want alot for their video content.
Well I believe at least two of those three columns are written by guys that are of a fairly advanced age. It might be they just felt like retiring?
Keith Wills for sure, he was writing the same column in RMC for what seemed like forever, came over to MR when RMC was in flux there for a while. I will miss the historical perspective on the hobby.
Jim Kelly is definitely getting up there as well. He retired quite some time ago, but still wrote the N scale column. An article from 10 years ago said Jim was 70. So no wonder he wants to stop having to write a column every other month.
Not sure how old Larry Puckett is, but he’s no spring chicken either. Looks like he’s having fun with expanding the scope of his YouTube channel, and probably deserves a lot more subscribers than he has, but such is the way it goes. I doubt he’s trying to earn a living from YouTube the way some people do who are up in the million subscriber range - and those people make significant money. They also have staffs to edit their videos. Most of the channels I like the best are the smaller operations - some make significant money but not “hire a staff” level on money, and the personal touch in the whole production process is evident.
–Randy
When I was a kid, I always had an RMC subscription (not sure why, honestly, when I think back to the content differences between RMC and MR) and I always enjoyed Heritage Fleet. Never seemed quite the same after it moved over to MR.
I’m in Mr B’s camp. I can take a magazine into the bathtub, up a deer stand or outside in bright sun. I don’t like the fact that in some of the how to articles, MR footnotes very small pictures to show how to do something. It would be nice if I could go online and blow those pics up to something I could actually see.
Al Kambach wasn’t ever going to leave MR, but he owned the shop. Editors and writers come and go in all publications. Drew of MRVP’s Trackside Adventures is now a Marketing Specialist for KPG.
You’d take a magazine into a tub? Maybe its just not me but I’d never bring a magazine into a tub since I know my luck would cause me to drop it into the water get it soggy and ruin the pages. Meanwhile waterproof cellphones and tablets are starting to become the norm, there are many phones that would survive being dunked in the tub that are starting to enter the market.
I have my own laundry list of why I don’t subscribe to MR anymore (and recently just put the subscription money into RMC instead) but I feel that is not worth dragging out on a forum hosted by MR itself.
The pages do fine, except they all stick together [:D]
I guess it is not MR’s fault, it is hard to come up with new content all the time but part of that is their fault, if you ever tried to get something published, you would know what I mean. They put articles that past muster in the files but no comitment to a time frame for publication. It is not like other publications that you can shop article around (proubly used to be, but not now). Lets face it, print is expencive, postage has doubled in the past 6 years to mail mags so shipping is a major expence along with printing. Just print cost is $1 or more, postage .54 cents.
I guess I may be crossing forums but just posted same thoughts with MRs repeat referencing of Polly Scale colors with limited suggestions to current paint options. It has to do with relevance. The freshest article as of late was the freight car series. Just dug into Towan videos and have to say those types of learning videos are hard to beat. I wish MR many years to come but it is going to be challenging.
Well, looking at all the personnel changes at MR lately it seems there’s something big happening there behind the scenes. Then there’s the columns disappearing too.
The magazine goes through periods of boring and exciting to me. I personally miss more indepth type articles than the photo caption direction they have turned to.
I know they always say they can’t print what isn’t submitted but I’ve talked to many modelers who have sent in articles and been rejected including myself. The normal return comment is it’s not interesting as it’s a non-popular scale or the format isn’t right or it’s not written well. What is the large staff of editers for? I thought they were there to help us with that sort of thing. I guess if you’re one of their “favorites” they willingly accept your articles but everyone else be damned?
I also feel like an outsider with MR as many articles and things point to the MR VideoPlus and other extra cost things. I don’t much like paying for a subscription and then be treated like a second class sitizen so I won’t be renewing my subscription.
I always read both MR and RMC until RMC went to it’s new publisher. It’s mostly modern stuff and not very interesting to me so I don’t pick it up now. I’ve been reading all the mags since about 1955. I always felt like MR was like sitting in a class with a professor and RMC was a bunch of guys sitting around talking about how they do things.
Anyway, I wish them luck.
My 2¢.
oldline1
In a way it is their problem. If you take a look at the free magazine, built from the ground up to be electronically delivered, you will see that the pictures in articles there can be massively zoomed without going grainy.
MR digital has gotten a lot better in recent months in that regard, but still isn’t quite there. Digital editions of the newest books have gotten much btter compared to books published just a couple of years ago.
–Randy
I just do not know what to think. I have been buying MR at cover price since some where around 1977. I never had a subscription that I can remember. I was reading and learning from at least three other ‘model railroad’ rags on and off in that time frame also. You know Magazines can take up a lot of space.
Here’s the funny part. I paid cover price all those years and received nothing extra. Back then there was nothing extra that I can think of anyway, so no big deal.
MR magazine ‘deep discounts cover price’ if you "Subscribe’'. Half if not more of the cover price is knocked off and with “Benefits”. Now you get more for less.
If you have bills to pay, why do you deep discount your product?
The November 2020 magazine sells over the counter at $7.99 with zero benafits, but sells to a Subscriber for approximately $3.74 and you get many extra benefits that cost the Company more money.
Now is this magazine really worth the $7.99 or is it only worth $3.74?
Is the Publising Company hurting themselves with discounts or are the Subscribers hurting the Company?
With Subscriptions, a Co. then can set a budget, with over the counter sales it’s hit or miss.
Being in the magazine publishing business has to be very difficult and this year 2020 had to be a nightmare.
When I get MR it goes everywhere with me for a few days, work, lunch, sitting in the work truck reading and looking at model trains when I should be working, home, by the pool and yes the tub which the mag. will end up with wrinkled pages.
When I get MR the first page I turn to is the ‘‘Next Issue’’ part. I like this MR Forum, Thank you MR. I consider this my ‘‘Benefit’’ with my MR over the counter purchase. Plus it gets me to the Hobbie shop to see whats
How’s this for a change. It’s friday the 13th and I still didn’t receive my issue.