To Renew Or Not To Renew

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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I have been an MR subscriber for well over 40 years. I always renewed my subscription without a moment’s hesitation.

My subscription expires wth the March issue, and I’m rather surprised to find myself hesitating on renewing.

There are a few reasons why I’m considering not renewing:

First, I was really cheezed off by how Kalmbach switched over to Trains.com and just left all the MRVP subscribers twisting in the wind, with almost no new content (and no explanation) for many months. They were diverting content over to the (at the time) “coming soon” Trains.com, and didn’t even have the basic business ethics to let subscribers know what was happening. I’m pretty sure this was not the decision of the editorial staff, but of the company owners. At this point I’m thinking “why continue to support people who apparently don’t give a rat’s patutti about their own subscriber base?”

Another thing is, the MR and Trains.com staff seem to be isolating themselves more and more from their readers. Maybe that’s an inaccurate reading of the situation, but it sure seems that way to me.

Then there’s so much free information out there these days (in terms of YouTube videos) that it doesn’t make much sense to pay basically too much money for a very thin publication. Now a lot of those YouTube videos leave something to be desired, to say the least, but threre are some pretty good ones out there too.

Finally, I’m just more and more loathe to waste money for what seems to be products of constantly diminishing value. Maybe that’s just a sign of age creeping up on me, but I dropped the NMRA this past year because they offer absolutely nothing of value in the area where I live.

Model Railroader magazine seems more and more just a print version of Kalmbach’s Trains.com videos - not much really fresh stuff anymore.

I’m not trying to bash Kalmbach or any of their organizations, though

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I have been a subscriber for only four years, so I don’t have the long-term perspective you have.

I love the print magazine. I look forward to each issue, and I will probably always renew it.

I read it cover-to-cover, even if I’m not particularly interested in the topic.

It is one of only two print magazines I buy.

I live in an isolated area with no other model railroaders that I know of nearby. The magazine and this forum make me feel connected to others who share my interests.

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I subscribe to Model Railroader, Fine Scale Modeler, and Classic Trains.

Of those three, I look forward to MR the most, but I do enjoy FSM the most lately.

I will probably always subscribe. MR just seems to give the hobby a “center” for me. I have been a subscriber at least 90% of the time since I was 10 years old.

Yes, you should renew.

-Kevin

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Hi Mark

I always looked forward to my Model Railroad magazine every month when I was a kid busy with the hobby. I’d have to say I’m just as happy to see it in the mail for the last six years picking the hobby back up again. The only difference is I liked how the magazine was two times thicker when I was young.

I see your point when they changed their mail headings to Trains instead of Model Railroader and didn’t make their subscribers aware.

I had just renewed my subscription over the phone for my brother and I but never knew I got a bill. I kept throwing away the envelopes that said Trains because I used to have a subscription to Trains and always got solicitation offering it at a lower cost after I canceled.

Long story short my Model Railroader magazine was canceled which could have been easily avoided if they would have let their subscribers know of the change.

I’m still delighted when I see my magazine in the mail but I’m also the kind of guy that still likes to read the paper instead of staring into a computer screen. For those reasons I don’t even have a computer and like magazines on subjects of Interest.

TF

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I was about to drop my subscription to the MR magazine some years ago, but they changed editors and Niel Bosougloff changed the whole magazine in a few months. I stayed for years after that.

I really think that the MR magazine has suffered since Niel left. My subscription is up in May and I don’t plant to renew. I get the feeling that Kalmbach is letting the magazine go in favor of online, and “monetizing” the online material. I’ve predicted this for years.

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Mark,

If it were me I wouldn’t…but that’s a personal decision and one which only you are the best qualified to make…for yourself.

I haven’t subscribed to MR or purchased an issue for years because I just don’t find it beneficial to my modeling needs. The forum, OTOH, I would gladly pay a yearly fee to use. I can ask specific questions that relate to what I’m interested in, or answer questions that I know something about or have experience with. And there is always something to learn. A magazine just doesn’t offer that for me.

Tom

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Well, the magazine subsidizes the forum, so if enough people drop the magazine then I assume that the forum goes away.

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Does any model railroad forum charge a fee to be a member?

Rich

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Do you know for a fact that the magazine subsidizes the forum?

Rich

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I imagine there might be, Rich…but I personally don’t know of one.

Most likely…

Tom

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Well, it will not get any better if everyone stops buying it.

Same goes for the NMRA, it is a volunteer organization. I don’t have the time or personal situation to allow me to volunteer, so I pay the money to provide tools for those who can. By all accounts only one in twenty (or less) active modelers belongs to the NMRA - imagine what they could be doing if everyone belonged. They did important stuff back in the day - if I can afford this hobby I can afford to support their efforts. I’m not really the convention type, but I still belong, 52 years now.

And 54 years as a MR subscriber - still have them all, in very good condition, and a lot more even older issues. And RMC too…

Youtube - not for me, most of those guys drive me nuts in 4 minutes.

MR is not perfect, the hobby, the market, and the media business in general have changed and continue to change - give them a chance, they are not Apple or Microsoft, or even Ford, GM or Toyota.

They are just a handful of people publishing a few magazines for some old fashioned hobbies.

I would pay for a good ad free forum, I already do for my other hobby. If anybody wants to see a forum that actually works in all respects, check out www.mytractorforum.com - user owned and operated. I’m in the GRAVELY section under a user name you will recognize.

I spent years trying to offer help on this forum, I have pretty much given up on that idea. I will share my upcoming layout build, and see how that goes.

I thought the last 4 or 5 issues of MR were pretty good, even if only a little applied to my modeling. I posted on here about an article in MR a few months back - my post got one response.

I get it, my whole life is about me, and we are all that way - what’s in it for me?

Well I’m real busy these days trying to get the layout room ready, and making extra money during this building boom, so I can build the layout, build a

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Great post Sheldon.

-Kevin

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I agree with Kevin.

A great post, Sheldon.

David

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A little background on my relationship with MR… My first issue was December 1955, which I bought at the local soda shop for fifty cents. Since then, I have been a constant reader and a subscriber beginning in the 1970s, and am now in the midst of a two year subscription.

It has been my favorite mag (next to Playboy) for most of this time. Today, as I’ve been “layout free” for a year, I still look forward to its arrival, but not with the anticipation I once had. That said, I love to check out the reader Q&A, new products and tests, layout pics and “how to” articles.

Especially “these days”, reading MR beats the heck out of news, celebrity mags, etc. And I will likely continue to subscribe until I’m no longer above ground.

Make no mistake, if we quit buying MR, Kalmbach will eventually realize they have no reason to keep this FREE forum afloat.

And if you want to punish Kalmbach because you are unhappy with their online or dvd services, go through the proper channels to get your views considered.

Folks, the magazine industry is having a seriously hard time as it is, and many have already gone “bye bye”. So if you are able, I urge you to keep buying MR.

For the record, I wonder how many of the posters on this thread do not buy MR. As they say here in Texas, “they just don’t have any dogs in this fight”.

Hey, whatever you do, please be safe out there!

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I am always amused at how people link the magazine to the forum. I doubt that Kalmbach will ever decide to maintain the forum for a fee. Who else does that? If Kalmbach wants to link the magazine to the forum, it should require a magazine subscription to be a member of the forum. That will sort out the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.

Rich

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Excellent post Sheldon.

This is actually one of the things I like about the magazine. It shows me other aspects about the hobby that I may not know about or spend my time looking up. If it’s there in the magazine, I’ll look at it. Probably learn something. May even be turned on to something I never would have thought/known about otherwise. If I rely on youtube, I’m only looking up something specific, fighting through a bunch of bad videos until I find a decent one (if I make it that far) that provides what I was looking for. MR provides me a nice broad hobby base to draw from in case I ever need it. My subscription is and will be maintained.

17

I let my subscription lapse with the January issue. I had been on a 3 year subscription and I was put off by the price of just a 1 year basic subscription. I don’t remember it being nearly that high when I reupped 3 years ago. I debated with myself whether or not to renew and the next thing I knew January was over. I had to take my dogs into the vet in Columbus, OH yesterday and it was my first chance to get to my LHS without making a special trip since December. I was hoping I could still get the February issue but they had just gotten the March issue in so I got that instead.

I’ll probably still renew but only for a year at a time. I’ve gotten to the age where I don’t even buy green bananas.

I also stopped at the supermarket and I happened to go past their magazine stand. I was amazed to see it was about 1/3 the size of what I remember. The number of offerings were very limited. I wonder how long MR or any other printed magazines are going to be around.

18

If MR stays relevant, I’ll continue to subscribe. Relevant would mean articles and discussions about modern railroad modeling.

Growing up in the 1970s, I read articles about railroading 20 years earlier. In 2022, I expect to be reading a lot of artictes about railroading 60 years earlier. I guess over the past 40 plus years of reading the same content, it can get a little repetitive.

There weren’t many YouTubers before 2000, so that’s where a lot of the modern focus has gone, albeit some pretty bad presentations.

I’m not into complicated techniques for getting things done. In my world, layout construction is about pine boards, plywood sheets, drywall screws, a bus wire and feeders. Switch machines?..I thought that was a finger. What do you use a terminal block for? I’ve seen them for 40 years and still can’t figure out how I would use one. Lichen, polyfiber? How many articles can you write about that.

Not much reason to keep old mags that pre date about 2005 for layout content, and any “how to” article is probably not relevant to me.

A huge part of any magazine, whether paper or digital, is talking about new things. But, new things don’t come around that often.

If MR ever gets into financial problems, it could consider liscensing its brand to quality youtubers and independednt video companies. Contributors like Lance Mindheim, Thomas Klimoski, and other past article writers could have their websites and video production sponsored by MR.

Sort of farm out the articles to independent producers, since the independent producers are going to do it anyway. MR could take the form of “high quality” YouTube articles farmed out to acceptable YouTubers.

As far as a fee for a forum or an add free venue. Fat chance. It would last about a month before the bean counters figured out that they could charge BOTH a mont

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I know what you mean. As a modeler who has been interested in post year 2000 railroading, which has only now begun to be not-uncommon, I have spent years reading stuff that is outside of my direct interests.

Welcome to the party.

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What’s an antenna?