My wife took 6 weeks off this summer and one of the projects was to “empty boxes in the basement” and also to develope a spot in the basement for my hobbies (trains, guitar, astronomy, and a couple others).
Thus, last weekend I began moving Trains Magazines from boxes to a designated spot. Along with that task, I began quickly reviewing each magazine and compiling a database (notebook and pencil) of all magazines with articles / features of interest. The collection is nearly complete from 1965 on with a few from the 1950s. Yes, I know the entire collection is available digitally, but there is something to be said about a magazine (or book) in hand.
So far I have completed up to December 1999. It has been very interesting to note the differences the editors had on the magazine.
David Morgan - One of the biggest contributions he made (other than incredible writing ability) was his introduction of Richard Steinheimer and his ongoing use of his work. Once he was introduced, DPM found it to his advantage to keep using the “Stein” formula. Interestingly, the effect of Stein seemed greater with B&W. I found his color work less dramatic. DPM had a group of writers such as Middleton, Drury, Hilton which were very effective. It was on DPM’s watch that he gave Fred Frailey his opening shot - a 2 part series on KCS.
J. David Ingles - Opened the floodgates of advertising to the magazine. From a 60 page format of DPM the page count moved into the 90s and occassionally triple digit. While I like JDI’s writing and photo documentaries of the 60s -70s, I found the editorial content slipped considerably.
Kevin Keefe - moved to a major feature story each month, typically on a line segment. In addition to Fred Frailey, Keefe used a stable of authors for these well written examination of lines or divisions including Michael Blazcak and Mark Hemphill. The page count