Imagine that you have just been appointed editor of CTT, and didn’t have a board at corporate Kalmbach to report to. What articles would you like to see? What changes to editorial policy would you make? How would you make the magazine a compelling subscription read once again for all in the hobby? Here are some suggestions to begin a discussion:
Redefine Classic toy trains as O & S gauge period. Doesn’t matter what era, doesn’t matter by whom, when or where they were made. We old timers who grew up with O/S in the 1950’s have heard just about every trivia story, and the newer generations who will someday become the future of the hobby could care less about "Lionel in 1960!"
2, There was a time when layout master craftsmen were noted by their skills at “making something out of nothing.” Dave Fr
Excellent comments and I agree with almost all your points. They are accurate, specific and well thought out. I hope these ideas are are implemented by CTT. I especially like your comment about YORK. I really enjoy CTT but all good things can be improved. Once again I support your comments. Glen
I really enjoyed your excellent comments and I am in full support, especially about YORK. CCT is a great magazine but all good things can be improved. THIS IS EARTH NOT HEAVEN Thanks again for your insightful comments Glen
CTT is not a manufacturer rag so they don’t receive product from the manufacturers for free - read: CTT Staff has to pay for the products they review. So if they have no use for an item, why would they want to pay for the item for it to just sit around?
As for the York Train Meet… there are a lot of rules governing what can and cannot be done during the show. It would also be hard for the CTT staff to monitor what is going on within the halls as they just cannot simply stand around and ‘listen in’ the halls are loud and the walk ways are cramped. They cannot take pictures within the halls because camera and phone use is banned within the halls. So what would a York Train Meet article look like? Answer: look at my post.
Just a comment or two. 11st Street writes: “Imagine that you have just been appointed editor of CTT, and didn’t have a board at corporate Kalmbach to report to.”
I’ve been here nearly 15 years and I’ve never heard of anyone on any of the corporate boards or committees direct any Kalmbach title as to the regards of the magazine content. Budget, yes. Marketing and circulation, of course. Content? Nope
The editor (primarily) and the magazine staff decides the content. The publisher (Russ Larson when I arrived, Terry Thompson since Russ retired) generally shapes the direction and emphasis, but he doesn’t sit down and read manuscript submissions.
MTH and Atlas O have been excellent in sending us new products, but as overall production of new types has declined, so too has what they’ve shipped us for review. Lionel has been a bit more of a challenge, and many review products have been purchased by myself or Kent Johnson for home use.
11th. St. - It’s obvious that you have given this a lot of thought. I’ll address some of your points:
“Classic” - To be classic, a car must be between 25 and 40 years old. Beyond 40 years is “antique,” so I guess the right thing to do would be to rename the magazine “Antique Toy Trains,” or just leave the name alone. Also, I really dig the articles on Standard gauge trains which you left out completely. You’re asking the magazine to lose its uniqueness which, to me, would be a big mistake.
Making stuff - Nowadays everybody wants to buy ready made, nobody wants to make, and that’s a shame. Two of the finer articles in the magazine last year were on building a modern sanding facility and how to make unique buildings from common kits.
I couldn’t care less about York except in terms of new product announcements, but I realize that to many foks York is quite the obsession. Color me neutral here.
One person’s meaningless is another’s meaningful. I enjoyed the article on the T-Bird set, and I’ve grown to love Roger’s articles on classics, oops I mean antiques, and toy train history.
I sure don’t know what’s the greatest train store that ever was, but Madison Hardware was a pilgrimage made by thousands. (Aside - To me the greatest train stores were Polk’s Hobby Department Store, on Fifth Avenue just South of 32nd st., and Model Railroad Equipment Corp. on 45th st. between Fifth and Sixth.)
There’s oodles of info re prototype signaling systems in other publications and on the internet. I’m much more interested in learning how to use good ol’ 153’s in a train control block system on a conventionally operated layout. I’m aware that there’s plenty of products and ways to accomplish that, so I’m not sure that it needs to be in the magazine.
A thorough guide to clubs and organizations is a good idea, but I don’t think the magazine needs to publish costs. A pointer to a website or a telephone number would suffice.
Overall I think the rag does a good job covering a fairly diverse segment of the hobby, I’d appreciate some more coverage of Marx and other older trains, the way some here are talking you’d think the entire universe consisted of Lionel, AF and MTH, despite the fact that there were lots of other makes in the CTT universe, how about some articles of older trains like Hafner, Dorf, etc, I cant find squat on these older trains beyond what few websites there are,
And HEY KALMBACH would you please update and reprint the Marx guides once again? I’d like to know what the hork I’m buying and what was made over their 40 YEAR RUN
Seriously NO GUIDE for Marx? yet Lionel & AF get a new one every couple years??? Toytrain discrimination???
As far as YORK comment, KENT JOHNSON did a nice job blogging in on what he saw at the YORK meet a few years ago. Every few hours he wrote in on a thread here on this forum. It was the first of its kind on CTT. Before it was just one of us stating what we saw.
We’ll never re-issue the old large “Greenberg’s Guide To …” references for Lionel, Marx, or Flyer again – at least not in print form.
If you publish something and can’t recover your costs, you don’t do it again. I suspect that since there are not a lot of ready references to Marx, Flyer, Dorfan, etc. in book stores suggests other hobby publishers also know this.
We have had some York coverage in the past – and we usually got hate mail from TCA members running along the line of “What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas.”
In the Fall York, we were going to reprise the attempt of some live web coverage, but the wireless router connection in the hall could not sync with our equipment, so it didn’t happen.
Pete, the distinction between “classic” and “antique” for automobiles (in Texas) has noting to do with their age: Any car at least 25 years old can be registered as either. The difference is that classic cars must pass the annual safety inspection, while antique cars are exempted but have restrictions on how they can be operated.
Here is the description of this forum. I assume that CTT magazine covers the same format.
Toy train operating and collecting
Interested in O gauge, S gauge, and Standard gauge toy trains? Are you a fan of Lionel, MTH, American Flyer, and other brands of toy trains made today and in the past? If so, the Classic Toy Trains Toy train operating and collecting forum is just for you.
Really - Classic Toy Trains - What could be more of a Classic Toy Train that The Old Buddy L from the 1920s - Hey - other Guys out there - I’m sure there are a few of you who collect Buddy L - any thing to say about this question ?
An example I use is that if you print 1,000 copies of a book, and 8 years later there are still 800 copies in inventory, that pretty much means you don’t do it again.
If there was a significant demand - and someone thought they could make money at it, someone would publish a reference book for it. And trust me, if we thought we could make money on it, we would tackle it.