Last edition received was the October 2006 issue, and I’m sure that my subscription hasn’t expired.
Anybody know if this magazine (like Mainline Modeler & Model Railroading) is having big troubles also?
Thanks in advance for any information.
From what I’ve read, this may be the next mag to go under…
Not that it would be missed as it picked up the name “Rail Model Urnal” a long time ago.
It’s subscriptions have dropped to the point that it having a tough time keeping afloat.
cf-7
At the hobby shop, October 2006 is also the last issue I saw (as of last week).
Since Mainline Modeler and Model Railroading are dead (as is Fine Scale Modeler, more or less now a bi-annual compendium affair), losing RMJ would really be a problem.
I was kinda hoping that the good talent and authors who contributed to MM and MRDG would start sending their submissions to RMJ as a ‘last man standing’ kind of thing - a world with only Model Railroader (thanks for the message board, guys) and Rail Model Craftsman would be…dull
[#ditto]
Well, sounds like it’s time for more hobby material to move to the internet.
The trick is coming up with a business model on the internet where people will be willing to pay money for the content, which is tough since most people expect anything on the internet to be free.
It’s kind of hard to make a living on free, otherwise these magazine would not be going under. [swg]
out of business So is Mainline Modeler Hobby is shrinking very fast stores are closing even faster.
Where’s the hard data to substantiate this?
It’s also possible the hobby is healthy as ever and everyone’s getting their info and hobby supplies over the internet.
Can you prove otherwise?
Do you mean FineScale Modeler or Finescale Railroader?
KL
As far as I know, the mag is on the skids and will be going the way of the dodo bird soon, if it hasn’t already.
KL…I’m sure Chutton meant Fine Scale Railroader. Got their “final issue” in with the explanations of things. Just got it in today.
Not heard anything official from RMJ. Checked my records for arrival and while they have been pretty late at times (up to 3 weeks) they have blown by the previous record for a late issue.
Oops, yes I did mean Fine Scale Railroader… FS Modeler seems to be doing OK.
Whatever is going on at Rail Model Journal you are not gonna find out from their website, which is stuck back on January 2006.
Doesn’t make much sense that, after 10 years of internet competition and 5 years of a lukewarm-at-best economy, all 4 second tier magazines just suddenly fold. I could see them dropping off one by one over the years, but all in practically the same month?!?
Could be they didn’t get a big enough share of the holiday advertising? They could have been counting on many big and full page ads to carry them over the end of the year, and didn’t get them?
Think I read somewhere that one them was down to a circulation of around 5000. Not too long ago these smaller mags used to put out around 20,000 copies per issue.
Phew! I’ve been a subscriber since about the the sixth issue but recent budget tightening and the realization that my modeling skills are more advanced than their target audience led me to let it lapse with the October issue. I was afaid that I was the one that did it in . . .
I think the real killer is the Internet, but maybe not so much that it’s taken readers away but advertisers. It looks (in the aforementioned FSM) that a large number of companies are still represented, but only with small “business card” type ads that keep their names in front of the public - and direct people to their websites.
KL
From an earlier post in this thread: “Since Mainline Modeler and Model Railroading are dead (as is Fine Scale Modeler, more or less now a bi-annual compendium affair)”
Just so we’re all clear on this: Fine Scale Railroader is the model railroad magazine from Westlake Publishing that is going to a bi-annual book format.
FineScale Modeler is the scale modeling magazine from Kalmbach Publishing (publisher of Model Railroader and sponsor of this forum). It is a very healthy magazine with a vigorous and growing Internet presence. (I’m very sure of the accuracy of my information - after all, in addition to serving as Editor of MR, I serve as Publisher of FineScale Modeler.) And as long as we’re on the topic of FSM, the FSM staff will be publishing a special issue on painting and finishing this spring. A LOT of the techniques are useful for model railroaders as well. You can order it here: http://kalmbachcatalog.stores.yahoo.net/fs1.html
Thanks for reading MR (and hopefully FSM!),
Terry
Some of these magazines are pretty much the work of one or two people, so all it takes is a health or family problem, or the demands of other work, and there they go. Likewise some of them reflect the interests (or biases if you want to put it that way) of just one guy, so for that reason alone they are vulnerable. A few years ago one of these second-tier magazines acquired such an obsessive interest in containers and trailers (with furious allegations about rivets and side posts and who knows what else) that I no longer saw any reason to buy it since that topic is of no interest at all to me.
On the positive side – I have to say the new regime in charge of Scale Rails, the NMRA magazine formerly known as the Bulletin, is greatly improved both in quality of articles and physical production. I used to clip only those articles that interested me but now Scale Rails has become a keeper magazine. Where will I put them all? Still working on that.
As far as the hobby dying or shrinking … it sure is changing … but this year’s Trainfest in Milwaukee was the biggest ever in terms of attendance. I have heard the same about some other train shows. And there were tons of kids and not just Thomas Toddlers either.
Dave Nelson
I’m afraid that the Internet is no more than an excuse trotted out on just about every occasion to explain any downward trend in our hobby, especially its magazines. However, there are simply no statistics that support this. If one stops to examine the hobby’s demongraphics, it becomes apparent that it is a minority of hobbyists that are active on the Net in any fashion, not a majority.
Indeed, such venues as eBay have had a decided impact on discount SALES, simply because retail pricing of items in our hobby have risen so dramatically in recent years. But there is absolutely no hard numerical evidence of a major impact in any other area, only an over abudance of selfserving speculation to that affect. The decline of the magazines, hobby shops, train shows, et al, began well before the Internet was a major player in our hobby. It doesn’t take a great deal intelligence to recognize that the sort of society in which model railroading thrived as a hobby is now simply on the decline.
CNJ831
Interestingly, none of these magazines existed when I started in the hobby in 1971. MR, RMC, and the NMRA Bulletin were the three I subscribed to then and the three I subscribe to now. These are also the only 3 that have lasted a long time, others come and go.
So, it could just be a coincidence that all these others all failed this year. Be interesting to see if MR or RMC get a bit of circulation surge.
Enjoy
Paul
I don’t subscribe to any magazines, I’d rather pick them up at the LHS. I do buy RMC every month and the odd MR issue every now and then.
Once upon a time I used to purchase MRR and RMJ every month at the LHS. As my knowledge of the hobby increased, I decreased my need for reading material. Storage was also an issue and I tired of spending an increasing amount of money on paper. The money was better spent on other hobby stuff instead. Eventually I stopped purchasing RMC and R&R for the same reasons. This all occurred prior to the Internet.
I still buy Trains and MR and every month as well as Diesel Era, but have since stopped getting MRP and GMR. Just not worth the price, to me, for the same old stuff anymore.
On the other hand I did buy the new Locomotive as well as the Diesel Victory special issues because they were new and fresh. I learned a great deal about the history of Diesel power and enjoyed reading them. I may get the Steam Glory as well but I need to look at one first.
Jim
Well RMC’s circulation will increase, because the unfullfilled subscriptions to Model Railroading will be filled byRMC. It says so on the MRG website.