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 Posted - August 24 2014 : 11:18:32 AM
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as of Aug 22 2014
http://www.1chan.net/rail/src/1408745404334.jpg 
& I still need them passenger cars they made too 
Edited by - microbusss on August 24 2014 11:19:49 AM
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 Posted - August 24 2014 : 11:42:27 AM
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wonder when Model railroader will fold?
just me Ray... and just because I have Tyco doesn't mean I am not a model railroader
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Posted - August 24 2014 : 12:21:12 PM
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I think one of the big reasons why this magazine died is because of the fact that most people when they buy model railroad products buy them online nowadays. Also the fact that the economy is not doing very well and when you combine both issues, it's quite obvious why they went out of business.
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
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Posted - August 24 2014 : 3:45:01 PM
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Wish I could say I knew who Carstens was but I don't.
As Stephen mentioned, it's hard to compete in the present economy if you are a magazine. Not enough discretionary income out there when so much is available for free off the internet.
http://tycodepot.com/
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Posted - August 24 2014 : 3:48:42 PM
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That's really too bad that Carstens is going out of business.
Right now is a hard time for any printed publication, and especially for model railroad magazines which already cater to a small group of readers.
It's nice to see Model Railroader is now using digital media, because most people get their news and information from the internet. Hopefully the online portion of their magazine will help them survive and continue to publish their printed magazine.
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Posted - August 24 2014 : 6:28:59 PM
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I posted this on another forum...I know it sounds cruel, but I have few tears to shed for them. I started out in this hobby in the late 60s at a time when the hobby greats were still very much alive. They taught me that, if I wanted a model of something, look at what's available and build from there. We didn't sob like a school girl when a new loco was cranky---tune ups and run ins went with the territory, and you learned a whole lot about how your machine ran.
It was a hobby of crafting over acquisition, I guess we were too stupid to wet our beds over prototype fidelity, or product availability. In today's "I want it now." mentality, this was inevitable, as a modeler quickly entertained is quickly lost.
The hobby will never stop for folks who get their enjoyment from the craft. We started out with card board kits and tinplate trucks...if we end up there, I'll not lose a lick of sleep over it...
BTW, it's not the economy that's brought this about...the hobby was born in the depths of the Great Depression, when there was little work and lots of time to do it in. The death of these magazines is twofold...the high demand for high dollar RTR equipment and the easy availability of the necessary information with which to set up a layout all over the internet. Information that required several years of published work is just a click away from anybody now.
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Posted - August 24 2014 : 6:40:26 PM
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I agree with ya shaygetz! Who wants to pay $6 for a magazine and have to lug a years worth of magazines? I've oddly kept just about every issue I ever bought for future reference. I never did care much for RMC unless a kit bash article of interest was published. The craft's men of the hobby are slowing disappearing and the day's of kitbashing or scratch building are nearing a end. I don't think anyone these days would know how to even scratch build an engine or a car. I've noticed the era of kits are dying off as everything is built and ready to go.
" Heck with counting 'em rivets, TRAINS ARE FOR FUN! Not called the Mad Scientist for nothing either!"
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Posted - August 24 2014 : 7:58:20 PM
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quote:I agree with ya shaygetz! Who wants to pay $6 for a magazine and have to lug a years worth of magazines? I've oddly kept just about every issue I ever bought for future reference. I never did care much for RMC unless a kit bash article of interest was published. The craft's men of the hobby are slowing disappearing and the day's of kitbashing or scratch building are nearing a end. I don't think anyone these days would know how to even scratch build an engine or a car. I've noticed the era of kits are dying off as everything is built and ready to go.
Originally posted by Redneck Justin - August 24 2014 : 6:40:26 PM
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That is very true. One time, I built and painted a grain car kit from the 90s, painted it, and it turned out amazing in the Great Northern Sky Blue livery. (I posted it into the COTW section a few weeks back so you can look at that if you're interested.) I built it and I've never built a train car kit before that and it still turned out pretty good. But then you've got to remember, it's an older model made before this new era of model railroading. I've seen all sorts of kitbash projects on this forum and I fear in the next 10, 20, 30 years or so, there will be almost nobody who even attempts to do that because of the reason that you said. Ever since Athearn discontinued their Blue Box lineup, I'm sure most of you aware of this knew this was just the beginning of the end of model railroad kits.
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
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 Posted - August 24 2014 : 8:06:58 PM
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quote:I posted this on another forum...I know it sounds cruel, but I have few tears to shed for them. I started out in this hobby in the late 60s at a time when the hobby greats were still very much alive. They taught me that, if I wanted a model of something, look at what's available and build from there. We didn't sob like a school girl when a new loco was cranky---tune ups and run ins went with the territory, and you learned a whole lot about how your machine ran.
It was a hobby of crafting over acquisition, I guess we were too stupid to wet our beds over prototype fidelity, or product availability. In today's "I want it now." mentality, this was inevitable, as a modeler quickly entertained is quickly lost.
The hobby will never stop for folks who get their enjoyment from the craft. We started out with card board kits and tinplate trucks...if we end up there, I'll not lose a lick of sleep over it...
BTW, it's not the economy that's brought this about...the hobby was born in the depths of the Great Depression, when there was little work and lots of time to do it in. The death of these magazines is twofold...the high demand for high dollar RTR equipment and the easy availability of the necessary information with which to set up a layout all over the internet. Information that required several years of published work is just a click away from anybody now.
Originally posted by shaygetz - August 24 2014 : 6:28:59 PM
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Excellent post shaygetz.
http://tycodepot.com/
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Posted - August 24 2014 : 8:35:38 PM
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| What hurt them is their printer got flooded out ... last fall I think, and they had to find a new one last minute. That may have pushed costs past profitablility. As it is they've been running with cover dates a couple months behind.
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RAN
Switcher
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Posted - August 26 2014 : 6:33:39 PM
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| C'mon guys we are all poorer when we lose a publication or manufacturer that has been around for so long. Carstens supported the hobby with freebees to the clubs and train shows. All you had to do was ask. So what's left? MRR is too contemporary for me and caters to the RTR crowd. Their articles center around building railroads with prebuilt items and the latest Walthers offerings. As model railroaders (and collectors) we are worse off without Craftsman, or Model Railroading, or Railroad Modeler and all the other magazines we lost over the years. RAN
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Posted - August 26 2014 : 7:25:24 PM
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I agree with Ron. Of the remaining magazines, RMC was the closest one to the mentality on this forum. The real guilty party in hawking the purpose-made RTR merchandising tends to be Model Railroader.
The series of articles MR did on building the Beer Line rang like a set of commercials for products. I read it and wondered what brand of air they were breathing when they built the layout. 
In RMC, you could still occasionally see an article about kitbashing an old MRC product or something. Of course, I'm part of the problem. I haven't been subscribed to anything for the last year or two.
Carpe Manana!
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Posted - August 27 2014 : 12:23:33 AM
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quote:I posted this on another forum...I know it sounds cruel, but I have few tears to shed for them. I started out in this hobby in the late 60s at a time when the hobby greats were still very much alive. They taught me that, if I wanted a model of something, look at what's available and build from there. We didn't sob like a school girl when a new loco was cranky---tune ups and run ins went with the territory, and you learned a whole lot about how your machine ran.
It was a hobby of crafting over acquisition, I guess we were too stupid to wet our beds over prototype fidelity, or product availability. In today's "I want it now." mentality, this was inevitable, as a modeler quickly entertained is quickly lost.
The hobby will never stop for folks who get their enjoyment from the craft. We started out with card board kits and tinplate trucks...if we end up there, I'll not lose a lick of sleep over it...
BTW, it's not the economy that's brought this about...the hobby was born in the depths of the Great Depression, when there was little work and lots of time to do it in. The death of these magazines is twofold...the high demand for high dollar RTR equipment and the easy availability of the necessary information with which to set up a layout all over the internet. Information that required several years of published work is just a click away from anybody now.
Originally posted by shaygetz - August 24 2014 : 6:28:59 PM
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Couldn't have said it better, Shaygetz... And I agree... I got interest in the late 60s but never had a layout until the early 70s... I bought Tyco and a couple of AHM engines at the time. They didn't always run well, but I learned how to fix them back then.
The real problem with the economy is that the news anchors ( which would make better BOAT anchors) exaggerate, dramatize, and lie about it constantly for something to talk about (a story). Publications die in this age from info being available online... Who needs to buy a news paper anymore?? (which also struggle to survive).
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Posted - August 27 2014 : 7:26:37 PM
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I said a brief piece in the MR general forum thread when Steve Otte "officially mentioned" the closing of Carsten's.
Like many middle-aged hands-on modelers, I took some interest in RMC over the years. In my opinion, with all due respect to Joe Fugate and MRH, Henry Carstens could have made RMC more viable (and, therefore, presently published) had he moved to online magazine presentation and shifted the readership in that direction. Now, I am sure many would have been reluctant to travel over to computer-only delivery, but after over 20 years of the modern internet, many might well have been able to make the switch. Unfortunately, a diminished pool of advertisers, overly-particularized articles (in some cases) that held little interest of a general readership, poor management of the publishing operations all were factors that led to the end of RMC.
RMC was always a family business first, and as such, the financial dynamics were markedly different than those at Kalmbach. They were at their best when Tony Koester was the main editor- the issues were full and lively.
Now, there is an empty place in the magazine racks at Barnes & Noble, as well as at LHS's- and, given the <25,000 monthly readership that was the most recent tally of RMC, it is hard to see anyone else picking up the pieces and resuming publication...
As others mentioned, we- collectively, as a hobby- are all diminished when another light goes out, as RMC has- Harold Carstens was one of the originals, and now his masterpiece is a memory.
Siouxlake Ron
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Posted - August 27 2014 : 8:31:15 PM
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| What's really crazy is that I have NEVER, bought a model Railroad magazine... Years ago I'd pick one up at the book store and page thru it fairly quickly....
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Posted - August 27 2014 : 9:53:25 PM
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quote:C'mon guys we are all poorer when we lose a publication or manufacturer that has been around for so long. Carstens supported the hobby with freebees to the clubs and train shows. All you had to do was ask. So what's left? MRR is too contemporary for me and caters to the RTR crowd. Their articles center around building railroads with prebuilt items and the latest Walthers offerings. As model railroaders (and collectors) we are worse off without Craftsman, or Model Railroading, or Railroad Modeler and all the other magazines we lost over the years. RAN
Originally posted by RANÂ -Â August 26 2014Â :Â 6:33:39 PM
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I agree with you, RAN. The more model railroad magazines that die out, the more the hobby itself died out. Basically, we need these magazines to help keep model railroading as we know it alive and well. The only other major model railroad magazine that seems to exist today is Model Railroader and even that magazine has been on a decline in the last decade or so as you and many others have said. There's really nothing that exciting or that helpful anymore in the Model Railroader magazine which is specifically why I cancelled my subscription a couple of years ago. Looking at the old Model Railroader issues from the 80's and 90's (Which was donated to my family earlier this year.), there are actually quite a bit of helpful reviews and even a proper kitbash section for crying out loud! The newer ones aren't that genuine anymore. Plus, I can get all that information but more online nowadays for free. I hate saying this but magazines are obsolete and therefore dying because of the current digital age. I don't really want to go much further or I'll probably go way off topic.
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
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Posted - August 27 2014 : 10:48:44 PM
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This looks like a good time to for me to say something.
I really like a paper magazine or book. With a real magazine, I can read it anywhere, anytime. And I don't have to wait for a page to load like the internet. I can write notes in the margin or put a post it note on the page. You can't do that with an e-zine or pdf file.
Bulky. Yes. I know you can put volumes of magazines on a CD or flash drive. Of course, your computer has to cooperate and read the CD. Right now, for some unknown reason my computer will not read an SD card. The data is there, I just can't get to it. Far as I know, I've never had a magazine fail to open.
Will my rant alter the course of this hobby or society? No. But, I buy a paper magazine whenever I can.
Unspoken expectations are premeditated failures.
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Posted - August 31 2014 : 5:13:14 PM
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I just read, white river publications will be picking up Carstens
(Doing my happy dance)
just me Ray... and just because I have Tyco doesn't mean I am not a model railroader
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