Good to hear!

I wasn't a current subscriber and haven't bought one off the newsstand in several years, largely because I couldn't find them around here, but it's nice to know RMC will continue on. Hopefully there wil be a good distribution network in place to get them to the more common magazine outlets besides just hobby shops. I will definitely try to support them when I can.

Michael

Ya Hooooo

Ya Hoooooooooooooooooooo

And I don't mean the forum either.

Great news to my eye's.

Bernd

"Railroad Model Craftsman and

"Railroad Model Craftsman and Railfan & Railroad will now be published by White River Productions"

 All right, now can someone bring back Mainline Modeler? .DaveB

Born in the age of the internet

I notice that White River Productions was founded/formed in 1992. So that is a print publisher that has existed in an internet world for pretty much it's entire life. I look forward to seeing how they handle the digital end of things.

Mainline Modeler?

Mainline Modeler, while an interesting magazine, also had a number of issues. I'm speaking now with my publisher hat on.

First the title Mainline Modeler suggested class I big time modeling - how to do layouts in the large. Yet what were its pages filled with? Very fiddly scratchbuilding and kitbashing projects. Hardly a good example of how to model big-time railroading. 

The magazine lacked good balance. To be true to its name, it needed more layout coverage and tips/tricks for how to do big time railroading without breaking the bank, and how to save time, where best to do a "good enough" philosophy, etc. Yet these insights never made it into the pages of MM.

Don't get me wrong, Mainline Modeler had some good stuff in it. But it was largely Hundman pet projects and little else. IMO, that's what killed it. Too narrow of a focus that was not sustainable - last I heard when it folded, circulation had dropped below 5,000. It needed much broader appeal to be viable.

Looks like it is in good hands ...

... good news for everyone involved.  

Yea!!!!

Good news about RMC. Will keep watching the mail box for however long it takes. Should be really interesting to see how it changes.

Jack

Hey there is an idea. Mainline! If anyone can do it, Steve can!

Hey there is an idea. Mainline! If anyone can do it, Steve can!

Dirk P Reynolds

My guess was right

Yes, just what we expected

Yep, this is just what we expected to happen. A month ago in our MRH staff meeting we laid out the expected events and this is exactly how it played out.

We just knew RMC is too strong of a brand for it to just vanish after 80 years. Somebody would want it.

This also fits with my basic business philosophy - never underestimate the resilience of the "competition". The main competition is for ad dollars, as for modelers, RMC has been complementary to MRH. Assuming editorial direction continues on about the same vein, then we should be able to co-exist nicely.

RMC to be Published by White River Productions

Does this mean I will eventually see the July, August and September, 2014 issues of RMC that I'm owed under my present subscription???  My subscription was up for renewal after the Sept., 2014 issue.  I think I'll hold off renewing until I see how the new publisher sorts this all out.  And if I do renew, It'll be one year at a time with a credit card.

Bob

# of issues

Bob,

According to the PDF above, if you were due to receive three issues, you should receive three issues.  What months those three issues cover may vary, since they suggest they may combine months to get back on schedule.

What about DIGITAL subscribers?

I did not see any reference to RMC's DIGITAL subscribers in the Press Release. Hopefully those subscriptions will be honored as well. Personally, my preference is for RMC to exist in a digital format. I am not interested in a paper version. I would be VERY pleased to see them produce a digitized/DVD archive ala MR.

-Eric

We'll have to see about digital subscribers

We'll have to see about the digital subscribers. White River is a printing company and when I've talked to them about anything digital they've been pretty tentative. This might be the straw that finally gets them over hump into digital however.

We'll see.

All is well

Well I guess the sky isn't falling down

Printing in the Digital Age

Well that comment belies my theory:

The Internet came about pretty strongly prior to the formation of White River. The World Wide Web, Netscape Navigator, AOL, Prodigy et al were right there during White River's early years. Without looking into White River at all I had just assumed that a publishing company that litterally grew up with the Internet would have a strong digital presence.

Back to point. I'm a digital subscriber to RMC with my renewal coming up in October so I'm looking at I think 3 issues short.

Great news

As a 40+ year subscriber, I'm glad to see it.

Paul

Opsig

They do publish OPSIG's Dispatcher's Office digitally.

Let's hope they go binary

Wasn't it said....

...that these days a magazine ready for print is a complex PDF of sorts anyway? Doesn't seem to be that big of a leap to put it in a digital downloadable form.

Michael

There is digital and there is....

Good news regarding both magazines, I have subscriptions for both.

Whilst RMC is a paper version, I have R&R via the digital copy. However, I'm not that great a fan of the digital format. Unlike MRH, which is available in various formats and suitable for tablets too, R&R is not (and neither is the Opsigs Dispatcher's Office).

Hopefully White River Productions can keep both types going, and take in to account changes to the way we read on-line too.

Brian

...

But does that necessarily mean it's a good deal?

This tale seems to remind me of the Mantua Line...the one that started as Mantua, and went to Tyco.  Then it went to General Mills, as part of Tyco.  There it ended and went to Mantua and RSO/Mehano.  That ended and then went to Model Power.  That ended and now Mantua is sold through MRC...

One Point White River, One Point Internet...seems to me like a match tied at 1-1.

Now if White River is a Printing company, they have a good solid leg on a publishing company - they have very close control over printing cost margins. With that being said, if they just take the old RMC and peddle it out the door, they're essentially pushing a wheelbarrow full of soupy wet cement down the road, a wheelbarrow with a small hole in the bottom.  If it took 40,000 subscribers this year to break even, I daresay with expenses growing at a standard 3%, next year it will be 41200, and the year after that 42400...

This hesitance towards digital "publishing" is concerning, especially for a "modern" printing company.perhaps this will be that project that provides them with the opportunity to start getting more digital.  With that being said, from their website I dare say they're more traditional business model orientated.  For the price of my morning breakfast that I just ate, I can order back copies of recent magazines... yet with MRH I can click twice and I have access all five years of MRH... and if I had my libraries installed right, I could also review my entire MR library as well...time to find the installation DVD!!!

What's that phrase nobody likes to hear..."upgrade or die?"

It just occurred to me that in the past, companies regarded subscribers as either "here" or "deleted."  With the internet and databasing like it is, this should not longer be the case.  If I subscribe to a magazine, I should become a Permanent Addition to the membership database.  What does that mean?  If I pay the fee, I should have continual access to my "copy" for as long as the digital copy exists.  When I stop paying, I simply stop getting access to the new issues, while maintaining access only to the content I have purchased.  In this day and age, it costs nothing but electrons to do this once it's all set up.

So if I subscribe to RMC from September 2014 to August 2015, I should perpetually have access to those twelve issues no matter what my membership status is.  When my account balance expires, I stop getting access to the digital links.  If I decide to restart my membership at a later time, say August 2016, I should not get automatic access to September 2015 to July 2016.  Instead, I should have the option to purchase the links per issue, per 6 issues, or for the whole range that I lack access [discounted rates for larger numbers of links].  Conversely, I should also be able to purchase access to the issues before my initial subscribership, the event that started my membership in the first place.

Obviously you may ask, why would I have to pay to access back issues, but the way I see it, once made, it's a quick buck.  If the price for me to access it is reasonable enough, I won't have any interest in using someone elses account.  If the price is reasonable [$2 an issue for last year, $1 an issue for the year before last, etc], I can easily see someone accustomed to dropping $20 or $50 getting a couple decades without much arm twisting.  And if all it takes for me to get access is to swipe my card, that's cash in the publisher's bank for work they have already done [and no further work afterwards, save paying the credit card company their 2% premium for doing business...].

Lots of models are available here for the willing pioneer.   WRP is a small company, I wish them the best of luck...

Reserection of MRC

My perspective is that they would have to do something about the look and feel of the magazine as well as it content. In Australia it always looked to have low production values in comparison with the competition which here in Australia includes UK magazines such as Britsh Model Railways, Hornny magazine ...etc all of which has really high quality photography and artwork; as well as Model Railroader. 

For me digital is the way to go though and hopefully reduce the stacks of magazines I have at home.

Iain

We don't always agree

But here's where I have to absolutely agree with Benny.

I always found it peculiar that a publisher would want to charge me the cover price for an old magazine with what are potentially no longer relevant advertisements and outdated news. Maybe Joe can weigh in here as I'm not too familiar with the publishing business but aren't paper back issues excess stock that are taking up space? Aren't digital back issues just archive material at this point?

As a consumer if I purchase a back issue it is PURELY for the article content. There is no value added benefit to me of old advertisements (unless it's an old enough issue to elicit nostalgia). So for a package of articles wrapped in old advertising of which half or more of the articles might not appeal to me I could pay 1 or 2 dollars an issue. But paying 5 or 6 dollars to get maybe one or two articles of value to myself seems just silly. I guess I just don't get it.