This has become a very difficult company to do business with.

Regards,

Jerry

I used to know very single member of their editorial staff, most were personal friends (well many still are, the ones who are still with us).  The last time I was at a National Train Show and "met" with the staff, they were very impersonal, and I was very turned off by their attitudes.  They were pleasant, but in a "thanks for being a customer" kind of way, not as a "hey, it would be great if we were friends" way.  I think MRH is the only "general purpose" magazine out there that has a staff that is not only interested in producing a publication, but is interested in the advancement of the hobby as well.

FWIW,

Ken L. 

Kalmbach has the problem that many small, closely held companies eventually have: Too many mouths to feed.

They lack the founder's vision, and install management to run the company, with no interest in day to day operation or planning. They just want to see that quarterly dividend. So management focus is on delivering a dividend, they know that heads will roll if that doesn't meet expectations.

No one knows how Al Kalmbach distributed shares in his company, to who and how much. The grand and great-grandchildren will be the shareholders now.

I noticed right off the bat that this search engine only does Kalmbach publications.   But it will let you read the articles that it finds.

I noticed right off the bat that this search engine only does Kalmbach publications.   But it will let you read the articles that it finds. 

For some reason, Kalmbach management has this idea they’re the only game in town as to hobby pubs, or at least they want to perpetuate that idea. I wonder what Al would think — I’m betting their ears would be burning after he was done.  

But maybe we should also remember it could be the Kalmbach family heirs who have become so mercenary. That could really be sad if that’s the case. The suits could just be reacting to the Kalmbach family demands as the main shareholders.

Dan W.

Their products aren't the primary sources of information and entertainment I seek in the hobby any longer.  The paucity of content in both the magazine and MRVP offerings is being noted.  The amalgamation of all other rail-related products into one is likely to be followed up by inclusion of their other modeling-related products into trains.com if the anticipated subscriptions don't materialize.  Trains.com isn't a product I'm really excited about; parochial that I am, I have zero interest in garden railroading, tinplate, or classic toy trains, and limited interest in current industry news as covered in Trains.  I've pretty much solidified at this point on both an era and a railroad to model, and my hobby time is limited.

I have no beef with the repetition of beginner and intermediate level projects, because there's always going to be a need for that for the newcomers, and every now and then a technique I haven't used before is presented.  All good.  However, the inclusion of video product reviews and Cody's Office as a major chunk of the the monthly content I'm paying extra for in MRVP isn't any sort of value for the money; I'm looking for actual content about techniques, planning, operations, and layouts, not something that is more properly covered in a press release or video that should be aimed at the general magazine's audience.

The index was handy, but it didn't provide the sort of added value that justified my adding a subscription to the digital archives.  I've got the DVD compilations of the past issues, and can search through those if needed. I'm unlikely to hunt down paper copies of smaller publications, and yes, that's my loss and doesn't mean others should not if they so desire.  I recognize the loss of that index is a major blow to them.

Right now, I'm content to let my current MRVP subscription run its course and cancel the auto-renewal in October, a month ahead of the scheduled auto-renewal; my print MR subscription runs until late 2022, and I will probably let it lapse, because some of the things I'm interested in are covered in a more timely fashion in other places.  A shame, because I've been a subscriber for nearly 50 years.  Yes, that takes me out of the desired demographic for everyone but the NMRA, but that's my issue and not theirs.

Janet N.

Good points, Janet N.

Losing the MR that used to be is rather like losing a friend in the hobby. ... 

Yes, I have to agree. MR magazine has lost it's appeal to railroad modelers. As apposed to model railroaders. IMHO the newcomers/be they teenagers or older people coming back into the hobby with the stark realization that the hobby is far different than 50 years ago. They all can get some benefit from MR & RMC. But us in these forums, that can consider themselves "Railroad Modelers" - I would think we are beyond the need for MR & RMC. Look at the vast difference in MRH & MRH-RE. Content that is useful as well as innovative (Thanks JoeF) I have all indexes and made spreadsheets for indexes. And use them very seldom. (With the exception of MRH/RE.) Let's hope that if enough of us drop our subscriptions/and maybe even not purchase them over the counter, that they might realize the mistakes they are making. Alienating those of us that have been in the hobby for a long time.

I’m a 30+ year subscriber to MR, both print and digital, and I also subscribe to MRVP, and the All Access pass which gets me the all time Archive. I want to maintain this level of access, but have no interest in Trains, or the other Kalmbach publications, and even less to their special events (how would I get there from Oz?) and webcams.

I sent an email to Customer Service (*cough*) asking how I could maintain my current level of access. I got no response. So I emailed again. This time I got a response, suggesting I delete my cookies and cache, or try a new browser. What?! Resisting the temptation to ask them what drugs they were taking, I replied, pointing out that their response was a little off topic. I’m still waiting for a response, although I’m less than hopeful.

Then yesterday I got the email telling me that I’d no longer be getting a digital copy of the magazine on Zinio, but could read the magazine online. Ongoing access to MRVP and the archive was less clear, and as my current subscriptions run until sometime next year, I want to know if that money has been flushed down the toilet. I replied to the email with the following, hoping it wouldn’t end up with Customer Services, which has become less than useless since they outsourced it in 2019.

MR team.

This announcement raises a number of questions:

1. One of the main benefits of the digital edition is that I can read it offline while travelling. I download the magazine from Zinio and then have it available whether I have access to the internet or not. Will I still be able to download a digital copy of the magazine for offline reading?

2. Up until now I have paid extra for the benefit of getting a digital copy of the magazine. It wasn’t much, and I thought it was worth it, but still extra. Will I be reimbursed for this extra cost for the remainder of my current subscription?

 

If the answer to either or both of these questions is no, then this announcement is, for me, a step backwards. In particular, I will be extremely disappointed if I cannot continue to read the digital edition offline on my iPad.

 

On a related matter, I have emailed Customer Service three times asking about how the transition of subscriptions to Trains.com will work. The first email received no response at all. I received a response after two weeks to my second email, but it talked about deleting cookies and trying another browser, which had nothing to do with what I asked. I am waiting to see if I get a response to my third email.

 I currently subscribe to MR, including a digital subscription, to MRVP, and to the All Time Archive. I want to keep this level of access, but am not particularly interested in the other magazines. Will I be able to do this, what will it cost, and how will that compare to the full Trains.com subscription? These are all questions that should be easily answered on the website, but I have not found them, just lots of motherhood statements about how wonderful the new website is.

 

 Sorry about the rant. I’d hate to stop reading MR, as I enjoy the content, but over the last couple of years, they’ve made themselves hard to love.

From my eMail:

Begin forwarded message:

Subject: [EarlyRail] RR magazine index

Date: 23March 2021 at 12:29:04 Phoenix Time

To: EarlyRail@groups.io

Reply-To: EarlyRail@groups.io

 

This project is still active, http://www.rrmagindex.org   It’s not up-to-date, and not every issue is fully cataloged.  But it’s a good place to start.

We’re hoping NMRA will actually take this over and host it (it runs on a computer in my home office).  That was the original plan, but then NMRA came up with a lot of reasons why they couldn’t do this.  Maybe the new NMRA president will be more interested.  A lot of people put a lot of work into indexing lesser known publications.

dave

Plus there is the stuff at NASG,  etc.  And yes Joe I have contact info.  Email me: tc2@dapenguin.net