Carstens Publishing and RMC

[NYW&B]

For now, yes. It wasn't always like that though, back in the early '60s, they had a bi-monthly entry level magazine called "Model Trains". MR had the "craftsman" articles, while MRC was more or less in between.

Over time, MR, and RMC attained parity, while niche publications like "Mainline Modeler", Model Railroading, RMJ etc. came and went.

Over the past five years or so MR has directed itself to basics, while RMC maintained its target audience of established modelers.

Joe

In fact, Joe, MR's serious decline in content quality aimed toward the traditional model railroader started well before that. Right around 2000 nearly the entire editorial staff turned over and the replacement crew, save perhaps for Dave Popp, simply lacked the model railroading savvy, or talents, of those who had carried the magazine before them. To make matters worse, the last two editors have been toy train enthusiasts, not even scale model railroaders.

This once great magazine, which in the mid 1990's had December issues that contained up to 250 pages, has dwindled to under a monthly 100 page count and even then what little there is left contains almost nothing of value for the serious hobbyist. And quite honestly a good portion of their 1950's Model Trains magazine content was superior to what MR is publishing today! The changes have not gone unnoticed either, as the number of MR subscribers is dropping drastically each year and is now a full 90,000 less than 15 years ago.

NYW&B

 

[Boris]

Once they started the DVD subscription scams and other gimmicks, it was quite obvious that MR was no longer interested in "serious hobbyist". The decline has really accelerated since the current Editor has been employed.

The cover that explicitly screamed "Learn from our experts", is what finally convinced me to end my subscription. I had been reading MR since 1961.

Joe

 

[Graham Line]

am i missing something or is MODELRAILROADERCRAFTSMEN missing a forum?? i mean ahhh modelrailroader has 1 but nothing with MRC, STRANGE!!!! what company doesnt have a forum

Railroad Model Craftsman posts some articles but doesn't have a forum. The forum at http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/recent-posts is pretty active and they also publish a monthly magazine online. For free.

 

[Boris]

Railroad Model Craftsman posts some articles but doesn't have a forum. The forum at http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/recent-posts is pretty active and they also publish a monthly magazine online. For free.

The monthly e-zine is a bit late this month, or I'm somehow off their e-mail list. They were supposed to introduce a new format, that was device friendly, that might be the hold-up.
MRH is a good publication, with a variety of subjects, aimed at different levels of experience.

Joe

 

[NYW&B]

Railroad Model Craftsman posts some articles but doesn't have a forum. The forum at http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/recent-posts is pretty active and they also publish a monthly magazine online. For free.

Joe, it would be almost pointless for Craftsman to offer a new forum as the subject matter it would be intended to cover (true craftsman modeling) is already very well covered by several existing advanced and successful hobbyist forums.

NYW&B

 

[jackn2mpu]

The monthly e-zine is a bit late this month, or I'm somehow off their e-mail list. They were supposed to introduce a new format, that was device friendly, that might be the hold-up.
MRH is a good publication, with a variety of subjects, aimed at different levels of experience.

Joe

Are you talking about RMC or MRH? If RMC I can understand. Just got my print version of the December issue of RMC last Saturday. I am the OP of this thread and today I spoke to someone at Carstens who took my info and credit card number to renew my subscription for 2 years to both the print & digital versions because I couldn't do it through the website. Apparently she never took my email address or such and I can not access the electronic version of RMC. Looks like another call is in order tomorrow.

Except for once in the 4 times I contacted Carstens via their online form I was not contacted by them. Actually there is another contact I did with them through their online form to Bill Schaumburg. Nothing heard back from him either. Pitiful to say the least.

The person I talked to at Carstens said they were changing a lot of things around there. I know they're a small operation and may have gotten seriously whacked by superstorm Sandy but the slow down in getting issues started way before Sandy hit. My sub's up this month but have received NOTHING in the mail about renewing. Anybody else had better luck?

 

[FCL2117]

I found December on the newsstand today, it was not there yesterday.

I hope they can recover and carry on, being so late is a bad sign.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[tigerclaw]

Gazzette photos

Fantastic photos of the narrow gauge railroad. But guys, I just started model trains after 30 years away chasing a career. Now with grandkids and we can't figure the colors to paint our mountains. You know, Krylon spray or water colors brushes. The kids have these little paint sets. Are we on the wrong website?

 

[Boris]

Are you talking about RMC or MRH? ...

MRH - normally their out the first several days of the month, I have not seen the Jan 2013 issue yet.

Concerning RMC; I really don't know what their problem is. Their magazines get later and later. I ended my subscription because I was frequently missing several months out of the year, and as you noted here, they are not exactly easy to contact.

My wife subscribed to several knitting and quilting magazines. They were even more difficult to keep track of, but when she saw the issue at Barnes & Noble, and still had not received her copy in the mail, she would call, and frequently get a song and dance routine as to why she was mistaken.....Needless to say, she let the last subscription lapse in November.

I believe the problem is with the many third party publishers and mailers used today, to eliminate in house staffing. Carstens is not the only one doing that. Kalmbach, I believe still does everything in house.

Joe

 

[jackn2mpu]

MRH - normally their out the first several days of the month, I have not seen the Jan 2013 issue yet.

Concerning RMC; I really don't know what their problem is. Their magazines get later and later. I ended my subscription because I was frequently missing several months out of the year, and as you noted here, they are not exactly easy to contact.

My wife subscribed to several knitting and quilting magazines. They were even more difficult to keep track of, but when she saw the issue at Barnes & Noble, and still had not received her copy in the mail, she would call, and frequently get a song and dance routine as to why she was mistaken.....Needless to say, she let the last subscription lapse in November.

I believe the problem is with the many third party publishers and mailers used today, to eliminate in house staffing. Carstens is not the only one doing that. Kalmbach, I believe still does everything in house.

Joe

Years ago I quit my sub to RMC over the very issue you had with them - frequent late issues and missing issues. Then I decided to take a try again with them and have had good service up until the last few months of 2012. This saga reminds me of I think it was Model Railroading the last couple of years they were around where they got so far behind in issues they were like 3 to 4 months behind. Eventually they went quarterly before disappearing. I have to wonder with the digital issue of RMC will things be any better? Looking on their Facebook page a couple of people had problems reading it on their particular device.

 

[Boris]

Years ago I quit my sub to RMC over the very issue you had with them - frequent late issues and missing issues. Then I decided to take a try again with them and have had good service up until the last few months of 2012. This saga reminds me of I think it was Model Railroading the last couple of years they were around where they got so far behind in issues they were like 3 to 4 months behind. Eventually they went quarterly before disappearing. I have to wonder with the digital issue of RMC will things be any better? Looking on their Facebook page a couple of people had problems reading it on their particular device.

As I recall, all of the "fallen flag" model magazines I used to subscribe to, Model Railroading, Railroad Model Journal and Mainline Modeler, all began their decline with late issues, and culminated with their demise. This was enough for me not to renew my RMC subscription. Barnes & Noble sells RMC, and I can browse through it and decide if I really want the current issue, before I buy.

Re: MRH, the January 2013 issue is available for download today. The new format is OK I guess, the articles this month are OK, and best of all, it's free and saves to my hard drive..

I was tempted to try MR's on line edition, until I read somewhere, that it requires a third party "reader" software. I meant to check out RMC's site to see what their specs were, but haven't as yet.

 

[jackn2mpu]

As I recall, all of the "fallen flag" model magazines I used to subscribe to, Model Railroading, Railroad Model Journal and Mainline Modeler, all began their decline with late issues, and culminated with their demise. This was enough for me not to renew my RMC subscription. Barnes & Noble sells RMC, and I can browse through it and decide if I really want the current issue, before I buy.

Re: MRH, the January 2013 issue is available for download today. The new format is OK I guess, the articles this month are OK, and best of all, it's free and saves to my hard drive..

I was tempted to try MR's on line edition, until I read somewhere, that it requires a third party "reader" software. I meant to check out RMC's site to see what their specs were, but haven't as yet.

Ah I remember RMJ and MM - used to get them as well. Heck at one time I got every model train mag available in the US but now I'm down to zip, zero, zilch, nada.

Just got off the phone with one of their employees - boy is it a small operation as the person I spoke to said they normally have only 3 or so people around and the person I needed to talk to about my digital sub went home sick which happens. Only one person who handles digital subs - ridiculous. Luckily the renewal never went through yesterday as I checked with my credit card company and the person I talked to today I had her rip up/destroy what info was taken yesterday.

I made a comment or two on RMC's Facebook page and got a reply from Otto Vondrak who's there web guy and I emailed him back. Wonder what if anything will come of that?

As to the MR online edition and third party reader s/w - I wonder if it's something that will run on a Mac? I really hesitate to go full bore with another sub to MR for reasons detailed earlier here but would be willing to do a trial issue if such a thing is possible without my having to give credit card info to them.

 

[NYW&B]

I don't think that the great majority of hobbyists realize that, unlike Kalmbach, Crastens Publications is and always has been essentially a small family business, with just a handful of staff generating several monthly publications. As such, they often get a bit behind furnishing copy to their printer and being a small outfit often ranked low on the publication priority list of the printer. Delays in RMC are certainly nothing new and I recall experiencing 2-3 week late arrivals of the magazine numerous times over the past few decades, along with getting e-mails answered in more recent years. That being so, Sandy only provided a further glitch in the operation, but one that will undoubtedly be overcome as the year progresses. Just be patience with Carstens, they definitely will come through this.

NYW&B

 

[jackn2mpu]

I don't think that the great majority of hobbyists realize that, unlike Kalmbach, Crastens Publications is and always has been essentially a small family business, with just a handful of staff generating several monthly publications. As such, they often get a bit behind furnishing copy to their printer and being a small outfit often ranked low on the publication priority list of the printer. Delays in RMC are certainly nothing new and I recall experiencing 2-3 week late arrivals of the magazine numerous times over the past few decades, along with getting e-mails answered in more recent years. That being so, Sandy only provided a further glitch in the operation, but one that will undoubtedly be overcome as the year progresses. Just be patience with Carstens, they definitely will come through this.

NYW&B

Sorry but I don't share your optimism with Carstens and them getting their act straightened out. Rather than deal with the headaches on an ongoing basis in what's supposed to be a fun activity I've decided to cut my losses and break off with them. Live and learn. Like anything some will have success and some won't and more power to those that do.

It's incidences like this that give me the impression that Carstens is not a healthy operation.

 

[NYW&B]

Sorry but I don't share your optimism with Carstens and them getting their act straightened out. Rather than deal with the headaches on an ongoing basis in what's supposed to be a fun activity I've decided to cut my losses and break off with them. Live and learn. Like anything some will have success and some won't and more power to those that do.

It's incidences like this that give me the impression that Carstens is not a healthy operation.

Let me take a moment in the midst of this discussion to remind all here that none of our modeling publications are in any manner time critical concerning their arrival. Whether RMC shows up on time, or three weeks late, you are missing out on absolutely nothing critical. The content remains just as applicable when read now or six months from now.

RMC is also the last remaining true traditional model railroading craftsman-type magazine with at least a moderate circulation base. MR, no more than a publication mainly for dabblers and newbies anyway, is loosing readership so steadily that its print magazine may not make it beyond the close of this decade. Look for it to probably degenerate into a series of limited subject e-zines (the first has already announced recently) whose combined full subscription cost to the reader will undoubtedly far exceed the current printed magazine subsciription rate...but likely have yet less worthwhile content.

My advice is be very care in choosing what you drop, as once gone these publications will never re-surface in our shrinking hobby.

NYW&B

 

[Burlington Bob]

Very true, NYW&B. We never realize what we have until it's gone.

 

[jackn2mpu]

Let me take a moment in the midst of this discussion to remind all here that none of our modeling publications are in any manner time critical concerning their arrival. Whether RMC shows up on time, or three weeks late, you are missing out on absolutely nothing critical. The content remains just as applicable when read now or six months from now.

RMC is also the last remaining true traditional model railroading craftsman-type magazine with at least a moderate circulation base. MR, no more than a publication mainly for dabblers and newbies anyway, is loosing readership so steadily that its print magazine may not make it beyond the close of this decade. Look for it to probably degenerate into a series of limited subject e-zines (the first has already announced recently) whose combined full subscription cost to the reader will undoubtedly far exceed the current printed magazine subsciription rate...but likely have yet less worthwhile content.

My advice is be very care in choosing what you drop, as once gone these publications will never re-surface in our shrinking hobby.

NYW&B

I realize it's a hobby magazine and as such not strictly time critical on delivery but does that make it right what's happening? I think not. RMC in the past has shown unreliable in delivery and is doing it again.

One person dropping a magazine subscription isn't going to make or break a magazine continuing to publish. What will is when many people drop their subs due to poor performance on the part of the magazine. Personally I won't shed a tear when MR goes under as it lost any shred of credibility years ago.

 

[Boris]

Let me take a moment in the midst of this discussion to remind all here that none of our modeling publications are in any manner time critical concerning their arrival. Whether RMC shows up on time, or three weeks late, you are missing out on absolutely nothing critical. The content remains just as applicable when read now or six months from now.

RMC is also the last remaining true traditional model railroading craftsman-type magazine with at least a moderate circulation base. MR, no more than a publication mainly for dabblers and newbies anyway, is loosing readership so steadily that its print magazine may not make it beyond the close of this decade. Look for it to probably degenerate into a series of limited subject e-zines (the first has already announced recently) whose combined full subscription cost to the reader will undoubtedly far exceed the current printed magazine subsciription rate...but likely have yet less worthwhile content.

My advice is be very care in choosing what you drop, as once gone these publications will never re-surface in our shrinking hobby.

NYW&B

Our's is a hobby - a recreational pass time - nothing about this hobby is time sensitive or critical, that is unless one earns their living from the hobby.

At one time, I subscribed to five model railroad magazines, the NMRA, two rail fan magazines, and belonged to four railroad historical societies that covered my interests.

I really liked Main Line Modeler, because of it's content. I renewed one month before Hundman pulled the plug. He cashed my check, and walked away. A year later, he sent me a letter, offering to apply my remaining subscription credit toward the purchase of one or more of his books - none of which interested me.

After that, over time, all my remaining subscriptions/memberships were allowed to lapse. Truthfully, these magazines are not crucial to my model railroading hobby any longer, and apparently I'm not the only one to feel this way.

RMC is truly the last traditional Model Railroad magazine. I still check out each issue at the local B&N, and if I see something that grabs my attention, I buy the magazine. Hopefully they will remain in business, but as you said, they are not critical.

I also regularly read Model Railroad Hobbyist online. The price is right, so I cannot be disappointed.

Joe

 

[whowey]

My wife subscribed to several knitting and quilting magazines. They were even more difficult to keep track of, but when she saw the issue at Barnes & Noble, and still had not received her copy in the mail, she would call, and frequently get a song and dance routine as to why she was mistaken.....Needless to say, she let the last subscription lapse in November.

I believe the problem is with the many third party publishers and mailers used today, to eliminate in house staffing. Carstens is not the only one doing that. Kalmbach, I believe still does everything in house.

Joe

For many years most of the bigger hobby magazines worked through a company known as AMREP. This had a handful of different smaller companies that did the differing work. AMREP bought out their largest two competitors and started shedding jobs, people and offices.

AMREP finally shut down their largest operation in Illinois and moved it to a cheaper to do business area in Florida. This office in Illinois was the one that did a LARGE portion of AMREP's hobby magazine business. My wife was the customer relations rep for a bunch of knitting and crafting magazines. She would handle all sorts of crazy things subscribers would ask about every month. You want to make a pile of mad quilters??? Let a computer mispublish one pattern.

 

[Boris]

...........

You want to make a pile of mad quilters??? Let a computer mispublish one pattern.

Tell me about it. These quilters make us train modelers look tame.

If you have ever attended a "Quilting" show, you know what I mean.

In many cases, in our hobby, the publisher made bad business decisions or somehow over extended, resulting in the publication's demise. It really wasn't due to lack of readers. Even as "Model Railroader" drifts off into their own virtual reality, they still have a large number of loyal readers, who overlook the current state of the magazine.

Your explanation how small publishers use outside vendors explains much about why magazines sometimes arrive late. Mishandling, by the Post Office also accounts for some of the delayed/missing issues.

Joe