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I'm a subscriber to Trains.com Video unlimited.

Subscriptions Plans - Trains

[...]Read More...
www.trains.com www.trains.com

This gives me the pdf copies of all the old Kalmbach media magazines. And a free ball cap.

FYI: If kalmbach exists, it's as an entity within firecrown media.

I noticed the local hobby shop here in Fort Wayne IN stopped carrying MRR and the kalmbach mags. I asked why:

"Firecrown doesn't allow returns of their magazines..."

I can see that from a shop owner's perspective. Instead of ordering five copies of each of the month's various titles, then returning the unsold ones, the shop has to order only what they know they can sell. The shop manager said it wasn't worth it for the two or three copies per month he sold.

As for the video membership, I've worn the Trains.com hat once. It's a bit small for my head. But that's because I have a fat head.

Their ongoing series are interesting to watch. Gerry Leone's show is worth half the subscription cost each month. But, I don't go in very often to download the magazines. Speaking of which, I should do so, and load them on the iPad for vacation reading. I've got at least 6 months to catch up on.
 
Hello !
YEEES ! After five messages, I finally received an answer from Firecrown concerning my subscription to M.R. They confirm what you guys said : no more printed issues sent to the international since October 25, the reason the last one I received was september's.
They say they face too many delivery problems ??
Well I don’t remember problems before Firecrown took care of the sendings...
 


The Firecrown ship appears to be sinking, Classic Trains has been scrapped!

Seems pretty clear Firecrown are starting to really regret buying the Kalmbach titles, I would not be surprised to see Model Railroader have some sort of drastic action done to it, either merged into something else or go digital only. I hope not but it seems to be the way things are heading.
 
jmupton2000 said:
The Firecrown ship appears to be sinking, Classic Trains has been scrapped!

Seems pretty clear Firecrown are starting to really regret buying the Kalmbach titles, I would not be surprised to see Model Railroader have some sort of drastic action done to it, either merged into something else or go digital only. I hope not but it seems to be the way things are heading.
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I suspected that would happen. I predict that Garden Railways will be absorbed into MRR. The staff is the same throughout the publications, with a few specialists. Kalmbach wasn't streamlined enough for the new digital age.

I believe we'll see more changes as the Kalmbach brands are brought more into line with what Firecrown has done to the other publications they've purchased and revamped.
 
Last news.
I recently found out that Firecrown debited my account for a 2 years digital subscription to Model Railroader magazine.
I had no intention to renew since I prefer paper issues, but they now send only digital issues to overseas customers.
Apparently the renewal is now automatic. I didn't know that.
The last paper issue I received was the september 2025 one. Since then I didn't receive anything from Firecrown, it's now july 2026.
I am fed up with these guys, I sent a message this morning and asked for a refund.
I don’t know the procedure, but I hope it'll be an easy task. Too bad, I've had a long and interesting story with M.R.
End of an era.
 
I'm done with MR, each issue is worse than the previous. I like the idea of sitting down and thumbing through an issue; but there is nothing to see in there that interests me any longer. I don't know about Model Railroad Craftsman though, I have to drive for over and hour just to go look at an issue and I haven't seen one in years. A lot of people liked MRC; but I always thought they were to "wordy" and not enough pictures. Narrow Gauge Gazette was my all time favorite; but I have gotten out of the scale, to hard to see.
 
I subscribe to MRC as it is the only realistic way to obtain it here in the UK. It is a million miles better than MR which is thin and seems to be getting thinner with each issue. Trains has also shrunk to little more than a pamphlet under Firecrown whereas it's rival Railfan & Railroad is excellent and getting better.

As for the Classic Trains fiasco, don't get me started....

It seems odd that Firecrown's excuse for abruptly stopping sending out paper copies to subscribers outside the US was postal service issues yet White River gets my MRC and Diesel Era onto my door mat with no issues whatsoever.
 
What I liked most in M.R. were the articles named "a railroad you can build" based on prototypes with interesting and adaptable plans and beautiful artists renderings.
It definitely made me dream.
At the time there was also so many great books available from Kalmbach. Especially those from John Armstrong and his amazing plans.
 
Frenchie said:
What I liked most in M.R. were the articles named "a railroad you can build" based on prototypes with interesting and adaptable plans and beautiful artists renderings.
It definitely made me dream.
At the time there was also so many great books available from Kalmbach. Especially those from John Armstrong and his amazing plans.
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I liked it then also; but those days are gone. My layout is loosely based on The Pennsy Middle Division by David Frary that I built with a hammer in one hand and the magazine in the other
 


John from Indiana said:
I liked it then also; but those days are gone. My layout is loosely based on The Pennsy Middle Division by David Frary that I built with a hammer in one hand and the magazine in the other
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Yeah, David Frary, I loved his book concerning his approach to scenery building, a lot of water involved.
 
Well, I got a cheap offer from MR and picked it up for a year. If I bought 4 issues off the shelf, it would have cost more than the subscription.
 
Frenchie said:
Last news.
I recently found out that Firecrown debited my account for a 2 years digital subscription to Model Railroader magazine.
I had no intention to renew since I prefer paper issues, but they now send only digital issues to overseas customers.
Apparently the renewal is now automatic. I didn't know that.
The last paper issue I received was the september 2025 one. Since then I didn't receive anything from Firecrown, it's now july 2026.
I am fed up with these guys, I sent a message this morning and asked for a refund.
I don’t know the procedure, but I hope it'll be an easy task. Too bad, I've had a long and interesting story with M.R.
End of an era.
Click to expand...
Hi gentlemen !
I am still waiting for an answer from Firecrown. I wonder if I used the correct mail address. I have doubts. After sending the message I could not find anything in my sent messages.


Does anybody know for sure Firecrown mail address ?
Thank you beforehand for your help.
 
Frenchie said:
Hi gentlemen !
I am still waiting for an answer from Firecrown. I wonder if I used the correct mail address. I have doubts. After sending the message I could not find anything in my sent messages.


Does anybody know for sure Firecrown mail address ?
Thank you beforehand for your help.
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Frenchie: no email address on their web site. Has a 'contact' blob you should be able to use. www.firecrown.com should work.
L8r
 
I’m really having a hard time justifying renewing my MR paper subscription. They have been peppering me with renewal notices but seeing reviews of models go down to a page or less, the page count drop and only a few useful articles every so often I may pass. I was a subscriber of MR, Trains and Classic Trains. As discussed above, Firecrown axes Classic Trains, which actually was my favorite, and has now chopped Trains down to a 10 month out of the year subscription. I’m guessing MR will be next. I have their Trains.com subscription of like 80’something a year and honestly I’m not even that happy won’t that. The organization on that website is pitiful. I do IT work for a living and the flow and use of that website is like something from 20+ years ago. You can’t search or filter by anything and if you want to find out info on your magazine subscriptions it takes you to another stone-aged website and wants you to log in again. And again. And again. From what I can tell Firecrown bought Kalmbach and then stripped it literally to the bones. They moved all of them to a different smaller building and the staff is at a minimum now. They keep saying things like “that layout is in storage” which means to me it will never be seen again. MRC is like $76 for a year of print magazines too and that’s too much.
 


ctclibby said:
Frenchie: no email address on their web site. Has a 'contact' blob you should be able to use. www.firecrown.com should work.
L8r
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Thank's again L8r, as you said, going to "contact" I finally found a way to send a message. It's complex and takes patience.
It's all done to discourage subscribers.
AND MIRACLE ! I received a quick answer telling me they actually did receive my july message, wow finally !
They said my subscription was stopped in july, and that I'll get a refund for all the missing issues, either print or digital I never received. That’s since october 2025 !

Now I wait and see, I don’t believe in Santa anymore.
 
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