Model Railroader subscribers?

[2Tracks]

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 happened with Classic Trains? Sorry John, I liked Classic trains, I was bummed when they said no more.......

 

[jmupton2000]

What happened with Classic Trains? Sorry John, I liked Classic trains, I was bummed when they said no more.......

Overseas subscriptions issues basically.

Here in the UK we started wondering where our Winter 2025 issue was (at the same time, MR and Trains subscribers were asking the same question) as the paper copies were on what few newsstands that stocked them but nothing on our door mats.

Of course we now know that in October 2025, Firecrown made all subscriptions outside the US digital only, yet they never told anyone (I checked throughly, no communication sent out whatsoever) and they didn't even tell the firm that managed their subscriptions for them either! The first they knew about it was when they started getting lots of emails from overseas subscribers asking where their magazines were!

Classic Trains was IMHO the only one worth bothering with as, the dire Rail 200 issue aside, it was always an interesting read. MR is little more than a pamphlet now and Trains doesn't seem to have followed through on the extra pages and incorporated Classic Trains content, and now digital only issues on random months nonsense.

 

[2Tracks]

Overseas subscriptions issues basically.

Here in the UK we started wondering where our Winter 2025 issue was (at the same time, MR and Trains subscribers were asking the same question) as the paper copies were on what few newsstands that stocked them but nothing on our door mats.

Of course we now know that in October 2025, Firecrown made all subscriptions outside the US digital only, yet they never told anyone (I checked throughly, no communication sent out whatsoever) and they didn't even tell the firm that managed their subscriptions for them either! The first they knew about it was when they started getting lots of emails from overseas subscribers asking where their magazines were!

Classic Trains was IMHO the only one worth bothering with as, the dire Rail 200 issue aside, it was always an interesting read. MR is little more than a pamphlet now and Trains doesn't seem to have followed through on the extra pages and incorporated Classic Trains content, and now digital only issues on random months nonsense.

That's sucky......I thought maybe Classic Trains had run out of content to publish...... For me, I like a hard copy I can open up and follow along while working on the layout. But if the article (help) I need at the time is only on digital, then I'm doing that. Pretty rural where I live, internet help has become very useful......

 

[DeaconKC]

Well, I reupped with the discount rate. Will see how it turns out.

 

[jmupton2000]

Direclown have now ditched the Great Model Railroads and Model Railroad Planning annual issues as well, these were worth picking up as they were far more interesting than the Model Railroader phamplet. Their content is now being incorporated into the main MR magazine but we shall see how long that lasts.

Meanwhile, I have now subscribed to paper copies of Railfan & Railroad in addition to RMC and Diesel Era. Funny how White River don't seem to be encountering all the alledged posting problems Direclown claimed that made them stop before they basically pulled up the drawnbridge and told everyone outside the US to get stuffed....

 

[scottso699]

Direclown have now ditched the Great Model Railroads and Model Railroad Planning annual issues as well, these were worth picking up as they were far more interesting than the Model Railroader phamplet. Their content is now being incorporated into the main MR magazine but we shall see how long that lasts.

Meanwhile, I have now subscribed to paper copies of Railfan & Railroad in addition to RMC and Diesel Era. Funny how White River don't seem to be encountering all the alledged posting problems Direclown claimed that made them stop before they basically pulled up the drawnbridge and told everyone outside the US to get stuffed....

This seems like a typical slash and burn scenario. Keep what makes money and burn the rest. My subscription to both trains and MR have now lapsed but I can look at them on Trains.com because I have their $80 a year “membership” (got my free hat out of that too! Yippie!). Their website still doesn’t “remember” you so I have to sign in every single time I go to it. Even if I was literally just there after clicking on a link in one of their emails. Cutting content and then having poor ways access what is left is a recipe for bringing the whole thing down. I doubt that their intentions in buying Kalmbach was to sink it as that would a pretty bad ROI but I’d think it would have been enough time to make some upgrades to their website to make it more accessible.

 

[John from Indiana]

I am at my "last issue of MR. Got it in the mail today. I will look at it tomorrow; but it is not like the Kalmbach issues by any means. Money is money; so I will seriously think about renewing. I am going to the VA Monday and I might look at a MRC; although I never did like them; The old Model Railroader I could always thumb through and find something interesting; the new version...it's all done in less than an hour

 

[Chicago Belt & Eastern]

This seems like a typical slash and burn scenario. Keep what makes money and burn the rest. My subscription to both trains and MR have now lapsed but I can look at them on Trains.com because I have their $80 a year “membership” (got my free hat out of that too! Yippie!). Their website still doesn’t “remember” you so I have to sign in every single time I go to it. Even if I was literally just there after clicking on a link in one of their emails. Cutting content and then having poor ways access what is left is a recipe for bringing the whole thing down. I doubt that their intentions in buying Kalmbach was to sink it as that would a pretty bad ROI but I’d think it would have been enough time to make some upgrades to their website to make it more accessible.

I started reading MR way back in the early 60's and my entire collection was destroyed by mold a few years back. I downloaded all the back copies in PDF and am considering not renewing when the subscription expires. It's very sad to see MR and TRAINS go, but at least I have the PDF's