Railfan and Railroad Magazine Problem

[steve coraggio]

I called Carsten's Publications about not receiving my June 2014 edition of Railroad Model Craftsman. I was told that it would be sent and received in July , which never happened.
The delay was on printing was what I was told. Like many others, I am a long time subscriber to Railroad Model Craftsmen good magazine and on the very few times I had to call them about not receiving an issue they were very good at getting the issue to me.

I don't know what the current issue is, and hope that Carsten's will continue on for many years. I haven't received my July 2014 issue neither

Steve Coraggio

[Sir Ray]

I called Carsten's Publications about not receiving my June 2014 edition of Railroad Model Craftsman. I was told that it would be sent and received in July , which never happened.
The delay was on printing was what I was told. Like many others, I am a long time subscriber to Railroad Model Craftsmen good magazine and on the very few times I had to call them about not receiving an issue they were very good at getting the issue to me.
I don't know what the current issue is, and hope that Carsten's will continue on for many years. I haven't received my July 2014 issue neither
Steve Coraggio

As I mentioned in a similar thread on a different message board, the current issue looks to be June 2014, and I picked up a copy of it at my LHS (on Long Island, NY) yesterday (Saturday). It seems to be a fairly typical RMC issue except it includes a 24 page S-Scale supplement (with an intro and 7 articles, most of which translate to real scales like HO or N or O easily enough).
There's no indication that Carsten's did NOT intend for this issue to be released in the expected late May timeframe.

[ladder2]

When a publisher starts blaming the printer for all its faults, it starts sounding like the printer is doing everything on a CASH basis only.
Especially now that Carstens other publications are also 2-3 months behind in printing and shipping. I have had experiences with other
magazines that offered similiar excuses about lateness and eventually went out of business and left me $$$ behind that I never was able
to recover because the creditors scooped up what was left of the assests. Its strange that Otto has not given us a heads up on whats really going on.

[NYS&W142Fan]

This is disturbing as I have a subscription good through April of 2016. If there is a problem, I would hope they at least let people know. It is also very probable that if there is a problem, Otto is unable to "shed light" on it until after the dust settles. I prefer to read out of a magazine over a digital copy any day. My last issue is the May 2014 one.

[jtbell]

If Kalmbach is among the creditors, does this mean that Trains subscibers are having serious delays also?

My copy of the September Trains arrived a few days ago.

My latest Railfan & Railroad is May. Their web site shows the June issue. Its cover is a picture from the Streamliners at Spencer event which was end of May / beginning of June, so it was produced way behind schedule. I haven't gotten it in the mail yet.

[lv414]

Did anyone get any copies yet?

[NYS&W142Fan]

Just spoke to Railfan & Railroad this morning. According to the Lady I spoke to, their Printer had moved and caused a large backup. She assured me the June issues were being mailed and that they would be continuing with the publication. I said that it would be a good idea for Otto or someone to come on here and let us know what is going on.

[umtrr-author]

FWIW, I received the June issue last week (8/6). Good reading. Hoping that they will catch up soon.

[charlie6017]

I know everyone wants answers, and I don't have a "horse in the race", as I'm not a subscriber but I'm
not sure Otto's employer would want him being a "company spokesman" unless it was with their permission.

He has to put bread on his own table like everyone else here on the boards. Just trying to get others to look at
things from a different perspective......

My .02 of a dollar,

Charlie

[ladder2]

Not for nothing, but that "printer moved" caused the back up sounds rather lame. I worked in printing and publishing for 40 years
and when the company planned a move we scheduled for printing and publishing with other printers etc. so that our clients did not miss a beat receiving there orders. It sounds more like Carstens scraped up enough money to get an issue out 2 months late, or they
found another printer in trouble to take on an issue in hopes of getting a repeat order. The printing/publishing business is in deep trouble due to lack of advertisers and younger people not interested in (1) trains, (2) newpapers and(3) magazines such as Time, Business Week etc.

[ladder2]

Now that we are going into Sept has anyone received June's Railfan and Railroad yet?? I saw that a couple of people received a copy of the hobby magazines for June but as far as I know R&R is still AWOL. Its almost 4 months late now! The website still shows June cover.
Has anyone have any update asto what is going on?

[Otto Vondrak]

Nobody reads magazines anymore in this time where you can see and read it when it happens

Amen, brother!

-otto-

[ladder2]

Otto, it might be funny to you, but your employer scammed me for another 37.50 for the print edition to extend my subscription into
late 2016,are they going to issue refunds for non delivery for June 2014 going foward, also non delivery several times in the 2012/2013,
time frame which they blamed those missing issues on "Sandy"!

[MissTheMEC]

I spoke with Lynn Good at Carstens yesterday (8/20/14) and she stated that Carstens would continue to experience delays in printing and distributing Railroad Model Craftsman for the remainder of this year. She assured me that they are still in business.

On the Model Railroad Hobbyist forum there is a thread concerning the future of Carstens publications. MRH publisher Joe Fugate appears to believe that Carstens is seeking to be bought out, and has cited (and subsequently edited out) a well-placed source to support that belief.

I believe these two statements can be reconciled and that Carstens will continue to struggle to get their titles out until a buyer is found. I've been reading RMC since 1975 and I hope they survive in some form or other and continue to publish the same kind of material. I think they would serve their cause better if they put out some sort of official statement either on their website or via email to their subscribers rather than let the rumor mill churn away.

[Sir Ray]

I believe these two statements can be reconciled and that Carstens will continue to struggle to get their titles out until a buyer is found. I've been reading RMC since 1975 and I hope they survive in some form or other and continue to publish the same kind of material.

I wonder how much of a boost Rail Model Craftsman got when the little three (Model Railroading, Mainline Modeler, Rail Model Journal) went out of business with a year of each other (IIRC) - I realize that's over 8 years ago, but that had to have helped their finances some unless every single one of the little three subscribers were already RMC readers (I do know that RMC did pick up some articles that were slated to be published in the other magazines, specificially one about customizing the then new CMW IH R-190 truck model)