From: BHARPER@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU (Bruce B. Harper)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Trains Magazine
Date: 28 Sep 1992 10:02:48 -0500
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

  I have been a Trains subscriber since the late '70s and overall am
satisfied with the magazine.  You can not fault Trains for the
professionalism in its production; the information presented can be
counted on to be accurate and any typos are few and far between.  Trains
has done a good job of keeping advertisements at the front and back of
each issue and keeping articles together (I get real frustrated with
magazines that give you two pages of story then force you to jump to the
back pages to finish the article, where you are sure to see all those
ads).  Trains has also done well in keeping the level at which it addresses
its audience on a fairly even keel, i.e., it doesn't present information
at an insider level that talks down to novices, nor does it oversimplify
everything so that a raw novice can understand it while boring those who
understand most aspects of railroading (an example of this are photography
and computer magazines that try to be everything to everyone, with a
conglomeration of "This is Black-and-White Film" or "Welcome to DOS"
articles mixed with "Why You Should Replace Your Photo System With
the Nikon F-15" or "Obscure Power-User Tips for Windows").
  My complaint about Trains is its attitude problem and its
Midwestern/Southwestern/Western bias/slant.  The attitude problem is that
"Trains is the only railroad magazine that matters and if Trains didn't
write about it/cover it/feature it/suggest it, then it doesn't matter."
Sorry, but Jim Boyd is just as competent, as are the many regional
publications, at covering railroad events (maybe even more so at times).
The Midwestern bias shows up in the article/photo/news selection, which
seems to me (from my Eastern perspective) to be heavy with
west-of-the-Mississippi coverage.  Norfolk Southern is one of the most
efficient and profitable railroads around, yet Burlington Northern seems
to get more ink in Trains.  This may be due to a lack of writers who are
doing articles about Eastern railroading, but it could also be the editorial
selection in Milwaukee.
  I hope the change in editors will shift some of these things to the
better while retaining the good things.
  As to other magazines, I pick up Railfan & Railroad on an occasional
basis, when there is an article that interests me.  Same goes for
Model Railroader, although the Kalmbach attitude of "our way is the best
and only way" pervades that magazine also.  Until the economy went bad
and state employees went under a two-year (and counting) pay freeze, I
did subscribe to Mainline Modeler.  I liked Richard Hundman's "study the
prototype to learn how to model" philosophy and the presentation of "here
is the way I do something, it might be useful to someone else" modeling
articles.  I am impressed with Railpace, but it doesn't come far enough
south (Virginia) to warrant my subscription (maybe if I win the lottery,
though).
                                    Bruce


  Administrative Display System      Bruce B. Harper, Manager
  Virginia Tech,  Blacksburg, Virginia  24061-0433
         ==In the heart of Norfolk and Western territory.==
  BHARPER@VTVM1 (BITNET) or BHARPER@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU (Internet)