From: R.Todd.Minsk@dartmouth.edu (R. Todd Minsk)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Trains Magazine
Date: 29 Sep 92 23:58:10 GMT
 <1992Sep28.164425.5548@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>  
 <1992Sep28.202215.23575@ecsvax.uncecs.edu>
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
X-Posted-From: InterNews1.0a5@newshost.dartmouth.edu

In article <1992Sep28.202215.23575@ecsvax.uncecs.edu>
ehr@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Ernest H. Robl) writes:

> I agree with previous posters' comments that both Trains and R&R
> reflect the biases of their editors -- but I think that's a common
> attribute of smaller magazines in general.  My real problem is
> trying to figure out what these magazines are trying to do.
> 
> Both run only relatively brief news sections -- which are the most
> interesting to me -- and then often devote the remainder of the
> magazine to a handful of long features.  For my tastes, too many of
> these features and columns are about railfan activities.
> 
> Yes, I've been known to go on fan trips and to visit museums, but, to
> me, these are secondary to operating railroads.  I think that in 
> past years, Trains in particular, had far better pieces on railroads
> battling the environment.

This may be a reflection of the times; railroads are not as accessable
to non-employees as they were only a few years ago.  (After all, on
what other heavy industry could people wander around often anywhere at
will, and take it for granted too?)  I realize that visiting
journalists may still receive special permission, but it sometimes
surprises novice or juvenile fans when they discover the same
priviledges are not available to them.  Combined with an attitude of
secrecy often displayed by corporations these days (and enforced by
employees who may pay with their jobs for violating it), individual
authors can be easily discouraged.  Also, the Trains editors may have
found that running articles describing railroad operations inspired
other people to approach the property, behaving with various levels of
responsiblity.  Possibly the magazine editors received expressed or
implied orders from some railroad managements not to publish such
material.  So what gets printed is what can be more readily seen by the
public.

> 
> On the subject of regional emphasis in the both Trains and R&R:  I
> don't think either of these publications has any decent coverage of
> railroad activities outside the U.S. and Canada.  Trains runs one or
> two pieces a year on trips by George Drury -- but these are more
> travel pieces than stories about railroading elsewhere.


I am very much in agreement here.  While it does seem that in the
United States most rail enthusiasts are interested only in what is
closest to them, there is a fascinating railway world out there.  My
personal interest is  Latin America; the only US fan pubications
offering anything seems to be irregular columns on Mexico in Pacific
Rail News and Passenger Train Journal (both by the same publisher, and
often the sme authors).  Certain British journals, and two professional
magazines, International Railway Journal and Railway Gazette
International, cover the globe, or one must go to vernacular sources. 
But it is impossible for any publication to present balanced coverage
with the same depth that technically oriented railfans desire, and it
gets expensive!  Fortunately for me, I work in a library :-), but even
here, we were forced to cease subscribing to IRJ and the Railway &
Locomotive Historical Society :-(.

Mr Roble's further comments are equally valid.

Todd Minsk, ferro-bibliographer
Newsgroups: rec.railroad