Model Railroading > Carstens is no mo

Carstens Publications
August 22nd, 2014

It is with regret that Carstens Publicatons, Inc. will be closing permanently at close of business on Friday, August 22, 2014. Carstens Publications, Inc. has been a leading publisher of leading hobby magazines for over 50 years. Unfortunately the current economic climate has placed us in this position. Discussion is continuing with several parties who expressed desire to take on the continuance of the magazines. At this point there is still hope that all three titles will remain in existence. But I can offer no guarantees. We thank you for your patronage over the years, and wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.

—Henry R. Carstens, President
Carstens Publications, Inc.

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Sad news. I have been a subscriber for years.

So what happens to the people with paid up subscriptions? Out of luck?

Maybe Kalmbach will pic them up. The could make RMC the advanced version of MR. Since MR doesn't do much past beginner anymore.

I am wondering the same on Subscriptions I just renewed RMC in March and Railfan in July.

James Bartelt
Port Washington, WI
Metro Model Railroad Club, Ltd

These days in our Hobby, as a Model Railroader or a Railfan , the Magazines are going away almost as Fast as the Hobby Shops we once purchased them from

Steve Barry has said other publishers are looking into purchasing parts or all of Carstens so those with subscriptions should be ok but maybe with a little delay in the next issue or two.

It's possible a buyer will go all digital...

Actually, I'd prefer digital - easier to archive.

DR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Steve Barry has said other publishers are looking
> into purchasing parts or all of Carstens so those
> with subscriptions should be ok but maybe with a
> little delay in the next issue or two.


It's over, kaput. Sorry but subscribers are S. O. L.

scrimjimmy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am wondering the same on Subscriptions I just
> renewed RMC in March and Railfan in July.


If you used a credit card you should have no problem at all charging back the R&R subscription. You are probably out of luck on the RMC one unless they use something exotic like warranty extension as a reason. However, if you are a long term customer I had a case in the past where the AX customer service rep went past the standard 90 days to do a charge back. Might be worth a shot to ask. All they can say is yes or no.

Jay

White River Publications could be a potential buyer. They already have a good reputation in the railroad publication circles. Look at how many historical society publications are produced by WRP? Granted many are co-produced by outside sources but WRP puts them in final print form.

Carstens, thanks for the 4 decades of R&R that I have enjoyed as well as the occasional RMC I would purchase. This is sad news. I have every issue of R&R and always thought, same as others, that RMC was edited more for the advanced modeler than MR. Neither were as "polished" as the Kalmbach magazines but the content was not in direct competition with any Kalmbach publication. Carsten's and Kalmbach's publications were good complements to each other.

Hopefully someone such as White River would see fit to add R&R and RMC to their portfolio. Maybe merge R&R with Railroads Illustrated and RMC with MRN?

Jay

I could never understand why MR content was all newbie stuff & MRC was more advanced stuff, If I was going To invest money in a Modeling Magazine, I know where to invest my money now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/14 20:04 by espeesgeeps.

4thDistrict Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> scott122 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Actually, I'd prefer digital - easier to
> archive.
>
> Nope, not for me. I'm "old school". I can't
> imagine sitting on the john with my 30 pound PC on
> my lap.

Ever heard of an iPad?

Scott Schifer
Torrance, CA
TinyTrains Website

Well that blows. I've been subscribing steadily to RMC for years, MR off and on. I especially liked and valued the comprehensive industrial history articles RMC ran. Those were keepers. The in-depth modeling stories could be good too, depending on relevance. I could always tell RMC was a much smaller operation, financially and staffing wise, than Kalmbach is. I guess it finally caught up with them.

I hope the folks at Carstens are able to move on the next phase in their lives without too much trouble and angst. I've appreciated their efforts over the years.
Clarence

Unfortunately they went the way of newspapers who failed to embrace a changing market. I loved their stuff, but it go all digital for everything else, and Carsten's apparent refusal probably hastened the pace of their demise.

The same case can be made for hobby shops without websites, e commerce or even electronic communication. Face it folks, if this hobby is to survive....and flourish, it MUST be a available to the way younger people consume data, media,imaging and information. It's not going to go backward, no matter how much complaining and refusal to participate happens.

Board the train or get left at the station!

Joel Brazy
Coatesville, PA

This was posted over on modelrailroader.com



"Guys,

A slight bit of additional information. Pretty much everything you've
read about the printer change etc is all true, but it doesn't draw the
complete picture. Allow me to fill in the blanks a little bit.

Any business owner will tell you, it is all about cash flow. You may
have all the sales you can handle, but if you don't get the money in
the door in a timely and steady manner, you are going to have issues.
And that has been the case at Carstens for some time. We have been on
a "pay to play" deal with our printer for years…We'd send the mag and
the money to print it…then we'd send the money for postage and they'd
mail it. And these were not insignificant dollar amounts.

From 2008 on, as the recession kept going, people kept losing their
jobs or taking work that paid less, our sales diminished also. We had
increases in the book line, primarily due to the On30 and then the
HOn3 Annuals, and our ad revenue stayed pretty steady. But over time,
the cash coming in, and the frequency of it inched downward. Our costs
(payroll, taxes, printing costs, mailing costs etc) kept going up, and
in the case of mailing, significantly so.

When Super Strom Sandy hit, we were out of power for 10 days (no
phones, no computers) and we counted ourselves lucky compared to some
on the east coast. But there was basically a half month that we could
not generate any revenue, and of course many folks on the east coast
couldn't buy from us if they wanted to because they didn't have power
or were dealing with flooding issues. Then we had the polar vortex and
the winter that would not end, and had many of the same issues. Those
hurt our cash to the point where we were missing print windows because
we didn't have enough cash to print, and we had to delay. That delay
hurt subscriber confidence and you can see the death spiral picking up
steam. There were any number of things that you could point to, but
Quad Graphics (our printer in St. Cloud for the last 15-16 years)
making the decision to shut the St. Cloud plant down and move us (and
they let all the people we'd worked with go) and put us with a new
plant and new people, that was basically the end. We had very little
money coming in, and with the delay, small prospects of any coming in.
We scrapped enough up to do the June and get it out, but the July will
never see the light of day as a Carstens product.

Now two companies are bidding to buy RMC & Railfan, and so they will
continue in the future in some form. What that looks like I don't
know. The Annuals future is somewhat more vague. It is my hope and
certainly my intent to continue to serve as the editor and bring those
out, but that decision is mostly out of my hands at this point. My
last official day with Carstens is Friday.

I don't want anyone to feel bad for me, I will be just fine and it was
my pleasure to serve the model railroad community and especially the
narrow gauge community as a member of Carstens. God willing, I will be
able to continue to do so in some other form, but I likely won't know
what that might look like for at least another week or so, and likely
longer.

All the best,

Chris Lane"

Are there any other Trainorders members who were R&R subscribers from the first issue to the last?

Steve Barkley