Eastern Railroad Discussion > Locked Out of Trains News Wire

When I attempted to read the daily Trains News Wire today, I found that I could no longer access it. (I could as recently as yesterday).  Instead, I received a page pointing out the advantages of subscribing to Kalmbach's new premium access service Trains.com.

I assume that this means that the various Kalmbach on-line products now require ponying up to the rather hefty additional costs of a Trains.com subscription. I've messaged Kalmbach for confirmation.  As a subscriber to Trains, Model Railroader and Model Railroader Video Plus, I am not happy about having existing accesses restricted because of the new premium service, if in fact that is the case.  Stay tuned.......

Art House



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/21 09:02 by aehouse.

Yes Art.  I've discovered the same thing lately.  I am a subscriber to Trains and Classic Trains and they want us to pay additional $ for the News wire.  Doesn't seem right to me either.

i will do without the trains newswire and use other cheaper sources

It is my understanding that subscribers are supposed to have access. Am I wrong?

 

Marty Harrison
Knob Noster, MO

Welcome to the pay for any news 🗞 service environment that's becoming the new norm.

 The price of life continues to climb-!

 I am having the same problem.  Railway Age and Progressive Railroading have free news websites for most of the industry.  Tend to be weak on tourism and historical information, though.

cozephyr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Welcome to the pay for any news 🗞 service
> environment that's becoming the new norm.
>
>  The price of life continues to climb-!

Thats why I get my news from this site. Oh dang, its a pay site too. Nuts.

If you are a print subscriber you still have access to the free content.   I have to say I am pretty happy with the new site/system as it opens up a world of historic content I can access easily while traveling etc..  Yes you pay for it, but it is much more usable than a dvd archive.

If you have a TRAINS magazine subscription, you should have unlimited access to Trains.com.

I had a similar problem recently and was able to resolve it by clearing cookies on my iPhone. Their website worked perfectly afterwards.

CW

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/21 10:24 by Juniata.

cozephyr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Welcome to the pay for any news 🗞 service
> environment that's becoming the new norm.
>
>  The price of life continues to climb-!

Before the internet (which you pay someone else to access), you always paid for content. The free ride can't last forever.

Posted from Android

I signed up for the free 30 day trial and have been using it. Yesterday morning I was able to access the system, then four hours later it said that it did not recognize my log-on information. I called Kalmbach's customer service and reported the problem. The lady said I was the fourth person to call her yesterday. She asked what browser I was using and I told her Chrome. She said she was going to report the problem to her supervisor and  that in the meantime I should try using Explorer instead. Well, I tried Explorer and it worked. I just now tried again to access using Chrome and got the same rejection. They need a system that will work with any browser.

Try changing your browser.  I found the same problem, starting about mid-day on Wednesday, but I just figured they were doing something with their website.  This morning, with the problem persisting, I tried changing my password, but had the same result.  Finally, I changed browsers, going from Google Chrome (my default) to MS Edge, and discovered that I had access to everything I had before as an ordinary Trains subscriber.  

The company I work for developes products that interface through the Internet with online programs and other products. When any browser like Chrome or Firefox makes updates on their software platform it often becomes incompatible with our software. Our software developers are seemingly constantly updating our products because the customer has issues like you are all reporting here. The problem is complex due to the various browsers people choose to use. Unfortunately often the answer is to change browsers until the service provider catches up (if ever!).
Go

aehouse Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When I attempted to read the daily Trains News
> Wire today, I found that I could no longer access
> it. (I could as recently as yesterday).  Instead,
> I received a page pointing out the advantages of
> subscribing to Kalmbach's new premium access
> service Trains.com.
>
> I assume that this means that the various Kalmbach
> on-line products now require ponying up to the
> rather hefty additional costs of a Trains.com
> subscription. I've messaged Kalmbach for
> confirmation.  As a subscriber to Trains, Model
> Railroader and Model Railroader Video Plus, I am
> not happy about having existing accesses
> restricted because of the new premium service, if
> in fact that is the case.  Stay tuned.......
>
> Art House

I had a similar problem.  I tried the "forgot password" link, but it wanted the old password to use the next screen!

Neil

Yes, but...news is limited to 8 views (or stories)

From a thread on a Model Railroader forum:

:
If I do the new Trains thing, would I get credited for what was just paid to renew my sub. to the mag and archives? 

Yes, Customer Service can do that for you.If you are a magazine or MRVP subscriber and you don't have access to the features you should, check the top right side of the home page. If you don't see "Hello, (your name)" you aren't logged in. Log in with the same username and password as the old site and your access should be restored.If you are still having problems, please contact Customer Service. I am the only staff member who reads the Forums and I am about four steps removed from anyone who has access to the user system. Your issue will be resolved much faster if you go through them. Complaining here will accomplish nothing but giving me an ulcer.--Steven Otte, Model Railroader associate editor
sotte@kalmbach.com

Trains customer service says to change browsers  ha, the hell I will.

billsdnr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>  I am having the same problem.  Railway Age and
> Progressive Railroading have free news websites
> for most of the industry.  Tend to be weak on
> tourism and historical information, though.

Railway Age and Progressive Railroading have both gone downhill over the years, especially the latter, and both have become rather political. (Jim Blaze usually provides the best content on Railway Age.)

But it looks like Progressive Railroading is getting into paid subscriptions. It ain't cheap and it looks like utter Scheisse. It popped up in my email today--$20 per month and here is an example of what you get for that:

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/RailPrime/details/Union-Pacific-Manufacturing-Institute-partner-to-pave-pathways-to-freight-rail-careers--63152?oly_enc_id=9796C0306167G6T&utm_source=rpemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weeklycontent-040821

(Note that this is also an example what a sordid corportation Union Pacific has become.)

The best daily news feed is from the BLE&T union: https://www.ble-t.org/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/21 20:18 by Bandito.

Bandito Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> billsdnr Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >  I am having the same problem.  Railway Age
> and
> > Progressive Railroading have free news websites
> > for most of the industry.  Tend to be weak on
> > tourism and historical information, though.
>
> Railway Age and Progressive Railroading have both
> gone downhill over the years, especially the
> latter, and both have become rather political.
> (Jim Blaze usually provides the best content on
> Railway Age.)
>
> But it looks like Progressive Railroading is
> getting into paid subscriptions. It ain't cheap
> and it looks like utter Scheisse. It popped up in
> my email today--$20 per month and here is an
> example of what you get for that:
>
> https://www.progressiverailroading.com/RailPrime/d
> etails/Union-Pacific-Manufacturing-Institute-partn
> er-to-pave-pathways-to-freight-rail-careers--63152
> ?oly_enc_id=9796C0306167G6T&utm_source=rpemail&utm
> _medium=email&utm_campaign=weeklycontent-040821
>
> (Note that this is also an example what what
> sordid corportation Union Pacific has become.)
>
> The best daily news feed is from the BLE&T union:
> https://www.ble-t.org

Both Railway Age and Progressive Railroading as well as Railway Track & tructures are geared to the professional railroader audience rather than the railfan community. We get multiple copies of all three at no cost monthly.

Dick Samuels
Oregon Pacific Railroad

I've finished my 30 day free trail and have decided it's not worth the extra money.  Time has moved past Kalambach with many better sources of information. The alternatives have web sites that function and cost less money.

Bob Wilcox
Charlottesville, VA
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