In this episode of Trains News Wire round-up, Trains editors talk about all the rail news that is fit to publish for the week of Feb. 15, 2019. This week Editor Jim Wrinn and Digital Editor Steve Sweeney discuss CSX Transportation line sales, a photo charter with Skookum, Union Pacific Big Boy, and more!
News Wire Round-Up for the week of Feb. 15, 2019 NEWSWIRE
By Angela Cotey | February 15, 2019
| Last updated on November 3, 2020
This week, editors discuss Union Pacific's Big Boy, CSX line sales, California High Speed Rail, and more!
P.S. Timothy: There’s still hope for us afterall. http://www.railwayage.com
Timothy: I have posted my grand farewell on another NewsWire report. I imigine it won’t be approved for publication but personally, I could give a rat’s rear end! That’s all; I’m finally finished with Kalmbach Publishing Company’s negative attitute towards long time subscribers and supporters alike.
In-house publishing has resulted in Garden Railways founder and editor, Marc Horowizz, to loose his job. He lives in Denver and declined to relocate to Waukesha due to an unhuman decision by the Kalmbach top brass. Why was Customer Service moved far far away from Waukesha? I spent 45 minutes two weeks ago waiting to be connected to some stranger in Big Sandy, TX, and finally gave up. Besides that, Outlanders have abolutely no idea whatsoever about Kalmbach or railroas to begin with. Their impersonal attitude irks me to the point it makes me want to Barf!
In our ultra-modern high tech society there was no reason whatsoever why Marc couldn’t have continued to be editor of the very magazine he founded. Thank goodness, Bob Brown sold out to White River. This publishing house still concentrates on railroading whereas Kalmbach has branched out to the point it is nothing like founder A.C. Kalmbach envisioned when he started Model Railroader in the Depression year of 1934 or Trains at the outbreak of WWII in 1940.
At Kalmbach Publishing Company, Century 21 has only one mission: PROFIT! Nothing else! In one word: DISGUSTING!
Good Bye!
Hey Jim How much do you people at Train, Model railroader, and M.R.V.P. value your customers? I have been with MR for the about 25 years, Trains for 15 years and MRVP since it started. But waiting on the phone for 30 minutes to pay a bill and NOT getting anyone, after 3 days of trying to get a right phone number that works, the ones on my bills were out of service: I am ready to quit all of it. The new web pages for customer service and the new customer service line are not doing it for you people. My MR mag has expired, MRVP will expire in April, and Trains will be done in May and I don’t think I will put anymore time into renewing them. I like the products, but this is way to much trouble to pay a bill or any other problems one might have.If you have any questions, my e-mail is on file with Trains
Mr. Norton: Right On! I’m still waiting for my complimentary copy of December 2018 Garden Railways magazine (OK, in all fairness I ordered it in January after signing up for their e-mail newsletter which included the offer) but have already received the bill for the reduced rate subscrition with a note telling me they hope I’ve enjoyed reading my December 2018 GR……
Item: The times I’ve called customer service the girls always acted as if they were scared sick to talk in a personal mannor. My God*, perhaps I’ve been talking to Roberta, the beautiful female robot, and didn’t realise it……
*Johnaton Quayle Higgens III (Magnum TV series).
Jim & Steve, Stay warm? Well maybe it is warming up this year but what about next year at this time? I think we are headed for another Ice Age. Even Maui got a light dusting at sea level once this month. I think the politicians should be worried about global cooling not global warming. Just look at what happened across most of North America this year.
Mr. Toth: Enjoyed that tie in. I too had problems with customer service. Ordered Great Model Railroads 2019 and Model Railroad Planning 2019 back in September. Despite numerous calls and assurances of the magazines being on the way I gave up when they both appeared at the newsstand. Called again and told the issues were never charged to the card.
Today, Kalmbach is all about making a buck. Its a far cry from those years of when it was dedicated and enthusiastic railfans producing Model Railroader and Trains: Kalmbach now publishes:
American Snowmobiler
Art Jewelry
Astronomy
Bead & Button
Bead Style
Discover
Drone 360
Fine Scale Modeler Magazine
Miniature Showcase
Model Retailer
Scale Auto
In 2016 Kalmbach acquired Rather Dashing Games, a board game company based in Kentucky.
Its no wonder quality is suffering. Thankfully, White River Productions is giving Kalmbach a long over due run for their money with a fine line of rail only magazines produced by modelers and fans excited about in-depth and quality publications.
Look for Class One railroads to continue system wide spin offs in the foreseeable future. These moves should be good news to rail customers as regional and short line operators still believe in Service!
Union Pacific employees who are loosing their jobs due to the closure of Pine Bluff shops as well as cut backs in other locations don’t give a rat’s rear end about Big Boy but how they will feed their families instead! Count Kalmbach in on this one too. The absence of the friendly and professional customer service girls in Waukesha left a huge void in my life. It was always a pleasure to talk with them regarding any problems I encountered be it subscriptions, orders from the Kalmbach store, or any other matters at hand.
Though their replacements in Tampa, Florida, and gads, now in Big Sandy, Texas, (wonder who and where it will be next week?) try hard, they are no substitute to the gals in Wisconsin. A Big Big Blunder on Kalmbach’s part, and needless to say, I’ve lost a lot of respect in the company Al Kalmbach founded in 1934!
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