Essay - Model Railroader - Thoughts on Its Future

Essay

Model Railroader - Thoughts on Its Future

Why chime in with this author's opinion? Like tens of thousands of our fellow modelers, I have a soft spot in my heart for Model Railroader, whose page count and circulation seem to decline with each passing year. Waukesha's response? With every issue, Kalmbach's drumbeat to persuade its readers to switch to digital grows louder and more incessant. Admittedly, Kalmbach's staff have launched two stunning print annuals that defy that trend - yet their effort seems unrelenting - one recent Kalmbach editorial stated clearly that they saw the future as digital - we are on notice. Changing their company name to Kalmbach Media Co. settles the matter as far as they are concerned.

The trouble with Kalmbach's approach seems to be they are telling their readers - whose subscription dollars have made it perfectly clear they prefer print - to go digital. If I were to follow Kalmbach's lead in my industry, I would stand at the entrances of both shopping centers I manage and harangue our shoppers with "you made the wrong choice, go back home, shop online, you will have a better experience there". Sound ridiculous? Of course, because it would be ridiculous. Our shoppers have voted with their feet for a brick-and-mortar experience - why would we want to deflect them from that choice? Our expertise is in brick and mortar just as Kalmbach's is in print.

So What To Do?

Embrace that MR's strength is as a print medium; understand that its audience may be a bit more sophisticated than Kalmbach cares to admit. If other readers are like me, they operate in front of computers all day long likely even in a cloud environment. The last thing a MR stalwart wants to do is sit in front of his computer after a hard day of work - and he is not going to purchase a tablet so to read MR in his living room. Readers of MR want that over-stuffed chair in their living room to retreat from the world they face the balance of their day.

A second avenue to pursue to shore up Kalmbach's print publishing is to more aggressively pursue advertisers - sent out salespeople to visit with manufacturers - even cottage manufacturers. Offer them lowered advertising rates to get them started - advertising rates that even hurt Kalmbach accountants.

Attainable Layouts 

Perhaps another avenue is to focus on is attainable layouts - as they do in the modeling press around the world in such magazines as Voie Libre and Narrow Guage & Industrial Railway Modelling Review. Here is where some may find my advice a bit quirky. While the comparison may be a bit tenuous - indeed perhaps humorous - I have compared Model Railroader to Playboy and found similarities in which Kalmbach should find a cautionary tale. A cautionary tale for Kalmbach may be Playboy's demise came as it both fostered the "bigger is better" fantasy and succumbed to internet competition. As to the first point, readers know what I mean so enough said there. As to the internet challenge, more to say later.

Blame it on the American Home?

True, American homes have not been getting smaller - as some wrongly lamented - indeed they have been getting bigger. But larger homes tend to be devoted to hobbies and "must haves" for other family members. Tied that with busier lives and little time is left for most to pursue the basement buster layouts one sees in MR. To grow, MR and the hobby organizations as a whole must target those whose thirst for modeling is largely being slaked by static plastic modeling. Celebrate the smaller layout if MR and the hobby as a whole wish to thrive.

Risk Taking

To MR's publisher: take some chances; publish a French-language edition just as Voie Libre publishes an English language edition. If Kalmbach's gamble fails, just terminate this experiment and lick your wounds. Afraid? Consider what Henry Ford is reported to have once remarked "if I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses".

Similarities

Risk takers launched both magazines - Al C. Kalmbach at Model Railroader and Hugh Hefner at Playboy. Both magazines targeted males as their audience. Both magazines sought to engage what in model railroad terms would be the "armchair modeler" with the bigger and better. To an extent both magazines focused on the unattainable - though both magazines sought to promote that "with a little effort on the part of the reader", the unattainable was indeed attainable.

Differences

Model Railroader was launched in 1933 (cover dated 1934) while Playboy followed 20 years later being founded in 1953. Hugh Hefner, an Esquire copyrighter, founded Playboy in a Chicago apartment; Kalmbach, a printer who during the depression wanted to keep his printing press working while serving his beloved hobby, started Model Railroader.

Playboy's Hefner promoted his brand with his Playboy Mansion; in contrast, Al Kalmbach lacked a layout outshining that of others. Despite the media hoopla, Hefner likely used his Playboy Mansion to entertain those who were responsible for purchasing advertising in his publication. Hefner's lesson for Kalmbach: soliciting print ads is key to success - put more effort into it.

Playboy's circulation peaked in 1972 at more than 7 million and stopped print publication in Spring 2020; Model Railroader circulation declines but MR continues in print to today.

Challenges

Such online publications as Joe Fugate's Model Railroad Hobbyist pose challenges to Kalmbach just as Playboy faced challenges from online sources. Seems Kalmbach Media - name change and all - wishes to beat the internet competition at its own game. Will MR suffer the same fate as Playboy in this quest?

So, What are My Take-aways?

Digital will not rescue MR - only a more aggressive advertising push and greater circulation numbers will. Visit any plastic modeler's event and notice that the age of the average attendee seems one or two generations younger than we model railroaders. That is not to say our hobby is dying. There is a larger thirst out there for modeling that our hobby and by extension MR can quench but only if we admit that not everyone can build a basement buster layout. Yet even those folks who will one day reside in countless large homes we see sprouting up everywhere will for decades be living in starter homes and apartments until that day that their incomes match those mortgages. Modeling railroading and MR can engage them with a focus on high quality smaller and even micro layouts now. This will be admittedly a tall order for Kalmbach as it has rested for decades on a foundation of glorious photography and coverage of awe-inspiring layouts. 

Perhaps the answer is to keep covering those enormous layouts and keeping the armchair modeler satisfied while at the same time bringing in new advertisers and readers by targeting the more attainable layouts we see built and covered abroad. How to start? Send MR staff to European train shows to see how model railroading can appeal to folks in smaller living spaces. Our hobby's and MR's future can be bright but only if we awaken to real challenges faced by hobbyists.

Finally, take some risks beyond the ones discussed above. Increase the travel allowance of staff and send them to European train shows both to show the flag at a booth and to report on some of the fabulous exhibition layouts that flood those shows.

Postscript

Some have suggested MR has largely foregone an advertising sales department; if true, this would be an unwise move. Kalmbach must recall that order takers are not salespersons. Does Kalmbach have order takers or salespersons? How many miles in 2023 did Kalmbach salespeople rack up visiting prospects? More content requires more advertising revenue.

Revised January 6, 2024
Revised January 25, 2024

Revised March 6, 2024