Carstens Publications - RIP
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mike0329
Re: Carstens Publications - RIP
Theyre not dead.. White River Pub. is taking them over. They will be doing only Railfan and Railroad and RMC for now.
Re: Carstens Publications - RIP
Yep, RMC also had an excellent series on Great Lakes area topics like lift bridges, rail to boat transfer docks & other topical areas of local interest. They published one of my articles a few years ago & I'm sad to see them go. I like the internet for the quick information it supplies, but I still enjoy print media for the lasting quality & the more in depth reference material it gives you for research & modeling.
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Mr Link
Carstens Publications - RIP
As a lifelong railfan, I was saddened to hear that Carstens Publications closed their business Friday. They were a long time publisher of magazines and books for hobbies related to transportation. Their bread and butter were three monthly magazines: Flying Models dates back to October 1928. Railroad Model Craftsmen dates back to March 1933, and Railfan and Railroad was a merger of Railfan, dating back to 1974 and Railroad Magazine which was first published in October 1906 as a pulp magazine. Over the years Carstens also published a large number of books relating to prototype and model railroads.
While they never had the market share that Kalmbach Publishing (Trains and Model Railroader) enjoyed, they often covered railroads and subjects that no other magazine did. Both Railfan and Railroad Model Craftsmen did some wonderful articles on Great Lakes car ferries and the railroads that served them. And RMC did a fantastic 3 or 4 part series on East Coast railroad tugboats, authored by Preston Cook, a longtime employee of Electo-Motive Division.
There are rumors that each of the three monthly magazines might have potential buyers that will revive them. Time will tell. I love the internet and sites such as this for the vast amounts of information and can be quickly accessed. But I hope that the internet never replaces, but only complements well-written, carefully-edited, and beautifully-illustrated print publications.
While they never had the market share that Kalmbach Publishing (Trains and Model Railroader) enjoyed, they often covered railroads and subjects that no other magazine did. Both Railfan and Railroad Model Craftsmen did some wonderful articles on Great Lakes car ferries and the railroads that served them. And RMC did a fantastic 3 or 4 part series on East Coast railroad tugboats, authored by Preston Cook, a longtime employee of Electo-Motive Division.
There are rumors that each of the three monthly magazines might have potential buyers that will revive them. Time will tell. I love the internet and sites such as this for the vast amounts of information and can be quickly accessed. But I hope that the internet never replaces, but only complements well-written, carefully-edited, and beautifully-illustrated print publications.