--- In STMFC@..., Anthony Thompson <thompson@...> wrote:

Kurt Laughlin wrote:

Looking at the fragment below, has anyone considered the idea

that

perhaps there just ISN'T much of a market (*) for articles like

these,

as evidenced by the failure of RMJ, MM, and MRG and the absence

of

anything taking their place?
(*) That is to say, "there ain't a lot of people willing to pay

for

it."

Might the failures of those magazines not say the reverse?

That

is, had they carried more articles of a serious nature, they might

have

broadened their appeal. Your conclusion, Kurt, seems to assume that

the

editors of those magazines accurately understood the market. Based

on

knowing those individuals (to varying degrees), I'd hesitate to

claim

that much.

Tony, I agree with Kurt. You know how much interest there is in books
about steam era freight cars. Not too much, right? Ed Hawkins and Ted
Cullotta should know too. And Al Westerfield.

Steam era freight car modeling is only a small slice of the pie. Look
at the pictures from the prototype modeling conventions. Some of them
show relatively little steam era modeling.

Inspite of the loss of several magazines (icluding Locomotive
Quarterly) now is the "good old days" for STMFC modeling.

Ed

P