We'd love to hear the story, if you're at liberty to tell it here on the forum.

I'll miss reading about the rooftop engines on RDCs, and other things that I never even suspected.

No, no... the parties involved are possibly still among the living, and the railroading/railfanning world can be WAY too small.

To paraphrase Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by an overworked editorial staff.

According to media-business coverage, Kalmbach Media is retaining the Discover brand, and perhaps some of the associated collateral acquired when they bought that brand in 2011.

Craig Fuller said they were 'looking at establishing a Wisconsin presence' in the next 60 days or so -- by which I understood they did not buy the site in Waukesha, and perhaps not the outsourced 'assets'.

I lost a considerable amount of respect for Kalmbach Media over their handling of the online forums, and a considerable amount more after the 'Railroading in 2040' fiasco. They have good employees at Kalmbach -- they're just not in positions of authority or were eased out of being able to 'do right'.

It looked to me that this came as as much of a surprise to a great many of the 275 employees as it did to us. It'll be interesting to see who Craig keeps, and who he passes on. (He has secured the Kalmbach acquisition with personal dept at 7.5%, so he is motivated correctly

I have been told stories for years and years, from numerous people about Kalmbach and their "methods" for taking articles. Its well known they will sit on stuff for eons (some cases 10+ years) before it gets used just so they have it. I have heard cases that people have actually passed away before their submission was used.

Its pretty well known that they like to rehash old articles as well, with new photos.

The Model Railroader is no better, and has its own circle of golden children they like to pick from.

The same can not be said for RF&RR/RMC under White River. They have turned those around into first class magazines, and its a painless process writing for them, and you get to see your work in a short period of time.

What does it mean for This FORUM ?

> https://cs.trains.com/trn/f/741/p/284425/3278366.aspx < Hopefully it is not the end for it.

Mr. Starr

On the Astronomy side of the house it is said that Kalmbach will shutdown in about two months, so perhaps the family just wants out of the business. It also appears there may be opportunity for at least the Astronomy staff to relocate elsewhere.

Mr. Fuller went into some detail shortly after announcing the acquisition that much of the 'astronomy' collateral was an important part of his future plans, including the merger of the Kalmbach 'space store' with his already-acquired Smithsonian 'space memorabilia' operation to create a sort of, in his words, 'space superstore'. That doesn't sound much like closing down that part of the operation to me.

More amusing was that he said he was interested in products that would have community interest in the wintertime, when other kinds of interest drop off. Kalmbach of course had a puplication they called American Snowmobiler, which they killed without offering it for sale in 2020. I'd at least look to see some digital approach to that community revived...

I would be very surprised if we see something different from Firecrown opening a 'Wisconsin office' close enough that existing employees can access it, and hiring the good people who share the vision.

It appears that Kalmbach entered the industry at just the right time and is also pulling the plug at an appropriate point. The era of printed magazines is rapidly dying, with little chance of a renaissance. Why should Kalmbach wait for their business to be worthless and then try facilitate a sale? The timing seems smart. Most of my generation (millennials and younger) tend to be pacified with online media on our phones. Even a PAID subscription service seems somewhat iffy in terms of need or interest, since most rail news is posted online to Facebook or railroad forums long before it hits TRAINS Newsire, not to mention another "expense". As for TRAINS Magazine, the magic died with Editor Wrinn's passing. His wonderful presence in the preservation community, coupled with his humble knack for cultivating that interest in others (especially a younger generation) is gone from the magazine. While I'm sure the new Editor is a great fellow, I wish they had chosen someone with more online presence and younger energy.

We don't know how or how much was the ownership. Two (of maybe more) possibilities:

1. Instead of all-cash there may have been a cash and stock compensation related to the employment at Klambach. [see PS below]

2. There may have been a required number of shares issued to allow for holding a seat on the Board of Directors

PS Heard that Ward Kimball, of Disney animator and 3' gauge backyard railroad fame, once remarked that some of his stock in Disney came because cash flow was slow at times. But the problem was it didn't buy the cereal for the children.
The Kimball family transferred some Disney stock to OERM along with the backyard railroad equipment to help pay for the display building, etc.

A former editor of Astronomy posted this letter in case there is any question that employees have shares.

January statement (click image to enlarge)

Don't be cynical. Didn't you see what was posted above? "To paraphrase Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by an overworked editorial staff."

Not surprising that the Building owned by a separate entity from the Publishing company. If you've ever seen "The Founder" about McDonalds there's an important scene where someone looking for a job tells Ray Kroc that he isn't in the hamburger business he's actually in the Real Estate business and Kroc suddenly realizes the guy is right.

When Dick Portillo's sold of his iconic Chicago are restaurant chain he kept the Real estate and gut $1B for the business. Seen his Yacht in Naples, FL and it's quite nice.

The point being having your main business paying you rent for the building it's in is a common business practice.