It has been an interesting couple of weeks on RYPN. The question I have for the group is how do we want RYPN to evolve? My gut feeling is we could be a whole bunch more than we are now. I have some thoughts and ideas but before I posting all of mine I would like to hear yours. I encourage you to think of this as the opening steps on producing a strategic plan for RYPN. And I also encourage you to think into the future 5, 10, 15, 20 years.

No ideas will be too outlandish. And if the idea seems outlandish to you, that’s fine, remember what your mother taught you, ‘If you don’t have something nice to say then don’t say anything at all.’ The intent is to encourage everyone to post without having to worry about ridicule. The time to start this journey is now, none of us are getting any younger and all of our artifacts need assistance.

To start the ball rolling, I would like to see RYPN have a print magazine again.

No doubt implied by a revived magazine (but a magazine is not required) is my first thought: a return of the occasional article published here.

Truth is I do not regularly read the rr related printed material I now recieve so a new mag. I'm afraid would be wasted on me.
As to RyPN- it seems to me that it serves a very valuable function as a central place to "meet" and have a way to share experiences and ideas with others actively engaged in the industry. Personally, I think it's working pretty near to perfect as is and I'd vote to leave it alone!!
IMHO-Ross Rowland

Technically, you need to lose the word "again". RyPN was never involved in the publication of Locomotive & Railway Preservation, which was a project of Mark Smith. Bob Yarger was a news editor for that magazine, but as........ nope, nope, not gonna say anything.

Now, the proposition of a revived magazine might be a good idea. I've seen many issues of Britain's Steam Railway and Heritage Railway, and both are excellent magazines. Imagine, if you will, a cross between Railpace (for news cramming), Classic Trains (for classic vintage photos and stories from the past), and L&RP (detailed articles/coverage of projects/museums/lines today).

Is there going to be enough demand? The most common refrain you'll hear at the hobby shops these days is "There's too many magazines out there now; I gotta cut back....." If we stick to strictly a trade magazine, answering to the likes of TRAIN, ARM, shop men, etc., it would be very lucky to garner circulation of a thousand or two. Make it an upscale photo/literary magazine, you might gain another couple hundred. Go "populist" for want of a better word, and you'll get thousands, but you're still competing with Railfan & Railroad, Classic Trains, Railroads Illustrated, PTJ, and a bunch of others. And forgive me for being blunt, but there appears to be far more in terms of things to cover in Britain right now than in North America--mainline steam trips and vintage mainline diesel excursions almost every weekend, steamers still being brought back from scrapyard condition, open houses and special events quite frequently, etc.

I know Jim Wrinn lurks here, and I believe Steve Barry from Carstens as well. And I think I can talk with Mike Schafer of White River Publishing about the dollars and cents.

And, of course, we'd have some folks that, when this new magazine does a Trains-style all-diesel issue, will send back said magazine ripped in half with a note saying "How dare you send this pornographic material through the mails!" (Yes, this actually happened with one subscriber receiving Trains' first all-diesel issue.)

The only change I'd like to see is more briefs and articles, especially event related post - mortems and coverage of work in progress. Sharing our experiences of what works and what doesn't and why can make us all stronger in the long run.

dave

I for one would subscribe to an RyPN magazine, but I wonder whether the project would be economically viable. I'll leave that question to the sesoned veterans who have been there and are doing that.

I check RyPN almost daily but in recent times the only portion of the site that seems "active" is the interchange. I find virtually all the threads at a minimum interesting and in many of them I learn something new. In other words the current format meets my own person needs (whatever they are).

I would like to see more briefs and "how to" articles but I don't know whether the RyPN format is conducive to meeting that need. I have submitted briefs on behalf of my outfit in the past but right now there seems to be nothing worthy of being passed on to the general audicence that frequents the RyPN site, so bothing has been sent lately.

Let's also not forget that the Assn. of Railway Museum's quarterly publication, Railway Museum Quarterly has a lot of good info and news of the various museums contained in it. So, would a revived magazine that would most likely be published along the same schedule be a competitor to or would duplicate RMQ's content?

I guess what I am trying to say here is:
1) What should be purpose of the new magazine be? Museum news or technically oriented articles? Or both?
2) What is the potential market and readership?
3) Who would write the articles for the new magazine/journal? That is, you'd have to beat the bushes to get content I suspect.

I know, these are obvious questions. Maybe someone can do one of these polls on Interchange to determine the interest.

Thanks!

Don't fix what ain't broken.

Doesn't the Tourist Railway Association's Trainline kind of already fit this bill? It's informative, always reliable -- both in content and publication schedule -- and to be honest, the only rail-related publication I bother to read anymore. It might not be the beefiest publication in the world, have glossy color pictures and all that jazz, but I would think that's of minimal importance to its current readership and any audience which would keep any print preservation publication (say that 10 times fast) afloat.

IMHO, the forum needs to change its format. When you have a full page taken up by two topics, far to many other important posts fall into never-never land, AKA "page 2".

Smokebox

RYPN is already the premier place on the web for railway preservation. I have been here since the beginning and have enjoyed many hours of RYPN over the years. I think there are ways to make it even better. Nothing drastic but here goes.

1. Ask people to submit articles. If we ask people will write. I think I can speak for most everyone that feature articles would be a big hit.

2. Add a third forum: In addition to interchange and classified add tech talk. By adding tech talk serious technical information can be shared and when archived it can be searched better for future reference without having to sort through dozens of goofy railfan quotes and what color to paint old Bessie threads.

3. If someone really has the energy and really wants to get wild, add a photo archive that is formatted with database fields so it can be searched easily. There are already several places doing this online so it would not be a priority.


I think it would still be an awesome site without any changes but since it was asked there are my thoughts.

I subscribe to Heritage Railway Mag via Zinio. It
costs pretty much the same as paper. I like it
but lately I wonder how effective it is as I can
get nearly the same news faster off the web.
And for free.

If you wish to start a magazine perhaps it
should be a e-mag to keep costs down.
As for this site, it works very well and
maybe it is best not to fool too much
with it format wise. The worst format
that we all know how to use is better
than a new format that I have to
learn to use. Most people see it
this way too I think.

I like the idea of a print version, as well as keeping the internet version. Many of us here who work on these things have the opportunity to trade ideas and solutions back and forth. As long as it remains a public forum,the occasional bad apple will rear its ugly head and will have to be dealt with. The stronger we as a community are,the better we are received by not only the public at large,but by those Class Ones and regionals we wish to deal with to move our equipment or operate excursions. As Dave says,"ideas have consequences"

I would caution against over-reaching right now, particularly into big $ areas like magazine production. When you take a look at most of the economic indicators involving the railroad industry (which tend to be really good at predicting the economy) we are in for a difficult period.

The suggestion of a different format for the website is worth exploring. Having some division by topic type might help in sorting through the present traffic jam.

As far as articles are concerned, that is a function of who has the knowledge and the time to do the research and put it into writing just as is the case in print journalism. It is an area that tends to be taken completely for granted until suddenly there is a dry spell with nothing being posted. This site is competing in a market with publishers who pay for articles, when things that get posted fall into a vacuum with little or no response it isn't long before the writers find someplace else to get their material into print (or turned into dots on a screen as the case may be).

MX

The quantity of new articles and briefs seems to have declined since the rebirth of RyPN under its new management. I wonder if the former management did more prospecting for contributions?

dave

My two cents worth, for whatever that may be...

I don't personally believe a print magazine is the way to go anymore.
The economies of having the "magazine" online versus actually printing and distributing it seem pretty clear. I further personally think we're all on the very threshold of seeing much printed matter (newspapers, magazines, even books) as we currently know them slowly but surely declining into oblivion in the near term future for electronic formatted materials.

Having said that, I think something that might be of value to not only the preservation community at large, but more importantly to those "outside observers" ,would be to have a regularly posted update from each museum/restoration venue that would care to participate (Participation should be greatly encouraged!!) There are many many places on the web to get varying levels of information about this museum or that, but no one single source.

A good example of what I'm talking about here would be the situation at IRM. At present, IRM (like many other establishments) prints and distributes a glossy magazine style "bulletin" of museum information and articles on a semi-regular basis. But even a casual observer would find far more information, and in a much more timely fashion, by becoming a member of the Yahoo discussion group dedicated to IRM activities. While not an official "house organ" of the museum, most department heads are active on this board and typically give monthly, even weekly, updates on what's being worked on, progress thereof, etc.

It's my belief that this sort of information, in a timely fashion, will draw more attention, and paying visitors to the respective museums (and hopefully add to the likelihood of added contributions, monetary and otherwise)

Many museum operations operate within a vacummn because the limited resources are used up maintaining, preserving and restoring equipment, facilities and infrastructure. If some form of "reporting/attention gathering" can be done, especially during the summer visiting months, I think it would go a long way to adding interest and visibility for all.