Farewell and don't let the door hit 'em in the hinder to what became the railfan equivalent of The National Enquirer. It seems that the plug has finally and mercifully been pulled on the Altamont Press website effective 14Feb.

While it was once a good source of information sharing, it devolved to become the absolute worst den of anonymous spew in railfandom that made the Atlas forums (plug pulled for the same reasons) seem tame in comparison. The total lack of moderation permitted any and every tiny-appendaged basement dweller to rail ad-infinitum in their quest to be noticed, filling it with slop and making it useless in any way as a stable source to rely upon.

It's a bit curious it seems to have died without a whimper, with no mention of it's demise anywhere on the "popular" sites, that will no doubt soon be peopled with AP refugees doing what they do best.

While not exactly a preservation topic, it is a notable subtraction in the railfan sphere. Yet, it is truly telling is that no one seems to have stepped up to keep it alive, nor to even bother to archive it in any way. In this age of decaying mutual respect, it won't be missed.

I had forgotten that the Altamont Press discussion board even existed. It did have useful information, about western railroads in particular, but as you suggest, without moderation it encouraged trolling. I recall that it had the old style long threads in which you had to click on every response in order to read it, which is hard to navigate. One interesting thing is the fact that Altamont Press (they had great railfan timetables) completely shut down at the end of 2010, and apparently the discussion board functioned on autopilot from that time on. Who was paying the hosting fees, without the business (which gained by attention to their publications) to support it?

I'd have to agree to the pair of preceding posts. I enjoyed a number of good years both reading and contributing to AP, but boy, it sure went South after the horde took over.

I put out a thread once regarding an old listing of SP Coast Division steam engineers names, and got back some really fine comments on many of them, their nicknames, also traits and particular quirks. That was when it was at it's best.

Just my opinion.

Tom

I only went there a couple of times.
Good riddance.
When I saw a thread that mocked regular posters here (including myself), I clicked off and never went back.
For those who I knew who looked in from time to time, I was told I wasn't missing anything.

I used to go there often and learned many things. When it went down hill, I just stopped looking. As it ended up, it's nothing to miss.