From the Dome Car: Train 1 Track 3 (September-October 1990)













By the third Dome Car, Morgan was beginning to note some of the challenges in publishing a magazine—like mistakes! But he was also feeling proud that CRM was now counted among the 60 or so model railroad magazines being published back then. 

After retrieving the mail the other day, I was astonished—and amazed—to learn just how packed the hobby magazine publishing industry is. 

To my surprise, I counted no less than 60 publications listed as "periodicals of possible interest to the model railroader and/or rail fan'' as compiled and issued by the DataServe Multimedia Network. In the detailed list, 45 were American, seven were German, three from Great Britain and one each from Austria, Belgium, Switzeland and Italy. And ONE from Canada! 

Well, I'll tell ya, was I proud? From your letters as readers, I can now understand your feelings of pride when you write ''we need you", "keep up the great work,” “nice to have a Canadian modelling magazine." And the list did not include those from Australasia, Eurasia, the Far East or any of the hundreds of newsletters or SIG publications that are available in the marketplace. 

Canadian Railway Modeller is still in its infancy. We are doing our best to produce the kind of publication that you want. That's why we stress the need for your input, whether it be articles, pictures, society reports, hobby shop information, advertising, all aspects of the hobby. 

Some readers would like to see articles from more of the master scratchbuilders of Canada, and so would we. On the other hand, many need the easy stuff, too, the all-around material, and we strive to keep them satisfied as well. 

We are working toward the elimination of botches by increasing our proofreading sequence as we strive to publish CRM on time. Haste makes waste in this industry; that's why deadlines are so critical. There are a multitude of steps necessary to produce the final product and credibility is attained when we publish to our schedule with balanced articles that are error-free. 

Everything is gradually coming together, slowly but surely, and we need to know that modellers of Canadian roads are behind us. We are finding our place in this very large industry and we are all working together to share our knowledge. And now we are being counted; Canadian Railway Modeller is listed with sixty other related magazines! 

On the personal side, I have been issued my first pair of glasses by my optometrist—some say I needed them—so there is no excuse left now. And you'll notice a new 'room for improvement' department that was created to deal with goofs. We'll keep that di vision brief, with its elimination in mind. 

In summary, three issues of Canadian Railway Modeller are now behind us. And the future is very promising for us to continue production. Very soon, it will be time to increase the number of pages—obviously geared to financial stability--and compensation for contributions. 

Keep up the fine work. We are being counted, eh?




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