Model Railroader Magazine: Celebrating Over 80 Years Of Publishing Success With A 1000th Issue That Captures Both The Past & The Future With An Authentic Vision – The Mr. Magazine™ Interview With Steve George, Vice President – Content, And Neil Besougloff, Editor, Model Railroader Magazine…

“There is something about print that is innately impactful and tangible. We’re in an era where we have websites that the pages just scroll endlessly, so you don’t get the same effect with a bottomless well of interest and content that you do when you have a tangible, physical product. And Model Railroader isn’t the only one in our stable. In about six years Trains Magazine is going to have its 1000th issue and. I just don’t see that analog on the digital side, where you show such a longevity, which of course, speaks immediately to its endurance as a brand and to the fact that it has flourished for literally generations and has attracted people with its authenticity.” Steve George…

“We do like to have fun at Model Railroader and our readers are so loyal. It’s so common for us to encounter readers who tell us that they have been reading the magazine since the 1950s or the 1960s, this is very common. And they know these names and the sequences of events, so we have the ability to have a little fun and recall some of these things from the past. The only challenge we have is the balance between newer readers and making sure that they aren’t lost should I make too many references to things that have occurred in the past. So, we can strike that balance and have some fun.” Neil Besougloff…

After over 80 years of publishing success, Model Railroader magazine, the world’s most notable monthly magazine about the hobby of model railroading, has reached a milestone, its 1000th published issue. The magazine, owned by Kalmbach Publishing, has been around since 1934 when Al Kalmbach decided to launch a magazine against all odds. According to legend, Kalmbach couldn’t get a loan from any bank to start his magazine because it was the Great Depression, but somehow he did it anyway, and the rest as they say is history. A long, profitable and passionate history, one that has flourished into 12 different SIP titles for the company.

Steve George is vice president of content for all Kalmbach titles and Neil Besougloff is editor of Model Railroader. I spoke with both men recently and we talked about the past, present and future of the long-running title. The staying power of this legacy brand is a proven strength that cannot be denied and the love and passion the readers have for the brand, both in print and in digital, according to Steve and Neil, is consuming. Even after 1,000 issues, both men are not concerned with resting on their laurels, they’re gearing up for the next 80+ years with authentic content ,print innovation, such as the Color-Logic Special Effects for print process that they used with the recent milestone issue, and a dedication to the brand’s video future and web presence with their subscription-based MRVP (Model Railroader Video Plus) program offered to their readers online.

It’s a compelling past, and a bright future that keeps Steve, Neil, Kalmbach Publishing and Model Railroader magazine smiling and looking toward that next 1000th issue. So, without further ado, enjoy the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Steve George, vice president – content (all titles), and Neil Besougloff, editor, Model Railroader magazine.

But first the sound-bites:

On where he thinks the idea came from that the special interest category is a recent one, rather than a legacy product (Steve George): I think what’s happening is a lot of broader, special interest publishers, and I’ve worked for some of them, have slowly come around to this realization. In many ways, specialized interest has been around all along. Obviously, with companies like Kalmbach and other publishers, they’ve been doing this from day one, as in our case. It’s kind of a reverse Darwinism; we’re seeing that the specialized animal is one that’s surviving in the challenge market because, if they’re done well and they’re authentic enough, they’re going to find those smaller, but more passionate audiences who will stick with them through thick and thin over the years.

On the April issue of Model Railroader, which is its 1000th issue (Neil Besougloff): We wanted to do something to acknowledge this mark with our readers. Usually, we shy away from looking at ourselves, we want to talk about the hobby and tell people how to build model railroads and better enjoy model railroads, but we decided to do something different for the 1000th issue. The readers are our friends; they all know us, even though we may live thousands of miles away. Their passion draws them to us, so we decided to, like in the Wizard of Oz, open up the curtain and reveal the man behind that curtain.

On using the Color-Logic Special Effects for print (Neil Besougloff): We have a very good relationship with our printer, Quad/Graphics. And we are fortunate that they are located within the same county in Wisconsin that we’re in. We were looking to do something different with the cover and talking about an extra color, metallic ink. Our production coordinator was speaking to our representative at Quad/Graphics and she suggested this new process. They showed us some examples and we thought it looked pretty cool, so we decided to try it.

On how he came up with the idea of stacking 1,000 copies of the magazine on the cover to represent the 1000th issue (Neil Besougloff): One day I was looking at Google images, and I don’t know where the idea came from for a stack of magazines, but I was looking for stacks of anything, and I found a photograph of a stack of manila folders that I don’t even remember what they were for now, or why the picture had been taken. So, I thought maybe we should put magazines in a stack like that, and see how big it looks, almost as if it were “Jack and the Beanstalk.” You’re Jack and you’re at the top of the beanstalk looking down on this seemingly endless beanstalk, which would actually be the 1000th issue of Model Railroader on top of this seemingly endless stack of 1,000 magazines.

On whether he thinks as editorial director of all of the brand’s titles, he could achieve the same impact without a print component to the brand (Steve George): No, honestly, I don’t. You’ve said this, and you’ve heard others in the field say it; there is something about print that is innately impactful and tangible. We’re in an era where we have websites that the pages just scroll endlessly, so you don’t get the same effect with a bottomless well of interest and content that you do when you have a tangible, physical product.

On the conversational engagement offered to the audience on the editor’s page and the scribblings included from Neil’s notes (Neil Besougloff): With the scribblings on the Editor’s page, one of the page designers that works on the magazine, I think it was Drew Halverson, came up with the idea and the art director showed it to me, and at first I said that it wouldn’t look right. But then the more I thought about it, I finally said why not. And then I asked the people on the editorial staff if they thought we had enough two-word questions to sustain this. It’s easy to do things once; it’s hard to continue to do them. And they convinced me that it would work, so we’re going to keep doing it.

On the common thread that runs through all 12 of Kalmbach’s SIP magazines (Steve George): The common thread here is that we’re as intensely passionate about producing the brands that we do in the different categories as the readers who buy those magazines and who engage with those brands. And that’s something that is consistent, even as diverse as our titles and our interest areas are, that is a consistent thread.

On anything they would like to add (Neil Besougloff): One thing that helped us do this was the thread that’s among model railroad hobbyists; I think they all minored in history in college, because they have this attraction for the subject and most of them are modeling a railroad that’s set in the past. And here at Kalmbach Publishing Company, we’ve always owned ourselves, and we’re packrats. We keep everything. So, when Steve mentioned a little while ago about getting all 1,000 magazines and laying them on the floor side by side, up and down our hallway here in the building, we have all of that stuff. And the staff and our readers and the company just have this awareness of the company’s history and the objects and artifacts, that and the passion our readers have with history; all of it just comes together really easily.

On anything they would like to add (Steve George): To follow what Neil just said, while our history and our legacy is important and our readers see that, especially for some of our longer running brands, as important and have that perspective, we also recognize that we have to be looking forward. We’re not another stodgy legacy publisher just absolutely beholden to ink on paper. That’s’ still a core part of what we do, but we recognize that there are a number of our customers who, in addition to the print core of our brands, also look to us for other types of content.

On what someone would find them doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at either of their homes (Neil Besougloff): You’re going to find me in the basement of my home tinkering with mechanical things: motors, gears; electricity, model train parts. I also have a side hobby of slat cars; I tinker with those as well. I have an antique Ford in my garage, so there’s something else mechanical that I tinker with. It’s a 1931 Ford, so it’s pretty old. That’s what you’re going to find me doing.

On what someone would find them doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at either of their homes (Steve George): (Laughs) That’s impressive, Neil. I’m going to look like a slacker. (Laughs again) You’re going to find me at home with my three kids, one son and two daughters. I’m going to be doing stuff with them. Both my daughters are very crafty, they’re my inroad insight into jewelry and crafts. So, I’ll be spending time with them, but my evenings are spent reading.

On what keeps him up at night (Neil Besougloff): Too much coffee in the evening, I guess. (Laughs) No, I don’t know. It is a tough time for the magazine world and I think about do we have the advertising support anymore; how do we continually find new readers? But none of these are thoughts that are unique to me.

On what keeps him up at night (Steve George): I guess for me it’s just that question of are we doing enough? Are we doing enough for our readers and our customers? Are we presenting them content that they’re going to love and that’s going to be of high quality in all of the ways that they’re going to want to engage with us? Are we devoting enough of our resources to the places where we know they’re going to go, whether it’s in print or online? It really is that question of are we doing enough for them.

And before you read the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Steve George, vice president – content (all titles), and Neil Besougloff, editor, Model Railroader magazine, click here to watch the making of the 1000th issue of Model Railroader.

Samir Husni: Almost 85 years ago when the first issue of Model Railroader started, people could have described it as a special interest magazine. Today, all of the buzz is that the future is in special interest titles. Where do you think this idea came from that special interest magazines are just a product of today and not a legacy category?

Steve George: I think what’s happening is a lot of broader, special interest publishers, and I’ve worked for some of them, have slowly come around to this realization. In many ways, specialized interest has been around all along. Obviously, with companies like Kalmbach and other publishers, they’ve been doing this from day one, as in our case.

It’s kind of a reverse Darwinism, we’re seeing that the specialized animal is one that’s surviving in the challenge market because, if they’re done well and they’re authentic enough, they’re going to find those smaller, but more passionate audiences who will stick with them through thick and thin over the years. And that’s certainly something that’s been a part of Kalmbach’s model. Obviously, we’re as concerned about newsstand as everybody else, but for us our great strength has always been that with our brands we get a very dedicated core of subscribers who keep renewing for the rest of their lives, especially in the case of long-running titles like Model Railroader or Trains Magazine, which we also do and dates back to 1940.

It’s something that I think has positioned us well. We can call Al Kalmbach a visionary for a lot of reasons; I don’t know that he envisioned today’s marketplace (Laughs), but I’m certainly glad that he did what he did, because it’s producing a very good position with strong brands that really resonate with our readers and they stick with us.

Samir Husni: And the fun part, of course, is that he started the magazine as a side business.

Neil Besougloff: (Laughs) Yes, he was a printer with a passion for trains and model trains and he made the magazine on a whim. It was the Depression, and the story goes that there were no banks that would loan him any money to launch the magazine, but he just went ahead and did it anyway.

Samir Husni: Neil, Steve mentioned the power of the brand and the relationship with the audience. The April issue, which is the magazine’s 1000th issue, is a testament to that brand power and longevity. Can you tell me a little bit more about that April issue?

Neil Besougloff: We wanted to do something to acknowledge this mark with our readers. Usually, we shy away from looking at ourselves, we want to talk about the hobby and tell people how to build model railroads and better enjoy model railroads, but we decided to do something different for the 1000th issue. The readers are our friends, they all know us, even though we may live thousands of miles away. Their passion draws them to us, so we decided to, like in the Wizard of Oz, open up the curtain and reveal the man behind that curtain.

Samir Husni: You mention in your editorial that you used the Color-Logic Special Effects for print, can you tell me more about that?

Neil Besougloff: We have a very good relationship with our printer, Quad/Graphics. And we are fortunate that they are located within the same county in Wisconsin that we’re in. We were looking to do something different with the cover and talking about an extra color, metallic ink. Our production coordinator was speaking to our representative at Quad/Graphics and she suggested this new process. They showed us some examples and we thought it looked pretty cool, so we decided to try it. And I just want to thank Quad/Graphics because we didn’t even know this process existed until they suggested us trying it.

Samir Husni: How did you come up with the idea of stacking 1,000 copies of the magazine on the cover to represent the 1000th issue?

Neil Besougloff: One day I was looking at Google images, and I don’t know where the idea came from for a stack of magazines, but I was looking for stacks of anything, and I found a photograph of a stack of manila folders that I don’t even remember what they were for now, or why the picture had been taken. So, I thought maybe we should put magazines in a stack like that, and see how big it looks, almost as if it were “Jack and the Beanstalk.” You’re Jack and you’re at the top of the beanstalk looking down on this seemingly endless beanstalk, which would actually be the 1000th issue of Model Railroader on top of this seemingly endless stack of 1,000 magazines.

It was kind of hard to pull off because it’s easy to imagine in your mind what such a stack would look like, but in reality once the stack of magazines gets to about three or four feet, it falls over. So, we had our photographer on a ladder, I think it was a 12-foot stepladder, shooting straight down on about a three and a half foot stack of magazines. He used a couple of different lenses to exaggerate the “Jack and the Beanstalk” effect. Then through the magic of Photo Shop, we took these photos and put them together and changed the size and a bit of the orientation, then a little more Photo Shop magic, it looked like a stack of magazines that would seemingly go on for 1,000 issues.

Steve George: What’s funny is it’s hardly an exaggeration. The cover is a great impression of the tenacity and the longevity of the magazine. We depict a stack of 1,000 issues on the cover, but one of the other things that we did was get every copy of Model Railroader out of our library and laid them out side by side here in the office on the floor, and shot a video for our website of the whole visual history of the magazine.

And that line of magazines ran from one end of the building to the other, and almost back again. It was quite an event here in the building and it took a while for our video folks to shoot it. They were on a cart slowly going down the hall and back. Obviously, we couldn’t put that on the cover, that would have required quite a foldout. And you look at all of those covers and at how the magazine has changed over time. From the first issue, which was a mere pamphlet; from that modest beginning to this brand that is so great today; it’s truly awesome. And I use that word in its truest sense.

Samir Husni: Steve, being the editorial director of all of the titles, do you think that you could ever achieve the same visual and editorial impact if you did not have a print component?

Steve George: No, honestly, I don’t. You’ve said this, and you’ve heard others in the field say it, there is something about print that is innately impactful and tangible. We’re in an era where we have websites that the pages just scroll endlessly, so you don’t get the same effect with a bottomless well of interest and content that you do when you have a tangible, physical product.

And Model Railroader isn’t the only one in our stable. In about six years Trains Magazine is going to have its 1000th issue and. I just don’t see that analog on the digital side, where you show such a longevity, which of course, speaks immediately to its endurance as a brand and to the fact that it has flourished for literally generations and has attracted people with its authenticity. And has a dedicated staff who are also lovers of the hobby and true experts in their field, and who deliver authentic content that readers continue to respond to year in and year out. I really do mean it when I say, here’s to the next 1,000 issues because I think Model Railroader will last that long and beyond. I don’t expect I’ll be here to see it (Laughs), but I have every confidence that day will come.

Samir Husni: Neil, you engage your readers with a conversation in your Editor’s Letter, even allowing them to read scribblings from your notes. Tell me about that dialogue between you and the audience in the 1000th issue.

Neil Besougloff: As I said earlier, we try not to make ourselves part of the content. So, we had to let go of that idea for this issue. With the scribblings on the Editor’s page, one of the page designers that works on the magazine, I think it was Drew Halverson, came up with the idea and the art director showed it to me, and at first I said that it wouldn’t look right. But then the more I thought about it, I finally said why not. And then I asked the people on the editorial staff if they thought we had enough two-word questions to sustain this. It’s easy to do things once; it’s hard to continue to do them. And they convinced me that it would work, so we’re going to keep doing it.

I figured our readers would ask why there was handwriting on the magazine, so I would rather explain it to them, in this case in the editorial, than to have them puzzled about something. I really believe our job is to have our readers enjoy the magazine, enjoy their hobby, and to not have to work very hard to read the magazine or to turn the page. We try not to use any kind of jump lines ever; we try to make everything linear. I don’t want the reader to have to fight to read the magazine.

As far as the content goes, I wasn’t lying when I said that we have been asked for decades to write a story about the layout here at Kalmbach’s building in Wisconsin. And it truly is in the magazine frequently, because we use that as sort of our test workshop for different stories that are written by staff members, rather than stories that are written by outside hobbyists. So, it was just time to put all of that stuff together.

And then to write the story, I looked at the 50th anniversary issue of Model Railroader magazine back in 1984 and there was a fictional character that was named Boomer Pete, which was a railroad name. He had written a story about visiting the company at the 50-year mark and he made reference to the fact that he was part of the early days; he was a columnist, which was true. I devised this idea that we would have his son come visit us for this 1000th issue.

And what this allowed me to do in writing the story was to be able to ask questions about the layout and make comments in the story that would have maybe been a little awkward for one of the actual staff members to do, but by using a pseudonym you could ask and answer questions and make observations that were more from a visitor’s point of view than a staff member’s.

Steve George: Neil, do you know who the original Boomer Pete was? It was Al, right? He was the alter ego for one of the staffers, correct?

Neil Besougloff: In the beginning, it was Al Kalmbach, and recently I found out that during the 50th anniversary, Russ Larson, who was one of the staff members, and went on to become the publisher of the magazine, wrote that story in 1984.

We do like to have fun at Model Railroader and our readers are so loyal. It’s so common for us to encounter readers who tell us that they have been reading the magazine since the 1950s or the 1960s, this is very common. And they know these names and the sequences of events, so we have the ability to have a little fun and recall some of these things from the past. The only challenge we have is the balance between newer readers and making sure that they aren’t lost should I make too many references to things that have occurred in the past. So, we can strike that balance and have some fun.

With this issue, we had eight pages of readers writing in about their favorite issues, which most of them were quite a while ago. So, they understand the whole body of work and they’re with us. They see it as we’re making this magazine for each one of them and they have this relationship with us, even though it exists through ink on paper, over hundreds, if not thousands of miles.

Samir Husni: Steve, when you think about the 12 SIP magazines that Kalmbach publishes, from Astronomy to Discover, from Bead & Button to Trains to Drone 360, and using your vision as editorial director, what is the common thread that runs through all of the magazines?

Steve George: The common thread here is that we’re as intensely passionate about producing the brands that we do in the different categories as the readers who buy those magazines and who engage with those brands. And that’s something that is consistent, even as diverse as our titles and our interest areas are, that is a consistent thread.

I started here almost five years ago as the editor of Discover, which seemed in many ways very different from the portfolio that Kalmbach has, but one of the things that I realized very quickly was just like Trains or Astronomy or Model Railroader, there was a passionate base of readers there who were intensely curious about science and intensely curious about the world.

I came from service magazines, so for me, I thought, let’s look at this through the lens of engagement, as we do with our other titles. Let’s do everything we can to make them feel that they’re part of a conversation with the editors and to show them that this isn’t just our magazine, it’s their magazine as well. And I would say that’s a pretty consistent thread that’s been part of Kalmbach’s legacy, and it’s something that when I took over this role one year ago, I immediately saw was not broken. So, I’m not going to try and fix it just to make my mark. (Laughs) That’s the secret sauce and it’s not really that big of a secret.

You look at your customer as the boss of everyone and you find a way within each of the different brands to deliver content that speaks to them and their passions. And also you need to articulate your own passions and enthusiasm as well. And even though you may never actually meet your customers and you’re separated by distance and time, they’re going to respond to that. It’s something that has been consistent and it’s something that, obviously, the editors here needed no direction from me on.

It’s funny, a year ago I did meet individually with the editors. Neil was the first that I sat down with, and that was one of my first questions for each of the editors so that I could understand a little bit more about their particular audience and their particular interests and needs. And they all have very unique interests and desires, things that look for from us and our individual brands, but the one thread that remains consistent is that this magazine is their magazine too, whichever title we’re talking about.

And they have a certain expectation. And even if they’re not necessarily articulating it this way, they respond to a level of authenticity in the content of our brands that can only come from a staff who is just as passionate as they are, and who truly embraces those special interests and categories that they serve. So, if anything, I just want to continue to reinforce that as we go forward. It really is the tie that binds all of our brands together.

Samir Husni: Is there anything that either of you would like to add?

Neil Besougloff: One thing that helped us do this was the thread that’s among model railroad hobbyists; I think they all minored in history in college, because they have this attraction for the subject and most of them are modeling a railroad that’s set in the past.

And here at Kalmbach Publishing Company, we’ve always owned ourselves, and we’re packrats. We keep everything. So, when Steve mentioned a little while ago about getting all 1,000 magazines and laying them on the floor side by side, up and down our hallway here in the building, we have all of that stuff. And the staff and our readers and the company just have this awareness of the company’s history and the objects and artifacts, that and the passion our readers have with history; all of it just comes together really easily. And the readers appreciate the recognition of the past and the model railroading of the past. They don’t just live for today or live for tomorrow, but they embrace the past as well. So, we were able to pull it off.

Steve George: To follow what Neil just said, while our history and our legacy is important and our readers see that, especially for some of our longer running brands, as important and have that perspective, we also recognize that we have to be looking forward. We’re not another stodgy legacy publisher just absolutely beholden to ink on paper. That’s’ still a core part of what we do, but we recognize that there are a number of our customers who, in addition to the print core of our brands, also look to us for other types of content.

That’s one of the things that Model Railroader as a brand has been very innovative about. We do a lot of how-to videos and have various other programming that exists on our website, and in fact, exists as a separate brand, if you will, or sub-brand, which is MRVP (Model Railroader Video Plus) and it’s an online subscription service. We do fresh video content weekly, and actually David Popp, who is in charge of that; it was actually his idea to lay out all of the magazines on the floor, thinking rightly that it would make for an impressive video.

So, we don’t rest on our laurels. We do absolutely celebrate and cherish our history; it’s part of our DNA. But we also want to make sure that as our readers, even as our oldest readers are starting to embrace, perhaps grudgingly in some cases, their Smartphones, iPads and computers, that we’re there on all platforms. While they still want the print experience, and they’re always going to want that, they’re voracious in their desire for fresh content, so we’re going to do what we can to give it to them in other platforms that they’re going to embrace, especially digital.

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly to either of your homes one evening after work, what would I find you doing; playing with a model train; having a glass of wine; watching TV; cooking; or something else?

Neil Besougloff: You’re going to find me in the basement of my home tinkering with mechanical things: motors, gears: electricity, model train parts. I also have a side hobby of slat cars; I tinker with those as well. I have an antique Ford in my garage, so there’s something else mechanical that I tinker with. It’s a 1931 Ford, so it’s pretty old. That’s what you’re going to find me doing.

Steve George: (Laughs) That’s impressive, Neil. I’m going to look like a slacker. (Laughs again) You’re going to find me at home with my three kids, one son and two daughters. I’m going to be doing stuff with them. Both my daughters are very crafty, they’re my inroad insight into jewelry and crafts. So, I’ll be spending time with them, but my evenings are spent reading.

In my office at home, basically I have this little corner (Laughs), it’s really my wife’s house, and in this corner I have a desk with my iPad and I’m usually reading off of that. I’ll be searching various websites, looking at industry stuff or other categories or competitors for our brands and doing my own reading for pleasure. But right next to that is a stack of magazines. Ours and a lot of other folks’ issues. And right next to that is my vintage drugstore comic book spinner rack, which I have stuffed with tons of my old comics and which is still my great pleasure. One of the biggest pleasures for me is to walk into that space and smell that great smell of old, pulpy comics and magazines.

In many ways, the 1000th issue kind of intrigued me because of that. In fact, in my very first conversation with Neil, we were talking and I did this very quick math and said this magazine has been around since 1934, you’ve published monthly for all of this time, even war years, so we have to be close to our 1000th issue. And as you probably know, in comics, the 25th, 50th, or 100th issue, it doesn’t matter, they look for every opportunity to promote that as something special and an event. And I thought, whether you’re reading comics or Model Railroader, there’s that level of passion and engagement, where any kind of milestone is going to be a great opportunity to celebrate and be an event. So I thought that the 1000th issue would be a really cool thing for us to do. But yes, that’s me. I’m reading mostly, either digitally or in print.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Neil Besougloff: Too much coffee in the evening, I guess. (Laughs) No, I don’t know. It is a tough time for the magazine world and I think about do we have the advertising support anymore; how do we continually find new readers? But none of these are thoughts that are unique to me.

Steve George: I guess for me it’s just that question of are we doing enough? Are we doing enough for our readers and our customers? Are we presenting them content that they’re going to love and that’s going to be of high quality in all of the ways that they’re going to want to engage with us? Are we devoting enough of our resources to the places where we know they’re going to go, whether it’s in print or online? It really is that question of are we doing enough for them and I’m afraid the answer is no. (Laughs) We could be doing more, but I suppose that’s a good thing. I would be worried if the answer was yes, we’re good. (Laughs again) To me that would be the path to the road of complacency and that wouldn’t be good for any of us.

Samir Husni: Thank you.