J'accuse!

Okay... this post is nothing so serious as the original "J'accuse!" when Émile Zola penned a letter about the French government's role in/handling of the Alfred Dreyfus affair (google if you're curious.) At any rate, my accusation is towards Model Railroader ("MR") and is not nearly so weighty, but it's been gnawing at me for awhile so I thought I would get it off my chest. Like many of you out there, I came of age in the era when Model Railroader was the publication in the hobby. However, by the late 80s and into the 90s, Railroad Model Craftsman was publishing some excellent modeling content,* Mainline Modeler was well on its way to becoming the serious mainstream publication and Model Railroading and Railmodel Journal also had a stable of talented modelers writing for them, with the last three publishing longer form detailed modeling articles with greater photo coverage than MR. 

Two things occurred over the intervening decades: the internet and social media became outlets for serious material through blogs and other avenues for sharing content and MR chose to become mainstream to the point of publishing banal, armchair content. If there is a specific moment when MR tacked in a different direction, I trace it to when Andy Sperandeo was replaced as editor.

Since Andy's departure, MR has, actively or passively, become a publication of its mantra that "Model Railroading is Fun" and not much more, morphing into a rather vanilla shell of its former self. Gone are the days of multiple scale drawings in an issue, scratchbuilding and kitbashing taking center stage, and regular articles with detailed coverage of the skills required for serious modeling. I am not saying that these things don't appear any longer in the pages of MR, but they are far less frequent compared to more "fluffy" content or "reviews" of RTR products. Interestingly, the page count has had a corresponding decrease, much of that due to fewer ads, but also a lot less content like that noted above.

For me and many others, the act of reading publications devoted to our passions is inspirational and aspirational. We don't crave to read about the mundane and easily achieved; we want to be dazzled and challenged by content that throws down a gauntlet to learn and practice new and difficult techniques and skills. Even if you do not actively pursue all of these things, the mental thought process when reading about them is far more engaging than a series about yet another project layout. Sadly, since Andy's departure, there has been too little of the former and too much material that looks pretty from a presentation perspective, but does little to nothing to stimulate the modeling juices. While I don't have visibility into the business affairs of MR, I would bet that publishing more aspirational content would help stem what I am sure is a decline in the hobby's flagship title, although that moniker may have already shifted to Railroad Model Craftsman.

I type this not to be hypercritical or a troll. I do so because I ardently believe that content that is stimulating and challenging can drive sales and subscriptions. However, I doubt that the powers at MR and Firecrown are tuned in to what I say, but I care enough and thought about it enough to put these thoughts down in digital form. Comments and opinions pro and con are always welcome via the form below.

Postscript... I do occasionally buy MR and did buy the recent June 2026 issue with a cover photo from Jim Dufour's stunning B&M layout. There is some promising content, including the scratchbuilding articles by Dean Deis and Nelson Moyer, the bridge building piece by some of the staff and Mont Switzer's kitbash of an ex-kitchen troop car turned caboose. However, the most recent issue of RMC that I have, May 2026, had just as much modeling content plus a prototype profile with drawings of a Pullman-Standard 4650 cu. ft. covered hopper. This issue is standard content for RMC while for MR this much modeling fodder was more than normal.

*ironically enough under the leadership of Tony Koester, who eventually moved to Kalmbach (now Firecrown,) publisher of MR