I have a heart full of thanks for people from 2006 who will also be part of 2007. As the editor, I’m actually in the middle of a chain that runs from the beginning of each issue until the magazine arrives in your hands. So let’s go back several months to when our writers first receive products for review. While we sometimes can turn around a product within just a couple of weeks, others require far longer for one reason or the other. Regardless, it all starts with a production sample from a trusting manufacturer. We would like to thank all of them, because without samples, there would be nothing to review. Not only do they send the samples, they also answer our questions and even replace broken or defective products as they would with any customer.
Of course, our writers come next. They take time out of their busy lives to tackle the thorny business of reviews, trying to be as accurate and insightful as they can within a very limited amount of research time. They dig and poke, examine and measure, test and operate, build and complete a rich variety of products in scales from Z to G. More and more, each of our writers are stepping up to their own photography within our exacting requirements. Since they are located all over the United States, they are part of an Internet-connected workflow that brings us manuscripts and photos from all over.
While I’m never sure I’ve gotten all you guys, our writer corps for 2006 has included: Alan Houtz, Bill Cawthon, Danny Rittman, Dave Otte, Denis Dunning, Dick Foster, Jonathan Schoen, Larry Smith, Mike Acker, Pete Birdsong, Peter Maurath, Phil Scandura, R. Dave Carr, Rich Cobb, Roy Hoffman, Stephen Priest, Steven Goehring, and Victor Roseman, though it is possible I have forgotten other names. All of our writers work hard to create enjoyable reviews, and so I’m very thankful for each and every one of them.
I have an editorial staff, also spread around. David Otte is our S- and O-scale guy, though he does other stuff as well. He lives in St. Louis and is a professional in the modeling world. Phil Scandura is our main N-scale guy, and he also specializes in DCC solutions. Phil is an electronics engineer and currently lives in Glendale, Arizona, but he is in the process of moving to Flagstaff. We wish him well and are glad we don’t have to help load the U-Haul!
In 2006, we promoted Bill Cawthon from Associate Editor to Managing Editor and began the process of converting our workflow. When I first came on board as editor in 2002, I wanted to turn us from a 48 page, newsprint journal into a glossy magazine with at least 64 pages. As it stands, we can get up to 72 pages some months with a surface area which, by the time smaller page gutters are eliminated, is over 120 standard magazine pages. That makes this a BIG magazine and reminds me to be careful what I wish for! It is a lot of work, but Bill is easing the load considerably and will continue to improve the administration of MRN; I’m very thankful for Bill.
I work out of my house, and so I have phone calls and packages arriving all the time, making me really thankful for my family. They handle all of this with more humor than perhaps I deserve. I’ve turned many of them into appreciators of trains and railroad models, though most of them won’t sit and watch train videos with me. I’m especially thankful for my three grandchildren for letting me see it all through new eyes.
I turn all of the magazine in to Jennifer Lindsay, a graduated English major who has a certain ruthlessness we need to keep the magazine as readable as possible. When she isn’t picking me apart, she’s really quite a lovely young person, and so I’m very thankful for her. I’m also thankful for her father, Mike, who is our publisher. He’s a very dynamic guy whose duties have also grown with the magazine. He endured a severe back injury in 2006 and so we’re thankful he’s better and praying that improvements will extend through the new year.
Our magazine leaves these hands and heads up to Tumwater, Washington where our art director Warren Tryk assembles all the fragments we think of as a magazine into a coherent document. Since I always want us to look like a real magazine, I’m thankful for Warren, who makes that happen. He returns the final assembly to the home office for yet another reading by both Jennifer and Mike. Final adjustments are placed and made.
This large file and all of the associated files then travel to Valley Web Printing in nearby Medford where it is assembled into a real, printed magazine. Our thanks go out to the owners, the Richenbach family, and then to all who handle our product. Jeremy turns the file into printing plates, an occasionally maddening job that he always pulls together each month. Bruce takes those plates and converts them into stacks of printed paper using a giant press most of a block long and nearly two stories high. The bindery bunch turns those stacks into actual magazines, while the mailroom crew gets them addressed, sorted, bundled, and to you by mail. A big thanks to everyone at Valley Web.
Of course, this wouldn’t be complete without thanks to the office folks. Nancy is usually the first voice you hear when you call our home office, and she’s usually a very pleasant part of each caller’s day. Mike Faber works with advertisers and dealers so that readers will know what is available for sale and where you can find it. Karen Lindsay, Mike’s wife and Jennifer’s mother, manages the accounting team. Running a magazine is a complex and difficult business, but they do it with style. Thanks, folks.
And in the end, it comes down to you, the reader. Most of all, I’d like to thank you for coming by to visit each month. I really enjoy sharing new products and news with you, occasionally breaking stories, and reading your letters to the editor. The growth in our page count parallels our growth in reader support. Mike Lindsay may be my boss, but I work for you.