Western Railfan Publications

This page was last updated on July 19, 2008.

Killed by the internet; may they rest in peace...

Each of these publications were labors of love by each of their publishers. They were all essentially intended to get the news out as soon as possible, based on telephone communication and early dialup email communication. By the late 1990s, several web sites were established that allowed "bulletin board" communications among railfans, including such email discussion groups like OneList, which became eGroups, then YahooGroups. As the on-line readership of "the boards" increased, the subscriber base for the "railfan rags" decreased. The biggest complaint was usually given as a lack of current news in the printed-to-paper publications. Some took longer than others to pass away, but all have fallen by the way side, casualties of the internet age.

"I don't think the problem can be completely blamed on the Internet, but more of a problem of the aging railfan population. If the magazines don't do more to pickup younger subscribers then we might see some magazine thinning in the coming decade. I believe Trainorders.com represents a younger audience than the magazines. Of concern to me is less than 20% of our membership subscribe to either of the two largest rail magazines. In the past before the internet, new fans were introduced to the hobby through train magazines found at local hobby shops. The magazines were sort of an ambassador for the hobby. Now there are signifcantly less model train shops than 10 or 15 years ago, thus fewer outlets for distribution. The internet is the new ambassador for the hobby. I am not speaking nessarily of this site, but the hundreds of personal web sites on the net built by railfans showing off their photos and railfan adventures." (Todd Clark, Trainorders.com, July 20, 2005)

Volunteer Publications

Presented in no particular order:

Everywhere West

started in Southern California in (date?)
moved to San Francisco area, edited by Tom Schmid
moved to Southern California, circa 1982

The Lark

published by Vic Neves

Shasta Rail Group

out of business circa October 2001
formal quit notice circa February 2003

SP Review

Shasta Rail Group
started as an SP column in Flimsies, changed to stand-alone magazine in (date?)
edited by Tony Johnson beginning in 1994 (75 issues)
last issue X74, September 2002

Flimsies West

started as Flimsies in (date?)
first editor/publisher was Charlie Baden
second editor was Bill Farmer
telephone hotline manned by Bill Farmer
sold to Shasta Rail Group in (date?)
changed to Flimsies West in (date?)
last issue circa April 2001 (Issue 287/288, March 2001)
last update to web site was August 2001
Flimsies West and Flimsies Northwest combined as North/West Railfan, circa April 2002
"Flimsies was last published by Bill Shippen. It was a publication based around timely news and rumors. Think of it about as close to a trainorders.com you could get in print version. It lost its usefulness when the internet matured as the same info could be found online at various web sites. It was typically 3 to 5 pages of 8.5x11 paper folded to make a center stapled booklet. It was a real labor of love as Bill went broke over it. Imagine printing, assembling, and mailing about 1000 of these little booklets twice a month for the el cheapo price of about $30 a year. It was a real bargain and a lot of fun to read." (Todd Clark, Trainsorders.com, January 16, 2006)

Flimsies Northwest

started in September 1987 as Northwest Railfan, purchased by Shasta Rail Group in (about 1995?)
last issue in (date?)
Flimsies West and Flimsies Northwest combined as North/West Railfan, circa April 2002
Last issue, Issue No. 172 dated September 11, 2002

The Overland (UP)

Shasta Rail Group
First issue, Issue No. 1 dated May 1999
Last issue, Issue No. 16 dated January 2001

Green and Silver Review (BNSF)

Shasta Rail Group
First issue, X-1 dated November 2000
Last issue, X-6 dated October 2002

The Mixed Train

Published by CameRail Club, Omaha, Nebraska

Locomotive Notes II (LNII)

Published by Ken Ardinger, beginning in early 1988 with Issue 107.
Resumed publication of railroad locomotive newsletter “Locomotive Notes”, published by Roy Linscott Jr. from 1963 to 1982, when Mr. Linscott died.
Date of issue advanced two months. Issue 114 dated September 1988, published in late June 1988. Issue 153 still advanced, dated December 1991, published in late September 1991.
Don Strack produced a UP locomotives new update in the Locomotive Notes II, a special news section published as part of Diesel Era magazine for two years, from Volume 7, Number 1, January/February 1996, to Volume 8, Number 6, November/December 1997.
The Locomotive Notes II news section of Diesel Era was discontinued after Volume 8, Number 6, November/December 1997.
Special Locomotive Notes II section in TRP began in (date?).

Western Railroader

Published by the Pacific Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society
edited by Francis Guido from (date?) to (date?)
edited by Joe Strapac from (date?) to (date?)

Colorado Time Table (http://www.coloradotimetable.com/)

first issue in (date?)
still published as of July 2008

Western Rail Gazette

"The Rail Magazine of the Great American West"
Publisher and Editor: Jerry Schwengel, Los Alamos, NM
10 issues published in 1999 and 2000
Vol. 1, No. 1 dated January, 1999 through Vol. 1, No. 10, dated February 2000
Railroad coverage of "the states and provinces on and to the West of the 100th Meridian"
28 to 32 printed pages on Sepia colored paper

Rumormill

Published by Centennial Rail, Aurora, CO
Editor: Joe Minnich
12 issues published every other month from June 1999 until April 2001
National coverage with emphasis on Western Railroads
8 to 14 printed black/white pages

Mainstream Magazines

CTC-Board (CTC)

First issue was in April 1970. April 1980 was 10th anniversary issue.
Dean Lewis was editor until issue 154.
First slick paper issue, with Dick Stephenson as editor: #1 (old #155), July 1975. Became monthly instead of biweekly. Dick Stephenson was editor until issue 36, June 1978.
Dale Sanders was editor from issue 37, July 1978.
Last WP “Feather” column: March 1983.
First WP “UP Shield” column: April 1983.
No WP columns in May, July, August, October, or November 1983.
Union Pacific column was edited by Kevin Cavanaugh until September 1983.
Union Pacific column was edited by Wayne Monger from October 1983 to December 1983, then he was editor of the combined UP/WP column from December 1983 until July 1987.
Separate WP column within the UP column dropped with January 1985 issue.
Separate MP column, edited by John Egan, begun in November 1985. Last MP column was in October 1986; MP column dropped with January 1987 issue.
Randy Keller was editor of UP column from August 1987 to May 1988.
Issue 147 was September 1987; Issue 148 was January 1988.
Elrond Lawrence was editor of UP column from June 1988 to May 1989.
Magazine moved to Denver in March 1989.
Issue 156 was September 1988, issue 157 was March 1989. Cover date advanced because of move to Denver. Transfer of postal permit required that cover date match month of publication of current issue.
Paul Schneider was editor of UP column in November 1989 issue.
Issue 159 was May 1989; Issue 160 was November 1989.
Issue 168 was July 1990, issue 169 was November 1990. Issue cover dates advanced three months to match industry standard. Previously, cover date was the date of the news inside. The news of November would now be in the January issue.
Steve Hart was editor of UP column from December 1989 to February 1991.
Jim Gilley was editor of UP column from March 1991 to (date?).
Mark Hemphill shown as Managing/Features Editor through Issue 185, November 1992.

Pacific News/Pacific Rail News (PN/PRN)

Issue #1 was September 1961. Coated paper first used in Issue #32. Changed to larger size with Issue #111. (information from Issue #200, June 1978)
Published by Chatham Publishing until Issue 245.
First issue published by Interurbans Publications: Issue 246, October 1983. Published bimonthly, changed to monthly with December 1984 issue. Name changed to Pacific RailNews with Issue 252, October 1984.
Union Pacific column edited by George Cockle from June 1976 until June 1984 (Issue 250). No actual contributions after June 1983.
No UP column in August 1984 (Issue 251).
UP column edited by Dick Stephensen from October 1984 (Issue 252) to May 1985.
Last WP column, edited by Ken Meeker, in June 1985, with last WP column before that in April 1985.
Union Pacific System column edited by Ken Meeker from June 1985 to January 1989. Ken Meeker was editor of WP column, then UP System column for 13 years.
Union Pacific System column edited by Wayne Monger from February 1989 to (date?).
"Western Shortlines" column by Ken Ardinger started in Issue 165, June 1975. Last column was April 1987. (Ken started his own Locomotive Notes II newsletter in early 1988.)
Changed from Pacific Rail News (PRN) to Rail News (RN) in January 1997. Last PRN-was December 1996.
RailNews ended publication with its August 1999 issue.

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