Re: 'Australian Railway Enthusiast"

[Greg Triplett <triplett@hotkey.net.au>]

Hi There,

Forster Family Inc wrote:

> Just when I thought this magazine could not get any worse, along comes the September 1999 issue. What a shocker!!!

I was horrified at the latest issue. I've been watching the
quality of the magazine steadily declining over the last few
issues and just when I thought it couldn't possibly get
worse, it did.

> Front cover photos are meant to attract the reader. This issue has a fuzzy phot of K163.<<

My critique of the cover photo: Grainy, smoke drifting the
wrong way for compositional balance, steam drifting over the
wheels, shadow over the engine, telegraph pole growing out
of the funnel. I intitially thought "perhaps it was taken 40
years ago". But no it was taken in 1987. The photographer
should be ashamed of it and the editor should know better
than to put it in the magazine. 

I see that the cover has the price on it so perhaps it is
diplayed for sale somewhere. As you say the cover photo
should sell the magazine. That is hard to imagine in this
case.

>>There are a couple of short articles and the rest of the mag (rag) is taken up with letters to the 'editor' from opinionated and self opinionated pompous hoi polloi.<<

I consider 9 pages of letters to the editor to be way too
many.

>>I'm sure I will cop some flak but<<

>From the lack of response it looks like nobody cares much.

Rough photos and basic presentation is appropriate for a
magazine such as Rail News Victoria where time is of the
essence in presenting news. A quarterly magazine with no
such tight deadline should be a model of quality.

Rather than discuss these matters here perhaps we should
write to the editor.

Regards

GT