Re: 'Australian Railway Enthusiast"

[David Langley <del@ancc.com.au>]

Greg Triplett wrote:

> If the railfan groups are to survive then they have to come
> to grips with what the younger railfans are interested in.
> It's not history and technical articles about a 38 is better
> than a 9F. Generally they are photters and watchers of
> todays railway scene. The flagship magazine should have a
> reasonable quota of contemporary stuff. The only
> contemporary stuff in the ARE rag was 2 articles about
> tourist RR's.

I think that the ARE mag is trying to be everything at the same time and in fact is being not much at all, and at the same time. It needs to decide
whether it wants to be an historical type mag or a news mag. If the latter then they might as well give up because Rail News Victoria is leaps and
bounds out in front of all others and at the moment only seems to be going further away. That means that it should concentrate on being an historical
mag and doing it properly. I disagree with you that the young only want contemporary, most will wish to gain an insight into the past after they have
got to appreciate the present.

David Langley.

>
>
> I hang out with a group of people who are active photters in
> Victoria. I'm 50 years old and most of the group is 10-20
> years younger than me. Very few are members of ARE or ARHS.
> This year I decided to enter the ARE & ARHS slide comps and
> I've been along to all the meetings. I'm relatively young
> compared to most there. I don't think the pennies have
> dropped yet.
>
> There's all kinds of interesting stuff going on in Victoria
> and around the country and it's not covered at all. I
> suspect that's a turn off for the younger railfans who are
> the future of the hobby.
>
> Regards
>
> Greg Triplett