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WAUKESHA, Wis. — Trains Magazine, the company’s other rail magazines, Trains.com, are among assets that have been sold by Kalmbach Media to Chattanooga, Tenn., based Firecrown Media, the two companies have announced today (May 1).

Other Kalmbach titles involved in the transaction are Classic Trains, Model Railroader, Classic Toy Trains, FineScale Modeler, and Astronomy, as well as Kalmbach’s online stores.

The publications involved will continue to be based in Wisconsin.

Firecrown Media owns a wide range of transportation brands including Flying, Plane & Pilot, Boating, Yachting, and the supply chain site Freightwaves.

Kalmbach employees were informed of the sale this morning and told that most employees working on the brands will be offered positions with Firecrown after screening. The staff will learn more at a staff meeting later this morning.

Firecrown CEO Craig Fuller said in a press release that “The rail titles fit perfectly into the Firecrown portfolio and the breadth of experience of our staff … Kalmbach has deep ties in the railroad community, having published magazines and books about railroads and model trains for over 90 years. There isn’t a deeper connection in the rail enthusiast community than the one that Kalmbach built. The Firecrown staff will work diligently to continue and build on that connection moving forward.

“Additionally, the rail and aviation communities have a great deal in common. Besides the obvious — both being transportation modes and having similarities in business models — the enthusiast audience is vast in both categories. We believe that “railfans” and “avgeeks” are kindred spirits.

“With the acquisition, Firecrown plans to invest significantly in Trains’ business editorial coverage, increasing the cadence and depth of coverage of the rail industry. FreightWaves, one of Firecrown’s brands, provides a playbook to help achieve this.”

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I wish them well.  The company I used to work for was bought and sold about 5 times over the course of my career.  Sometimes it worked out well; other times it didn't.  There doesn't appear to be any overlap between the product lines.  But there will definitely be opportunities to consolidate the duplicate operations, i.e. HR, purchasing, IT, etc.  Interesting, there's a lot of info on the Firecrown website including links to all the former Kalmbach products, but not a peep on the Kalmbach site.

John

Wow, I sure hope this turns out well for all.

I believe Kalmbach is the last railroad/ model railroad publisher to have full time staff.

I considered working for them but didn’t want to move from Idaho to Wisconsin!

Well...not quite accurate.  OGR employs a full time staff and we publish articles having to do with prototype trains as well (of course) model railroads in O-gauge/scale.

Post

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Ste 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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