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| Founded | 1934 |
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| Founder | Al C. Kalmbach |
| Headquarters location | Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States |
| Key people | Charles R. Croft |
| Publication types | Books, magazines |
| Nonfiction topics | Hobbies, trains, crafts, model railroading, autos, drones, astronomy, snowmobiles. |
| Revenue | subscscriptions |
| No. of employees | 275 [1] |
| Official website | www |
Kalmbach Media (formerly Kalmbach Publishing Co.) is an American publisher of books and magazines, many of them railroad-related, located in Waukesha, Wisconsin. [2]
The company's first publication was The Model Railroader, which began publication in the summer of 1933 with a cover date of January 1934. A press release announcing the magazine appeared in August 1933, but did not receive much interest.
In 1940, business was good enough for Kalmbach to launch another magazine about railroads in general with the simple title of Trains Magazine . From its first issue dated November 1940, it grew quickly from an initial circulation of just over 5,000.
Kalmbach became exclusively a publisher when it discontinued its printing operations in 1973, opting to contract production from other printers. [3]
In 1985, Kalmbach purchased AstroMedia Corporation, adding its four magazines: Astronomy , Deep Sky, the children's science magazine Odyssey and Telescope Making. [4] [5]
Kalmbach began publishing its annual Great Model Railroads in November 1990. [6]
In 1991, Kalmbach purchased Greenberg Publishing of Sykesville, Maryland. Also included in the purchase was Greenberg Shows, which sponsored nearly two dozen combined model railroad and doll house shows on the East Coast. [7] Intending to focus on the adult hobby and leisure market, Kalmbach sold the publication rights of the children's science magazine Odyssey to Cobblestone Publishing of Peterborough, New Hampshire in September 1991. [8]
In January 1992, Kalmbach began publishing Earth magazine. [9] [10]
Kalmbach purchased Discover Media, publisher of the science magazine Discover, in August 2010. [11]
Gerald B. Boettcher, the company's president, retired in June 2012. [12] Charles R. Croft became the new president. [13]
In 2016 Kalmbach acquired Rather Dashing Games, a board game company based near Lexington, Kentucky. [14] In 2018 the company sold the board game company to Loren and Heather Coleman, owners of game publisher Catalyst Game Labs. [15] According to the Rather Dashing Games website, the company is now a division of Catalyst Game Labs. [16]
In 2017 the company hired digital media veteran Dan Hickey as its sixth chief executive officer. [17] Hickey was the first Kalmbach leader hired from outside the company in its 84-year history. The company was renamed Kalmbach Media in 2018. [18]
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The company also produces some annual publications.
In addition, it publishes numerous books, including the Tourist Trains Guidebook. An illustrated compendium of more than 450 tourist railroads, dinner trains, and rail museums in the U.S. and Canada, the 300-page guidebook's 2009 edition provides reviews by Trains magazine staff and contributors. [20] It was the original publisher of Jim Scribbins' The Hiawatha Story in 1970.
Discover is an American general audience science magazine launched in October 1980 by Time Inc. It has been owned by Kalmbach Publishing since 2010.
Model Railroader (MR) is an American magazine about the hobby of model railroading. Founded in 1934 by Al C. Kalmbach, it is published monthly by Kalmbach Media of Waukesha, Wisconsin. Commonly found on newsstands and in libraries, it promotes itself as the oldest magazine of its type in the United States, although it is the long-standing competitor to Railroad Model Craftsman, which - originally named The Model Craftsman - predates MR by one year.
The EMC E4 was a 2,000 horsepower (1,500 kW), A1A-A1A passenger train-hauling diesel locomotive built by the Electro-Motive Corporation of La Grange, Illinois. All were built for the Seaboard Air Line Railway. The E4 was the fifth model in a long line of passenger diesels of similar design known as EMD E-units.
The E8 was a 2,250-horsepower (1,678 kW), A1A-A1A passenger-train locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division (EMD) of La Grange, Illinois. A total of 450 cab versions, or E8As, were built from August 1949 to January 1954, 447 for the U.S. and 3 for Canada. 46 E8Bs were built from December 1949 to January 1954, all for the U.S. The 2,250 hp came from two 12 cylinder model 567B engines, each driving a generator to power the two traction motors on one truck. The E8 was the ninth model in the line of passenger diesels of similar design known as EMD E-units. Starting in September 1953, a total of 21 E8As were built which used either the 567BC or 567C engines.
The Bay Line Railroad is one of several short line railroad companies owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. It operates between Panama City, Florida, and Dothan, Alabama, including a branch from Grimes to Abbeville, Alabama, reached via trackage rights on CSX's Dothan Subdivision between Dothan and Grimes. The line interchanges with the Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad at Cottondale, Florida, and with the CSX Dothan Subdivision near Dothan, Alabama. It also interchanges with the Chattahoochee Bay Railroad in Dothan.
The E9 is a 2,400-horsepower (1,790 kW), A1A-A1A passenger train-hauling diesel locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois, between April 1954 and January 1964. 100 cab-equipped A units were produced and 44 cabless booster B units, all for service in the United States. The E9 was the tenth and last model of EMD E-unit and differed from the earlier E8 as built only by the newer engines and a different, flusher-fitting mounting for the headlight glass, the latter being the only visible difference. Since some E8s were fitted with this, it is not a reliable way to distinguish the two. The E9 has two 1,200 hp (895 kW), V12 model 567C engines, each engine driving one generator to power two traction motors.
The EMD F9 is a 1,750 horsepower (1,300 kW) Diesel-electric locomotive produced between February 1953 and May 1960 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors (EMD) and General Motors Diesel (GMD). It succeeded the F7 model in GM-EMD's F-unit sequence. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La Grange, Illinois plant. The F9 was also built in Canada by General Motors Diesel at their London, Ontario plant. A total of 101 cab-equipped lead A units and 156 cabless booster B units were built. The F9 was the fifth model in GM-EMD's highly successful "F" series of cab unit diesel locomotives.
The EMD SW1001 was a 1,000-horsepower (750 kW) diesel locomotive for industrial switching service built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between September 1968 and June 1986. A total of 230 examples were constructed, mainly for North American railroads and industrial operations.
Trains is a monthly magazine about trains and railroads aimed at railroad enthusiasts and railroad industry employees. The magazine primarily covers railroad happenings in the United States and Canada, but has some articles on railroading elsewhere.
An EMD SW9 is a diesel switcher locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between November 1950 and December 1953. Additional SW9s were built by General Motors Diesel in Ontario Canada from December 1950 to March 1953. Power was provided by an EMD 567B 12-cylinder engine, producing 1,200 horsepower (895 kW).
The EMD GP38 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1966 and December 1971. The locomotive's prime mover was an EMD 645 16-cylinder engine that generated 2,000 horsepower (1.49 MW). The company built 706 GP38s for North American railroads.
Astronomy is a monthly American magazine about astronomy. Targeting amateur astronomers, it contains columns on sky viewing, reader-submitted astrophotographs, and articles on astronomy and astrophysics for general readers.
Al C. Kalmbach was the founder of Kalmbach Publishing, a publisher of magazines and books geared towards enthusiasts of several different hobbies.
This article contains a list of terms, jargon, and slang used to varying degrees by railfans and railroad employees in the United States and Canada. Although not exhaustive, many of the entries in this list appear from time to time in specialist, rail-related publications. Inclusion of a term in this list does not necessarily imply its universal adoption by all railfans and railroad employees, and there may be significant regional variation in usage.
The Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad is a short-line railroad operating in North Carolina. At one time the AR was a Class 2 railroad. The railroad has 47 miles (76 km) of track that runs from Aberdeen to Fayetteville, North Carolina.
David John Eicher is an American editor, writer, and popularizer of astronomy and space. He has been editor-in-chief of Astronomy magazine since 2002. He is author, coauthor, or editor of 23 books on science and American history and is known for having founded a magazine on astronomical observing, Deep Sky Monthly, when he was a 15-year-old high school student.
The main line, or mainline in American English, of a railway is a track that is used for through trains or is the principal artery of the system from which branch lines, yards, sidings and spurs are connected. It generally refers to a route between towns, as opposed to a route providing suburban or metro services. For capacity reasons, main lines in many countries have at least a double track and often contain multiple parallel tracks. Main line tracks are typically operated at higher speeds than branch lines and are generally built and maintained to a higher standard than yards and branch lines. Main lines may also be operated under shared access by a number of railway companies, with sidings and branches operated by private companies or single railway companies.
Odyssey was a monthly science magazine for children ages 9–14, created by Richard Berry, editor of Astronomy. The magazine was published between 1979 and 2015. It was based in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The magazine was also headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Dakota Rail, Inc. was a short-line railroad which operated in South Dakota and Minnesota. It operated from 1982 until 2001. From 1995 onward it was a subsidiary of RailAmerica.
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