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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]
On May 1, 2024, Kalmbach Media announced the sale of several titles to Firecrown Media, including includes Trains, Model Railroader, Classic Toy Trains, Classic Trains, Garden Railways, and the trains.com web site. [19] Also included in the sale is Astronomy magazine, FineScale Modeler, the Kalmbach Books division, and related e-commerce sites. This sale leaves Kalmbach with Discover magazine as its sole remaining publication.
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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. [21] 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 Media 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 GE U25B is General Electric's first independent entry into the United States domestic road switcher diesel-electric locomotive railroad market for heavy production road locomotives since 1936. From 1940 through 1953, GE participated in a design, production, and marketing consortium (Alco-GE) for diesel-electric locomotives with the American Locomotive Company. In 1956 the GE Universal Series of diesel locomotives was founded for the export market. The U25B was the first attempt at the domestic market since its termination of the consortium agreement with Alco.
The EMD E6 was a 2,000-horsepower (1,500 kW), A1A-A1A, streamlined passenger train locomotive manufactured by Electro-Motive Corporation, and its corporate successor, General Motors Electro-Motive Division, of La Grange, Illinois. The cab version, E6A, was manufactured from November 1939 to September 1942; 91 were produced. The booster version, E6B, was manufactured from April 1940 to February 1942; 26 were produced. The 2,000-horsepower (1,500 kW) was achieved by putting two 1,000-horsepower (750 kW), 12-cylinder, model 567 engines in the engine compartment. Each engine drove its own electrical generator to power the traction motors. The E6 was the seventh model in a long line of passenger diesels of similar design known as EMD E-units.
The E7 was a 2,000-horsepower (1,500 kW), A1A-A1A passenger train locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois. 428 cab versions, or E7As, were built from February 1945 to April 1949; 82 booster E7Bs were built from March 1945 to July 1948. The 2,000 hp came from two 12 cylinder model 567A engines. Each engine drove its own electrical generator to power the two traction motors on one truck. The E7 was the eighth model in a line of passenger diesels of similar design known as EMD E-units, and it became the best selling E model upon its introduction.
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 EMC E3 is a 2,000 horsepower (1,500 kW), A1A-A1A passenger train locomotive that was manufactured by Electro-Motive Corporation of La Grange, Illinois. The EMC demonstrator #822 was released from La Grange for test on September 12, 1938. The cab version, or E3A, was manufactured from September 1938 to June 1940, and 17 were produced. The booster version, or E3B, was manufactured in March 1939 and September 1939, and 2 were produced. The 2,000 hp (1,500 kW) was achieved by putting two 1,000 horsepower (750 kW), 12-cylinder, model 567 engines in the engine compartment. Each engine drove its own electrical generator to power the traction motors. The E3 was the fourth model in a long line of passenger diesels of similar design known as EMD E-units.
The EMD E8 is 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 CSX at Cottondale, Florida and Dothan, Alabama, and with the Hilton & Albany Railroad at Hilton, Georgia.
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 F7 is a model of 1,500-horsepower (1,100 kW) diesel-electric locomotive produced between February 1949 and December 1953 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors (EMD) and General Motors Diesel (GMD).
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.
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.
The EMD GP39 is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between June 1969 and July 1970. The GP39 was a derivative of the GP38 equipped with a turbocharged EMD 645E3 12-cylinder engine which generated 2,300 hp (1.72 MW).
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.
The Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad is a short-line railroad operating in North Carolina, United States. 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.
Reading 2100 is the prototype of the T-1 class 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotives constructed in September 1945 for use by the Reading Company (RDG). Constructed from an earlier 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type locomotive built in May 1923 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, No. 2100 pulled heavy freight and coal trains for the Reading until being retired from revenue service in 1956. Between 1961 and 1964, No. 2100 was used to pull the RDG's Iron Horse Rambles excursions alongside fellow T-1's Nos. 2124 and 2102. After the rambles ended, No. 2100 was sold along with No. 2101 in 1967 to a scrapyard in Baltimore, Maryland.
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