Editor Neil Besougloff no longer at Model Railroader

[riogrande]

Posted over at MR Forums - reportedly the quote is from contributing editor Pelle:

>Well here's the source of the rumor from a contributing editor at MR.

>"This morning Cody, Kent and Drew picked me up at my hotel to go on a rail fan/research trip in the area before my meetings at the Kalmbach offices. Kent works for MR Video Plus so of course every move was recorded. He even had a GoPro mounted on the windshield of the car pointing at my face :-) We had a great time and apparently the CN use their Tier 4's a lot. One train had one as second unit and another had one as lead engine. We also drove by Neil's house so I could say proper good bye to him. To you who don't know, Neil Besougloff was laid off just before I left for my trip. It was a chock to everybody, Neil included. In the afternoon I had a meeting the new editor Hal Miller and he told me that nothing will change regarding me. They still want me to contribute to the magazine as much as I can so you have to put up with me a little longer"

"Hal Miller has been named as his replacement."

"According to the DCC Guy, www.dccguy.com/?p=4767, Neil has retired."

[bnsf971]

Neil was shocked that he had retired?
Or was he shocked that he had been retired?

[riogrande]

Reading the quote which said to be by the contributing editor, Pelle was shocked. (i.e. no one was expecting the lay-off). I'm just quoting some of the comments from the topic in MR. The plain reading of it is Neil was let-go and has decided to retire, rather than look for another job.

Not surprisingly, the topic at MR, about Neil Besougloff being laid-off, had magically poofed away. The salient quotes from the original post and a few follow-up posts are copy/pasted here.

[canrailfan]

Kalmbach typically announces layoffs only after the fact. Any changes at MR's sister magazines, Trains and Classic Trains?

I'm not familiar with Hal Miller, I see he has been with Kalmbach for many years but can't remember anything about him.

[riogrande]

That's typical for most companies.

Repeating another post:

This was posted on the DCCguy.com website June 27
"After a 20 year career with Kalmbach Neil Besougloff has written his last editorial and is headed for retirement in Mexico. Neil was the editor of Model Railroader for the last 10 years and was editor of Classic Toy Trains for 10 years prior to that. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Neil over the last four years and can truthfully say this website would not exist if not for him giving me the opportunity to write for Model Railroader magazine. Each year for some time Neil and his wife have spent a couple weeks in Mexico and love it so much they have plans to retire there as soon as their Wisconsin home is sold. I’ll miss our conversations and his easy going attitude. Hasta luego amigo–Larry

I know tons of people are trying to get from Mexico to the US, but this is a rare instance that a born and raised US guy is going to move to Mexico. I've read enough stuff about Federali's detaining US citizens over the years and drug cartel's end such that I'm not sure I'd want to retire there. But I guess Neil has been to a place that he likes and feels is apparently safe to retire too. Maybe it's just as easy to go live in Mexico as it is for the opposite?

[Christian]

Jul 7, 2017 12:04:09 GMT -8 riogrande said:

I know tons of people are trying to get from Mexico to the US, but this is a rare instance that a born and raised US guy is going to move to Mexico.

Not so rare. There close to a million retired folk from US in Mexico. And a substantial number from Canada. There towns that cater to USA retirees. Low cost of living, lower medial costs and pleasant weather. The publicized crime in is the US border states for the most part. Dollars are well liked in Mexico. Social security checks can be spent at Costco, Walmart, Sears, Burger King and all sorts of familiar places.

[The Ferro Kid]

I wonder what the Mexican Customs duties are on model railroad equipment?

[riogrande]

Jul 7, 2017 13:24:47 GMT -8 Christian said:

Not so rare. There close to a million retired folk from US in Mexico. And a substantial number from Canada. There towns that cater to USA retirees. Low cost of living, lower medial costs and pleasant weather. The publicized crime in is the US border states for the most part. Dollars are well liked in Mexico. Social security checks can be spent at Costco, Walmart, Sears, Burger King and all sorts of familiar places.

Sure, I get the low cost of living and weather. My first marriage I honeymooned in Cozumel. Exchange rate was very good. Yeah, borders states I knew about. But there are other places that are not so good either from what I gather.

Mexico seems like a big city where if you live there and know it, you may know what area's are ok and which to avoid like the plague. So since these wonderful retirement communities exist, how to people learn about them and have a clue where is safe and where to avoid? How do you know this perhaps common knowledge, how id you find out about it? In my 58 years I never heard about these places? Just curious. It's not like something a lot of average American's know about just sayin... of course maybe I live in a cave.

Seems like Mexico could step up it's public awareness of these apparently best kept secrets. I guess I need an education.

[valenciajim]

Jim-- A google search will yield the following:

signup.internationalliving.com/X120T206

www.huffingtonpost.com/suzan-haskins-and-dan-prescher/retire-in-mexico_b_9593710.html

www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/020215/how-much-money-do-you-need-retire-mexico.asp

Personally, Mexico is not my cup of tea. But from what I have read and heard from people who have retired there, you can live comfortably on $25,000 a year. I know a few people who have retired there, but in most cases one of the spouses was originally from Mexico.

One other issue is if you want to purchase property in Mexico title insurance is generally not available. In some communities US title companies will write a "synthetic title" policy. Several years ago there were thousands of people who purchased condos in Ensenada only to find that the developer did not own the land on which the condos were built. Those people were evicted by the land owner and lost their money.

Since then, I think the Mexican government has been more open to protecting foreigners who make such investments. But you are dealing with Mexico, which certainly does not have the legal protections afforded in this country.

[richardthomas]

Internet is taking over. MR will have a much smaller circulation in years to come.