Alex Schust Letter

Wed Jan 4 14:45:32 EST 2023

Two pages of a non-time sensitive completed article were pulled to get the space for Tim’s article. The article will appear in another issue of The Arrow. I just happened to be at the archives when Tim’s article came in and had already finished reviewing the other article. We can all agree Tim’s article was interesting. That isn’t the issue – my issue is what is appropriate content for  a page limited historical society quarterly magazine. 

To my knowledge, since Ken Miller took over as editor/publisher, there has not been a lack of articles to publish. We did have a serious problem with articles before Ken took over. To give you an idea of the current backlog my article on Camp Obediah was submitted in June 2020 and the articles on the Narrows Branch which are just now appearing were submitted in March 2021. I will be submitting an article on Switchback within the next couple of weeks and I don’t expect it be published before 2024. This, along with the future articles section, on the inside cover page should give you some idea of the back log.

With regard to my own articles, Ken Miller and I discuss them to see if he is interested in an article before I work on them. The article on Switchback came about because of the email discussion in April of 2021.   

Alex Schust

From: NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2023 11:34 AM
To: NW Mailing List
Subject: Re: Alex Schust Letter

Is it possible that without Tim's article, there was nothing else to be published? 

Your premise relies upon there being an inventory of backlogged articles just waiting to be published. It has always been my understanding that it is almost always a struggle to come up with enough content to publish a full issue.

Mike Rector

On Wed, Jan 4, 2023, 9:38 AM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

Mr. Lisle and others,

As noted in my letter I also found Mr. Hensley's article interesting, I just thought it was inappropriate for The Arrow given the page limitations it has.

The N&W Magazine was published 12 times a year with anywhere  from 700 to over 900 page annually. The Arrow is published four times  a year with what used to be two 32 page issues and two 48 page issues or 162 pages, although it is currently publishing closer to 200 pages a year.

The N&W Magazine was way for the N&W to communicate with all of its employees, shippers and others about was happening on the railroad. "Folks Along the Line," was a regular feature of the N&W Magazine written by local correspondents from each division or departments within a division such as the freight shop, yard department, machine shop, etc. It was a way of keeping the N&W employees informed about what was happening on the multiple locations railroad. And all the stories were interesting.

The question I have is what is appropriate for The Arrow, which is written to convey the history of the N&W/Virginian to NWHS members and other interested people, given we are working with less than 200 pages, rather than 700, 800 or 900 pages.  

The Arrow has published multiple articles with directly related personal history, not so much with in-direct related family history.

I respect that other people will have different opinions, and given that all things will be interesting to someone,  it comes down to what do you want to see in the available 162 to 200 pages.

Alex Schust

-----Original Message-----
From: NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2023 2:13 PM
To: thearrow at nwhs.org; NW Mailing List
Subject: Alex Schust Letter

     Opening up the new Issue 4 of "The Arrow" and reading Alex Schust's 
letter to the editor (pg.2), I feel compelled to strongly disagree with 
Mr. Schust's concerns about Mr. Hensley's article in "From the Archives" 
back in Issue 3. Maybe Mr. Schust is forgetting what the old N&W 
Magazine used to be. Back before social media was what it is today, 
there was in the  back of the N&W Magazine a section called "Folks Along 
The Line". In this section people from each department or Division 
talked about interesting things that happened to them over the course of 
the year. People describing their vacations, trips to see family, 
children's births, family deaths, etc. This was one of the few ways 
company people could interact with one another.
     I find no difference in Mr. Hensley's account of a part of his 
young life and finding a photo of himself than I do reading about what 
was going on way back when. If you go back through the issues of the N&W 
Mag. and read about "The Folks Along The Line", I think that you too 
will find some of the stories told can be quite interesting!

Jimmy Lisle

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