Which Monthly?

I subscribe to three. British Railway Modelling - because they offered me a subscription for about £15. MRM because that is what I am interested in for indoors & garden Rail for my Garden Railway. I also read Model Rail & Railway Modeller.

If I were to choose one for OO/N it would be Railway Modeller mainly because it has the most adverts & other content. Generally I do not find that any of the OO/N magazines interest me for very long. Like most US magazines I find they look good but don't have much in depth content. I agree that MRM is struggling to find its way and again it is not that much of a read. Big spacing means not many words to the page.

Garden Rail is good but very short. I wish it were twice the size! Sometimes it is better than others. I have it on subscription because nowhere that I go sells it & the petrol cost to go to the only place I know that does sell it is more than the subscription price of the magazine!

Overall I don't really think that there is a best magazine. It depends on the articles that are in any one particular issue. The rise of the internet has made it increasingly unnecessary for me to buy any magazine & I suspect that is where I will end up.

Chris

I still hanker for the old MRC,of the current crop,each has its merits and all have their foibles.
Rating? Well here goes (probably will offend some so apologies in advance)
1 Model Rail,usually good,some of the sub-editing is a bit weird such as step by steps which suddenly stop.the master class on the GWR Railcars was a joke.
2 Railway Modeller,Bit Cyril Freezer at times but mostly good,love the ads.
3 BRM mostly good,but how many kits do I need to read about being built by Tony Wright
4 MRM started well but has clearly lost its way.Pity really as we needed this one for balance in the D&E world
5 Rail Express Modeller, Over opinionated.self satisfied they just need to get out more.Again a pity,as it too started well.Maybe I don't imbibe sufficient quantities
of Cask conditioned bitter to appreciate it.
there.now let loose the dogs......... no need to cry Havoc though.

I'd class British railway modelling as being too Cyril Freezer given the amount of space he manages to waffle his way through in the letters column every other month. Really puts me off buying his books, as experienced as he undoubtedly is from the correspondence he sends in he striked me as being of the i've been doing it so long i must be right, how dare you argue with me type of people.

Another thing that pees me off about BRM is their inability to finish a review or demonstration be it how to build a loco kit or a look at someones' layout within a single issue, more often you will find the first 2 parts of a 3 part review on consecutive issues then the final part several months later when the interest has dwindled and the first 2 parts have been forgotten, if there is insufficient space to run a piece in one issue then take some of the damn adverts out. Out of the 3 uk outline magazines that hit the shops each month this is the one i would miss the least.
Incidentally has anyone managed to get hold of a copy of the first BRM annual, it apparently came out in late January exclusively at WH smiths but so far i haven't seen a copy anywhere, but then again WH smiths are very unreliable with what they keep in these days as it varies from store to store and indeed month to month.

QUOTE (spongebob @ 18 Feb 2006, 18:59)Incidentally has anyone managed to get hold of a copy of the first BRM annual, it apparently came out in late January exclusively at WH smiths but so far i haven't seen a copy anywhere, but then again WH smiths are very unreliable with what they keep in these days as it varies from store to store and indeed month to month.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Smiths had 3 copies in Great Yarmouth 15th Feb. Being Smiths they were not in the model railways bit but in the annuals section!

Chris

I think that we have managed to prove the obvious. All the model railway mags must sell or they would not be given shelf space so a significant group of readers presumably think each title worth buying. The fact that they are all flawed in some way justifies the available choice. We all pick the ones that hopefully interest us most.

Perhaps the most interesting question that remains unanswered is how loyal we all are & why?

If we have a subscription is it because we are convinced which mag we like or because of a special offer that grabbed us ( this is me & BRM)?

If we don't have a subscription do we simply pick up the same mag each month or consider them all & buy the ones we like best? If so does this always end up as the same mag?

If you buy a title that isn't your "normal" title what made you buy it?

To answer my own question I often find that any magazine has little to interest me as I model fairly modern image & in the garden. I flick through the mags & consider those that have articles on my topics. It is often a very few.

Chris

QUOTE What I would really like to see is a magazine that covers the world from each country's point of view which I assume would be an impossible endeavor

It is not impossible. It is simply that there would be little interest. Railway modelling is an extremely partisan hobby if not THE most partisan hobby. Model Rail Forum is the only UK based forum that devotes any space to modelling outside the UK. And even within this forum the overseas content is not widely read. Continental Modeller has a good circulation overseas. It would have difficulty surviving on its UK sales alone.

Hornby had about 15 of their overseas models on show at the London Toy Fair and Bachmann fared little better. The converse was true at the German Toy Fair. Hornby and Bachmann very clearly understand what interests the visitors at those respective toy fairs. Marklin did not even bother to attend the London Toy Fair. They probably knew that nearly all visitors would walk straight past and head for those stands with UK outline. When you are paying an absolute fortune for space then you make best use of it. Thats the way the commercial world ticks.

Happy modelling
Gary

Brian,

Do you have these books?