Doesn't say when it's out but this looks like it should be good / useful / interesting:
https://www.classicmagazines.co.uk/product/5542/source/specoffweb (https://www.classicmagazines.co.uk/product/5542/source/specoffweb)
Available from 10 August 2018
Let us know when (if ever)they do one for 1930s and earlier
Presumably this is an archive of all the similar double-page spreads featured in RailExpress magazine.
They're nice, and I'm sure this bookazine will be quite useful. My only criticism is that 'normal' trains are very easy to predict but rarely modelled unless you have a lot of space. Nobody really needs to be told a BR blue Class 56 would be hauling thirty-odd HAA hoppers to replicate a real coal train of the era. You can find ample evidence for these commonplace trains in any photo album of your preferred region and era.
What's more interesting to modellers with limited space are the shorter and/or variegated trains that were seen from time to time. The Speedlink services of the 1980s, the domestic coal trains of the 70s, or the interregional passenger train made up of three or four Mk1 coaches including the brake.
I've also found the RailExpress features tending to be biassed towards modern image and especially Sectorisation onwards. Not much on, say, 1960s diesels in the West Country, let alone pre-war steam. I guess that reflects their readership, but does mean these features are less attractive to transition-era modellers.
So I for one will look forward to flipping through the range of trains featured before buying.
Cheers, NeMo
Well, my copy has arrived. As Nemo has suggested that it might be, it's an eclectic mix based on previously published materials, and in no way comprehensive. On bulk freight, the focus is energy - coal, nuclear, petroleum and LPG. And yes, five pages mostly of MGR formations seems a little excessive, but the shorter network coal trains also get a separate feature. The Woodhead route gets a special section. Aggregates and metals sector traffic is almost entirely missing. Speedlink covers specific flows so grain, chemicals, West Highland line, explosives, Plasmor and military traffic. So far as I can see on first inspection, more generalist trains don't really feature. The passenger section features only Scottish push pull trains and Deltic hauled services. The parcels section is of interest but features sectorisation (post 1986) trains only. Autoballasters, rail head treatment trains and snow ploughs get their own sections, presumably because of the models that are available in 'orribly oversize and to some extent in n. 132 pages in total, and certainly some articles of interest to me in there.
That sounds extremely similar to what's appeared in the magazine over the years (including the autoballasters, West Highland line etc). I'll check it out if I see it, but I still have all the original magazines, so I wouldn't buy unless the actual formations covered were new ones.
That said, I doubt that all the formations they've ever published would take up 132 pages, so it seems likely that there is new content.
Jim
Going off my own topic (tut), but... Jim Martin?
Not the guitarist Jim Martin from Faith No More? With that memorable hair and specs combo?
I think we should be told.
Love your band dude. Saw you at the NEC supported by L7. From the third row. What a gig that was.
Given Faith no More are Californian, and Jim Martin is not an uncommon name I suspect I know the answer...!
The bookazine sounds interesting, but a shame they've not tried to make it more rounded. £8 seems excessive for a hotch-potch rehash of existing content.
Quote from: GroupC on August 04, 2018, 07:16:22 PM
Going off my own topic (tut), but... Jim Martin?
Not the guitarist Jim Martin from Faith No More? With that memorable hair and specs combo?
I think we should be told.
Love your band dude. Saw you at the NEC supported by L7. From the third row. What a gig that was.
It's something I fit in around my TV cheffing work. That's why I never get any modelling done...
Jim
So you are indeed the man in question?
I'm on tenterhooks here in Australia!! :beers:
No, James Martin is a TV chef over here, who is also not the Faith No More member!
It seems far more likely he'd be a member than a Californian musician, however!
I know that REx were asked a lot to compile all the train formations diagrams into one publication so that people had the complete set and an easy reference document.
The period covered reflects the scope of REx so seems reasonable to me. The train formations in REx have covered both the normal and less normal operations so there should be a good mix of formations for all modellers from the 70s/80s onwards.
Cheers Mike
Quote from: NeMo on July 29, 2018, 05:45:34 PM
I've also found the RailExpress features tending to be biassed towards modern image and especially Sectorisation onwards. Not much on, say, 1960s diesels in the West Country, let alone pre-war steam. I guess that reflects their readership, but does mean these features are less attractive to transition-era modellers.
I can't see why anyone would expect them to include the steam era, given that the magazine doesn't touch on steam at all.
Quote from: red_death on August 05, 2018, 11:26:28 AM
I know that REx were asked a lot to compile all the train formations diagrams into one publication so that people had the complete set and an easy reference document.
The period covered reflects the scope of REx so seems reasonable to me. The train formations in REx have covered both the normal and less normal operations so there should be a good mix of formations for all modellers from the 70s/80s onwards.
Cheers Mike
It's certainly pretty good for parcels and TPO trains the period 1986-1996, the period covered in the respective articles. The main title implies that the "handbook" covers the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, which for most of the sections is true. Parcels was a well established business sector before 1986, so the absence of any formations prior to 1986 is, for me, a disappointment. I was hoping to see formations for the trains that ran for Post Office parcels and some of the combined passenger/newspaper workings as they're a particular interest of mine.
Quote from: red_death on August 05, 2018, 11:26:28 AMI know that REx were asked a lot to compile all the train formations diagrams into one publication so that people had the complete set and an easy reference document.
If what I've read elsewhere is correct there were 42 train formation articles published in REx.
The chapter guide of the compilation lists 19 sorts of traffic so hardly everything in one place.
If there's a follow-up compilation that includes the remaining 23 then I'm in.
Quote from: Buzzard on August 07, 2018, 11:26:43 AM
Quote from: red_death on August 05, 2018, 11:26:28 AMI know that REx were asked a lot to compile all the train formations diagrams into one publication so that people had the complete set and an easy reference document.
If what I've read elsewhere is correct there were 42 train formation articles published in REx.
The chapter guide of the compilation lists 19 sorts of traffic so hardly everything in one place.
If there's a follow-up compilation that includes the remaining 23 then I'm in.
I have not yet seen this but I would not be surprised if most of the 42 articles fit into the 19 subject headings. The articles are usually based around a wagon or traffic type, so the coal trains might be one heading covering several articles on HTVs, HAAs, HUOs, etc.
It uses the same online reader/app as the 2014 Modeller Yearbook, I forgot I had that so Ive went for the digital copy, so far so good and there is a print function