Just bought the October issue and it's gone up to £6.45 :o
I reckon that's the death knell for it as far as I'm concerned. Every time I buy it I try to justify the purchase to myself but it's just getting too hard.
It's never up to date with news
Sometimes there's no N gauge in it at all
Exhibitions can be looked up on sites like UK Model Shops
Reviews don't seem objective enough for me
Layouts can provide ideas but it's not easy to contact the owner with questions
I tend to spend an hour or less reading it and then pass it on to my friend Rob so, him being a Yorkshireman, he gets it F.O.C.
(Before anyone sends a Wallace & Gromit hitman for me, I do have Yorkshire blood in me :P )
can't remember the last time I bought a railway, model railway, or wargames mag.
all seem to end up with more and more adverts, less and less content, and higher prices
Quote from: Newportnobby on September 17, 2025, 11:15:40 AM(Before anyone sends a Wallace & Gromit hitman for me, I do have Yorkshire blood in me :P )
You been drinking again
Quote from: Nbodger on September 17, 2025, 12:49:33 PMQuote from: Newportnobby on September 17, 2025, 11:15:40 AM(Before anyone sends a Wallace & Gromit hitman for me, I do have Yorkshire blood in me :P )
You been drinking again
Nah. Wrong mushrooms for breakfast. Ooh, the colours, man 8)
I really enjoy the Railway Modeller. It has a gentle charm. It and Model Railway Journal are the only model railway magazines I purchase. Both on subscription.
The Railway Modeller subscription brings with it a wonderful bonus - access to the archive of magazines across the decades. It is jolly good fun to select an issue at random - say from 1962 - and settle down to enjoy reading it.
I think Peco is doing a good job keeping the magazine going in this age of new types of communication. One just needs to look at how diminished Model Railroader has become.
Well done Peco.
With all good wishes.
John
Quote from: Newportnobby on September 17, 2025, 11:15:40 AMReviews don't seem objective enough for me
They never were. You don't bite the hand that feeds you. It didn't start with youtube and tiktok influencers, it's as old as the hills.
I've not read paper magazines for a long time - they got too expensive and nobody delivers them any more. I do think they have about as much life left in them at this point as WHSmiths (sorry Jones :doh: ) which in some ways is sad.
I have access to the Railway Modeller archive effectively - at about a pound an issue on ebay and similar sites when I want a particular copy.
The world has changed. Try explaining to a teenager about seeing an advert in a paper magazine, sending an SAE for a catalogue, then sending another letter and a postal order for the items you wanted :D
Quote from: EtchedPixels on September 17, 2025, 01:11:27 PMQuote from: Newportnobby on September 17, 2025, 11:15:40 AMReviews don't seem objective enough for me
They never were. You don't bite the hand that feeds you. It didn't start with youtube and tiktok influencers, it's as old as the hills.
I've not read paper magazines for a long time - they got too expensive and nobody delivers them any more.
I have my subscription copy delivered to me by post every month?? Dawn renews it every year as my birthday present from the cats!
@Newportnobby True, no N articles in this edition, but just like any periodical (or indeed the NGS Journal) there are some with lots of content of direct interest and others with less and you take the "good" with the "bad". As someone who models primarily in N but likes model railways of all gauges (particularly British) I really enjoy it, and find personally that an electronic copy does not replace the tactile experience of reading physical pages.
Each to their own, but I firmly believe there is plenty of mileage in paper copies for the foreseeable.
Roy
is continental modeller still going ? I had the very first edition --it featured a friends american HO backwoods layout. He went on to become Pete Waterman's "right hand man "
i bought it for several years--but havent bought a printed magazine for years now.
As a subscriber it is £3.95 a month (24mth) so is still very good value, along with digital access to EVERY previous issue online.
As someone who has dealt with getting publications printed costs as they are everywhere have gone up.
IT MIGHT be that this issue us more expensive as a one off as they have embossed and foiled cover of heavier weight paper - but I don't know that is the case but it is hugely expensive to do.
I get RM and Hornby and the one I would stop if it came to it would be Hornby and I have come close a few times.
On balance I think RM does a good cross section of scales and even the 'other' scales provide interesting reading to myself, but as ever each to there own where value is concerned.
I have a digital subscription which I think is good value. I probably look at old issues more than I do the latest issues.
The reviews in RM have always been a bit "soft" but then most models these days have very little to criticise.
RM has always featured plenty of N gauge, probably more than any other magazine. One thing to consider is that they can only publish what they receive. If there is a lack of N gauge items it will be because they haven't been sent enough good N gauge items. If folk want more N gauge in the magazines they should send more articles to the magazines; it really is that simple.
Quote from: EtchedPixels on September 17, 2025, 01:11:27 PMThe world has changed. Try explaining to a teenager about seeing an advert in a paper magazine, sending an SAE for a catalogue, then sending another letter and a postal order for the items you wanted :D
And having to wait up to 28 days for delivery!
I don't buy RM regularly as I'm not always in WHSnifs at the right time and when I am the mag is often in a plastic bag (my religion doesn't allow such purchases).
The subscription sounds good value for money so I might treat myself.
My last comment has reminded me. I could do an article about uncoupling using electromagnets and the Peco metal strips on the couplings. I'm sure that would get published, I've just got to get round to it - maybe this winter....
I've subscribed to RM and model rail for a number of years but increasingly find myself skimming through both although that may be in part due to having switched to the digital format some years ago but I get where Nobby's coming from
On balance I think RM does the best job of covering a range of scales and eras, but all the mags suffer from being out of date for news compared to what you can learn on here and elsewhere. I've always found RM reviews a bit bland and non-commital (for me MR reviews are better) but again, find here better with an often wide range of opinions that I can read, ask questions if I want and form my own purchase decisions from.
Where RM gives me excellent value is the back catalogue, and I probably spend more time going back to favorite articles from more years ago than I care to mention than i do reading new editions. Always amuses me to look at the old adverts too to find a loco I saved for months to get as a kid was on offer for Something like £12.95
So on balance if i kept one subscription going it would probably be RM
Like Roy, I much prefer a physical copy than digital. If I was to go digital that would finish it for my friend as he's just not up with such tech. Half the time he turns his phone on to find he has 80 or so messages because he hasn't turned it on for days at a time.
Sounds like the subscription is the way to go, although I still can't think why I buy it ???
I recently took out a digital subscription to RM (mainly to read the Southwark Bridge article in the January '25 edition which I hadn't seen until recently) and was surprised at the wealth of back catalog in the archive. Obviously enjoyed the James Street article in last month's edition, and like others, I enjoy seeing great modelling in whatever scale and there's a lot of inspiration to be had from those features. I don't pay much attention to product reviews, so not really concerned about bias, or lack of it. I think the digital subscription is good value for the amount of content you get access to. Just my 2¢.
I haven't bought RM for years, so I can't comment on the current rate of N gauge articles, but I gave up because there was so little of interest for me. I appreciate 00 is by far the most popular scale, but the various derivatives that no one understands (P4, E4, S4, PDQ4, Unit4+2 etc, etc) seemed to occupy more column inches than N did. The NGS Journal, and some forum or other whose name I forget, give me all the inspiration I need. It would be a shame to see printed magazines go the way of local newspapers but I haven't bought one of those for a while either, so I suppose I am part of the problem.
Cheers,
Chris
I let my subscription lapse this year (after 25 years).
I rarely spent more than 5 or 10 minutes skimming the magazine.
I'm at a stage now where I really want to read in depth articles about how to do specific things, with the opportunity to ask follow up questions.
General interest articles about layouts, especially when they aren't N Gauge really don't hold my interest anymore.
If I want nostalgia, then I still have every RM that I ever bought, including a couple from the mid 70's when I was a teenager.
Regards,
John P
Quote from: Newportnobby on September 17, 2025, 11:15:40 AMLayouts can provide ideas but it's not easy to contact the owner with questions
I tend to spend an hour or less reading it and then pass it on to my friend Rob so, him being a Yorkshireman, he gets it F.O.C.
You should be able to contact layout owners via the editor - make them work for their £6.45.
If you've been passing your issue on to your friend, isn't it time you swapped roles and he starts passing the copy he buys on you you? :)
Quote from: Steven B on September 17, 2025, 03:53:19 PMQuote from: Newportnobby on September 17, 2025, 11:15:40 AMLayouts can provide ideas but it's not easy to contact the owner with questions
I tend to spend an hour or less reading it and then pass it on to my friend Rob so, him being a Yorkshireman, he gets it F.O.C.
You should be able to contact layout owners via the editor - make them work for their £6.45.
If you've been passing your issue on to your friend, isn't it time you swapped roles and he starts passing the copy he buys on you you? :)
Won't happen. He's a tight wad ::)
Sadly the days of buying mags for me are gone, as like has been said, too many useless adverts, self-promoting articles pushing a product, and very little insight. Plus, you can get them online. So what is the point of buying them? WH Smith use to be the biggest newsagent and I can still remember going to its various outlets to buy things....but also, no more.
I still subscribe as I prefer reading a printed magaine. The archive is a useful resource.
I think an earlier Post said that there were no N gauge layouts in the current edition. There is - it's Claremont which is also Plan of the Month.
Maybe more N gauge modellers should submit articles. I submitted an article in 2022 about my then current layout which, to my great surprise, got photographed & published.
Quote from: Newportnobby on September 17, 2025, 11:15:40 AMJust bought the October issue and it's gone up to £6.45 :o
Bargain! I bought a copy of Continental Modeller a couple of weeks ago in our local TGJ (ex WHS) and it was £9.75!
Generally I don't bother with magazines now. I stopped my subscriptions to CM and N-Bahn Magazine many years ago. Just occasionally I might pick up a copy if the front cover piques my interest.
The CM I've just bought, I've read the one article on the N gauge layout and simply not felt like reading the rest yet. Just goes to show they've lost me as a reader (still proud my layout's been in there back in the late 90s :) )
must admit I stopped the RM subscription a number of years ago, preferred the Model Rail format. I tended to still buy the odd one, however I have now found my local library has the subscription and I can read it online through there.
Thanks to another forum member for the recommendation, whom absentmindedly I have forgotten at the moment. apologies to the member.
As someone who grew up with RM, to se my own articles in there is something I never expected. It's this whole basis that the articles are written by the modellers themselves and not an editorial team that gives RM the edge for me. When we've had articles on James Street in other mags they send a template which you fill in and they write the article from that, which often loses something in the telling. We've had a number of modellers contact via the RM office, and indeed I've done the same in the opposite direction, so they are good for that. Good value for money if you consider what you'd pay to go to the cinema or some other transaction that is gone once it's over, unlike a mag or book where you have it forever.
Dave
Well looking at this from across the pond, I'd be super happy to just pay £6.45 (that's $8.77 USD) for an issue. Railway Modeler was super hard to find where I am until a little less than 2 years ago when the local Barnes & Noble stores started carrying it here and it's double the price at $16.50 USD. Sadly, that's close to the going rate for most magazines state side these days. You guys have it made on magazines. I was taken aback by the sheer number of different magazines and "low" prices when I was in the UK earlier in the year.
I've pretty much quit buying most magazines but still tend to pick up RM most months but not 100% every time. Doesn't help when for example they never had the July issue. We also get it over a month after you all do. October is out for you but August is what's currently on the news stand here. Should probably have September here next week. I should probably subscribe and get every issue and the archives as it probably works out to about the same as what I spend on the 9 or 10 issues I buy during the year.
This issue is £6.45 because it's the 900th edition. Normally it's £5.95. That's only 20p more than Model Rail, but the quality of the paper is far in excess of the latter. And you don't end up with the ink rubbing off on fingers as you read through it!
RAILWAY MODELLER AND ME go back a long long way - to April 1957, in fact. I still have that issue on the shelves.
I have assorted issues from the early sixties, seventies and eighties and every issue from around 1986 for the next ten years.
During that time, my Beal and Castle Eden layout featured five times - all written and illustrated by myself, with photos also taken by me.
In recent times I have only bought the occasional issue if it catches my eye in the newsagents, or if a forumite's layout is featured.
However at almost A$20 a copy, I think we'll be parting company, which is a shame when the mag has been such a big part of my life.
@Bealman , who was it that told us about our local library, sure whomever it was, was in Hornsby, If so you should be able to get the RM online through the library in WG.
Thanks, Graham, but the problem is I don't think I'm keen enough to be bothered to go to the library to look at it! I'll keep my eye on the newsagents, and if an issue shows up that I find interesting, then I might consider buying it.
I usually buy RM even though I don't model UK any more.
However I have not purchased the 900th issue as I found it underwhelming when I flicked through it in TGJ (escaped any accusation "this isn't a library you know" - probably because there are no staff in shops any more!).
It is cheap compared to Continental Modeller at over £9 (how long will it survive?)
However, UK magazines have always been cheap compared to Europe. The French contemporary of RM (Loco Revue) has long had a cover price nearly three times that of RM or Model rail
ps - I am getting utterly fed up of the small proportion of editorial content versus number of ads - Model Railway is very bad on that score, RM is not brilliant, CM is actually very good IMO
I picked up the August issue of Loco-Revue whilst in France. It cost 9.80 Euros, which may be more than Railway Modeller but not three times. I have no idea what it costs here, indeed I wouldn't know where to go to get a copy. I should look in Continental Modeller, I suppose...
I started buying magazines when I was 14, in 1967 and quickly settles on the Railway Modeller. Then half a crown each month, that is 12.5p in decimal money! I changed from working in OO to N in 1975. I got a bit bored with RMin the end and moved to Model Rail in 2000. But after c 12 years or so I felt there was not enough in it to really grab me every month, and justify the cost, so cancelled the subscription.
These days I glance at content on the shelves of my local supermarkets or WH Smith (as was) and typically buy 3 or 4 mags a year, any of the 4 main ones, when I see enough to really interest me.
The NGS Journal is my only regular reading. I did buy N Gauge Now for a few years. Again I stopped it after a while.
For some years now I have cut out articles I want to keep after a year or so and file them in lever arch folders. The rest goes in recycling. And I created and maintain a database in Exel of every article I have retained. I do the same with the NGS Journal though have not got round to indexing those yet. And I have been a member since 1984! Must get round to listing them!
Quote from: Bealman on September 18, 2025, 08:09:38 AMThanks, Graham, but the problem is I don't think I'm keen enough to be bothered to go to the library to look at it! I'll keep my eye on the newsagents, and if an issue shows up that I find interesting, then I might consider buying it.
No need to go to the library, assuming you are already a member at your local library, there is an app and you can read it online.
hi all
for those who dont want the paper mag ... i subscribe to www.gb.readly.com
it might be £14 a month but theres all the uk real railway and model railway mags inc back issues to browse thru along with 1000 s of other mags
all genre s
paul
Confessions of a Railway Magazine ReaderI have been addicted to reading railway magazines from an early age. My first magazine was the September 1964 edition of Railway Modeller.
I am currently a hard-copy subscriber to
Railway Modeller, BRM/Traction, Model Rail, Steam World, the N Gauge Journal, and Train Collector. I also subscribed to
N Gauge Now before it stopped production.
I have been through several well-meaning family 'interventions' and rehab attempts but nothing seems to help.
Storing all these magazines is a problem. So, a few years ago, in an attempt to pretend that I was kicking the habit, I decided to go through all my pre-2000 Railway Modellers and save only the articles that I was interested in.
The articles that I have saved include N gauge layout articles and articles about N gauge in general, locomotive and rolling stock drawings (especially the "Drawn and Described" features by Ian Beattie), articles about layouts that I had seen at exhibitions, interesting letters and even some advertisements.
I have listed all these articles on an Excel spreadsheet to make searching for specific articles in the future simple and easy. This exercise resulted in the space needed for 35 volumes of
Railway Modeller being reduced to the equivalent of only five volumes.
However, as someone that was at the birth of British N gauge in the 1960s and has an interest in researching history of early N gauge manufacturers and models, the availability of the online
Railway Modeller archive has made accessing historical articles so much easier. (This is also true of the electronic availability of all issues of the
N Gauge Journal that can purchased from the NGS).
How do I pay for my reading habit, you ask? Well, I have a modest layout, I have been collecting models for more that 50 years so my collection can be considered mature, and I only buy new models if it is something I really want.
I agree with John
@Train Waiting that
Railway Modeller is still a very good read and arguably the best one "for the average modeler."
As the majority of articles published in RM are from readers, it is to be expected that there will be many more article about OO than N because there are many more OO modellers (I have forgotten the exact ratio).
If you know any other railway enthusiasts with a similar addiction to mine, please treat them with respect. They are, probably like me, chained in quicksand, like a dinosaur.
Ian
P.S. I also subscribe to a hard copy daily edition of the Los Angeles Times.
P.P.S. As Woody Allen once said (paraphrasing): " I subscribe to
Newsweek but mainly for the lingerie ads." Unfortunately, lingerie ads in railway publications are few and far between, but one can live in hope.
Quote from: icairns on September 19, 2025, 05:47:25 PMP.S. I also subscribe to a hard copy daily edition of the Los Angeles Times.
If you do the LAT crossword, you've probably done a few of mine!
Quote from: LASteve on September 19, 2025, 07:45:17 PMIf you do the LAT crossword, you've probably done a few of mine!
I haven't but I will look out for them!
Ian
I'm probably a bit like I Cairns in that I hoard old railway modelling magazines. There are 2 large shelving units at the back of the garage holding them. I have nearly all Railway Modeller from 1970 on and quite a few earlier issues, plus lot of MRC, MRN, MR and a few others.
I also still feel RM is the best. I have a physical subscription, which means the magazine usually arrives here in NZ only 2 or 3 weeks after going on sale in the UK, which is 2 to 3 months before it hits the shops here, if you can find it at all. Also appreciate the digital archive, which I have used quite a lot.
I wonder if perhaps RM has deteriorated a little since Steve Flint left as Editor, but there again they can only publish what is offered to them.
I consider myself a reformed addict. I bought the Modeller and Railway Magazoine religiously (along with NME) from when I started work in 1973 until sometime in the 1990s. I then stopped all bar the Modeller, but even that went in the 2000s, with just the odd copy being bought. I eventually stripped all of the ad sections off which helped a lot, but then on a house move I gave them all away to a fellow modeller. I've kept all articles I've had published in a separate file, and have had access to the digital file when I took out a subscription around Covid, from which I screenshot a few interesting bits. I've often picked up old Steam World, BRM, and Steam Railway mags from preserved lines, and have built up a good archive of prototype articles that are relevant to my modelling. All that means I have three lever arch files of stuff which is easily transportable.
I do wonder about how much effect Readly is having. I keep getting "have two free months on us" offers which of course I take up, meaning that I can read (and screenshot) all of the railway mags on there while I have my two months for nothing. I usually only miss a month or two before another free offer comes along, so I haven't missed a magazine edition fr four years or so now. However, I feel quite morally compromised on this as clearly I am getting stuff for nothing which I could (should?) be paying for. I don't understand Readly's business model as I can't be the only person doing this, so how do they make money, and how much do the magazines that use it get? It must be beneficial to them as they don't have to be on there.....
Dave
I also have Readly, with paid subscription.
They allow you to share the account with up to five persons so I asked my (railway)friends and family if they were interested.
We now share the subscription with 4 so it only costs me €3,75 a month.
And I can read the railway magazines, photography magazines and more :)
Jan
But that's online, though? Me being me, I like paper. Cranky old git, eh. ;)
Interesting that many of you still feel RM is worthwhile. Perhaps my negative comments earlier were misplaced and I should give it another go. Even our village newsagent/Post Office, which has recently become a micro-Morrisons, stocks it, so they must still sell a few. I will check it out.
Cheers,
Chris
The November issue is also £6.45 so I've knocked buying from shops on the head. Instead I've taken out annual subscription for £50 which works out at just over £4 delivered!
It means I can still pass it on to my pal and I get the archive as a Brucie Bonus while saving almost £28 per annum
I've seen the future (and it ain't just cheesecake)
You can check out my old articles then :D
The archive is brilliant. Although I always look forward to the next issue of Railway Modeller, I spend much more time reading old issues of the magazine. I often simply select a year and month at random and settle down to enjoy reading.
With all good wishes.
John