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 Yesterday at 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 Yesterday at 03:53:19 PM

Quote from: Newportnobby on Yesterday at 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 Yesterday at 11:15:40 AMJust bought the October issue and it's gone up to £6.45

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