Disposing of old railway modelling magazines

willike1958 · April 11, 2018, 06:03:14 AM

I've decided to have a clear out of my railway modelling magazines (RM mainly), but I'm not too sure how to go about this and I'm loath to throw them in the bin. Any ideas would be welcome on how to go about giving them a good home or homes, bearing in mind that I live in France so it is not just a question of popping along to my local charity shop or whatever.
Kevin

Joker56 · April 11, 2018, 07:14:27 AM

Take them to your doctors surgery , thats what I did

Skyline2uk · April 11, 2018, 08:20:08 AM

Not sure if it's what you want to do but I am in the process of reviewing my pile of Model Rail magazines.

I take an issue, cut out any useful articles and recycle the rest (mainly adverts). The stuff I want to keep goes into a plastic wallet and a ring binder.

It's amazing how much less space this takes than the magazines.

Skyline2uk

Bealman · April 11, 2018, 08:40:40 AM

I too have a million billion model railway mags, my first RM dates April 1957!

Mrs Bealman wants me to get rid of them, and I know that would be the sensible thing to do, but I am loathe to do it as it's like my life history!

I can pull a dozen or so mags from the early collection and spend hours looking through them. All these layouts I used to drool over as a kid.

I think I just don't like throwing anything out.

Newportnobby · April 11, 2018, 08:49:13 AM

Sadly I've just binned (recycled) over 100 issues of RM but what I do now is read it then pass it on to a fellow N gauger for the cost of a coffee now and then.
Doctors/dentists surgeries are another way out but they don't want too many.

Bob Tidbury · April 11, 2018, 09:40:48 AM

I take mine to the surgery ,hospital and the dentist and now Im 71 I seem to be spending more and more time at the doctors so I have plenty to read while Im.waiting .
By the way I dont actually buy the mags they are handed down by my mate as there is no way I can afford nearlly a fiver a time on a magazine my pension wont stretch that far.
Bob Tidbury.

trkilliman · April 11, 2018, 10:13:00 AM

I do what Skyline2UK does, periodically take out what is of interest to you now and possibly in the future, and recycle the rest.

I suppose if you have intact magazines to dispose of taking them to a Doctors or Dentist could lead to somebody taking up the hobby, or rekindle the interest.

Having sold our house (STC) the domestic Clerk of works, bless her, will be pushing me to seriously downsize the intact magazines I do have!

As Bob Tidbury said they are virtually a fiver each nowadays. An issue has to have an article/s that particularly interest me these days for me to buy one.

Bealman · April 11, 2018, 10:21:59 AM

My problem is that when I sort through them to pick out the articles I like, I end up liking the entire mag!

In the really old issues, the adverts are an historical document themselves, and make interesting reading.

daffy · April 11, 2018, 10:34:48 AM

My Doctor's surgery will no longer accept magazines. Apparently they (whoever 'they' are) have determined that spread of infection is the reason.

I always thought the spread of infection was primarily caused by sitting next to lots of ill folks in 'their' waiting room!

So my old mags now go to the charity shops in town, or to friends and family.

I rarely keep any for long, perhaps making notes of interest, etc, and sometimes taking whole articles out to put in a binder.

Bealman · April 11, 2018, 10:39:44 AM

Yeah, if I'm honest with meself, railway modelling mags are a limited market, and are probably recycling material. It's a shame, though.

The Q · April 11, 2018, 11:25:15 AM

Each year my model railway club, takes them in puts them on a table at our club open day, also at our exhibition secondhand stand, then flogs them off at pence per issue, any left over then, may be passed on to a steam railway society that does the same.

Bealman · April 11, 2018, 11:49:14 AM

I guess that there is some merit in putting them on display at a show.

I must admit buying a few old ones which, frankly, has added to me problems!

OwL · April 12, 2018, 11:14:56 PM

I have quite a few magazines knocking about. Over Easter I sorted the whole lot into a huge plastic carry basket (which is overflowing and I struggle to lift)
I haven't decided the fate of these but I won't be buying anymore as I'm worried about hoarding mags that cost too much and take up too much space!

Going back to OP's question, sort them into date order and put together 1 years worth, and sell them on eBay for 1p start auction with international delivery so people in UK/AUS/NZ/CAN/USA can buy and you can sell them from France. Cover your postage costs in the sale and I'm sure you will shift them. Who knows, you may even make a few bob.
Sell a batch as a trial run, you never know?

Good Luck!

kirky · April 12, 2018, 11:34:39 PM

Quote from: Bealman on April 11, 2018, 08:40:40 AM
I too have a million billion model railway mags, my first RM dates April 1957!

Does that mean that you took your RM mags with you when you emigrated to Oz?
Respect.

Kirky

Bealman · April 13, 2018, 12:01:26 AM

Cheers, Kirky

No, not initially. When my parents died suddenly in 1990, I had to return to the UK to sort it out. Being the only child, I had to get rid of everything in the space of a couple of weeks.

I arranged to have some of the stuff shipped to Australia, and that included my collection of model railway mags!

So they've been around, those mags, hence my reluctance to part with them.

George