Railway Modeller

[Newportnobby]

Just bought the October issue and it's gone up to £6.45
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 )

[Browning 9mm]

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

[Nbodger]

(Before anyone sends a Wallace & Gromit hitman for me, I do have Yorkshire blood in me )

You been drinking again

[Newportnobby]

(Before anyone sends a Wallace & Gromit hitman for me, I do have Yorkshire blood in me )

You been drinking again

Nah. Wrong mushrooms for breakfast. Ooh, the colours, man

[Train Waiting]

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

[EtchedPixels]

Reviews 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  ) 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 

[Roy L S]

Reviews 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

[Bigmac]

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.

[Fardap]

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.

[Chris Morris]

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.

[Lagrange1]

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 

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.

[Chris Morris]

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....

[Suffolk Rob]

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

[Newportnobby]

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

[LASteve]

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¢.