irish_rail
Established Member
Cards on the table, this is a rant.
After 20 years of buying Rail I really have had enough and have finally come to the descion it isnt worthy of 8 quid a month of my money.
It really saddens me to say this as I used to really enjoy it, and there are still one or two good bits (Wolmar, Barry Doe) , but on the whole it is just unbearably dull.
It reminds me now of the kind of industry publications that are free of charge and which one will only read as one is being paid to do so whilst at work. No real substance to it, just endless opinions of think tanks and steering groups, and dont get me started on the obbsession with HS2.
The same information is recycled week after week, it is very rare in these Internet connected times I learn anything new, other than which individual I have never heard of has been appointed to head up some engineering firm I have never heard of either.
There is a distinct lack of pictures of trains. Call me old fashioned but as a railway enthusiast (and professional) I expect to see the best in rail photography if im paying 4 quid a time for something freely available for nothing online. And why do the photos they do publish carry such a heavy east midlands bias, there is a whole other united kingdom out there, much of it more picturesque than the midland mainline between Leicester and Derby, or the ECML around Peterborough.
The current edition has a story about the Kirkby derailment, pretty major in railway terms, yet it gets a short article and unbelievably, not even a picture!!! This kind of thing is far more relevant to your average reader than hearing another HS2 story repeated yet again but in a slightly different way.
Another area where progress needs to be made is the letters page. Some of the nonsense written is hard to believe, why is Rail giving it the editorial time of day? Current issue has some drivel about how driverless trains are good because the letter writer on his few holidays abroad has never had an issue with one whereas the trains he uses on a daily basis at home occasionally have problems. Well durrrrr. And yet the letter goes unchallenged, pride of place in the top right hand corner of the page. RAIL really need to start vetting which letters they do and dont publish.
And finally, why oh why do the middle pages of the magazine always come loose and fall out!!??
Magazines in 2021 need to focus more on interesting opinions and debates , with a clear focus on INTERESTING news and decent, varied pictures. Focus more on traction and rolling stock (and no i dont mean heritage, there are enough publications that do that). Tell me something I dont already know!
I say all of the above with a very heavy heart . I have barely missed an issue this millennium but I cant justify buying another.
Would love to hear others opinions, especially anyone connected with the magazine. Rant over.
After 20 years of buying Rail I really have had enough and have finally come to the descion it isnt worthy of 8 quid a month of my money.
It really saddens me to say this as I used to really enjoy it, and there are still one or two good bits (Wolmar, Barry Doe) , but on the whole it is just unbearably dull.
It reminds me now of the kind of industry publications that are free of charge and which one will only read as one is being paid to do so whilst at work. No real substance to it, just endless opinions of think tanks and steering groups, and dont get me started on the obbsession with HS2.
The same information is recycled week after week, it is very rare in these Internet connected times I learn anything new, other than which individual I have never heard of has been appointed to head up some engineering firm I have never heard of either.
There is a distinct lack of pictures of trains. Call me old fashioned but as a railway enthusiast (and professional) I expect to see the best in rail photography if im paying 4 quid a time for something freely available for nothing online. And why do the photos they do publish carry such a heavy east midlands bias, there is a whole other united kingdom out there, much of it more picturesque than the midland mainline between Leicester and Derby, or the ECML around Peterborough.
The current edition has a story about the Kirkby derailment, pretty major in railway terms, yet it gets a short article and unbelievably, not even a picture!!! This kind of thing is far more relevant to your average reader than hearing another HS2 story repeated yet again but in a slightly different way.
Another area where progress needs to be made is the letters page. Some of the nonsense written is hard to believe, why is Rail giving it the editorial time of day? Current issue has some drivel about how driverless trains are good because the letter writer on his few holidays abroad has never had an issue with one whereas the trains he uses on a daily basis at home occasionally have problems. Well durrrrr. And yet the letter goes unchallenged, pride of place in the top right hand corner of the page. RAIL really need to start vetting which letters they do and dont publish.
And finally, why oh why do the middle pages of the magazine always come loose and fall out!!??
Magazines in 2021 need to focus more on interesting opinions and debates , with a clear focus on INTERESTING news and decent, varied pictures. Focus more on traction and rolling stock (and no i dont mean heritage, there are enough publications that do that). Tell me something I dont already know!
I say all of the above with a very heavy heart . I have barely missed an issue this millennium but I cant justify buying another.
Would love to hear others opinions, especially anyone connected with the magazine. Rant over.