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Publication of Railway mags

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mawallace

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I am trying to work out the regular publication date of the various rail mags e.g railways illistrated is (I think) the first friday of each month

but what about

Modern Railways
Railway Magazine
Traction
Rail Express

and so on?
 
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MidnightFlyer

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Today's Railways UK - 2nd Monday of every month
Today's Railways Europe - 4th Friday of every month (I'm 95% sure)
RAIL - Fortnightly on a Thursday
 
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Schnellzug

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It does get very confusing these days, since some of them don't go by 'calendar' months but go by four-weekly cycles and all sorts of things. Railways Illustrated, yes, says "first Friday of every month". Railway Magazine promises the next one to be Wednesday December 7th, so I presume that's the first Wednesday. RAIL is every other Thursday, is it?
 

12CSVT

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Heritage Railways is probably the most confusing one as it is published every 28 days. Next one due out tomorrow.

Traction is bi-monthly, a new one should appear next week.

Rail Express tends to appear about the third or fourth week of the month and has been known to vary.
 

Schnellzug

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Heritage Railways is probably the most confusing one as it is published every 28 days. Next one due out tomorrow.

Traction is bi-monthly, a new one should appear next week.

Rail Express tends to appear about the third or fourth week of the month and has been known to vary.

yes, Steam Railway's like that. The last one was October 14 - November 10.
 

Nym

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W H Smith seem to have different days from month to month for this publication. Why is this so?

Because the magazines will be shelved as soon as they are reveived, and they will be sent to branch as soon as they are received at WHSNews Distro.

Is a thing that happens with all monthlies due to company policies, I have known AMO (Additional Misc. Orders, (Stock to add to stock already there)) come in at the same time as new issues when I was working the news dept.

It is the policy of most of WHST and WHSR to place new copies out as received and early return old copies, rather than what publishers prefer that is to embargo new copies until the return data of old copies.

Due to the way monthlies and 4 weeklies are published, basically on a prioritized multi tier FIFO que at the printers, it can be the case that magazines will end up being printed many days before their publication date, this will then be sent to WHSN Distribution, Menzies Distro, Dawsons News etc.
It's policy at WHSN not to hold inital order stock and to send it to branch when received, they will only hold an AMO float, based on sales figures and ordering thresholds of branches. These are either set by WHSN using historical data and publisher stipulations, or by the branch, or a combination of the two, also involving head office planning systems, and sold space agreements with publishers.
So the replacment stock is then sent to the branch (and there is still an AMO trigger on the current stock) so the new stock is placed out, and until the return date, AMO stock will still be sent based on sales figures of the previous issue, polled overnight. As a result, there is a 2 day lead from print completion to shelf display, mainly due to a combination of places not wanting to hold stock, and maximum usage of printing equipment with a squed FIFO system, all topped off by WHSC Policy.

WHST (WH Smith Travel)
WHSR (WH Smith Retail)
WHSN (WH Smith News Distribution)
WHSC (WH Smith Corprate)

Spot the former shift supervisor & ordering supervisor....
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Rail is fortnightly but comes out on Wednesdays, not Thursdays ;)

It actually comes out on Thursdays... (When the old copy return request is filed, this is set by the publisher) But will be on the shelf by wednesday as it usually comes in on a tuesday...
 

Schnellzug

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It actually comes out on Thursdays... (When the old copy return request is filed, this is set by the publisher) But will be on the shelf by wednesday as it usually comes in on a tuesday...

Ah, I see, it's out on Thursday, which is actually Wednesday, but might sometimes be Tuesday. It all becomes clear.


:-?
 

gswindale

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According to www.railmagazine.com it is on sale on a Wednesday and the copy I am looking at is dated Wed-Tue, so based onthat I fail to see how anybody can possibly say it comes out on a Thursday?
 

Peter Mugridge

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According to www.railmagazine.com it is on sale on a Wednesday and the copy I am looking at is dated Wed-Tue, so based onthat I fail to see how anybody can possibly say it comes out on a Thursday?

Thursday is the "going to press" day.

Postal subscribers will usually have their copy on the Saturday ( press day +2 ).

Wednesday ( press day + 6 ) is the newsagent on sale date.
 

Oracle

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I get my RAIL mags on the Wednesday. Who can recall when RAIL ENTHUSIAST was first out?

Having the pleasure of working 'for' Ian Alllan Publishing, I often see the IA railway magazines being produdce by Ian Allan Print Ltd at Hersham, Surrey, and then pallets subsequently going off to WHS, etc. It is interesting to see how long after printing the issues appear in the shops.
 

the sniper

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It actually comes out on Thursdays... (When the old copy return request is filed, this is set by the publisher) But will be on the shelf by wednesday as it usually comes in on a tuesday...

Why has the magazine always been dated Wednesday to Tuesday then? I can only assume that this Thursday release day situation of which you speak is only there so the publisher avoids punishment if they don't get the mags out in time for Wednesday?

I've been a Rail reader for nearly 20 years, I've always been under the impression that it's released on Wednesdays. I've almost always brought it on a Wednesday...

Who can recall when RAIL ENTHUSIAST was first out?

That was before my time, but I can remember when Model Rail was just a supplement to Rail!
 
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