Bother with rail magazines?

Ladder23 · 19 Jan 2020

Hi all,

I use the forum daily, I love it. Great for a distraction and stress relief at times, I can spend hours looking through. Anyway.. I have recently wondered if you believe magazines are worth buying, with any info about various things usually get announced on here sharpish, I can’t imagine it warrants the expense?

RailUK Forums

Bletchleyite · 19 Jan 2020

I like reading MR, it goes into detail in a way the forum often doesn't.

Busaholic · 19 Jan 2020

Bletchleyite said:
I like reading MR, it goes into detail in a way the forum often doesn't.

And, how shall I put It, with more knowledge, less prejudice and 'side' than can be the case here sometimes. You don't have to sort the wheat from the chaff, in other words.

hexagon789 · 19 Jan 2020

Bletchleyite said:
I like reading MR, it goes into detail in a way the forum often doesn't.

MR is always good for its in-depth coverage. It's certainly at the upper end of the range and I agree that some publications do cover the bits the forum misses.

Ladder23 said:
Hi all,

I use the forum daily, I love it. Great for a distraction and stress relief at times, I can spend hours looking through. Anyway.. I have recently wondered if you believe magazines are worth buying, with any info about various things usually get announced on here sharpish, I can’t imagine it warrants the expense?

Personally I prefer them in combination.

Ladder23 · 20 Jan 2020

I often pick them up but find I usualy put back,

I had a cheeky read about the scraping of 313's some time ago but what put me off was everything I had seen in the mag I had already seen on forums etc,

ic31420 · 20 Jan 2020

Used to read a lot more mags. Now it's just MR. And others as and when something of interest is in them. Rail can't decide what it's trying to be sometimes and the likes of Traction, RE or RI just seem a bit amateur. I'm not into modeling so vast amounts of modelling is wasted on me. Railway Mag has never appealed seems a bit snobbish.

I buy them online and read them electronically. I have Google Rewards app on my phone and the money that gives me pays for my mags and o/s subscription and a small surplus that I've started to use to buy the paid for versions of apps to get rid is ads.

Mag_seven · 20 Jan 2020

The only railway magazine I tend to buy these days is "Todays Railways Europe".

DarloRich · 20 Jan 2020

I don't buy any. I find them dull, boring, expensive and out of date as soon as they are printed.

I know Modern Railways is lauded here. I simply don't get why.

ChiefPlanner · 20 Jan 2020

Cancelled "Rail" (though had a fairly cheap sub) - it infuriated me beyond belief , but "Modern Railways" I have bought for over 40+ years and generally remains very decent - though recent editorials seem to be "where I went for a ride last month" , which is not what you really want from a serious magazine. Certain of their contributors need to get out more (or find other things that people might actually want to read) - so it remains on the purchase list for now.

32475 · 20 Jan 2020

RM for me now just as much as when I was a schoolboy and used to buy it with my pocket money from the WHS bookstall at Brighton station every month. I know you can find so much out online but there's nothing quite like opening up a new magazine with good in-depth articles, photos etc with a mug of tea or something stronger, a log in the hearth and a dog at my feet! I usually find the editorial content spot on. Back Track magazine also is superb and always collectible; pricey but worth getting if you see an article which is of particular interest.

Trainfan344 · 20 Jan 2020

Railway Magazine for me, usually a few interesting articles that I can't read on the Internet, a recent one was about the Longmoor Military Railway. and this month has an article about life in the control centre for the entire rail network.

43096 · 20 Jan 2020

DarloRich said:
I know Modern Railways is lauded here. I simply don't get why.

If you don’t understand why, you’re probably not their target market.

DarloRich · 20 Jan 2020

43096 said:
If you don’t understand why, you’re probably not their target market.

Perhaps, but perhaps I have more access to information than their target audience.

Ladder23 · 20 Jan 2020

everyones points are fair in my opinion, nice to see others views as mine is still the same!

trainmania100 · 20 Jan 2020

Used to buy railways illustrated and RAIL but don't bother anymore, over time you work out how much you're spending on magazines and realise you could be spending it on McDonald's or something
So I don't bother any more I save my £4-7 each month for other things like McDonald's mcmuffin meal before work

aleandrail · 20 Jan 2020

good charity book shop in Lichfield where the previous month's editions of various magazines are available for 35p more often than not

Ianno87 · 20 Jan 2020

ChiefPlanner said:
Cancelled "Rail" (though had a fairly cheap sub) - it infuriated me beyond belief , but "Modern Railways" I have bought for over 40+ years and generally remains very decent - though recent editorials seem to be "where I went for a ride last month" , which is not what you really want from a serious magazine. Certain of their contributors need to get out more (or find other things that people might actually want to read) - so it remains on the purchase list for now.

MR (although technically excellent) could do with a bit more, shall we say, diversity in its contributors/writers to much better represent the actual modern railway.

Rail does much better at this.

geoffk · 20 Jan 2020

I've taken several magazines in the past but now just have Today's Railways UK and Heritage Railway. One thing that concerns me is that being first on the shelves seems to take priority over accuracy. I've found a number of howlers as well as the more usual typos which could have been avoided had more time been taken with proof-reading. There's so much competition for casual readers now (i.e. those without a regular order) that magazines are appearing way before their cover date. But generally I find the content of these magazines interesting, apart from the railwayana pages in HR, just my personal view.

Ashley Hill · 21 Jan 2020

I used to buy Rail Enthusiast before it changed its name to Rail and became a consumer magazine. I liked Modern Railways Pictorial but that finished. Traction was good in its early years. To be fair I now only buy a magazine (usually RM) if there is an article I want to read and that's seldom.

xotGD · 22 Jan 2020

Ashley Hill said:
I used to buy Rail Enthusiast before it changed its name

Me too. I then bought Traction from Issue 1 for several years, stopping when my interest waned. All donated to the shop at Embsay station, if anyone is interested in back issues. They have a lot of old mags.

Islineclear3_1 · 23 Jan 2020

Who remembers Modern Railways Pictorial ?

I stopped buying mags years ago as they take up unecessary space and it wasn't worth paying the money if there was just a small snippet that interested me

The only one I might buy from time to time is Today's Railways (formally Entrain) for my parents if I have a piccie published

Most other stuff I can look up on line

route101 · 23 Jan 2020

Todays Railways is my fave . Moderns railways can be a bit technical but still enjoy a wee read.

Ashley Hill · 23 Jan 2020

I've got the complete set of MRP. Very much an 80s magazine it's as it says,all the news in pictures. It was replaced by Motive Power Monthly which I don't think lasted very long.

Islineclear3_1 · 24 Jan 2020

Ashley Hill said:
I've got the complete set of MRP. Very much an 80s magazine it's as it says,all the news in pictures. It was replaced by Motive Power Monthly which I don't think lasted very long.

The few I have (MPM) from the early 1990s have some articles I wrote

Ashley Hill · 24 Jan 2020

Islineclear3_1 said:
The few I have (MPM) from the early 1990s have some articles I wrote

Can you remember when MPM finished?

Islineclear3_1 · 24 Jan 2020

Ashley Hill said:
Can you remember when MPM finished?

Can't remember, maybe 1992?

xotGD · 24 Jan 2020

I used to like MRP. IIRC in one issue there is a photo of a 47 applying power before it reached the end of a temporary speed restriction with the caption 'Premature Acceleration'.

Fnarr, Fnarr!

Also, if anyone in our circle took a photo of a train that was in any way had some 'arty' element, it used to be described as an 'MRP Shot'.

hexagon789 · 24 Jan 2020

Not sure if you'd class them as magazines per se, they do contain both historical and current articles as well as news pieces, but t

Cricketer8for9 · 29 Jan 2020

Full set of Today’s Railways Europe so can’t stop now! They’re even bound.

Defiance149 · 13 Feb 2020

Ashley Hill said:
Can you remember when MPM finished?

Last issue was Dec 1991.

Bother with rail magazines?

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