Should Modern Railways have more international coverage?

[squizzler]

Modern Railways is my go-to printed magazine for railway current affairs and i am overall very happy with the news balance. However I have a friend with a handful of old issues from "back in the day" (can't remember the decade even, maybe 1960's as I seem to recall a description of the first Shinkansen) where the overseas news was much more global. I especially remember full page adverts from English Electric highlighting products they were selling to the former colonies.

I think the European scene is very interesting but in many ways the continental network is the world's most sorted after a century and half of development. Modern Railways readers miss out such clean sheet development as the construction of China's network, heavy haul in Australia and metros in India. Perhaps there would be a silver lining to dropping out of the European Union if Modern Railways decided to have a wider coverage of world affairs?

I know there are various international railway journals but these tend not to be readily available in newsagents. Also the UK scene is just another country. Does anybody else feel Modern Railways would be an even better magazine with a broader world news roundup?

 

[yorksrob]

I must admit, I don't have that much of an interest in the railway scene abroad, so I wouldn't want MR to lose it's UK focus.

 

[Ianno87]

I think Keith Fender's international summary section each Month is adequate for me for general foreign news.

He also writes the occasional feature on European operations too - e.g. the opening of the Berlin-Leipzig high speed line recently.

For me, its about right.

 

[edwin_m]

I think it's a bit odd that they have a monthly feature that is confined to Europe and never anything about the rest of the world. There used to be a fair bit of USA coverage in the 70s.

 

[squizzler]

I think it's a bit odd that they have a monthly feature that is confined to Europe and never anything about the rest of the world. There used to be a fair bit of USA coverage in the 70s.

You put it more succinctly then I managed. I appreciate that the British scene is more influenced by mainland Europe than other parts of the world, but we are also influenced by US practice (GM and GE locos before the rest of Europe) and Japanese practice (Javelins, Azumas etc) than across the drink. So I think that articles on international practice and news ought not be confined to Europe.

Whilst not a fan of dropping out the EU, I feel MR reportage would benefit from adopting the current zeitgeist and giving more coverage of the New World, China and India, whose railways are growing much faster than the largely completed European networks.

 

[takno]

Honestly I'd be slightly less likely to buy it - the European pages get a quick glance at best. The focus of the magazine is a bit more industry-oriented than I remember it being in the past, so articles about foreign networks might be considered a bit irrelevant to the subscription-holders.

 

[The_Engineer]

I think Modern Railways has it about right for today's readers. Back in the 60s we had a bevvy of railway equipment builders who exported considerable amounts. That's just about gone.

Today's railway professionals - who MR have always had as target readers - are more focussed on British railway business. There are very good professional magazines for International Railway affairs should you be so interested e.g. International Railway Journal.

 

[gazthomas]

Have you tried Today's Railways: Europe?

 

[Busaholic]

It's interesting that what used to be called 'Modern Tramways' and is now 'Tramways and Urban Transit' still has comprehensive coverage of the world scene, although, of course, to focus on the U.K. alone would make for a rather slim or repetitive product!

 

[Bayum]

No, no, no.

 

[edwin_m]

It's interesting that what used to be called 'Modern Tramways' and is now 'Tramways and Urban Transit' still has comprehensive coverage of the world scene, although, of course, to focus on the U.K. alone would make for a rather slim or repetitive product!

That represents the opposite extreme - I gave up on it when it seemed to have lots of pieces about the 5A being reduced to every 34 minutes east of Gazilpromorsk - and they almost never included any maps so the likes of me had no idea what sort of network they were talking about.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Have you tried Today's Railways: Europe?

I subscribe to this one; it is excellent for anything within Europe.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The online Railway Gazette is very good for international news.
While the pieces are not extensive they do cover the basics in a reliable way, and you do find out about new lines and major contracts.
It also has a good index for historical items.
Modern Railways has always been good on the manufacturing side, but I think they find it harder to keep up with overseas Hitachi/Siemens/CAF/Stadler than with local Bombardier/Alstom.
If MTR/Guangshen win the West Coast/HS2 franchise all the railway media will have to get their railway maps out.
In fact with concentrating on the UK scene they have rather ignored high speed rail developments over the years.

 

[Busaholic]

That represents the opposite extreme - I gave up on it when it seemed to have lots of pieces about the 5A being reduced to every 34 minutes east of Gazilpromorsk - and they almost never included any maps so the likes of me had no idea what sort of network they were talking about.

You might just find it more interesting nowadays. The featured system each month comes with comprehensive mapping, and there are usually a couple of other maps in each issue. You don't even have to subscribe any more, as even in Penzance the local WH Smith stocks it, so you can see whether a particular issue interests you.

 

[Mag_seven]

I subscribe to this one; it is excellent for anything within Europe.

Agreed - If I only buy one railway mag a month its that one.

 

[squizzler]

Have you tried Today's Railways: Europe?

I have subscribed to Railcolor News. Railcolor has apparently taken the business growth strategy that worked well for Ian Allen. It started as a sort of online ABC for new generation European electric locos and in a few short years has grown into a credible industry news and analysis site for the EU railway industry. Highly recommended.

The online Railway Gazette is very good for international news.
While the pieces are not extensive they do cover the basics in a reliable way, and you do find out about new lines and major contracts.
It also has a good index for historical items.

There are many news agglomeration sites available these days as best as I can tell all with the same stories, give or take. I tend to look at Global Rail News because their website is nicer design. The company running that site is the publisher of The Rail Engineer, which has interesting articles if you can beg borrow or steal from a subscriber! I presume you just view Gazette website rather than being registered user or a subscriber? Is it easy to subscribe to these magazines if you are not a railway professional?

Back to original topic, now that Railcolor is developing into a worthy go-to resource for European industry stories, I no longer require the same coverage in MR. OTOH I think that the UK enthusiast community can be a bit inward looking when it comes to developments abroad and would not like to lose all overseas coverage from MR. So much for me, no doubt there are others well versed in the global scene but don't take a Europe specific magazine or Railcolor who benefit greatly from the MR European coverage.

 

[trash80]

I'd love a few extra pages in MR on international (and non-European at that) news

 

[Taunton]

Modern Railways has become pretty much an "advertorial" product nowadays, they have a good circulation so people want their own item featured, and that drives what goes into the editorial side. They have a couple of competent correspondents (you know who I mean), but the remaining articles seem to be increasingly written for them by the PR department of various industry organisations - sometimes writing things which are completely contradicted by what the news pages are reporting! Unfortunately, even the news section is increasingly just regurgitated press releases.

Oh for the days when G Freeman Allen was editor.

 

[Busaholic]

Modern Railways has become pretty much an "advertorial" product nowadays, they have a good circulation so people want their own item featured, and that drives what goes into the editorial side. They have a couple of competent correspondents (you know who I mean), but the remaining articles seem to be increasingly written for them by the PR department of various industry organisations - sometimes writing things which are completely contradicted by what the news pages are reporting! Unfortunately, even the news section is increasingly just regurgitated press releases.

Oh for the days when G Freeman Allen was editor.

How true! This is unfortunately increasingly becoming the case in virtually every newspaper or magazine that retains a print edition and reflects the huge reduction in the numbers employed as what used to be known as journalists. The few remaining are encouraged not to make waves as they might upset the advertisers or the rich and famous (sometimes one and the same). There are honourable exceptions, of course, and huge thanks to them and their publishers.

 

[yorksrob]

How true! This is unfortunately increasingly becoming the case in virtually every newspaper or magazine that retains a print edition and reflects the huge reduction in the numbers employed as what used to be known as journalists. The few remaining are encouraged not to make waves as they might upset the advertisers or the rich and famous (sometimes one and the same). There are honourable exceptions, of course, and huge thanks to them and their publishers.

The only way to counter it is for people to buy the print versions. That said, there's always a cost limit. I ditched The Times when it started charging £1.60 a day.

 

[Busaholic]

The only way to counter it is for people to buy the print versions. That said, there's always a cost limit. I ditched The Times when it started charging £1.60 a day.

I think that's still quite a bargain considering the amount of interesting material contained within it and cheaper than a small cup of coffee from one of the chains. I remember buying a copy of the Sunday Times for £1 when I lived in Amsterdam in 1969, which represented about half the amount of money I had to live on for the day, but I considered it important to keep up with news from home which I had no other means of getting! It meant I had to report to the shipyard at 6 a.m. the following day in the hope of casual work, but I still didn't regret it.

 

[yorksrob]

I think that's still quite a bargain considering the amount of interesting material contained within it and cheaper than a small cup of coffee from one of the chains. I remember buying a copy of the Sunday Times for £1 when I lived in Amsterdam in 1969, which represented about half the amount of money I had to live on for the day, but I considered it important to keep up with news from home which I had no other means of getting! It meant I had to report to the shipyard at 6 a.m. the following day in the hope of casual work, but I still didn't regret it.

I do miss it, and I stuck with it for several increases. Alas it got to the point where I was paying a lot and I didn't get the time to read it through on my commute in the end.