Too many railway Magazines?

[swanhill41]

I am bemused at the rail magazine market in the UK.

It appears to be operating without any relationship to reality ?

Why do I say this..As at now,I can count 13 rail mags,that are sold through the news trade as well as by subscription.

What's the thoughts on this forum,read the possibility of there being a fall out/closure with regards to some of these titles.

I have taken Mod Railways,Ralway Mag,Rail Illustrated ,Rail,Rail Express,Steam Railway and Heritage Rail as being news and Steam World,Railway Bylines,Traction,Backtrack and Steam Days as being history...Not included the Cygnet titles etc..

The reason for saying this is the specialist society mags L&Y etc.are also eating into those markets..Me thinks bar Bauer and Key Pub ,maybe operating on very miniscule profit levels if that

 

[Cowley]

There does seem to be too many. Quite a few of the magazines repeat the same news which can take up at least a quarter of each magazine if not more and then maybe there are other regular sections of magazines that you may not read anyway as you may not be particularly interested in them (even when you're sat on the throne and you've read the rest of it).

If you've already read one magazine at the beginning of the month and you then buy a different one after a couple of weeks, by the time you take the above into account and also the pages lost to adverts (obviously I realise that they need to sell advertising space), you're really left with just a few articles to read.

On top of that you have things like this forum giving you news and debate way before the magazine hits the shelves and it is a surprise that so many magazines have managed to survive this long.
Since I joined this I've stopped buying a lot of them but I do still buy a couple a month. This is probably just a long term habit though.

 

[swanhill41]

It is very obvious that they all get same press releases as they put put them into the mag verbatum,so as you said cowley,start the month with that PR and you see it two or three times in different mags as news !...Realistically a preservation news item can appear in Rail Magazine,Steam Railway and Heritage Railway in a 28 day period.

 

[Greenback]

I think there are too many. The market for traditional paper magazines must have shrunk thanks to the internet. I don't buy nearly as many as I did in the 1990's, when I was a regular RAIL and Modern Railways reader, with occasional purchases of the Railway Gazette and other titles.

When I do buy one now, I don't bother reading the news section, as most of it I will already know thanks to web and this forum.

 

[Merthyr Imp]

The Railway Magazine does include some history as well as lots of news. For example, the last two issues have included a two-part article on the history of Tuxford on the East Coast main line.

 

[Cowley]

The Railway Magazine does include some history as well as lots of news. For example, the last two issues have included a two-part article on the history of Tuxford on the East Coast main line.

It's the only one I buy every month now, because of as you say some of the historical articles. But I also buy it because I enjoy doing the crossword, even though I never manage to complete it (I usually get about two thirds through before some A3 with an obscure name stumps me), I find that it's the magazine that takes the longest to read in the bath or on the toilet and therefore passes the 'does it take more than an hour to read it? ' test...

 

[125Forever]

I think that there are various niches within what is already a niche group.

For example, whilst a magazine on Steam Trains or the trains used on Tal-y-Llyn might interest one rail enthusiast it might not interest another one - the other one might be more interested in Rail or Railway Magazine for the modern locos.

 

[Allegheny1600]

I for one think there are too many magazines chasing a diminishing market!
However, it is interesting to compare how full newsagents shelves are in continental Europe! Go into a main railway station in Germany and have a look through how many magazines there are in a local equivalent to "smiffs" over there - whole sections devoted to just railway (& model railway) titles.
Similar in Holland or Belgium, less so in France although they're not too far behind the Brits!
I think this means that the hobby is well developed over there and (possibly more importantly?) less "looked down on" by other forms of media. There are numbers of 'spotters' to be seen if you look carefully! I've seen smartly dressed city gent types pause on the platform, snap a quick photo and be on their way.
Again, in model terms, you can definitely see where the press releases have been distributed en block but the Euro mags do dissect the models more and give details on overall performance and proto fidelity as well as compare competing models.

 

[theblackwatch]

Have you seen how many magazines there are in Germany? Go to any bookshop and you'll probably find around 50-100 titles there.

If there wasn't a market for all the titles, they wouldn't be produced - simple as. If you look at most magazines, you will see that they tend to have their own 'niche' area rather than trying to all cover the same stuff, so different magazines will appeal to different people. Even the 'news' magazines are very different - compare Steam Railway with Modern Railways for example....

 

[Busaholic]

I think that there are various niches within what is already a niche group.

For example, whilst a magazine on Steam Trains or the trains used on Tal-y-Llyn might interest one rail enthusiast it might not interest another one - the other one might be more interested in Rail or Railway Magazine for the modern locos.

And some, like me, who don't give a fig about the locos but are interested in the lines served, stations etc.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Even the 'news' magazines are very different - compare Steam Railway with Modern Railways for example....

Hmm that's an interesting example. It's hard to imagine Modern Railways reporting on the P2 progress and it's equally hard to imagine Steam Railway showing much of an interest in the latest class 800 / 801 testing so surely it's inevitable that those particular 'news' magazines will be very different in their content.

 

[fowler9]

It has been years since I bought a railway magazine for a variety of reasons, along with aviation magazines. I mainly use the internet. There is indeed a world of choice, which baffled me. We probably have more choice than people in to other stuff despite the fact that liking transport is often marginalised. I would like a good mix of up to date news and also heritage info. They aren't exactly cheap these days either, ha ha, puts you off experimenting.

 

[alexl92]

There are a lot - and I have been known to sit on the floor of my local newsagent looking through the contents page of 4-5 magazines trying to decide which I want.

I do struggle for one that adequately covers all bases - heritage and main line, steam and diesel. RI used to be my go-to but it's becoming more and more a magazine for the diesel enthusiast with a bit of steam at the back to tick a box - but then I suppose there are plenty of mags for steam enthusiasts and rather less for those who prefer another form of Fossil fuel so all's fair in the end.
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They aren't exactly cheap these days either, ha ha, puts you off experimenting.

This is part of my problem - I often want the articles from 2 or 3 magazines but two of them comes to nearly a tenner!

 

[Cowley]

There are a lot - and I have been known to sit on the floor of my local newsagent looking through the contents page of 4-5 magazines trying to decide which I want.

I do struggle for one that adequately covers all bases - heritage and main line, steam and diesel. RI used to be my go-to but it's becoming more and more a magazine for the diesel enthusiast with a bit of steam at the back to tick a box - but then I suppose there are plenty of mags for steam enthusiasts and rather less for those who prefer another form of Fossil fuel so all's fair in the end.
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This is part of my problem - I often want the articles from 2 or 3 magazines but two of them comes to nearly a tenner!

I'm the same as you.
I quite often get attracted to a cover picture as well and then look inside and think it's not really worth nearly a fiver. I like RI and I like Railway Magazine but I also like a bit of modelling stuff. Sometimes though I think I'll just leave it and look on the forum instead

 

[J-2739]

Only read Modern Railways now, infrequently. Rail has turned too political and one sided for my taste, and with the same old bleating on HS2, puts too much negative energy onto my soul.

 

[43074]

Only read Modern Railways now, infrequently. Rail has turned too political and one sided for my taste, and with the same old bleating on HS2, puts too much negative energy onto my soul.

I stopped buying Rail after they started doing funny ''specials'' on weird topics like sustainability and innovation which are, frankly, boring.

The two magazines I get on a regular basis these days are Modern Railways and Today's Railways UK; others I buy but only if they have an article which catches my attention.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

The only one I purchase is Today's Railways UK, which is best for my fields of interest, and despite not being quite as good as it used to be I'm still satisfied; it's a solid all-rounder. I tend to get Rail and Modern Railways second hand once someone else is done with them - I'd probably shell out for the latter as it's by an astronomical distance the best for professional, infrastructure and technology aspects; but the former I find very hit and miss.

I think there are so many titles in the market because there is the demand (generally): I couldn't care less about traction or heritage, ergo I don't buy Steam Railways or the various preservation journals; but similarly someone who grew up in the 1950s with all the steam locos or spent the 1980s clearing Class 37s maybe doesn't care about the Thameslink debacle, or community rail on the Great Western; hence they'll buy the opposite to me.

 

[J-2739]

I stopped buying Rail after they started doing funny ''specials'' on weird topics like sustainability and innovation which are, frankly, boring.

The two magazines I get on a regular basis these days are Modern Railways and Today's Railways UK; others I buy but only if they have an article which catches my attention.

I agree. It's like they ran out of ideas and stretched the existing ones into specials.

Modern Railways, on the other hand, gives us useful stuff like one time, a full map of suburban railways in London.

 

[Condor7]

I guess they must all sell enough to be worthwhile otherwise they would cease publishing.

I have now subscribed to Railway Herald the online magazine. Although I prefer to physically hold a magazine this is published weekly (well 47 times a year) so the news is bang up to date, which is what is of more interest to me.

 

[Busaholic]

'Rail' would do itself a favour if it became monthly rather than fortnightly; there's too much padding. Then I suppose the HS2 hyperbole would double in length, so maybe it's not the answer.

 

[alexl92]

Only read Modern Railways now, infrequently. Rail has turned too political and one sided for my taste, and with the same old bleating on HS2, puts too much negative energy onto my soul.

I stopped buying Rail after they started doing funny ''specials'' on weird topics like sustainability and innovation which are, frankly, boring.

The two magazines I get on a regular basis these days are Modern Railways and Today's Railways UK; others I buy but only if they have an article which catches my attention.

Don't often read RAIL but I'm tired of Nigel Harris' constant bleating on twitter about HS2 and the irritable shots at anyone who dares suggest it's not perfect.

Don't get me wrong; he's welcome to his opinions. But you sometimes get the impression that nobody else is welcome to theirs!

 

[keith1879]

Don't often read RAIL but I'm tired of Nigel Harris' constant bleating on twitter about HS2 and the irritable shots at anyone who dares suggest it's not perfect.

Don't get me wrong; he's welcome to his opinions. But you sometimes get the impression that nobody else is welcome to theirs!

I only buy Rail when he hasn't written the editorial - it saves me a fortune.

 

[theblackwatch]

Don't get me wrong; he's welcome to his opinions. But you sometimes get the impression that nobody else is welcome to theirs!

I think that's actually a bit of an unfair comment on Nigel, even if he does appear to be thrusting his opinions a lot. The magazine has a good selection of letters of 'opinion' too, and Christian Wolmar often provides a different opinion - although I suspect his view that people shouldn't use loo roll won't appear in the magazine.

Personally I don't see the need for so much opinion - can't people make up their own minds instead of having to rely on others? Having said that, Rail is clearly catering for that section of the community who like to read opinion, as I can't think of any other mag which has so much of it.