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Railway Modeller: 6-year experiment ends


martin_wynne
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The fiction is over - for the first time in living memory the July RM shows full Peco branding on the cover.

 

Also they have reverted to a green cover in the traditional 3-colour sequence. Apparently the all-red covers have been an "experiment". Lasting a mere 6 years. Other magazines could have come and gone in less time, but in the case of RM 6 years is merely an "experiment". smile.gif

 

Martin.

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But it’s a consistently good magazine. Ok , as with all magazines , there are months that are more a hit than others, but Railway Modeller still contains more layouts than other magazines and has a lot more reading. If that’s the level of experimentation they get up to, and I admit I never noticed, then I’m quite happy. No gimmicks just a good old fashioned cosy read.

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But it’s a consistently good magazine. Ok , as with all magazines , there are months that are more a hit than others, but Railway Modeller still contains more layouts than other magazines and has a lot more reading. If that’s the level of experimentation they get up to, and I admit I never noticed, then I’m quite happy. No gimmicks just a good old fashioned cosy read.

‘Old fashioned’ in this respect is attractive to some of us. I agree the presentation is a bit staid, and lacks the modern wham-bam punch of its principal competitors. I don’t miss that, but recognise younger readers might well do so. I also feel it has the most advertising, although haven’t really counted pages etc. And even in the Internet era, I find printed ads for our hobby have value.

 

Peco generally know what they are up to, and RM seems to be part of that success.

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The fiction is over - for the first time in living memory the July RM shows full Peco branding on the cover.

 

Also they have reverted to a green cover in the traditional 3-colour sequence. Apparently the all-red covers have been an "experiment". Lasting a mere 6 years. Other magazines could have come and gone in less time, but in the case of RM 6 years is merely an "experiment". smile.gif

 

Martin.

Actually the red cover started in the 2011 November issue.

 

But great to see the 3 colours return.

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The problem is they are out.

 

The August issue was always a green issue whereas July was always blue.

 

 

 

Jason

 

*

 

Like me you have a long memory. I agree that July should be blue and August green.

 

In simple terms (for there were some variations), the sequence was 1954 - (November) 1993 BLUE > GREEN > RED starting in January each year (almost forty years).

 

It then changed from Jan 1994 to GREEN > BLUE > RED (less than twenty).

 

 

 

CP

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Like me you have a long memory. I agree that July should be blue and August green.

In simple terms (for there were some variations), the sequence was 1954 - (November) 1993 BLUE > GREEN > RED starting in January each year (almost forty years).

It then changed from Jan 1994 to GREEN > BLUE > RED (less than twenty).

CP

Sorry, but they used four colours for a long period - Blue for January, May and September, Orange for February, June and October, Green for March, July and November and Red for April, August and December. It started with the new header in January 1966 and was replaced with the three colour sequence in 1975 (effectively May 1975 as June was red instead of orange), though there were some experimental two-tone headers soon after they thickened up to the current letterface in September 1971.

1950s RMs had the old 3Ps symbol (Pritchard Patent Poduct Co.)

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Sorry, but they used four colours for a long period - Blue for January, May and September, Orange for February, June and October, Green for March, July and November and Red for April, August and December. It started with the new header in January 1966 and was replaced with the three colour sequence in 1975 (effectively May 1975 as June was red instead of orange), though there were some experimental two-tone headers soon after they thickened up to the current letterface in 1973.

1950s RMs had the old 3Ps symbol (Pritchard Patent Poduct Co.)

There was a once off return to orange for the 'Special Issue' in place of the 1980 May issue. This was due to an industrial dispute and many pages were still labelled as May.

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Also, in less time, other magazines have taken their heads from up their @rses, moved with the times and improved themselves quite considerably.

 

Mike.

As has the good old RM but without the mega splash and dramatic announcements . It just gets on with it. So you have “Talking Points” and comments from leading people in Model Railways . Railway Modelling Explored takes over from Junior Modeller with hints and tips for beginners. What other magazine has that every month? The photography has been updated too with some truly great images. Yet at the same time I think it has maintained its content and that familiarity most modellers like .

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Yes, Enterprisingwestern, and if they keep it up for another six years, some of them might get to be half as good as the RM in that time.

 

IMO, loadsa big colour photos, and a fairly tight focus on largely r-t-r 00 doth not necessarily a good magazine make.

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As has the good old RM but without the mega splash and dramatic announcements . It just gets on with it. So you have “Talking Points” and comments from leading people in Model Railways . Railway Modelling Explored takes over from Junior Modeller with hints and tips for beginners. What other magazine has that every month? The photography has been updated too with some truly great images. Yet at the same time I think it has maintained its content and that familiarity most modellers like .

A few years back, I used to buy nearly all the titles most months but since Steve Flint took over as editor, the others only get bought when there's something of direct interest.

 

I got fed up with having the wonders of DCC rammed down my throat over around a third of the pages in most issues and I suddenly realised how much I was just skipping over.

 

The Modeller has steadfastly maintained a balanced attitude / sense of proportion across the digital/analogue divide and is now the only monthly I get every issue.

 

John

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Lots of comment on the colour, but does no-one else find it significant that after all this time they have finally put Peco branding on the cover?

 

post-1103-0-26449100-1528988313.jpg

 

The fiction that it was just another news-stand magazine and not a Peco advertising medium seems to be over. Publishing a monthly magazine was a work of marketing genius by Sydney Pritchard.

 

Martin.

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Also, in less time, other magazines have taken their heads from up their @rses, moved with the times and improved themselves quite considerably.

 

Mike.

'Improved' as in 'all now equally mediocre'. RM and MRJ are still my only routine buys, the others hardly at all and only then when there is something of significant interest. 45 pictures showing how to glue figures into a cab is not worth 4 quid.

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Lots of comment on the colour, but does no-one else find it significant that after all this time they have finally put Peco branding on the cover?

 

rm_peco.jpg

 

The fiction that it was just another news-stand magazine and not a Peco advertising medium seems to be over. Publishing a monthly magazine was a work of marketing genius by Sydney Pritchard.

 

Martin.

Was it a ever a fiction? The references to 'here at Peco' were common in editorials and their own articles and it's been plastered all over their website.

I take it as common knowledge by the vast majority.

Like everything else it's a matter of taste on the presentation. I find some of the others a bit too LOOK AT THIS in presentation but not really great in content. For such a 'stuffy' publication it continues to do very well compared to the competitors so something must be working ;)

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Do you think that Peco has deliberately changed the colour sequence to see if anyone is awake out there?

Maybe it's subliminal messaging and they've joined the 'eco aware' movement? ;)

 

I'm surprised they've not re-titled it to iRailway Modeller with a white cover and a blue engine each month ;)

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