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BRM - February 2014


SteveCole

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Hi all,

 

The February 2014 issue of BRM goes on-sale as a Digital Edition tomorrow (Friday, January 3rd) and will be available in shops on Thursday, January 9th. It also comes with Part 2 of Phil Parker's excellent 'Guide to Building Your First Layout'.

 

A Digital Edition of BRM costs just £2.99 for a single issue or only £26.99 for a 12-month subscription (that's just £2.25 an issue). For more information, click here.

 

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Here's what's inside this month's issue:

 

The Great Train Robbery

Luton Model Railway Club’s interesting choice in modelling this undoubtedly historic event as a descriptive diorama in O gauge.

 

Plus a further three great layouts:

Black Country Blues - the EM gauge RMweb Project Layout is now complete!

Outwell - A OO gauge model of this Wisbech & Upwell Tramway station and sidings.

Carron Grove - An N gauge layout built by the Falkirk Model Railway Club.

 

Practical BRM

Improve your modelling with our selection of easy-to-follow Practical BRM articles:

•             Fit a signal sequencer

•             Two-Hour Challenge - scratch-build a wooden coaling stage.

•             Modelling bushes.

•             Modify Hornby's MK.1 coaches.

•             Q&A - our team of BRM Experts answer YOUR modelling questions.

 

New products

Find out what’s new in the world of railway modelling, plus in-depth reviews of Bachmann's J11 and Class 40. We also reveal the Hornby 2014 Product Announcement and the Noch Grass Mats feature in our 'Tried and Tested' article.

 

FREE 32-page supplement

Don’t miss ‘The BRM Guide to… Building Your First Layout!

Part 2 of this 32-page guide focuses on plans, ballasting, buildings, platforms, scenery and roads.

 

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Plus…

Readers’ Layouts

Letters

Diary Dates

Doncaster Show Preview

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A question re the digital edition

Were there any additional photos to open up this month? I didn't see any simbols signifying it but thought id double check.

 

Would be a great idea to make the small images in how to articles clickable for full size.

 

An enjoyable read once again

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Just seen the digital edition and was especially pleased to see page 85 in the What's New section which features Milton Keynes MRS :)

 

Many thanks to John, Howard and Andy for coming down and taking a look - we had a great day and look forward to seeing everyone who can get along to our exhibition on Feb 15th.

 

Best wishes

 

Ian (Webmaster)

 

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Just seen the digital edition and was especially pleased to see page 85 in the What's New section which features Milton Keynes MRS :)

 

Many thanks to John, Howard and Andy for coming down and taking a look - we had a great day and look forward to seeing everyone who can get along to our exhibition on Feb 15th.

 

Best wishes

 

Ian (Webmaster)

 

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Hello Ian,

   It was an enjoyable day out, well organised, good food on offer and plenty of operational layouts to keep the visitors entertained. I hope your exhibition is a success and that 2014 is an eventful year for the MKMRS.

All the best,

Howard 

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A question re the digital edition

Were there any additional photos to open up this month? I didn't see any simbols signifying it but thought id double check.

 

Would be a great idea to make the small images in how to articles clickable for full size.

 

An enjoyable read once again

 

Hello Rich,

   It would be nice to be able to make all images full size, especially in how-to articles, but this would mean that an issue would take significantly longer to download. PM me if there are any particular images that you would like in high-res.

Kindest Regards,

Howard

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Oh yes, BCB looks just superb, really really superb. I might try and get to Donny just to see that. Congratulations lads and lasses.

I am also enjoying the 'new style' mag after some initial doubts about the  'busy' page layout; I'm sure my grandsons would enjoy the format on line too.

I might go for that but my Posty's dad would miss his 'free' passed on copies..... :rtfm:

P

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Steve, is it easy to transfer from mag copy account/subs  to digital?

Phil

Hi Phil,

 

You'll need to cancel your paper subs (explain that you're going digital) and then subscribe online at www.pocketmags.com/BRM or via iTunes.

 

If you have any problems, please don't hestitate to get in touch.

 

Thanks,

 

Steve

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We've just uploaded a FREE Sample Digital Edition of BRM February. It offers a snippet (it's only 15-pages) of what's inside the Feb issue, making it perfect for modellers who haven't seen the new-look BRM, or those who would like to sample a magazine in a digital format.

 

Hopefully you'll like what you see...

 

Take a look at http://brmm.ag/BRMFeb

 

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Steve,

 

a bit of feedback on the android app - it locked up on me after downloading the feb issue, had to delete the app data to get it to work again, this meant re-downloading all my issues - a couple of hours I could have done without ;) Maybe see if the tech boys at Pocketmags can come up with an update that allows for resetting the app without losing all your downloads?

 

cheers

 

Ian

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Is it just me, or does anyone else find the theme of 'The Great Rain Robbery' rather distasteful, even if it was over 50 years ago now?  Let us hope they have at least avoided the temptation to have a cam-operated arm on one of the scale figures whacking the poor train driver repeatedly over the head with a scale-sized plastic baseball bat!  Those of us who were around at the time can surely see nothing in this diorama to get enthused about.

 

The precedent also appears somewhat dangerous to me. What next....a diorama showing cattle trains arriving at the ramp at you-know-where, with a scale etched brass 'Arbiet Macht Frei' sign in the background and populated by Airfix German military?

 

I'm all for realism, but in my view, model trains should emphasise the many positive aspects of our great railway tradition, not distasteful episodes which are best consigned to the darker pages of history. Poor show all round, IMO.

 

Don Mason

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Is it just me, or does anyone else find the theme of 'The Great Rain Robbery' rather distasteful, even if it was over 50 years ago now?  Let us hope they have at least avoided the temptation to have a cam-operated arm on one of the scale figures whacking the poor train driver repeatedly over the head with a scale-sized plastic baseball bat!  Those of us who were around at the time can surely see nothing in this diorama to get enthused about.

 

The precedent also appears somewhat dangerous to me. What next....a diorama showing cattle trains arriving at the ramp at you-know-where, with a scale etched brass 'Arbiet Macht Frei' sign in the background and populated by Airfix German military?

 

I'm all for realism, but in my view, model trains should emphasise the many positive aspects of our great railway tradition, not distasteful episodes which are best consigned to the darker pages of history. Poor show all round, IMO.

 

Don Mason

 

While we all have individual views on just about everything I think the important thing to mention in respect of this rather nicely done (and photographed) diorama is that it does not include the spot where Jack Mills was coshed and forced to drive the train.  Does that make it any more acceptable - an interesting question but is it any less acceptable than for example modelling at least a representation of loco inside valvegear when it was responsible over the years for a number of injuries and fatalities to railway staff or modeling various other innumerable railway activities or features which were in their day the regular scene of staff injuries, mutiliation, or death?

 

Working on the railway used to be a dangerous job for many roles but modellers are either ignorant of them or ignore them.  Jack Mills case was admittedly out of the normal course of an 'injury at work' but it would have been recorded on the same form and gone into the same statistics as any other accident on duty.  Sometimes I fear we can become too judgemental of the wider aspects of past events.  And incidentally just in case you might think I'm being callous I put ten bob (=50p, and probably worth a fiver nowadays) in the collection that was made for him when his health got really bad some years after the incident - that was the way things were on the 'old' railway.

 

This year we will start to see more and more models devoted to various aspects of railway involvement in the Great War - should they not be modelled because without a shadow of doubt 'the railway', in its broadest sense, more than anything except the weapons themselves enabled the killing of combatants to be carried out on an industrial scale.  I'm sorry but 'history' is exactly that - something which happened in the past.

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I agree too with the objection of publishing this article.

 

         The so called Great Train Robbery was a Intentional planned criminal act as a result the driver died of his injuries recieved during that crime. For whatever reason this has been glamourised by the Press over the years with the same attitude given to Biggs and his cronies who were violent criminals.

          I cannot see any relevant comparison with accidental injuries to Rail staff. They relate to the attitude of the those times, zero or hardly any type of Health and Safety legislation and people being regarded as cheap labour and not much else.

        As to the Great War this is something everybody should be proud off and quite rightly is being commemorated.

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Is it just me, or does anyone else find the theme of 'The Great Rain Robbery' rather distasteful, even if it was over 50 years ago now?  Let us hope they have at least avoided the temptation to have a cam-operated arm on one of the scale figures whacking the poor train driver repeatedly over the head with a scale-sized plastic baseball bat!  Those of us who were around at the time can surely see nothing in this diorama to get enthused about.

 

The precedent also appears somewhat dangerous to me. What next....a diorama showing cattle trains arriving at the ramp at you-know-where, with a scale etched brass 'Arbiet Macht Frei' sign in the background and populated by Airfix German military?

 

I'm all for realism, but in my view, model trains should emphasise the many positive aspects of our great railway tradition, not distasteful episodes which are best consigned to the darker pages of history. Poor show all round, IMO.

 

Don Mason

I would disagree Don, not because the crime wasn't serious but because the group who produced the model (which is excellent) have recorded a piece of history; they're certainly not glamourising it and have not characterised any of the figures nor condone any events. The club carried out extensive research and include an informative presentation in their exhibition presence dispelling certain myths and maintaining high levels of accuracy in a form not necessarily present in other recent media content. There is a positive aspect to this with the club raising funds for the Railway Benefit Fund (formerly the Railwaymen's Benevolent Fund) and as they say "This fund provides financial and other means of support for current and former railway workers. In the spirit of their actions we are pleased to offer any monies raised in the course of displaying our Diorama toward their funds as a way of giving something back to colleagues of the injured driver on that night in 8th August."

 

 

I agree with orford, its pretty poor taste.If as he pointed out we could maybe get a diorama of Auschwitz next or maybe one of the major train crashes we have had in the UK just to keep the "bad taste layout" theme running.

That's just silly to suggest other 'bad taste' elements and would undoubtedly be offensive to the team who built this historical record.

 

 

as a result the driver died of his injuries recieved during that crime.

That's a speculative comment; the driver received injuries which had long-term effects on his health but it is not proven the injuries are related to his eventual death from leukemia.

 

Having addressed that issue I'd be grateful if that could be now left and some respect given to the guys who built a fine model.

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