What should I do with my old Railway Modellers

[shortliner]

Old Railway Modellers never die - they get taken to the tip to be recycled! - hat on, coat in hand, departing rapidly!

[Fenway Park]

Sadly have to agree with Shortliner as have just taken an estate load of railway mags to the tip. Downsizing after 26 years in same house, so as no one wants old mags these days, it's down the recycling. 

[hayfield]

One stand at Folkstone were asking for donations to charity for old mags at the side of their stand, that may be another option for these

[North Eastern]

At our club the members constantly bring their unwanted magazines and we also have regular donations from other modellers. All magazines go on a stand at our exhibition 'RAILEX NE'  as well as any club open days.

We try to bundle them in to complete years and ask for a donation (No fixed price, as this scares off any buyers), this helps in clearing the magazines. It is also a useful revenue for the club and it means someone else gets the benefit of the magazine rather than it going to the tip.

If you have the time to scan what you want then great but once you cut pages out, the mag is only fit for the bin. As has already been said on this thread, donate them to a local club, library, Doctors or Dentist etc.

 

Regards

Chris

[mezzoman253]

I have a huge amount of magazines to dispose of to any club local(ish) to me. No charge, I (SWMBO) need the space. See list at bottom of posting.

 

Approx' 12 boxes of  mainly Model Rail, Hornby & Railway Modeller, with some copies of BRM & other mag's, for collection or mutual swapping place.

 

Many surgeries, etc, will not take these now due H&S (transmission of germs by paper).

 

I would prefer a club takes these, but if no uptake I'd consider splitting them up in whole types

 

Please PM me if interested in these. I'm in Billericay Essex. 

 

Rob

 

List of available MAG'S below.

 

MODEL MAG'S

===========

 

MODEL RAIL:-22,41,43,58-59,60-128,130-190,192-193,195-197.

 

Hornby MAG':-1-3,5-6,8-51,53-59,61,63,65,67-70,78,82.

 

RAILWAY MODELLER:-

                  2003(MAY,DEC)

                  2004(MAR,OCT,DEC)

                  2005(FEB,APR-DEC)

                  2006(JAN-NOV)

                  2007(JAN,APR,JUN,AUG,DEC)

                  2008(MAY-JUL,SEP-DEC)

                  2009(JAN-DEC)

                  2010(JAN-DEC)

                  2011(JAN-JLY,SEP-DEC)

                  2012(JAN-OCT,DEC)

                  2014(FEB,APR,JUNE)

 

BRM:-

          2005(JAN,MAR-MAY,DEC)

          2008(JLY-OCT)

          2009(JAN,APR-DEC)

          2010(JAN-MAY,AUG-OCT)

          2012(AUG-NOV)

          2013(JUN,JLY)

 

MRM:-1-3,5-12

 

MRJ:-171,183,186,190-191,197,202

 

MODELLER RAILROADER:-

                                            2006(SEP)

                                            2007(FEB)

 

OTHERS:-SEVERAL DUPLICATES OF ABOVE MAG'S, INTACT, WITHOUT COVERS. 

 

 

 

THE REAL RAILWAY MAG'S

======================

 

RAIL:-402-430,441-459,472-552,555-587,639-640,643-644,649,662

 

TRACTION:-

          1995(FEB-APR,DEC)

          1996(DEC)

          1998(JAN)

          2005(FEB-APR,JUN-JLY)

          2008(JLY)

 

RAIL EXPRESS:-

              1996(AUG)

              2003(AUG)

              2004(MAR-SEP,NOV-DEC)

              2005(JAN-JLY,SEP-DEC)

              2006(JAN-APR,JUN-DEC)

              2007(JAN-DEC)

              2008(JAN-FEB,APR-MAY)

 

TODAYS RAILWAYS(UK EDITION):- 54,89,92

                                 (EU EDITION):-147-149,152-153,162,166

 

THE RAILWAY MAGAZINE:-

                      2004(APR)

                      2009(MAR)

                      2010(SEP-OCT,DEC)

 

STEAM WORLD:-

             2004(JUL)

             2006(NOV) 

Edited October 13, 2014 by mezzoman253

[mezzoman253]

List added to previous post.

 

Rob

[Pacific231G]

I find properly bound volumes far more useful than loose copies and as books they're far more pleasant to handle. I've got quite a few of those mostly going way back to the 1950s and before when people like John Charman and Philip Hancock were first creating their classic layouts. Apart from those I'm fairly ruthless about stripping current magazines to individual articles that then live in boxfiles sorted by themes- layouts, plans, building techniques, microlayouts etc.- and ocasionally get culled (How many articles about making trees do I really need)It gets difficult when two articles I want on different themes share opposite sides of the same piece of paper!

A few of my most favourite articles are preserved in their original magazines (without the adverts usually) just because I like reading them that way.

If I'm not careful I can be a bit of a hoarder but round here we have weekly paper recycling and the bin sitting in the porch saying "feed me, feed me" is a great incentive.

 

When the idea of the paperless office was being promoted the wise investor bought shares in a paper mill!!

[Poggy1165]

The Vintage Carriage Trust at Ingrow are always grateful to receive donated magazines. They've had eight boxes or so of mine. It's also a very good place to go if you want a particular backnumber.

Edited October 28, 2014 by Poggy1165

[locomad]

Hi

 

Complete set Railway Modeller from issue 1 to date no adverts removed has anyone any idea just how much they weigh & how much cubic feet they take up ?

 

Early ones are bound in rail modeller binders up to about 1970

 

Anyone interested in complete set let us know? But I think logistics are a problem I suspect we are talking about a ton of paper, they are in dry storage at the moment but need to be moved within a year

[edcayton]

Maybe Peco would be interested in a full set in good condition?

 

Ed

[Stevelewis]

As  this  thread  has  suddenly  woken up!

 

I gave up saving  Model Railway mags  years  ago, realising  they  just took up space, no one  was interested in buying  them  and  the number of times  I ever had the need to refer back to something in them  was very minimal.

 

So they were eventually taken to the tip

 

These days  I simply  take  them  to  my  Barbers  I get  a  much reduced price  hair  cut  and  he reads them then leaves them in his  shop  for  anyone to help themselves to, but he  does  say  most  of the time they get  put  out in the   recycling!

[Steamport Southport]

As I've said before, take them to your local charity shop rather than just dumping them or putting them in the recycling.

 

They may not be able to sell them in the shop, but they get sold to companies like World Of Books who put the sellable ones on sites such as Ebay and Amazon* and recycle the unsellable ones properly. Current price is about 80p per kilo which comes in handy for the charity. Much better than them going to landfill or sent abroad which is what happens to most stuff that gets "recycled" by your local authority. Most of which gets wet whilst in store and is then unusable for paper recycling.

 

*Quite a lot of second hand magazines and books on Ebay and Amazon are items donated to charity shops that don't sell. For example, I doubt a J Russell book on GWR locomotives would sell for 50p in my shop, but could easily make £20 on Ebay.

 

Jason

[Dunsignalling]

My policy for the past ten years has been "Fillet, File and Fling". The only title to escape this (so far at least) is MRJ.

 

What I keep is placed in transparent plastic pages filed in big binders by subject and indexed in a database. Newer Railway Modellers are a pain because the pages are bigger than A4 and have to be trimmed. Anything left unscathed gets donated if it's wanted and recycled if it isn't.

 

Only drawback is that I sometimes need to acquire a second copy of a magazine in  order to be able to split articles that are on either side of a page.

 

John

Edited June 5, 2016 by Dunsignalling

[David Bigcheeseplant]

We had a box at Railex on the flyer table last weekend that club members could put unwanted magazines up to three year old with a note on the front of the box saying FREE HELP YOURSELF they had all gone by the end of the show!

[rue_d_etropal]

I have kept all mine, I might go and see which ones I have not got, as I gave up getting RM for a few years as it felt like everything was being repeated, but no find it is always got something interesting. Up till then I was only missing a handful of copies, and had even the original Ian Allan ones(many picked up at manchester exhibition)

I used to get MRJ and BRJ from initial issues, but eventually I could not take any more of the repeated elitist articles telling me the only proper model railway was this or that. I sold them to a well known book seller . Only copy of MRJ I have now is the one with the superb Pempoul. I tend to only buy specialist books or magazines if there is something I actually want in them.

Quite often when something does not interest me at the time, I find I want to go back and search out something for a new project, in particular scale drawings. Even with so much info online there is a series shortage of scale drawings. Even something as simple as a BR 16t coal wagon. I need to check thorough my collection of magazines, but I have them stored at my house in France. At least that will be something to do when I get go down there.

I agree with charity shop idea, at least it might mean another enthusiast gets them.

[polybear]

We had a box at Railex on the flyer table last weekend that club members could put unwanted magazines up to three year old with a note on the front of the box saying FREE HELP YOURSELF they had all gone by the end of the show!

I had several - many thanks

[ianmaccormac]

No-one has mentioned digital photography. I just take a snap of all the content using an autofocus, image stabilised 14megapixel canon camera that cost 37 pounds off eb*y. I then get rid of them. I started about three years ago and worked through my back catalogue and have so far cleared about 30 foot of shelf space. I save to a couple of external hdd as well as burning to DVD, twice. I then use the on-line indexes to find what I want. It has taken a while to do but I now have a very manageable library of model mags from the mid 60's to date.

I am considering starting on some of the reference books next.

With a large - 22" - high definition monitor they are very easy to read and with an Ipad and when loaded to a skydrive or whatever, I can read in bed as well.

Cheers

Ian

[roythebus]

A few years back a former RM editor had the good idea to sell 2nd hand mags at IMREX. He loaded a metal cupboard or 3 with mags to take to the shows. The trouble was, nobody could lift them! It took a lot of manpower to unload and reload the cupboards at every show. After about 5 years of loading and unloading the same mags, we dumped the lot. they took far more effort moving than they ever gained in club funds.

[hayfield]

There may be the odd charity/preserved railway that may accept them, but in reality no one wants them in this digital age. Just keep the plans (some are often sold on eBay and do sell) and articles you may need, recycle the unwanted parts and the recycling centre. I have kept the last 5 years worth, mainly for the adds

 

Still I have loads of plans in a box somewhere which will need sorting into categories  

[Ganderson888]

I have copies dating back from June 1980 through to December 1989 with just a couple missing

 

I also have April & July 1993 plus March 1993 through to December 1998 complete, plus January 2000

 

All is very good condition from a smoke free home and are located in High Wycombe

 

No idea of value so any suggestions would be appreciated

[96701]

I binned all mine because I haven't enough life left to even work through which articles I would want to keep, and wouldn't want to lump about 15 boxes of paper onto somebody.

[BlackRat]

Tip.

I put a thread on not so long ago about getting rid of mine,

I have already accumulated over 100 new ones!

Buy, browse, benefit and.......bin!

Edited June 9, 2016 by BlackRat

[96701]

Tip.

I put a thread on not so long ago about getting rid of mine,

I have already accumulated over 100 new ones!

Buy, browse, benefit and.......bin!

Absolutely!

[Guest]

Tip.

I put a thread on not so long ago about getting rid of mine,

I have already accumulated over 100 new ones!

Buy, browse, benefit and.......bin!

 

Absolutely!

 

Absolutely indeed. Much talk has been made about paper magazines being a dinosaur in a digital age. If downloading the latest mag onto your islave works for you, terrific. Personally, I think there's nothing nicer than sitting down with a magazine, a cup of char and a chocolate digestive. Having to scroll, enlarge, flip etc etc holds no appeal at all. Like BlackRat, I accumulate only so many. They are then binned, probably 3 or 4 at a time, or if I'm anywhere near Weybourne, I give them to the NNR bookshop who bundles them up into full years of each title and they then knock them out for a fiver a go. Their stock of old RMs, Model Rails, BRMs etc are constantly shifting, so someone must want them.

My daughter is very proud of the app she downloaded that tells her when her phone's ringing. Seriously? Stuff that. Maybe I'm the dinosaur in a digital age. So be it.

[Nearholmer]

Pete

 

Tea aside, me being a strictly coffee chap, I couldn't agree more.

 

There is something deeply peaceful and pleasant about "paper" reading, especially of old magazines, which e-spreading can never replicate.

 

Kevin