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Hornby Magazine July 2016


'CHARD

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I had some waiting around to do yesterday (I was taxi for an opticians appointment for annual diabetes screening), so in anticipation I bought a copy of the July Hornby mag, supporting a local independent newsagent!

 

It was an impulse purchase based on the cover spoilers - Oxford announcements, NSE 30 years, Heljan 'O' Warship in particular - and a desire to scrutinise old school dead-tree advertisements and listings.  

 

This is the first HM I've bought for a couple of years and I was pleasantly surprised.  Mike Wild's editorial team* are doing a great job, and sustained my interest well beyond the half hour I'd picked it up for.  

 

Low Yard Junction in 'N' looks like it has so much play value that my mind was instantly transported back to its nine-year old self, when I was tantalised by Farish and Peco open wagons in that scale and its potential for showcasing much bigger landscapes than OO.  Close-up photography can be a little harsh to this scale (road markings looking like they were painted after a long visit to the pub) but it did get the creative juices flowing. 

 

The in depth feature on Hornby's Class 71 debut appears fact-filled on first glance - I expect to learn a lot from this, about a subject on which I'm relatively poorly informed.

 

Am I the only person to have escaped Everard Junction, the featured OO NSE loft layout?  I have yet to read this, but I'm prepared to swallow my prejudices (far too many locos photo-bombing the pics, mainly) and am looking forward to perusing it over a coffee later.

 

The compact P4 Horsley Bank packs in so many sweet details of 19th Century urban industrial life it's irresistible, and the anniversary feature on NSE 30 is great reading from the standpoint three decades on.  The downside being how old it makes this 'twenty-year old' feel!  It was the year we enjoyed Class 56 West Coast drags coming back from The Damned's TENTH anniversary festival gig in Finsbury Park - a couple of weeks ago they had their FORTIETH at the Royal Albert Hall!

 

Conclusion - a great rounded and varied read.  I'll get a few commutes' worth of companionship from it too, before it's spent.  Plus, I'll let you into a secret - it led to me adding to a chipped bark order at Wickes: a 2' x 6' piece of 5.5mm ply and 8-pack of 6-ft 2" x 1"s.  The bug has bitten properly for the first time since the house move.

 

'Chard

 

 

* Amazed to see BUZZCOCKS guitarist Steve Diggle is moonlighting as Senior Designer!  Maybe Captain Sensible will be super-detailing a 50 in a future issue!

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Another great issue - particularly loved the NSE stuff!

 

I've felt for some time that Hornby Magazine is now the best all rounder. Excellent prototype articles and good quality photography. The print and paper is top notch too, far superior compared with certain other model railway publications.

 

My only very slight grumble is that I find the loco and rolling stock product reviews generally a little "easy going"! I am a diesel and electric man so rely on Rail Express Modeller to flag up anything dodgy!

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This is one of the better issues of Hornby magazine in a long time, it was nice that it wasn't all about BR Steam, but then again I am NSE biased.

Yes, that would make an interesting and worthwhile change. General I don't even bother looking at Hornby Mag because of its limited subject area of 4mm/OO steamers in the transition era, which tends to be rather removed from my main interests of 2mm/N modelling and electric (and diesel) stock. But I'll try and get a look at it next time I see it on a retailers shelves. Thanks for the heads up.

 

G

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Funnily enough, I think that Hornby Magzine has gone for a lot more Diesel & Electric and N gauge lately.... (not complaining....just noticed! ;) )

 

It has been ages since the Steam/ Diesel Transition Era OO gauge policy was apparently forgotten about....

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I quite like the magazine as a whole. Their layouts at shows are good and Mike Wild is friendly and happy to chat. The articles, even the much maligned roundhouse on 24h, are usually quite interesting and generally well illustrated. I do agree that there are two weak spots. Firstly reviews often read like regurgitations of manufacturer press releases (even if they're not) and they lack a column like tail lamp or Chris Leigh's which comments on the industry.

 

Having criticised the reviews, the link to protype articles are usually well thought out even though I'm sure some holes can be picked. Equally, I like the 'how to construct train formations' are usually relatively informative

 

David

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That reminds me...

 

I was wondering why the Turntable inwards road does not line up with any out road...

 

I always thought that turntables usually had a matching bit of track, sometimes with a buffer stop, opposite all roads to cope with any over-run?

 

 

If the driver does not quite stop in time on the Horby Mag Turntable....crunch.....on olde England....send for the Re-railing gang! ;)

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I did purchase a copy (in Tescos) to check it out.

 

It was certainly a welcome change to see that they'd relaxed their restrictive 'only BR steam in OO' content policy (even if only for this issue). And the paper quality is certainly better than MR (although similar to RM). The NSE (formations, look back and layout) and class 71 articles were good and well received along with the N Gauge layout.

 

There were a couple of niggles. I found the regular breaking up of editorial and article content with a few pages of adverts, as well as a great wodge of them at the back of the mag, to be very annoying and disruptive to reading. And that the formations article concentrating solely on OO to be a snub - where was the list of NSE models in other scales and sample formations that could be recreated?

 

G

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Am I the only person to have escaped Everard Junction, the featured OO NSE loft layout?  I have yet to read this, but I'm prepared to swallow my prejudices (far too many locos photo-bombing the pics, mainly) and am looking forward to perusing it over a coffee later.

 

 

 

 

'Chard

 

 

 

Featured for some time now on Youtube, giving a good insight to how this layout progressed and evolved etc, with plenty of inspiration,  nice to see it finally in print

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Slightly puzzled about the "BR steam bias" comments? I genuinely can't say I'd noticed. One of my humble steam-free efforts was featured in the magazine about 15 months ago and since then I've flipped through most issues, if not actually purchasing them all. I think the content is usually well-rounded with no noticeable bias towards anything in particular. Plus Mike Wild is a top bloke with an engaging writing style. All round? Big thumbs up from me.

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Slightly puzzled about the "BR steam bias" comments?

 

When the magazine was launched they made it abundantly clear and persisted with an editorial policy that they would only concentrate on the BR steam era and OO/4mm claiming that was the biggest and most important sector. That meant they marginalised other periods, other traction types (like diesel and electric) and other scales.

 

Possibly that restrictive policy may well have been relaxed a little more recently .

 

G.

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