Why has the quality become so poor?

[Norm81]

House!!!!!

 

We are playing "management BS bingo here aren't we?

[Mallard60022]

I think we need to unpack and close the loop on this one. BRM/Warners have assembled an impressive tiger team to provide our monthly fix of differentiated instruction. Much of this is through win-win articles such as Shelfie, a beacon of project-based learning if ever there was one.They are not comfortable to go for the low hanging fruit and continue to adopt a holistic approach to our hobby. BRM constantly make it pop by thinking outside the box on a number of different levels. Many of the articles therein peel back the onion and provide us with the instructional scaffolding needed to put us on the runway. They give us the road map we need, often providing a real come to Jesus moment. I've had a few of them over the years, I can tell you !!!

 

Let's hope BRM continue to push the envelope and we should encourage their monthly deep dive into the kaleidoscope of material that is available.

 

Let's not have a paralysis by analysis. Going forward, this, IMHO, is all water under the bridge and we now need to break through the clutter.

 

 

Let's get some framework here people!!

 

 

Rob.

Best bag of I've seen for ages.

Baaaaaaaaa.

[Benbow]

Best bag of ###### I've seen for ages.

Baaaaaaaaa.

 

BRM has an eclectic mix of topics with a good juxtaposition of illustrations. It now needs a few signature articles to move it forward. (Apologies for any spelling mistakes but like some others I am probably, in fact almost certainly dieselelectric)

Edited July 29, 2018 by Benbow

[Barry Ten]

Let's fly that one up the flag pole and see if it flaps.

[leopardml2341]

I don't know what all the fuss is about......

Edited July 29, 2018 by leopardml2341

[leopardml2341]

....but then again I don't buy the magazine (real or virtual)

Edited July 29, 2018 by leopardml2341

[NHY 581]

I don't know what all the fuss is about......

 

 

 

 

....but then again I don't buy the magazine (real or virtual)

 

It's all about omnichannel marketing,Leopard. You should know. It's true a leopard never changes it's spots which where ideation comes into its own.

 

SoLoMo chaps, SoLoMo.

 

Get with it.

 

 

Rob.

[john68]

Regrettably and for whatever reason BRM has got poorer since the recent change of editor.  To me, it seems we are treated more as schoolchildren than before and the layout has become much more fussy. There is far too much effort put into promoting the digital issue instead of giving the paper version the attention other publishers do. The last couple of DVDs have been a slight improvement on those that went before. The lack of track plans is the last straw that may well result in me cancelling my subscription. When 'the mag' writes the article, they have the layout in front of them, when we read the article we have no sense of what it looks like without a plan or even better when possible, a photo of the whole layout.

I am very aware that this is a winge, but if these publishers want to keep us, the paying public, interested and continuing to pay money to their company, they will need to improve. There is more than enough railway interest on the internet to fill the time instead of reading a magazine. I hope they can return to being as looked forward to as they once were.

 

Caveat Emptor

[Phil Parker]

Regrettably and for whatever reason BRM has got poorer since the recent change of editor.  To me, it seems we are treated more as schoolchildren than before and the layout has become much more fussy. There is far too much effort put into promoting the digital issue instead of giving the paper version the attention other publishers do. The last couple of DVDs have been a slight improvement on those that went before. The lack of track plans is the last straw that may well result in me cancelling my subscription. When 'the mag' writes the article, they have the layout in front of them, when we read the article we have no sense of what it looks like without a plan or even better when possible, a photo of the whole layout.

I am very aware that this is a winge, but if these publishers want to keep us, the paying public, interested and continuing to pay money to their company, they will need to improve. There is more than enough railway interest on the internet to fill the time instead of reading a magazine. I hope they can return to being as looked forward to as they once were.

 

To pick up a few of these points:

 

The simpler page design actually was unpopular with readers in the main metric that matters (to keep up with the management speak used above), sales. A livelier page layout has fixed this - it is a balancing act and we won't always get it right as to a large extent, whether you like the design is a personal thing. It's important to remember that the largest proportion of the model railway readership is at the beginner end of the market. While you are reading the Internet, look at some of the questions asked on Facebook and see how basic they are. Can a commerical magazine afford to ignore these people? 

 

Digital issue promotion - We promote ours more than anyone else because we put a LOT more work into it than anyone else. Feedback from readers is that they like the results as it's more than just a mag on a screen.Digital is the future for all magazines (not just model railway ones) and we can't ignore this. And before someone moans that we shouldn't "waste" time on digital, I've just come back from holiday where I recorded 5 videos for you but I didn't do anything for the paper magazine (yes I know I'm a bad person and shouldn't go on holiday) although I did proofread Garden Rail...

 

DVD content - "The last couple of DVDs have been a slight improvement" - In what way? Tell us what you liked and we'll try to do more of it.

 

Overall photos of layouts - Often incredibly difficult to arrange. Ideally, the model needs to be in a high roofed building, not in someone's house. You can't get a useful view from normal heights as the scenery gets in the way. That's not to say we don't try but without bringing the model into a studio, something impractical and expensive. As for track plans, that's been done to death here. Also, "When 'the mag' writes the article" - the mag doesn't write the article, the layout owner does. Chances are, the person who subs the article hasn't seen the layout either. 

 

"I am very aware that this is a winge" - Which is fine. Feedback is always useful and BRM is the only magazine with a forum where we do this out in the open and are happy to have the discussion. 

[NHY 581]

Regrettably and for whatever reason BRM has got poorer since the recent change of editor.  To me, it seems we are treated more as schoolchildren than before and the layout has become much more fussy. There is far too much effort put into promoting the digital issue instead of giving the paper version the attention other publishers do. The last couple of DVDs have been a slight improvement on those that went before. The lack of track plans is the last straw that may well result in me cancelling my subscription. When 'the mag' writes the article, they have the layout in front of them, when we read the article we have no sense of what it looks like without a plan or even better when possible, a photo of the whole layout.

I am very aware that this is a winge, but if these publishers want to keep us, the paying public, interested and continuing to pay money to their company, they will need to improve. There is more than enough railway interest on the internet to fill the time instead of reading a magazine. I hope they can return to being as looked forward to as they once were.

 

Caveat Emptor

 

Hi Caveat,

 

 

You make quite a few seeeping statements herein. I am intrigued by the observation that we, the reader, are treated more as school children.

 

What is it that suggests that?

 

I would also point out that your observation regarding trackplans, whilst arguably valid, is not confined to BRM. Recent traffic in the MRJ thread makes the same observation about recent content. It happens.

 

Rob.

[jonny777]

 

 

"I am very aware that this is a winge" - Which is fine. Feedback is always useful and BRM is the only magazine with a forum where we do this out in the open and are happy to have the discussion. 

 

 

Must be a bit depressing though. Everyone trying their best to put out a quality magazine every month and folk still whinge. 

[Mallard60022]

It would seem, by the sound of things some are saying here, that you can't satisy hardly any of the people most of the time and are these the same ones that often call other 'webbers' demeaning names for making critical comments or not agreeing with their particular point of view?

Fortunately, many of us understand how to make constructive and not destructive  criticism. Andy, Phil and Co. have very thick skins and have a huge job to get this magazine on the road. 

About time we concluded this droaning on and put this thead to sleep? 

A. Critic.

[St Enodoc]

Hi Caveat,

 

 

You make quite a few seeeping sheeping statements herein. I am intrigued by the observation that we, the reader, are treated more as school children.

 

What is it that suggests that?

 

I would also point out that your observation regarding trackplans, whilst arguably valid, is not confined to BRM. Recent traffic in the MRJ thread makes the same observation about recent content. It happens.

 

Rob.

Typo corrected.

[Mallard60022]

Typo corrected.

Baaaaaaaaaaaa....

P

[Pteremy]

I think that my (digital) subscription is good value for money. More so some months than others, but that is always going to be the case in a monthly periodical with a customer base that covers a broad range of interests, and widely differing levels of experience and modelling ability. Why digital? Primarily because I have reached the point in life where I am being very choosy about the physical possessions I give space to. But I have also found the embedded videos (and visual extras) better value than the DVDs. 

[Pacific231G]

Moving on swiftly I am told........no spilt nifty things here.

"To boldly go" works far better than "to go boldly"

There's nothing wrong with splitting infinitives though at school you may well have been taught not to. Some of the "correct" grammar buffs claim you shouldn't because it's impossible in Latin; but I'm not writing or speaking Latin but English, which is a very different language.

 

The question of appointing an editor who is not a railway modeller is interesting. Conversely, why in 1949 did Ian Allan, followed by Sydney Pritchard a few months later, appoint a youngish modeller with little or no editorial experience as editor of Railway Modeller? I suspect the answer both then* and now was the need to produce something different from what went before. At the moment that means grasping, and having the skills set to respond effectively to, the enormous changes taking place in publishing and media. Right now that's probably a bigger ask than intimate knowledge of the magazine's subject. Provided the new editor can grasp that pretty quickly then wider editorial experience is probably more important for the magazine's successful future.

 

P.S. Unless it's totally obvious, If an article describing a layout doesn't include a track-plan I feel cheated.

 

*It's worth remembering that Cyril Freezer's strength was not his own modelling; it was his ability to discover and engage as contributors an emerging generation of innovative post-war modellers.

 

 

Edited August 1, 2018 by Pacific231G

[Finsbury]

Whilst I was investigating the print quality of this month's issue, it became apparent that page 25 took the interest of a T shaped twig insect (no, I don't know the name of it. Claude, I think)

Bernie

[Mallard60022]

"To boldly go" works far better than "to go boldly"

There's nothing wrong with splitting infinitives though at school you may well have been taught not to. Some of the "correct" grammar buffs claim you shouldn't because it's impossible in Latin; but I'm not writing or speaking Latin but English, which is a very different language.

 

The question of appointing an editor who is not a railway modeller is interesting. Conversely, why in 1949 did Ian Allan, followed by Sydney Pritchard a few months later, appoint a youngish modeller with little or no editorial experience as editor of Railway Modeller? I suspect the answer both then* and now was the need to produce something different from what went before. At the moment that means grasping, and having the skills set to respond effectively to, the enormous changes taking place in publishing and media. Right now that's probably a bigger ask than intimate knowledge of the magazine's subject. Provided the new editor can grasp that pretty quickly then wider editorial experience is probably more important for the magazine's successful future.

 

P.S. Unless it's totally obvious, If an article describing a layout doesn't include a track-plan I feel cheated.

 

*It's worth remembering that Cyril Freezer's strength was not his own modelling; it was his ability to discover and engage as contributors an emerging generation of innovative post-war modellers.

 

 

Superbly written dear boy..............

P

[Mallard60022]

Whilst I was investigating the print quality of this month's issue, it became apparent that page 25 took the interest of a T shaped twig insect (no, I don't know the name of it. Claude, I think)

IMG_0757.jpg

Bernie

That could be the branch line?

P

[Colin_McLeod]

Whilst I was investigating the print quality of this month's issue, it became apparent that page 25 took the interest of a T shaped twig insect (no, I don't know the name of it. Claude, I think)

IMG_0757.jpg

Bernie

LOL. Cue usual posts about copyright

[Andy Y]

Whilst I was investigating the print quality of this month's issue, it became apparent that page 25 took the interest of a T shaped twig insect (no, I don't know the name of it. Claude, I think)

IMG_0757.jpg

Bernie

 

I only half-read your post and went off to look at the original pic for it - d'oh.

 

It's a plume moth, a few like to sit on the outside of the office wall here, poorly camouflaged against the pale grey wall.

[Joseph_Pestell]

I only half-read your post and went off to look at the original pic for it - d'oh.

 

It's a plume moth, a few like to sit on the outside of the office wall here, poorly camouflaged against the pale grey wall.

 

Let's hope that Warner's don't decide to publish "Lepidoptera Monthly" or we could lose Andy Y from the BRM/RMWeb team.

[St Enodoc]

Superbly written dear boy..............

P

It's important to never split infinitives.

You should never use a preposition to end a sentence with.

And you should never start a sentence with "and" or "but".

But not always.

[Mallard60022]

I only half-read your post and went off to look at the original pic for it - d'oh.

 

It's a plume moth, a few like to sit on the outside of the office wall here, poorly camouflaged against the pale grey wall.

I didn't twig that it was on the page rather than on the page...so also doh!

P

[dave parker]

Regrettably and for whatever reason BRM has got poorer since the recent change of editor.  To me, it seems we are treated more as schoolchildren than before and the layout has become much more fussy. There is far too much effort put into promoting the digital issue instead of giving the paper version the attention other publishers do. The last couple of DVDs have been a slight improvement on those that went before. The lack of track plans is the last straw that may well result in me cancelling my subscription. When 'the mag' writes the article, they have the layout in front of them, when we read the article we have no sense of what it looks like without a plan or even better when possible, a photo of the whole layout.

I am very aware that this is a winge, but if these publishers want to keep us, the paying public, interested and continuing to pay money to their company, they will need to improve. There is more than enough railway interest on the internet to fill the time instead of reading a magazine. I hope they can return to being as looked forward to as they once were.

 

Caveat Emptor

 

hi all 

at least in BRM you get layout articles. I have subscribed to Rail Express for a number of years and I cant remember the last time a layout appeared in it. it is more like a review mag than a modelling mag

if it does not improve when my sub is up for renewal in December then I wont be renewing

cheers

Dave