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MRJ 275


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7 minutes ago, 4109 said:

As an unashamed GW/BR(W) branch line addict I'm always interested in seeing anything on Faringdon,

 

There is nothing in Stephen Williams' article that has anything to do with GW/BR(W), unless you count the buffer stop that sneaks into one photo. The architectural styles he depicts are to be found throughout the land and his modelling techniques are universal. 

 

I was very disappointed when I first saw Newton Heath at RailEx as I had been looking forward to a model of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway's carriage and wagon works. The supposed locale is in LSWR territory and the standard gauge wagon principally featured is ex-LMS. The article on building etched carriages has techniques that are generally applicable - I like the protoypical approach to building up the roof from longitudinal strips. Trevor Potts' wagon loads are also of universal application, though based on research for his GW location - the message is, surely, go research the goods traffic for your location.

 

So really, the only out-and-out chocolate & cream indulgence is Tim Peacock's water towers, unless you count the herring in the Small Suppliers Forum.

 

5 minutes ago, Zero Gravitas said:

 

I’m so sorry - I can only apologise. I know you’re not angry - you’re just disappointed.

 

I’m just off to my room to think about what I’ve done.

 

My academic background makes me twitchy on questions of priority. 

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Of course, fine modelling can be admired and appreciated but it doesn’t mean that everyone has to love the content subject. We all have our likes and preferences even within the hobby of railway modelling. As individuals there are bound to be aspects of the hobby that we find less interesting (be it scale, genre, period, location, sound, DC or DCC, etc,) and some may even find certain facets and subjects, dare it be said, rather 'dull' regardless of the quality of the modelling or writing.

 

AFAIA there is no law or requirement to like everything concerning railway modelling and generally people are free to pick and choose what they prefer. If people express those opinions then, so long as they are not offensive about it, then surely that is acceptable. And peer pressure that makes out it is wrong is not really respecting individuality and freedom of choice.

 

However, I don't mind people expressing their own preferences (if different to mine or others) and I hope I can respect their choices. It can help understanding and learning. But I get a little concerned when I hear things that give the impression of pressure for people to conform and like everything. And to have to read and enjoy all published articles.

 

 

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On 05/12/2019 at 22:04, RichardT said:

 I used to look forward to the "out-of-the ordinary" Xmas articles - a bit of model railway history, a crossword or puzzle, some provocative think pieces or a seasonal model (e.g. Chris Pendleton's superb North Shields displayed in snow).  All suitable for reading with a glass of port by the fire over the festive season. 

 

Which issue was this? I just looked up "North Shields" on MRJ index and had a flick through the complete collection of back issues that I bought a little while ago. That was a very enjoyable little excursion - but I didn't find anything showing North Shields in the snow?

 

Any other particularly enjoyable "Christmassy" MRJ articles to recommend? I still think back to the NER Hudson's Road layout, depicting a snowy scene mid-WW1, as one of the most inspirational layouts for me. I'm not sure if it was ever in MRJ? But it certainly evoked the glass of port by the fire feeling!

 

J

 

(As an aside, I ended up with duplicates of MRJ issues 0,1, 17 and 18 when I bought the full set - if anyone would like any of those, please drop me a message!)

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5 minutes ago, justin1985 said:

 

Which issue was this? I just looked up "North Shields" on MRJ index and had a flick through the complete collection of back issues that I bought a little while ago. That was a very enjoyable little excursion - but I didn't find anything showing North Shields in the snow?

 

Any other particularly enjoyable "Christmassy" MRJ articles to recommend? I still think back to the NER Hudson's Road layout, depicting a snowy scene mid-WW1, as one of the most inspirational layouts for me. I'm not sure if it was ever in MRJ? But it certainly evoked the glass of port by the fire feeling!

 

J

 

(As an aside, I ended up with duplicates of MRJ issues 0,1, 17 and 18 when I bought the full set - if anyone would like any of those, please drop me a message!)

It was issue 195, from ten years ago;

 

"Christmas Parcels" from Chris Pendlenton, pure magic - you'll really like it!

 

There was a nice snow scene on the cover of the Christmas issue five years ago, but I may be biased....

 

Terrifying how time is accelerating away from us...

 

Simon

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11 minutes ago, Not Jeremy said:

It was issue 195, from ten years ago;

 

"Christmas Parcels" from Chris Pendlenton, pure magic - you'll really like it!

 

There was a nice snow scene on the cover of the Christmas issue five years ago, but I may be biased....

 

Terrifying how time is accelerating away from us...

 

Simon

 

 

Sad but true...I revisit 195 around this time of year. A festive treat along with a glass of port. 

 

 

Rob. 

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I was cursing Keith, the Postman last week for not bringing me the latest issue of MRJ.  It then dawned on me that I’d forgotten to send off the subscription renewal form enclosed with the previous issue - sorry about that Keith!

 

I’ve now made a plasticine effigy of myself and will be administering some suitable voodoo on it, until such time as I get my mitts on said MRJ.  Oh, I’ll also be getting my subscription renewal in the post this week....

 

 

Regards

 

Dan

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On 07/12/2019 at 09:57, Stephen Williams said:

(Snip) to have a piece categorised as "dull" before it has been read is something of a new departure for me.


 

You must be relatively new here...


 

I don’t miss the quiz, I do like the seasonal slant it has occasionally had, particularly Bob B’s ink drawings. Got my subs copy yesterday, plenty in it for me.

 

Edited by PMP
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Just to be clear, the purpose of my previous post was not an attempt to deny individuals the right to express a critical opinion or to advocate some kind of unquestioned acceptance of the intrinsic quality of all that appears in MRJ. That is not a view that I hold nor is it one to which I would ever subscribe. As an MRJ reader from day 1, I have always taken each issue on its merits and like most of us, I am sure, I read some articles closely whilst others don't detain me for too long at all. As "Grahame" states, we all have our likes and preferences and that is exactly as it should be.

 

As I said in the post, as an author I am happy to receive constructive comment, as long as it is reasoned, fair and is based on a reading of the material in print. This is helpful to me as that is one of the ways in which I can improve the work that I publish. But I am much less happy in situations where individuals resort to a public forum to post critical comment about material that they have not examined. Better to say nothing in those situations than to forward a view that can only be based on assumptions that may, or may not, be valid and which fails to afford the authors the respect that "Grahame" rightly states should form the basis for the way that we interact as a community of model makers.

 

Stephen Williams 

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MRJ isn’t the only mag that ‘suffers’ from content preconceptions, a look back on here will show plenty of ‘RM full of GW BLT’s/narrow gauge BLT’s, nothing in it for me’, as well as other titles.

 For what it’s worth I use your WSP modelling GW branch lines books as regular references :)

 

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41 minutes ago, Stephen Williams said:

. . . as an author I am happy to receive constructive comment, as long as it is reasoned, fair and is based on a reading of the material in print. This is helpful to me as that is one of the ways in which I can improve the work that I publish. But I am much less happy in situations where individuals resort to a public forum to post critical comment about material that they have not examined. 

 

I did get the impression that the 'dull' comment was about the subject matter (most likely a personal preference and seemingly based on the contents listing) rather than the authorship. As such I wouldn't have thought that it was criticism, constructive or otherwise, specifically of your article. 

 

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As I see it it's the contents list itself that is dull and doesn't give a very good indication of what the magazine contains. The cover photo is much more inspiring. As I would buy it anyway it doesn't really matter.

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I understand that the original comment by "Richard T" about MRJ 275 was a criticism of the content as a whole, and of which my contribution was but one part. But my point remains that I don't feel it is appropriate to make critical comment in a public forum on material that one has not read. I have no problem at all with people describing something that I have written as "dull" once they have read it, especially if they can tell me why they feel that description is warranted. But to tell me that something I have written looks "dull" ahead of any perusal of the actual content is, quite literally, uninformed comment.

 

SW

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I don't feel it's a problem for people to voice their preferences (such as that they find particular subjects dull or are not happy with content balance) even without reading an article (but it can be boring to continually hear the same thing).

 

Many do that (without necessarily articulating their preferences) when they quickly peruse a magazine in a shop before they decide to purchase or otherwise. Sure, it may be a little broad brush but it what a lot of people do. And they often make a judgement based on just a quick look at the contents as to whether to spend their money or not. That possibly means those preferences have some validity (even if mainly to them), although publishers may also consider it worthwhile feedback about the issue.

 

And, yes, I'm sure that those who do acquire and read the magazine and articles can provide more informed critical comment.

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Went to the Commercial Rd Portsmouth smiffs yesterday and they were still selling 274!  I think there is a conspiracy to keep high quality modelling [publications] out of the city....

Call Private Eye!!!!

 

Or Rod and Jools....

 

DrDuncan

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1 hour ago, drduncan said:

Went to the Commercial Rd Portsmouth smiffs yesterday and they were still selling 274!  I think there is a conspiracy to keep high quality modelling [publications] out of the city....

Call Private Eye!!!!

 

Or Rod and Jools....

 

DrDuncan

 

 

Thank god someone is getting this thread back on track.........

 

It was getting a bit dull..........

 

Rob. 

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3 hours ago, Stephen Williams said:

But to tell me that something I have written looks "dull" ahead of any perusal of the actual content is, quite literally, uninformed comment.

 

You are entirely correct, of course, but I fear that this is an unfortunate reflection of many internet forum comments these days, to say nothing of 'wider society'.

 

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6 hours ago, Not Jeremy said:

"Christmas Parcels" from Chris Pendlenton, pure magic - you'll really like it!

 

Penders also managed the scoop the Christmas cover for 2012.  (219)

 

No snow though, don't cha know.

 

6 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

 A festive treat along with a glass of port. 

 

You seem to be knocking quite a bit of it back this year.

 

Any Port in a storm?

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30 minutes ago, Porcy Mane said:

 

 

 

You seem to be knocking quite a bit of it back this year.

 

Any Port in a storm?

 

 

Yep. It's that time of year..................and a glass port is the essential apres night shift wind down tipple.................

 

 

Rob. 

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Not in Smiths in Newtown or at Manchester Piccadilly station yesterday. Thank goodness for Bill Hudson books at the Manchester show.

I think the comment on the contents list itself may have some validity. I looked at it and was not inspired. but once I had opened the magazine I realised that I was being unjust to the content. I too was expecting the Newtown Heath article to be about a well known MPD: the contents list gave no clue; and Stephen's article I took from the contents list to be about the railway. It would have been better labelled differently, in my view. And the article which is apparently, from the contents page, about a water tower, actually has a fair bit on trees!

That said, as someone who is responsible for putting together the contents page of a magazine (Welsh Railways Archive) I am well aware both of the difficulty in including in any single issue a range of articles which will appeal to all the readership, and the difficulty in the small space available in giving a useful indication of the content of each article.

Jonathan

Edited by corneliuslundie
Lousy typing
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I have missed the old WHSmith tours on RMWeb.

 

How lovely to have it back.

 

How many branches do they have? If we get two posts for each branch, an initial "Not in Ealing yet" followed by a "Arrived in Ealing now" we could keep going for many pages.

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