Railway Modeller, March 2021

[newbryford]

On 12/02/2021 at 20:05, RJS1977 said:

 

 

My father and I  between us have nearly every issue of RM since 1966 (I say nearly because I missed a couple around the start of first lockdown) and quite a few before that. Which ones do I find myself drawn to pull of the shelf to read? The Freezer and Brewer era ones, rather than the Flint era, because of the variety of 'how to make' articles and the scale drawings and accompanying loco histories. They're the real reference library. Whilst not wishing to denigrate 'Stern Steve', I'm afraid that when I reach the point where I run out of space for paper copies, I think I know which ones will be heading for recycling....

 

Certainly I think some 'basics' articles (like how to build a brass kit would be useful).

 

Of course, the more 'how to' articles there are in a magazine, the more likelihood there is of an article which is relevant to the reader, just as the more layout articles there are, the more likelihood of it having an article which appeals to the reader.

 

Problem is - there has been a significant shift away from "how to make" as it seems apparent to me (IMHO of course), is that more and more of today's model railway fraternity simply wait for their favourite model to be made in RTR form. 

 

I made a "test/proof of concept" HRA hopper a couple of years ago by cutting down a Bachmann HTA and then held off making more until I plonked it directly under Bachmann's nose to ask them if they were doing any to a negative response.

15 more hoppers later and an article was winging it's way to a mag..... (as well as being documented here on RMW)

[polite rant mode on]

Not that it seems to have appealed to the current "I want it now" and/or "too afraid to fail" generation.

(Apologies to those that do actually give it a go)

[rant over]

 

 

[Legend]

I thought it was a very good edition . There’s always a lot more reading in the Railway Modeller than any other magazine , perhaps why it’s still No1.

 

the layout of the month is Sandy which is visually stunning . The perspectives created are talked about , the backscene with the 4 tracks going off in the distance is particularly effective . The only thing I’d say here is there are a lot of photos and maybe a wee bit less narrative than I’m used to in the RM. I’m hoping that this may just be because of  producing a magazine in times of Covid  rather than a trend .

 

Lammermuir from my friends at Greenock, and on the front cover of the magazine is very a nice N gauge  layout very evocative of the borders .  Whapload and the Findhorn Railway both interesting O gauge  layouts .

 

Wear Yard is Jenny Kirks Blue Diesel layout , which I haven’t got round to reading yet, but looking forward to it as it’s very familiar from Jenny’s Monday Club . 
 

so OO. N and O , steam , diesel  . Looks pretty well balanced to me  the review of the GT3 points out there is a second production run , so the reviews not futile at all.  Oh and finally there’s a nice piece on Model Rail Scotland which sadly cannot go ahead this year . I’ve attended every year since 1973 , so it’s missed. How I wish for the days of queuing to get into the MacLellan Galleries as pictured . 

Edited February 14, 2021 by Legend

[grahame]

2 hours ago, dibber25 said:

Gosh! You seem to have the impression that the mags have lots of staff - staff writers and editorial personnel. They don't! The one I work on has currently two and half modeller/writers including the Editor (I'm the half - part-time) plus one designer and an 'editorial assistant' who does all the admin. 

 

I didn't say they have "lots of staff" or have that impression, but in general they clearly have more than just an editor. Yours has 4.5 FTE staff as you have explained. And, as I mentioned, there is also the option of commissioning specific articles to provide balance if that is a problem.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 15, 2021 by grahame

[kevinlms]

On 11/02/2021 at 01:48, TheQ said:

Magazines Don't go out and buy them . They wait till one is sent in for review..

Which is exactly why the various magazines didn't review Hornby locos for a couple of years, due to Hornby not sending one.

Some did get reviews, because some retailers sent a sample.

 

Hornby under the new/old management, have reinstated the policy of sending models for review.

[Chris M]

If you look over the whole year there is a wide spread of eras in RM and all the other magazines. Its not right to judge any of them on one issue. I'm sure the editors/photographers (usually the same person) for all these magazines will spending a lot of time on the road with their cameras as soon as restrictions are sufficiently eased. I expect they will all have a priority list for what type of layouts they are are desperately short of. Equally I'm sure they already have a decent sized list of lockdown layouts that are ready to be introduced to a waiting world (well country). I reckon all the magazines will have some great new layouts to feature over the twelve months or so after lockdown.

[Paul Cram]

20 hours ago, dibber25 said:

 Of course, it's all but impossible to work in this hobby without using PECO products,

I seem to manage quite well

[kevinlms]

18 hours ago, Paul Cram said:

I seem to manage quite well

It's also a long time since 'Peco' was spelt as 'PECO'.

[Chris M]

I like using Peco products. They are usually very good and they are made in the UK. I think most of us would struggle without them, especially as they include Parkside, Wills, Ratio, Modelscene and Helsman Controllers. All useful stuff. 

 

[rob D2]

On 15/02/2021 at 06:49, Chris M said:

If you look over the whole year there is a wide spread of eras in RM and all the other magazines. Its not right to judge any of them on one issue. I'm sure the editors/photographers (usually the same person) for all these magazines will spending a lot of time on the road with their cameras as soon as restrictions are sufficiently eased. I expect they will all have a priority list for what type of layouts they are are desperately short of. Equally I'm sure they already have a decent sized list of lockdown layouts that are ready to be introduced to a waiting world (well country). I reckon all the magazines will have some great new layouts to feature over the twelve months or so after lockdown.

I’m not judging them on one issue. I think if you took say 2019 RM and actually looked to see the split on layouts there would be a distinct steam bias ( I can’t as I stopped the subscription for now ), now I’m not supposing that’s their fault as they can only work with what is sent, but I think it needs dividing up so each issue has a mix rather than some with 2 DE, some with none.

For me the best mag was “ modern railway modelling “, but it didnt survive which probably says all we need to know about a niche within a niche and I’m told steam sells.

[Huw Griffiths]

1 hour ago, rob D2 said:

I think it needs dividing up so each issue has a mix rather than some with 2 DE, some with none.

For me the best mag was “ modern railway modelling “, but it didnt survive which probably says all we need to know about a niche within a niche and I’m told steam sells.

 

Personally, I wouldn't mind too much if the magazines had "specials", completely filled with "D&E" - some of us would probably buy those!

 

I can remember one conversation with Phil Parker at the 2018 "Ally Pally" show - in which I pointed out that: "You can never get too much 'D&E' (especially if there's also plenty of OHLE)." I'm not exactly convinced that he much fancied the prospect of building loads of model OHLE ... .

 

As for the magazines, I have sometimes bought a magazine with no "D&E" - but I've generally looked for something else that interests me.

 

I agree about Modern Railway Modelling. I liked that magazine - a lot. (I particularly enjoyed all the stuff about Kadee couplers.)

 

 

Huw Griffiths (who might get round to  joining DEMU one of these days).

[Chris M]

The way I see it is that magazines will publish what they can get that so long as it is of sufficient quality. I do N gauge and in my view there isn’t enough N gauge in most magazines. So what have I done? Well I have had 2 N gauge layouts in RM and also 1 layout in both Hornby mag and Model Rail. I see this as the best way forward - take positive action rather than sit back and moan.

 

I’ve also had an article in Garden Rail so I have had success with all four of the main magazine companies. There were diesels in all of these articles.

Edited February 16, 2021 by Chris M

[Clearwater]

It was nice to see the return of a tradition style of article - the cleric's model railway!  

[kevinlms]

3 hours ago, Chris M said:

The way I see it is that magazines will publish what they can get that so long as it is of sufficient quality. I do N gauge and in my view there isn’t enough N gauge in most magazines. So what have I done? Well I have had 2 N gauge layouts in RM and also 1 layout in both Hornby mag and Model Rail. I see this as the best way forward - take positive action rather than sit back and moan.

 

I’ve also had an article in Garden Rail so I have had success with all four of the main magazine companies. There were diesels in all of these articles.

But not everyone can write articles. There must be heaps of good layouts out there that don't appear in any mags or online equivalent.

Occasionally you see articles written up by a 3rd party, but rarely by magazine writers.

Maybe a solution that is becoming more common, is the interview with the builder/owner, with lots of photos?

[RJS1977]

3 hours ago, Clearwater said:

It was nice to see the return of a tradition style of article - the cleric's model railway!  

 

And not just any cleric - a Bishop! Can't remember one of those in RM before!

[Clearwater]

7 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

 

And not just any cleric - a Bishop! Can't remember one of those in RM before!

 

I'm sure there must have been but it did make me wonder whether the size of your layout was proportional to your rank in the church.  A nice BLT for your rector in a country parish, mainline for the Bishop and the massive multilevel garden railway for the Archbishop of Canterbury!

[rob D2]

11 minutes ago, Clearwater said:

 

I'm sure there must have been but it did make me wonder whether the size of your layout was proportional to your rank in the church.  A nice BLT for your rector in a country parish, mainline for the Bishop and the massive multilevel garden railway for the Archbishop of Canterbury!

On that basis , god probably owns something like Heaton lodge junction !

[Chris M]

58 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

But not everyone can write articles. There must be heaps of good layouts out there that don't appear in any mags or online equivalent.

Occasionally you see articles written up by a 3rd party, but rarely by magazine writers.

Maybe a solution that is becoming more common, is the interview with the builder/owner, with lots of photos?

That’s where Model Rail is best. They tend to interview the builder and write the article themselves as a matter of course. All magazines have excellent in house photographers but I think the Model Rail photographer just about shades it as being the best, but only just. If you have built a good standard layout with some interesting features you could send them a few photos and see if they are interested. Their interest will also depend on how many layouts of the type they already have articles planned for. If they are interested they  will send a photographer and if you aren’t happy with writing something yourself I’m sure all magazines would be capable of sorting out a writer.  Some magazine editors (maybe all) keep an eye on forums and Facebook groups and sometimes invite folk to have their layout featured in a magazine.

[RJS1977]

5 hours ago, Clearwater said:

 

I'm sure there must have been but it did make me wonder whether the size of your layout was proportional to your rank in the church.  A nice BLT for your rector in a country parish, mainline for the Bishop and the massive multilevel garden railway for the Archbishop of Canterbury!

 

In that case Edward Beal's West Midlands system must have put him well on the way to Archbishop of York!

 

The only 'real' railway enthusiast bishop I can think of was Eric Treacy although I can think of a couple of fictional ones - the Bishop of Welchester in "The Titfield Thunderbolt" and the Bishop of St. Og's in "All Gas and Gaiters"!  

[newbryford]

15 hours ago, kevinlms said:

It's also a long time since 'Peco' was spelt as 'PECO'.

 

It was always PECO in the Railway Modeller. I don't know if it still is.

I had a few articles many years ago when my original writing of Peco was fully capitalised in print.

[Chris M]

Still is PECO on their website.

 

[Chris M]

The PECO website gives tips on taking photos and getting them published - see https://peco-uk.com/pages/photography-tips

 

They have some photos of nice layouts in their advice on that webpage.

[JimF51]

On 12/02/2021 at 14:30, rob D2 said:

Thanks, that saves me a go then.

I like RM and it’s overall design, but lately it’s been returning back to fully steam.

They always find a NG layout every edition so I think they probably could find a DE.

 

If the above is the case, I may just have to subscribe again. For diesel fumes and flashy modern paint schemes, I can drive over and visit the local truck (lorry for you UK types) stop.

[rob D2]

On 16/02/2021 at 18:32, Chris M said:

The PECO website gives tips on taking photos and getting them published - see https://peco-uk.com/pages/photography-tips

 

They have some photos of nice layouts in their advice on that webpage.

Comes to mind !

[Chris M]

It’s fair to say you need a DSLR to take good photos of model railways mainly because you need to be able to use exactly the same exposure with a number of different focus settings.

[Phil Parker]

7 minutes ago, Chris M said:

It’s fair to say you need a DSLR to take good photos of model railways mainly because you need to be able to use exactly the same exposure with a number of different focus settings.

 

Me, @AY Mod and Nevard, to name but 3, must be doing it wrong then.