Is Traction magazine sustainable?

[Dan Griffin]

hello

 

Just a general question as per topic title. 

 

is Traction magazine sustainable as it is at the moment?

 

After buying every issue since the very early days and have a complete back run, i have now ceased purchasing Traction magazine, and the worrying thing is, working in the rail industry, several of my colleagues who were regular readers have also ceased buying it. 

 

talking amongst ourselves we believe the problems are:-

 

1, cost.

£6.50 per issue. Of course, I understand about rising costs but then in comparison, Trackside magazine is £5 and has 108 pages and is published monthly, MLI published Bi-monthly, 100 pages and costs £7.99. Traction is £6.50, 67 pages (10 pages of which are modelling) and is bi-monthly. Cost comparison for content makes Traction an expensive purchase.  

 

2, content. 

Traction has always produced good content and reproduced some cracking pictures over the years but take issue 271. There is an article on South Wales, but the pictures are produced in a small format which is less than a 6" by 4" print. this doesn't do the pictures, or the photographer, justice.

 

We also understand that content from the era covered in Traction is finite, so would it be better, and more beneficial, if Traction went quarterly? 4 issues a year, bigger issues (100 page +) and drop the modelling content (which is a reheat from BRM anyway) for better reproduction of people's pictures? This would ensure Traction survives the current climate of rising costs and could be better and hark back to the early days of the magazine when the content was brilliant.

 

just a few thoughts. 

[03060]

I've been considering cancelling my subscription for quite a while now, not so much from the cover price point of view (although I hadn't realised that it was so high !)

 

My main reason for cancelling would be that I find the photos consistently very, very 'black' in the shadows, as a litho colour printer myself they just look overinked to me, although this may be due to either the origination department or the source material (either photo or slide.)

 

I find that I read very few of the articles but do look at the pictures before putting it aside, by this I mean no disrespect to the editor or contributers but if I was buying my copy over the counter having already looked at the content first, as I do with most other magazines that I buy, then I would probably have only bought a couple at most of the last dozen issues or so .... but that is down to my own personal interests and not a reflection on the editor who has to pitch the content to a wide audience. The modelling section isn't of much interest as I buy modelling magazines to satisfy this need.

 

I usually buy several magazines per month, not as many as I used to, but I have to say that I'm getting more and more choosey as to which I buy as space becomes tighter in my house and my disposable income gets tighter. I'm afraid that for me Traction is likely to have to go as it is the only one that I subscribe to ....  although I still like to see it when it drops through the door .... just in case it contains something that I'm interested in (West Highland Line, West Yorkshire in the 1980s, Cornish Clay lines, etc.) It's probably only because it is bi-monthly that I haven't bothered to cancel sooner.

 

Regards,

Ian.

[Michael Hodgson]

I don't read the magazine in question, indeed I ceased routinely buying any of the magazines some years ago, so I've no axe to grind.  However I can't help thinking it might be more productive to make your views on content/value for money known directly to the editor and publishers of the magazine than to raise it on a modelling forum. 

 

If your views are widespread among its readership, then yes, it will prove unsustainable.  That has happened to a lot of magazines in the past - how long is it since Model Railway Constructor disappeared from the news stands?

[Dan Griffin]

23 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

  However I can't help thinking it might be more productive to make your views on content/value for money known directly to the editor and publishers of the magazine than to raise it on a modelling forum. 

 

I have no Axe to grind. and indeed, no issues with the editor at all. I uploaded my thoughts on here as i believe RMweb is Warners owned, as is Traction. so, i thought this is the best platform to raise it on.  

[Halvarras]

4 hours ago, 03060 said:

I've been considering cancelling my subscription for quite a while now, not so much from the cover price point of view (although I hadn't realised that it was so high !)

 

My main reason for cancelling would be that I find the photos consistently very, very 'black' in the shadows, as a litho colour printer myself they just look overinked to me, although this may be due to either the origination department or the source material (either photo or slide.)

 

I find that I read very few of the articles but do look at the pictures before putting it aside, by this I mean no disrespect to the editor or contributers but if I was buying my copy over the counter having already looked at the content first, as I do with most other magazines that I buy, then I would probably have only bought a couple at most of the last dozen issues or so .... but that is down to my own personal interests and not a reflection on the editor who has to pitch the content to a wide audience. The modelling section isn't of much interest as I buy modelling magazines to satisfy this need.

 

I usually buy several magazines per month, not as many as I used to, but I have to say that I'm getting more and more choosey as to which I buy as space becomes tighter in my house and my disposable income gets tighter. I'm afraid that for me Traction is likely to have to go as it is the only one that I subscribe to ....  although I still like to see it when it drops through the door .... just in case it contains something that I'm interested in (West Highland Line, West Yorkshire in the 1980s, Cornish Clay lines, etc.) It's probably only because it is bi-monthly that I haven't bothered to cancel sooner.

 

Regards,

Ian.

 

Pretty much where I am with it at the moment. I had every issue until I moved house nearly 3 years ago and made a decision to keep the first 200 and ditch the rest. The reason was that those first 200 contained far more articles on the 1960s and 1970s so were more relevant to my main interests. Now Traction generally features 1980s onwards, and although I maintained an interest in the real railway throughout that decade it waned considerably after that (can't help it, my earliest railway experience was almost totally diesel-hydraulic). So why have I kept it going? Because, up until now at least, a subscription only amounts to £2 per month and it does still occasionally include articles of interest, e.g. industrial shunters (about which I knew very little) and the sterling efforts by preservationists to maintain heritage diesels and even build recreations, such as the new LMS 10000 in the current issue. I do attempt to read every article to make to that £2 worthwhile but increasingly question whether the time spent reading about, for example, long-gone freight flows would be better spent at the modelling table (besides which I could do without the bimonthly reminder of how many industries have been shut down in this country since the 1970s - much as I respect the authors and their extensive research I'm finding that aspect ever more depressing). And I also get my modelling fix from more in-depth articles in a monthly modelling magazine.

 

My subscription runs for a few months yet so I'll see how I feel about it when the time comes........just like last year, and the year before, and.......

[C126]

I agree very much with @Halvarras 's sense of gloom on reading 'Traction', but may I just counter the above by saying I have just started buying it - or rather the last three issues - having avoided the previous parts owing to lack of space at home.  Alas, I could not resist the two-parter on what a trip-freight was, and now another on milk-trains.  I am wondering whether to take out an electronic sub., and browse all 200+ copies for pictures of interest.  I agree the price rise was steep, but what price knowledge (and yet more articles torn out and put in box-files)?

Edited October 18, 2022 by C126
Typo.

[RedgateModels]

1 hour ago, C126 said:

I agree very much with @Halvarras 's sense of gloom on reading 'Traction', but may I just counter the above by saying I have just started buying it - or rather the last three issues - having avoided the previous parts owing to lack of space at home.  Alas, I could not resist the two-parter on what a trip-freight was, and now another on milk-trains.  I am wondering whether to take out an electronic sub., and browse all 200+ copies for pictures of interest.  I agree the price rise was steep, but what price knowledge (and yet more articles torn out and put in box-files)?

 

If you consider Pocketmags for your subscription they tend to offer you every back issue from when you sign up for £99.99. I certainly have been offered this deal for BRM and Hornby Mag - you have to be quick though as the offers don't last 😉

[AY Mod]

6 hours ago, Dan Griffin said:

I uploaded my thoughts on here as i believe RMweb is Warners owned, as is Traction. so, i thought this is the best platform to raise it on.  

 

We're not ignoring you; it's interesting to hear perspectives on this which we will discuss.

 

It would be remiss of me not to mention World of Railways plus for digital access to Traction, BRM, Garden Rail, Narrow Gauge World and Engineering in Miniature for £5.99 a month. If you sign up for that at the moment you get a free ticket for Warley too plus one for Doncaster, Ally Pally or Bristol - https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/information/warley-exhibition-free-ticket-offer-brm?openPageId=f4871948-1ab4-44e9-90a3-72286afd077d&utm_source=RM+Web&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=RMWEBWARLEY2022 for less than the cover prices of Traction.

 

The digital approach also improves the question of image size (and over-inking!) plus it's dead easy to search for stuff.

 

Here's a screenshot...

 

[RedgateModels]

2 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

The digital approach also improves the question of image size (and over-inking!) plus it's dead easy to search for stuff.

 

 

Not to mention the less than favourable paper quality used these days (BRM is not excluded in this 😪). Digital is way better, you can print the bits you want on nice 80 or 100g paper to file away if that's your thing 😀

[AY Mod]

1 hour ago, C126 said:

I am wondering whether to take out an electronic sub., and browse all 200+ copies for pictures of interest.

 

Hang on a mo...

 

 

You're a Goldie - you should be able to access it!

 

 

[C126]

1 minute ago, AY Mod said:

 

Hang on a mo...

 

 

You're a Goldie - you should be able to access it!

 

 

 

O, I thought I had to belong to 'World of Railways'.

[AY Mod]

9 minutes ago, C126 said:

 

O, I thought I had to belong to 'World of Railways'.

 

My apologies, if you were an original Goldie it was BRM access but WoR+ gives all the mags. It would be worth speaking to the subs department to see if they can convert you.

[C126]

Dear Andy,

 

Thank you so much for your kind concern.  I tried to send you the following in a P.M., but 'Mods' are 'in purdah'.  I did e-mail the subs. dept., and exchanged a long chain of messages resulting in my fearing I had caused a massive waste of time when I realised I did not subscribe to W.o.R.+.  I can fwd you the e-mail if you wish (and I can find it).  I will probably have to reply to your reply to-morrow, as I am logging off and catching the train home at 17.00.  With thanks again for your kindness;

 

As ever,

 

Neil.

[AY Mod]

28 minutes ago, C126 said:

I can fwd you the e-mail if you wish

 

Sure, send it over to me at andyy@warnersgroup.co.uk, hopefully we can get you sorted.

[RJS1977]

2 hours ago, RedgateModels said:

 

Not to mention the less than favourable paper quality used these days (BRM is not excluded in this 😪). Digital is way better, you can print the bits you want on nice 80 or 100g paper to file away if that's your thing 😀

 

I'm afraid I much prefer reading a paper magazine.

 

That's largely because as I don't own a tablet, I would either have to read on my smartphone (screen too small to see in much detail) or laptop (reading a portrait magazine on a landscape screen means a lot of unnecessary scrolling up and down).

 

Now, if some of the publishers were to produce their magazines in landscape format rather than portrait, that might be a game changer for me.

[RedgateModels]

46 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

 

I'm afraid I much prefer reading a paper magazine.

 

That's largely because as I don't own a tablet, I would either have to read on my smartphone (screen too small to see in much detail) or laptop (reading a portrait magazine on a landscape screen means a lot of unnecessary scrolling up and down).

 

Now, if some of the publishers were to produce their magazines in landscape format rather than portrait, that might be a game changer for me.

a long time ago in a galaxy far far away a fledgling mag called Modelling Inspiration was launched digitally in landscape format 😃

 

Issue 2 was very good from memory 😉

MI2.pdf

[dj_crisp]

54 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

 

I'm afraid I much prefer reading a paper magazine.

 

That's largely because as I don't own a tablet, I would either have to read on my smartphone (screen too small to see in much detail) or laptop (reading a portrait magazine on a landscape screen means a lot of unnecessary scrolling up and down).

 

Now, if some of the publishers were to produce their magazines in landscape format rather than portrait, that might be a game changer for me.

 

Totally agree with this

 

My day job is using laptops so (apart from reading rmweb!!) I rather enjoy looking at paper rather than on a screen.

 

Traction has always been one of my fav mags... The articles about the real railway I've found rather interesting which dont tend to featured elsewhere. I've even contributed to the modelling section with articles that are probably fairly niche that the mainstream modelling probably wouldn't be interested in.

 

Long may the mag continue! 

[ColinK]

I get the digital version and read it on my ipad - useful as you can blow up the photos to larger sizes.

[55020]

I have no issue with reading digital magazines on a laptop.  Each to their own of course 😉

 

 

Steve

[John M Upton]

Definitely prefer a paper version myself, have tried online digital mags, just can't get on with them at all.  Traction could be improved by retuning to its roots, concentrating on UK based stuff, lose the overseas articles, lose the modelling section too. 

 

I remember when it was originally launched with David Maxey at the helm and people complained about the modelling section even then which saw it pretty quickly jettisoned which was why I was surprised when many years later it came back.

 

Mind you, back in the earliest days, there were also complaints to the editor that the early issues contained too much humour!!!

Edited October 18, 2022 by John M Upton

[tractionman]

I subscribed to Traction for many years and also bought up back issues so I had a complete run--I stopped subscribing to the print edition last year for two main reasons--

 

1. the print quality was to my mind getting poor, especially photo reproduction, as others (above) have also noted, and the overall production seemed 'thin';

 

2. I started Gold Membership to get rid of the ads on RMWeb so had access to Traction digitally, so I dip into it now and then.

 

I used to like buying the print edition from newsagents etc and switched to a print sub because it was getting difficult to source locally, and there was a good offer on the sub, at the time, but Traction has drifted from what it once was in terms of content, so now it is the occasional article or feature that grabs my interest and I download a PDF of it from the online sub.

 

It's a pity really, there's no other rail mag I now get regularly apart from Railway Modeller, which I buy every month, some of the newer mags on the heritage and traction scene, such as 'Railways Illustrated' and 'Trackside', look good--quality print etc--but don't quite hit the right spot for me.

 

I hope Traction continues, and if feedback was sought I would suggest more good old BR traction stuff and upping the print quality.

 

cheers,

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 19, 2022 by tractionman

[rob D2]

I buy a fair few issues of interest, I’ve just noticed a sale of back issues at £1.99 but that seems only through pocket mags and I have the imag app thingy for iPad 

[Ben04uk]

On 18/10/2022 at 14:14, Halvarras said:

 

Pretty much where I am with it at the moment. I had every issue until I moved house nearly 3 years ago and made a decision to keep the first 200 and ditch the rest. The reason was that those first 200 contained far more articles on the 1960s and 1970s so were more relevant to my main interests. Now Traction generally features 1980s onwards, and although I maintained an interest in the real railway throughout that decade it waned considerably after that (can't help it, my earliest railway experience was almost totally diesel-hydraulic). So why have I kept it going? Because, up until now at least, a subscription only amounts to £2 per month and it does still occasionally include articles of interest, e.g. industrial shunters (about which I knew very little) and the sterling efforts by preservationists to maintain heritage diesels and even build recreations, such as the new LMS 10000 in the current issue. I do attempt to read every article to make to that £2 worthwhile but increasingly question whether the time spent reading about, for example, long-gone freight flows would be better spent at the modelling table (besides which I could do without the bimonthly reminder of how many industries have been shut down in this country since the 1970s - much as I respect the authors and their extensive research I'm finding that aspect ever more depressing). And I also get my modelling fix from more in-depth articles in a monthly modelling magazine.

 

My subscription runs for a few months yet so I'll see how I feel about it when the time comes........just like last year, and the year before, and.......

I too am more interested in articles covering the 1970s. Has anyone ever produced a comprehensive database or list of all the articles published in Traction magazine?

Edited October 22, 2022 by Ben04uk

[D9020 Nimbus]

I hadn't realised that Traction's cover price was so high. I used to get it some years ago, back when Warner's owned it for the first time; I think David Brown was editor at the time. I'd stopped getting it, and only really started reading it again as part of WOR+. I have to say that, for me, the last half-dozen or so issues have been good, there's been something of interest to me in each one of them.

 

The thing is, there isn't really a lot of competition to Traction that I'm aware of. Perhaps the niche that it occupies is just too small to give it a big enough circulation for the paper quality to be improved? I hope it survives and I have a lot of respect for the work of the editor — going back to his time on Euromodel Rail Review.
 

Photo quality  isn't a problem on the digital version. However the text is in a fairly light sans-serif font; that makes it rather less readable than BRM, say, which uses a serif font.

[scottystitch]

On 18/10/2022 at 19:07, RedgateModels said:

a long time ago in a galaxy far far away a fledgling mag called Modelling Inspiration was launched digitally in landscape format 😃

 

Issue 2 was very good from memory 😉

MI2.pdf 14.05 MB · 52 downloads

This is very good. I've never heard of it before.  Are there anymore available?

 

Best

 

Scott.