Pete Piszczek Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Just because something is free, doesn't mean it isn't very, very, good. Free on-line magazines produced by members of various societies, are the future, IMO. The Seaboard - Coast Line Modeler: http://s-clmodeler.aclsal.org/index.htm The Standard Railroad of the World: http://www.prrths.com/newprr_files/newPRRKeystoneModeler.htm The New York Central Historical Society. This is their first issue: http://nycshs.org/nycentral_modeler.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northpoint Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Some excellent stuff there, Pete. Thanks very much. One problem I had - I couldn't get the SCL PDFs to load - anybody else had this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Hi Pete, I quite agree! They offer an amazing resource - for free! Presumably, the website concerned benefits from increased 'traffic' or some modellers actually go and join the society concerned? Anyway, heres my favourite - the Chicago & Northwestern Historical society's "Modeler" http://www.cnwhs.org/modeling.htm Hi Nick, I managed to download the Jan 2009 SCL issue - it took about two minutes with Firefox on broadband at 100Mbps (for a 51Mb, 134 page document!). Hope that helps! Cheers, John E. Edit: Just checked (properly!) and I'm actually only getting about 4Mbps - Ha! Cheers, Mr Branson! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Piszczek Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 The larger pdfs have issues opening with some browsers. If you right click on the link, then save the files to your hard drive, then open them, you should have fewer problems... Thanks for the link, I had not seen the Chicago & Northwestern Historical society's "Modeler"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWB Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I'm a member of the PRR group, so I have some minimal insight into how and why they do this for "free". They're one of the financially better-off groups, so that's certainly part of it, and they've had donations substantial enough to cover the putative cost of not selling the pdfs for money -- although the "free" versions stay out there only so long, and then you do have to buy back issues on CD. Now of course, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Guys here and elsewhere say they're great things for "free". The question is what you're paying for, when you pay it, and who's actually paying if you aren't. One thing that's concerned me with all these things is that a print mag has an editor who's worried about providing readers with perceived value -- the material can't be repetitious, it has to have wide appeal, and it has to be organized well enough to save the readers' time. Otherwise, like a fair number of US print mags, you go under. If you do things on pdf, the editor (or maybe sometimes "editor") is misled into thinking he doesn't have the equivalent of paper costs, postage costs, printing costs, and so forth. So with all that "free" space, he prints page after page of repetitious photos, long, rambling, disorganized articles, marginal stuff that doesn't interest anyone, and so forth. In this case, people are getting what they pay for, and that certainly happens. Look at the difference between what the late Carl Arendt accomplished with a "free" site and the sometimes quite marginal and boring stuff that goes into the "free" historical society mags. Then there are situations like Model Railroad Hobbyist, which is "free" except to have all the features you need a top-of-the-line computer, which isn't free, and the time and patience to go through all the flashy and sometimes very irritating ads, and if you print it, you're spending a good part of an ink cartridge, which certainly isn't free or even quick. Plus which the articles are repetitious and marginal (you like Conrail? You like the Bear Creek and South Jackson? You'd better). There still ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigZ Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 The B&O HS also offers an on line 'modeler' magazine as well... http://borhs.org/ModelerMag/index.html I really enjoy these ezines, in fact both Pete and I have contributed to the SCL Modeler magazine. The specialization of these sorts of mags is a good thing to me - I don't have to slog thru articles on, say, Colorado narrow gauge styles of privy used on the Clear Creek branch in 1924. They do articles that I'll never see in the mainstream press...good solid esoterica, often by modelers (like Pete) who do a bang up job on the models they build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigZ Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 There's a new issue of SCL Modeler up today. Covers the Gainesville Midland's SD40, Atlantic Coast Line's U5 phosphate cars, and the subject very near and dear to me, Raleigh NC's Boylan Tower. http://s-clmodeler.a...l.org/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigZ Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 S-CL Modeler - Newest Issue now available at: http://s-clmodeler.aclsal.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigZ Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 And the C&NW folks just released their most recent - nice modeling article on a Chicago Great Western box car therein! http://www.cnwhs.org/modeling.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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