MRJ: Where can I buy it?

[philsandy]

Where can I buy Model Railway Journal from?

I have found a few on line sources but they are asking over £5 per issue when the cover price appears to be £4.20.

Do you have to subscribe to it, do WH Smith stock it, or will a local newsagent order it in for you?.

[Phil Parker]

I get my copy from my local newsagent but most WH Smiths around here stock it. I'd expect a Manchester branch to have several copies.

[trisonic]

D'oh, I thought you (the OP) were in some remote area..........like the Gobi Desert..........

 

When I was last in the UK you could pick it up at most Newsagents in metropolitan areas.

 

Best, Pete.

[Guest Belgian]

Our Smiffs in Salisbury always stocks it so I imagine most of them do since Salisbury is quite a small shop.

 

JE

[decauville1126]

A subscription makes real sense. As posted above, W H Smith's tend to have it in their larger shops, and also the specialist booksellers such as Ian Allan. Even some of the smaller newsagents stock it down here in Sussex.

 

If you're looking to put together a run from back numbers then model railway exhibitions are a good hunting ground but they do seem to sell, even secondhand, for good prices. Also ebay and some of the online used book retailers.

 

That's why the sub makes sense - you pay cover price with postage in a hard-backed envelope.

[petethemole]

For back issues I've found e-bay very useful. BIN prices vary a lot but multiple purchases save postage and can bring the unit price to a sensible level. I've bought most issues up to about No 200 off e-bay and had most of them from auction sales, again often in bunches. This has reminded me that I still have a few to track down.

 

Pete

[Phil Parker]

A subscription makes real sense. As posted above, W H Smith's tend to have it in their larger shops, and also the specialist booksellers such as Ian Allan. Even some of the smaller newsagents stock it down here in Sussex.

 

 

Good point - the OP is in Manchester so the Ian Allan shop by the station will stock it along with lots of other tempting mags.

[philsandy]

Thanks for all your replies.

Wasn't sure if WH Smiths would stock it, will call in there next week.

[beast66606]

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/48674-mrj-subscription-on-line/

 

£5.28 per issue, delivered, which, for me, is cheaper and easier than worrying about trying to get hold of it each issue.

[Stevelewis]

Where can I buy Model Railway Journal from?

I have found a few on line sources but they are asking over £5 per issue when the cover price appears to be £4.20.

Do you have to subscribe to it, do WH Smith stock it, or will a local newsagent order it in for you?.

Your  local  newsagent  should  be  able  to  order  it  for  you,  many independant  newsagents do  stock it, my nearest  newasagent 1.5mile away  stocks  it  and WHS local branches   stock  it,,  although  they  say  sales  are  to  say  the  least  are  disapponting  they  retrun more than  they  sell ( most  Mags  are sold on a  sale  or  retrun  basis)

[Torper]

Subscription direct from Wild Swan is currently £33.60 for 8 issues, which works out at £4.20 an issue, exactly the same as the cover price.

 

DT

[Ohmisterporter]

Our local WHS have it but there are so many railway and modelling titles that MRJ is often hidden behind other mags. Not helped by people reading mags and putting them back in the wrong place, so have a good search behind those other titles.

[Horsetan]

Our local WHS have it but there are so many railway and modelling titles that MRJ is often hidden behind other mags....

In some branches, you can even find it on the top shelf *kof*Ealing*kof*

[beast66606]

Subscription direct from Wild Swan is currently £33.60 for 8 issues, which works out at £4.20 an issue, exactly the same as the cover price.

 

DT

 

And needs a cheque book - I much prefer to pay by card, and manage my subscription electronically - I've moved twice in the last couple of years, it takes seconds to change a subscription on-line - but each to their own.

[decauville1126]

And needs a cheque book - I much prefer to pay by card, and manage my subscription electronically - I've moved twice in the last couple of years, it takes seconds to change a subscription on-line - but each to their own.

But perhaps it's part of the secret Wild Swan ethos that you have to first make an effort to get it, and then in turn having read it you make an effort to raise your modelling standards.

[Dunsignalling]

Where can I buy Model Railway Journal from?

I have found a few on line sources but they are asking over £5 per issue when the cover price appears to be £4.20.

Do you have to subscribe to it, do WH Smith stock it, or will a local newsagent order it in for you?.

Our local branch of Smiths gets it and my local newsagent also stocks it for general sale as well as specific orders.

 

They each seem to have about a dozen on the shelves when a new issue comes out and they don't hang about long. That represents approximately one for every 500 of the local population which I find a surprisingly high proportion for a specialist magazine. 

 

If it's that easy to get in small-town Devon, you shouldn't have too much trouble finding it in Manchester.

 

John

[highpeak]

My 82 year old mother has a standing order with a newsagent in Tideswell (Derbyshire). I depend on the "MRJ issue x is out" threads to let her know by phone that a new one is on its way. She picks it up, puts it in a padded envelope and mails it to me in the US.

 

There's probably more efficient ways of doing this, but she enjoys helping out. I often wonder if she ever looks at the contents, since she spends hours making her own jams, pickles, chutneys etc she at least has the same ethos.

[BR60103]

The local of the big Canadian store chain (which did absorb the Canadian WHS) just got in MRJ #229 -- 3 or 4 copies. One of the reasons we moved here. The store where we used to live never had it and seems to have dropped BRILL.

I know 2 other stores that carry it.

[clecklewyke]

But perhaps it's part of the secret Wild Swan ethos that you have to first make an effort to get it,

 

The other part is that they do not offer direct debit, only standing orders, which have to be periodically renewed - on their form via snail mail. I found this to be really irritating, so a year or so ago I did not renew it and instead asked my village shop/newsagent to order it for me. His supplier now dutifully sends two copies of every issue, the second of which is never sold.

 

But it works fine for me - and provides a lttle bit of business for my local shop - as I live in Askrigg, which is about as far from a city or large town as can be in England (which i why I live here  ).

 

Ian

[N15class]

So how do you subscribe from aboard if they only take cheques.

[Torper]

Even from Brazil, you could always write to them and ask them - they specifically say "Overseas (subscription) rates on application".  Or, if you can get cheap phone calls, you could try ringing them on 01235 816478.

 

Or if you've got family here in the UK, you could perhaps arrange for them to enquire for you or even to take out a UK subscription and then send the magazines on to you each month?  Having said that, following privatisation of Royal Mail their overseas postage rates went up (surprise surprise) and if my calculations are correct it'll cost at least £5.50 in postage alone to send each issue out to you.

 

DT