New Magizine Subscription

So my Supscription to MR just ran out not too long ago, and I am not too sure that I want to renew, I havn't been too impressed in the last year, especally with their suposedly netural review of the notorious 0-8-0, and quickly dissapearing n scale content.

so the next question is, what magizines do you guys subscribe to? I bought a "N scale railroading" (I think) and I wasn't too impressed, the content was good, but the Ammount of content worried me, especally since it is a Bi-monthly magizine.

 

I subscribe to MR and Trains. With N Scale Magazine being bi monthly, it's not worth it for me. And every time I'm at Wally World, I take a look at RMC. I bought the last issue, but I don't think I'll subscribe. I can get my fill of stuff on the 'net. I also have signed up for the new online magazine Model Railroad Hobbyist.

-Mike

 

TrainBoard.com - RailImages.com
I let my subscription to MR expire and never looked back. Ok, in truth, I did not even know it _had_ expired. I find I do was not reading _any_ of the magazines. I think the main reason in my case is I am not concerned about high detail workmanship. Yes, I admire it but I'm not going to pay to read it - except for my subscription here at trainboard.

 

I like the way this man thinks

 

I subscribe to MR,Trains,Classic Trains and Railfan..I plan on starting a subscription of N Scale Railroading since its so hard to buy locally-a 76 mile round trip is the closest since one shop close due to the owners health.I currently add it to my on line orders-not very convenient.

 

Subscriptions

It has been years since I subscribed to MR RMC and so on. The only subscription currently is Model Railroad News. I like the magazine for the reviews and the "At the Grade Crossing" column and its vehicle news.
Not a lot of advertising either but some as that's what pays the rent.

 

My subscription ran out a couple of years back, and I replaced it with N Scale and N Scale Railroading, so I still get twelve issues per year. Not that I abhor MR, but their articles are just not relevant to me anymore. I love other scales, but the interest at an expense was just not there. I often go to a local model railroad club and there are current issues there to browse, and in exchange for me reading the other mags, I leave my N scale mags.

What gets my goat is now that MR is more expensive, and actually offers less. I have several issues from the eighties and early nineties in my house and they are about twice as thick, both in ads and articles, and a judicious treatement to all scales. It seems the old articles were centered around one scale but written to appeal to many, but not any more, they only appeal to the scale intended.

As for neutral or false reviews, I depend much more on the forums and personal experience, rather than reading a review of some guy who to me, is influenced by several factors beyond his control.

Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman

 

Thats exactly how I feel, before the 0-8-0 fiasco I thought that MR was fair and accurate, untill I got my own before their review came out, the whole "25 cars on strait and flat" was a load of crap, and they didn't make any refrence to any of the other mulitude of problems. My 2 finally pull respectable after I added weight to the boiler and cab, and fixws a bunch of other problem, and it will still only pull 15 or so MT free rolling 40' cars. (I am not going to get in to the 3 pole Vs 5 pole BS here that happened at the A board)

I liked MR for a long time, but the dumbed down articals, the articals aimed at out slightly larger counterparts, and the sheer lack of USEABLE N scale content made it not worth it anymore, I will miss the articals about the diffrent layouts of diffrent scales from around the world.

I just hope to find a magizine that is more freindly towards N scale.

 

I concur ... I have been a subscriber to N Scale Magazine from its inception ... ditto N Scale Railroading. Okay .. so they're both bi-monthly; but both have their emphasis on MY interests: N SCALE.

And if you have comments on either of these great publications, you should email both editors and let them know what YOU would like to see published. As a for instance: Pamela Clapp of N Scale Magazine wants layout contributors (size of layout not a factor BTW) ..

Not sure how to contact either publication?

N Scale Magazine: http://www.nscalemagazine.com/contact.html

N Scale Railroading: http://www.nscalerailroadn.com/Contact.html

Kirk Reddie and Pamela Clapp will be more than glad to hear from y'all!!

:tb-cool: :thumbs_up: :tb-cool:

 

Mine ran out this month. I didn't renew. NSR is #1.

 

I am curious what you meant by the Amount of content worried you?

jh

 

Like so many others, my MR expired and I said good riddance. I subscribe to the two N scale mags and Model Railroad News (the best) and to heck with the others....
Doc

 

Guys what can I say, I have been a loyal fan of MR since 1974 and have a full set of them since then. I am currently giving them the flick because of the content, or lack thereof and the fact the size of the mag has been shrinking since about 2006. The articles do not cater to N scale as they once did, does anyone remember the last time there was a decent bit of coverage of a good n scale layout? What happened to the layouts by people like, Gordon Odegard, Bill Pierce, Otto Kroutil just to name a few, and there are others in the scale that have been setting the standards. We don't hear about them any more, and as for the reviews, that's a joke.

My mags are now limited to the ones that I think have some content that will interest me, N scale Railroading amongst them.

 

I've been leaning in this direction to. the two n scale magazines and TrainBoard. Think I'll even become a supporter! Also there is quite a bit available on the net, other forums etc. I wonder if The MR staff will take any notice?

 

I've subscribed to MR for 3 decades and have always found it useful for researching projects. I developed an info access system which allows me to find something quickly in MR. But I don't like Kalmbach very much. They've never answered my technical inquiries. They offered me seemingly pennies for the only article I submitted. I've always felt that they, a few modelers and a few industry buddies are a tight circle, and I'm not good enough for them (more than once, I've been asked if I'm a member of and support NMRA). Fine. I'm running out of room - bye-bye, MR.

I subscribe to N-Scale magazine and N-Scale Railroading, because I like their staffs and want to support 'em. I especially like Pamela, because she appreciates and often runs my submittals - unconventional as they may be. I like loyalty.

Scott

 

My complaint's not scale related, the last couple of issues had articles on N scale. I've got MR's back to the 60's with a few from the 50's and I get the impression that the further back you go the better they get, though I agree the 80's may have been their heyday. I could read an older issue during my lunch break for 3 or 4 days, current ones are finished in a few minutes. These days it seems to be a few paragraphs of text, a couple of photos and a footnote to go to their website where you can find more info, (sometimes you have to be a subscriber), or pay to download a PDF file.

The problem with MR's reviews is that I get them six months after I've got the item. These days of the internet and limited runs reviews are possibly a waste of pages that could be used for more articles.

If you want layouts in different scales from around the world, try the British magazine Continental Modeller, in recent issues they've had articles on U.S., German, French, Belgian, Swiss, Swedish, Finnish, Japanese, Indian, Australian, Peruvian, South African models and protoypes, just to name a few that I can remember in just about any scale you can think of.

To answer the original question I don't subscribe to any, but regularly get NSR, NS and MR from the LHS, and other magazines from time to time if they have something of interest or I want something to read. I generally find British magazines, both prototype and model have more reading material in them than the U.S. ones with the exception of Classic Trains.

 

I have just renewed my MR subscription, so I am probably outing myself here :tb-confused::tb-biggrin:
The subscription is running since 1983, and was my only source of information at that time. I agree to most of what has been said here about it, the quality has not really improved. But there are still interesting articles, e.g. David Popp's articles about his New Haven layout. Probably while we grow older, and gain more experience, a lot of information that was new and welcome in earlier days, now is just a repetition of what we already know because we have learned.

Up to now I had subscribed to MR, Trains, NSR, plus 3 German magazines, from which two are dedicated to N scale.
Now I am cutting back, mainly because I am drowning in paper here. So Trains will be finished at the end of the year, and one of the German N scale magazines as well. NSR had told me they prefer that I get it from a local dealer, but my standard dealer for U.S. stuff has problems to get it, for whatever reasons. So I think its out. I had some subscription to Nscale and let it expire, because I was not so interested in building a particular fence from a remote part of the country (described in a whole series of articles), or things like that. It happened to expire at the same time they did not deliver anymore.

Actually I think the best investment is my moderate payments toTrainboard.

A lot of information that had been previously "transmitted" by magazines, is now going through the internet. And we even can contribute ourselves, which is far better that just consuming an article. At least for ourselves.

So far my 2cts, just my opinions.