which camp are you in ??


Larry said:
W/in 50 miles of me the Walmarts don't carry any of the Model Railroad magazines. Sometimes on the weekends when I get down there that store is full of teenagers reading in every nook & cranny.:D
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You mean that near where you live there are teenagers ACTUALLY reading BOOKS!! :eek::eek::eek:
 
On the street here I try to avoid teenagers, not 'cause I'm afraid OF them but 'cause they're always twiddling their thumbs and not watching where they're going.
 
tootnkumin said:
On the street here I try to avoid teenagers, not 'cause I'm afraid OF them but 'cause they're always twiddling their thumbs and not watching where they're going.
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Real live zombies! :eek: I see adult ones all day too. :rolleyes:

But getting back to the OP, I prefer model railroader.
 
I subscribe to both but MRC is my favorite being that I am into scratchbuilding. For the most part, my model railroad has been planned out years ago and I am just plodding along following my main plan. MR does seem to be more interested in the newest things out on the market. Being that I operate DC and am a lone operator and have no need for DCC, I have no use for the many articles on the subject, but I do enjoy the layout stories and photos. Also enjoy the MRH mag. Between the three, the hobby is pretty well covered.
 
My only subscription is MRH (online) the other two along with N scale and N Scale Railroading give me an excuse to hit the LHS to check out what is new and interesting and swap lies with the MRR's that work the train counter.

Plus it gets me off my butt and out into the :eek: real world.
 
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I had a MRR subscription from the mid 70's to the mid 90's. Also subscribed to RMC from the early 80's thru the end of the 90's. In the 90's and early 00's I also liked Model Railroading and Model Railroading Journal. MRR always had the best photos and track plans I thought. They always seem to have an 'agenda' in terms of what is the 'right' way to be a model railroader, that I don't always like, or appreciate. RMC was great for the historical articles, and less dogmatic. These days, I buy one or both magazines, if I like a particular issue, at either the LHS or elsewhere. I follow MRH online, but don't always read the articles. I keep up with this forum and the Railroad Line form, + the Reading Modeler webiste. I also miss the Atlas forums.
 
Geared Steam said:
MRH and the Gazette.
The gazette is more than a magazine, it's a master piece.
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Boy, I agree with Geared Steam. MRH is great, and yeah, the Gazette is definitely a masterpiece. I subscribe to it, MR, and MRC, but the Gazette is by far the best. Don't think I'll renew MR; almost all HO, not much O scale. Not yet sure about renewing MRC.
 
Back in NZ in the 60's, 1 copy of MR was my bible (picked it up 2nd hand 'cause they weren't available in the shops then). I didn't realise it's significance then but it had the first "Gorre & Daphetid" layout featured and another as well (can't remember it's name though, even that it had more influence on a layout I built for my 2 son's).

So about 8 years ago my interest in model railroading was "tweaked" again when I discovered MR in a local book store (Stationer's we call them) but it took a couple of years before I actually subscribed. Did so for about 4 years but have since only bought when I see something of interest.

I have now sudscibed to MRH online (as this thread is the first i had heard of it).
 
I subscribed to both MR and RMC this year. Most likely though, I won't renew. To me, it's simply not worth the cost, even at discounted subscription rates. Plus, my local library system gets both magazines, so I can borrow them for free.
 
I currently have a gift subscription of MR, but I REALLY MISS Mainline Modeler. MRC is a good little mag too.

I was unimpressed with the few recent articles on "Weathering steam locomotives" where none of the authors seems to know what kind of deposits and such the appliances made.
 
I subscribe to both MR and MRC. As I model western railroads, MRC is a bit concentrated on the Eastern railroads. However, there are a lot of neat articles that can be adapted to Western and Midwestern roads. :)
 
My wife gets me Model Railroader Magazine subscription for Christmas, however I normally tear out the articles I like and recycle the rest. I spend most of my time on the computer on Big Blue, www.the-gauge.net, since there are more people that seem to show their work on this site. There are also several Europeans that model American railroads whose work is excellent. Model Railroad Forums does a nice job on their site. I generally do not look at the Model Railroader Website.

Larry
 
Y3a said:
... but I REALLY MISS Mainline Modeler....
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I didn't mention this mag in my list. I just stayed with the mags currently on the market. That being said, I definitely miss MM. A great mag that served the southeastern roads alot more than the others. They seemed to concentrate more on the craftsman side of the hobby. I have a complete collection of it, but like the majority of my magazines, they are all packed up right now. One day, soon I hope, I'll have all my mags set up in my "library", an extra room in my basement currently used to store "stuff".
 
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Of what little remains available in the way of model railroading publications these days my clear choice between the top two is RMC. RMC reflects what model railroading was all about throughout its first 50 years as a true craftman pursuit: research and quality, realistic, modeling and model building.

Being a craftsman model ralroader, rather than just a model train collector as so many newcomers are today, I lost interest in MR about a dozen years ago when the editorship was transfered from the magazine's last editor who was an actual model railroader (Sperandeo) to a series of tin-plate Lionel enthusiasts (Thompson and then Besougloff), while at the same time the magazine's modeling quality and usable content took a nosedive.

Several of the vanished magazines were certainly better and I know that the Gazette is a choice for many, but I never could get into it. Unfortunately, however, today's shrinking marketplace no longer finds a broad range of publications concerning the hobby viable like it once did.

NYW&B
 
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Cjcrescent said:
Content quality wise, this is how I have the current offerings ranked;
1. Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette
2. Railroad Model Craftsman
3. Model Railroad Hobbiest
4. Model Railroader
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Umm, Cj, old buddy old pal, ya forgot one!:D
And so far I'm the only one to mention it! The NMRA magazine has come leaps and bounds from where it used to be. I'd place it somewhere above MR in quality of content. Yeah, I know, the issue before a convention is nothing but a walking guide to the convention, but otherwise, great stuff. Plus you are helping to support the NMRA, without which, the hobby would not be the hobby it is.

Oh, and 1 other comes to mind, Model Railroad News I'll be honest here. I've never picked it up, but isn't it mostly new products propaganda?
 
No, I didn't forget the NMRA Magazine. While its quality has gotten a lot better, its not really universally available, as the others are. AFAIK, there's still very limited availability commercially. The only way to really get the mag, is to be a member of the NMRA.

While I wish that every model railroader would join, I know that they won't. I know many have left because "they got nothing out of it". What they have forgotten is the NMRA is a VOLUNTEER organization, so they will get out of it exactly what they put in. If they put in nothing, that will be what they get out. I found that out when I was 12.
 
blackz28 said:
I noticed peopld seem to subscribe to either MODEL RAILROADER OR MODELRAILROADER CRAFTSMAN , ME i like modelrailroader but MRC seems to be aimed for at the small scratch builder types i love their " how to " articles . MDR seems to just do an overview of some layouts & push the latest & greatest in the hobby, so what mag do you subscribe too??:D
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Nope, I subscribe to both as well as Trains, Railroad and Railfan, and a couple others. On the other hand, had I not been a MR subscriber for so many years I would be re-thinking that. As others have said it is going the way of telling "stories" with pictures rather than real how-to do X articles. I've not been a fan of picture books since about 3rd grade.
 
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