In February of this year, I broke a 40+ year tradition of buying Model Railroader magazine. My Dad and I either purchased the mag at the LHS or subscribed to it since 1972. It doesn’t have much of anything that excites me like it once did. I’m not sure what it is, perhaps too much effort is going into MRVP, I don’t know. It’s just all pretty pictures with no substance.
I do subscribe to MRVP, but now that I’ve seen what I want to see, that may be on the way out also.
I absolutely loved MR and eagerly looked forward to each and every issue. Columns, such as Paint Shop, were great fun to read and were a monthly favorite.
I was talking to a friend of mine that works at the LHS and his response was that I’m not missing anything. That pretty much summed it up for me.
Even the forums (all forums, not just this one) are stale. Maybe I’m suffering a case of burnout, but my modeling still goes on as strong as it always has. Who knows.
I feel the same as you. After regularly buying and then subscribing for many years I didn’t renew two years ago, then did last year ( out of guilt maybe ). Don’t know yet if I will do so when mine expires next Feb. seems that everything has been covered many times. Still an active modeller tho and will remain so for as long as possible. Have been so for more than sixty years.
Maybe you’re listening to bad advance? Don’t laugh I knew a guy that quit the hobby because he thought he couldn’t measure up to the so called modeling standards of the time.He wouldn’t listen to reason-thanks to bad advice from few of his follow club members.
IMHO MR has shown vast improvement over the past few months however,it will never become the ad filled magazine it was before the internet.Nor is our hobby the same as it was even 10 years ago.
On the other hand I gave up on MRH because of the dummied down photos with each modeling article and there’s way to many ads-yes, folks,I’m well aware those ads pays the bills so,we need not go there.
BTW…If you take up competitive slot car racing on commercial tracks be sure you have deep pockets or can secure a sponsor.
Thanks for the positive comments. Bruce, A lot of times I would buy the magazine because it just felt right. But then I would read it and wonder why I did buy it. Slot cars, huh? No thanks. I am stocking up on plastic car model kits though…
One problem that comes up of course is that when you’re new to the hobby, everything in MR or RMC is new to you, so you’re constantly learning new things from each issue. After a while, a lot of the stuff in the magazines will be stuff you already know. I find in each issue of MR I find at least one thing that’s new to me, or that gives me an idea etc., and I figure that’s worth keeping my subscription.
BTW if you aren’t finding interesting articles, and you have 40+ years experience, maybe you should be writing articles?? I bet that would perk up your interest in the hobby.
Here we go again! Yet another thread ranting about how bad MR has become over the years!
First of all, I don´t think it is a sign of good taste to air this rant in a forum which is being paid for by the publisher of the magazine you are ranting about. I do get a lot out of meeting people here and also tons of inspiration.
Second, a magazine is as good as the contributions to it. In these days, less and less people take the time to write up a contribution. Neil and his team, IMHO, are doing a heck of a good job to cover this gap. Of course, there are issues which don´t catch as much of my interest as others do, but that has been the same in the past and will most likely be around in the future as well.
I think you are just being overfed a little, relax, take a break and come back after a little while!
I have written a few articles for a magazine that is no longer with us. I tried MR 10 - 12 years ago, about a narrow gauge diesel, and Terry Thompson said that MR didn’t need an article like that. OK with me, I found a different mag that wanted it.
I will have to agree with ULRICH on this. I have been in the Model Railroading hobby for 64 years and at times my interests change, like most things in life. I have more than one Hobby, when my body was younger, I enjoyed building classic and custom cars, which I did aquire quite a few over the years. Now they are gone, sold, kept only one. They included engine rebuilding, fabricating, welding,painting you name it. When I retired 14yrs ago, I slowly started selling them, or in my case gave three to my three son’s. I still am into trains, mostly the craftsman side of it, Military Modeling and games workshop figure painting. The above you could say is diversify of what I feel like doing. The Mags. have nothing to do with it, what does however, that a song will always remind me of, by Glen Miller Band from the mid-forties, ''In The Mood".
Of course the magazine has changed over the years because the hobby has changed. In the 40s-50s most everyone would scratch build. Then came the plastic kits with less emphasis on scratch building. Still you could scratch build with better detail. The diecut wooden kits were, I think, better than the plastic kits & an alternative to scratch building. Now we have beautiful laser kits & soon all will have access to 3D printing. That along with RTR gaining ground, the “How To” articles have taken a back seat. I haven’t counted them, but I think there are just as many adds today…they are just 1x2’’ & refer you to a website. I have to admit that I also have lost some interest in the magazine, but I think the editors are doing a good job of trying to find new & fresh content when not much exists.
Yup MR has all these beginner type articles which most of us old heads already know all about.Funny how they had that type of article and I thought it was really cool to learn how to do this stuff when I was a modeling greenhorn.
I can understand how all you folks that were born knowing how to do all this modeling stuff could get bored reading about things like the correct way to lay flex track,or scratchbuild a building or whatever.But I wasn’t born knowing all that stuff infact at the ripe old age of 69 I am still learning and I hope to keep learning by reading and doing for a long time yet.
I have a idea for all of the “I know everything there is to know about this hobby” crowd. Share that knowledge with a newby.just don’t tell them “This is the only way to do this.” instead say"This is how I do it." Just be careful because you might just learn a better way.
Ok, I just turned 70, but I’m still a kid. I’ve been playing with trains since the early 1950s, and my first MR mag was the December 1955 issue. I have been an MR subscriber for as long as I can recall - likely since the 1960s. I’ve had a number of layouts - Lionel, HO, and even an N. My current layout was built a few years ago and is my first with DCC.
MR has typically been my most anxiously awaited mag for many, many years, although it tied with Playboy for a couple of decades. However, I can’t say that MR (or Playboy for that matter) is as exciting to me as it once was.
Why? Well, I’ve been around the block a few times and have the MR basics pretty much under control. I fully realize that MR needs to continuously publish articles that tout the basics - in order to keep the newbies interested and educated. I have no problem with that.
What I’ve found is that my areas of interest now center upon the ads and the product reviews and of course the layouts. Whereas at one time 90 percent of the mag was important to me, now about 50 percent gets my full attention.
But I still look forward to its monthly arrival, and I’ll be a subscriber for as long as I can order a renewal.
There are only so many stories. And, is there really much difference between “Scratchbuilding a Depot” and “Scratchbuilding a Barn?” After a while, things do start to repeat. I’m beyond the beginner articles now, and a lot of the more advanced ones are too specific for me. I may be the odd duck, but I lke the ads. I don’t sit and read the classifieds, but I look at all the product ads because they are all train-related.
I came back to the hobby about 9 years ago. At that time, I would pick up MR from time to time. It didn’t hold my interest. But, then there was a staffing change, and I noticed that the magazine perked up a lot. It bacame more hands-on and oriented towards modeling, instead of just buying stuff and putting it on your layout.
It’s still a better magazine, but I can see the OP’s point. It might be time to let my subscription lapse for a year. I don’t think it’s the magazine; I think it’s me.
hmmm, 2014 now started N scale in 2012… No complaints every article has some form of relevance for me on what to do. But it begs the question if Model railroading is known by a number of people like the back of their hands wouldn’t they’ve gotten bored and moved on?