[?]Trying to keep cool this weekend in the near 100 degree heat, I stayed mostly inside yesterday and sorted through several years of train magazines.
Having found about 80-90% of useless issues, I boxed them up to take down to the dumpster.
I noticed an interesting fact regarding my favorite model RR mag, MODEL RAILROADER. The Nov. '95 issue cost only $3.50 and had over 200 pages,
BUT the July '05 issue cost $5.50 and had only about 120 pages!!!
I even came across some issues of MR that had over 250 pages in them!
THIS IS PROGRESS???[:0]
Fortunately for me, I only buy MR these days as the rest of the mags are pretty much worthless to me. And with the increase in prices, it would be hard to have any money left over to buy any model trains!!![:(]
Wow, that is quite an observation! If what seems to be the case, based on your comment, is true, wouldn’t it be ‘nice’ if the magazine staff offered subscribers a free modeling supplement once a year, say in October, just before most of us move into our basements once again. I mean, we seem to be paying a lot more for a lot less.
You’re right, magazines seem to be getting more expensive. Recently, I subscribed to TRAINS and MODEL RAILROADER. I paid a lot for those two magazines, but still they are full of good information. Also, “gtirr”, if I was you I would not put your old TRAINS magazines in the dumpster, you should keep them and put them somewhere where they won’t be in your way. Don’t do something that you could possibly regret later. Believe me, I’ve gotten rid of things before and then later wished I had them back.
gtirr - I’m all for it man. Get rid of your old stuff.
If you don’t, your house with end up like both of my grandmothers’ houses. Tons and tons and tons and tons of stuff that “I’ll have to go through one day…”. Yeah, right.
My wife is great at it - she lives a clutter-free life. I’m trying to get as good as her.
More power to you man…
dont throw those old mags in the landfill, donate them to an old folks home, you would be suprised at the response.
You can do that, and some hobby shops will accept old magazines, and give them away to children, and whoever wants to get into the hobby.
There is a “for real” name for this. It’s called “hoarding disorder.” Unfortunately there’s no known cure for it. Out with the old stuff that you don’t need. I donate lots of stuff to our local publiuc library for their book sale. It benefits everybody.
work safe
Useless train magazine? Didn’t know there was such a thing. My brother gave me five large boxes of old MR he found sitting on someones curb on garbage day. There’s some good info in them that is still applicable.
I’ve become a lot more selective these days about buying magazines and I know others who’ve done the same. Aside from the price, buying magazines that don’t have enough intertesting articles to keep you entertained for a while just doesn’t make sense. It’s like you’re buying them out of habit, not because they’re of any real use.
I used to keep them all, thinking that one day I might want to refer to something in them. I never did though. I finally went through them and kept only the ones that I really felt I’d ever want to refer to again. I have gone back a few times, so it was worth keeping those few. I’ve spoken to other modelers who say the same thing. They have years worth of magazines that they’ve never bothered to read again. They all say the same thing. “I have to get rid of these magazines. They’re a waste of space.”
I spoke to one of the local hobby shops a couple of years ago and they weren’t intertesed in buying any of them for re-sale.
So, now I review the issues when they come out and decide whether or not I really want them. Some months, I don’t buy any of them. I figure I’ve saved the money and the space as well.
Our nearby Library Branch has a table near the entrance where patrons place old books and magazines they no longer want or need and others go through them and take what they want or need. You might check and see if your local library has such as service. Many years ago I donated a hugh (five year supply of a weekly trade publication)to the local library as we were moving away. They kept it as a resource for several years.
I don’t hoard. I can’t stand seeing boxes with old magazines inside that I am highly unlikely to ever read again. Out they go, recycled, given to a nephew, whatever.
If it has extraordinary appeal, or relevance to a current or anticipated need, I will set that one aside, thus having a stack that grows by one issue every 12-18 months.
Don’t throw them out. Give them to a library or a train shop.The shops I used to go to in Columbus would turn around and sell them for a quarter. I’d always go through them to get the occasional scratch building idea. I’d like to take them off your hands but the shipping cost on that much weight is outrageous.
I’m both startled and dismayed by the posts advocating the trashing of older copies of the magazine. If you are seriously into the hobby, you will find back issues endlessly useful. I have a collection of bound volumes dating from 1940 onward and find that I refer to them on a regular basis. Virtually none of the information contained in their pages goes out of date. Hundreds of the earlier issues contained detailed plans for building structures/industries that you will never find available as kits or RTR models today. There are endless clever trackplans, designs, and ideas. And, considering it’s one of my particular interests, these volumes are a running history of the hobby’s evolution and popularity…which so many modelers don’t seem to have the slightest clue about these days and thus the surprise expressed that the page count of MR has dropped so dramatically over the past ten years, while the price has gone steadily up. Today’s total page count per issue (roughly 120 pages) is about equal to or a bit less than that of the modeling text, alone, you got in each copy a decade ago!
So, don’t dispense with those older copies of MR…treasure them for the knowledge they contain.
CNJ831
coal miner,
it is called OCD, obessive compulsive disorder
BUT MR MAGS ARE NOT AN EXAMPLE OF THIS!
one should recycle mr mags, not in the sense of trash recycle, but recycle by giving them to other people
both the LHS, library, and the senior citizen home ideas were very good
when i started model railroading again when i was eight, before i had my subscription, i relied on the library for mr
they had a subscription, so i was able to get up to date issues, but,
if they had old issues i would certainly read them
also, these issues have lots of great stuff in them
some of them are worth keeping, they might be able to answer something you have been struggling with on your layout
The July issue of MR has always been the thinnest for the year. What the heck, most of us are running around outside, either catching up on the honey-do list, other hobbies, or railfanning! Notice that once we’re all safely down in our basements for the winter, the magazine fattens up again.
As for old backissues, I love 'em. They’re chock-full of prototype articles, plans, blueprints, modelling tips and generally fun articles. I keep everything I buy, and have slowly started collecting older issues. My dad just gave me three boxes of his old NMRA Bulletins from the 1960s and 1970s (when that magazine was worth something!), and they’re stuffed with railroad structure and rolling stock plans.
Keeping old modelling magazines isn’t a hoarding disorder, it’s called keeping a research library. If, however, you have 12 year’s worth of newspapers piled up next to your mags, as well as a 6’ tall ball of twine, you MIGHT have a problem!
Kalmbach has become very strategic![:D]
Don’t toss your old MR’s. Find a way to pass them along to others to help promote the hobby!
Donate to a local club, scout group, school or church library, hospital, community center are a couple potential recipients that immediately come to mind.
Personally, I keep 'em all as they’re great reference and after many years even will be a source of nostagia to you. Also, what you have no interest in today you may develop an interest or curiousty in, in the future, and then you’ll be glad you didn’t make that dumpster visit.
Found this post and it surprised me a bit.
Never, never toss out old MRR issues. I’m amazed at how many times I’ve read of a person needing “such and such” issue from 1985 or 1978 and so on.
Last year I took a box of MRR magazines to the club after my friend suggested it. Those magazines were out of my hands in less than a minute!
I still have about 100 other MRR and RMC issues. My LHS welcomes back issues and I’ve often found that young people enjoy them as welI.