I have the better part of 10 years’ worth of old CTT Magazines around the house and have been told by SWMBO that they have to go.
In the past I have always just taken some with me to Doctor appointments or when they would change oil on the car to look over while waiting and then I would just leave them behind. When my wife had her hip replacement in 2019 by the time, she was done with PT I had reduced a lot of them.
But here is the problem today, with COVID-19 and virtual appointments I have not been to anyplace to leave any and the places you used to, now because of COVID they don’t leave any magazines out for anyone to look at. If you don’t have a smart phone you just sit there like a lump till you get it.
So, I was wondering what others do? I sure hate to just throw them in the dumpster.
I hate to throw them in the recycle bin myself but right now that’s all I can do. We used to leave our old mags (Trains, Classic Trains, Classic Toy Trains, Reader’s Digest, Better Homes and Gardens, et al ) on the magazine tables at the gym but that’s out now with COVID.
By the way, the mags we dropped off were usually gone in 24 hours, especially the trains-themed mags. I felt in a small way I was helping the hobby. Oh well.
I put each year in a cerial box and save them for future reference. I keep a record of things I might want to refer to sometime in the future. They don’t take up that much space.
If you’re trying to get rid of any OGRs, train catalogs, or train flyers, let me know. I’ve collected every single CTT, so I don’t need any of those, but I wouldn’t mind filling a few holes in my OGR collection. As far as the train catalogs & flyers, I’ve been trying to add as much as I can to the Train Gallery on my web-site here:
There is a lot of stuff in the Lionel, K-Line, MTH, and Williams sections, but not very much stuff in the others. Rather than throw this kind of stuff out, please consider either selling it or donating it to me so I can add pics of them to the web-site.
I enjoy the design, art, and interesting ways the varied brand manufacturers marketed their wares. Many of my favorites are those which have wraparound covers and those that unfold. In many cases, I’d never known the art continued on from the cover. It’s been nice to discover the complete artwork. Here are a few of my current favorites:
I still have every single train mag going back to the late '60’s…
because, I paid for them!
But, the ads are interesting, many manufacturers long gone. Scenery techniques are still valid today. Drawings for trains and structures are still useful.Garden Railways used to have pull out drawings that I cherished!
And, did you know…
When LGB first came out in '68, it was called K gauge. K for king.I have the mag with the product review!
Had a similar excersize a few years ago. Downsized, moved to condo. Limited space. I had 20+ years of Model Railoroader, CTT, and OGR. Not to mention all the catalogs. All in all it would have heavy filled 3-4 21 gallon plastic totes. I tried putting them out at a gargae sale for 25 cents apeice then free.
I tried libraries, second hand stores, Goodwill. No takers. There is zero demand for magazines old or new today.
Bottom line is either be a horder and leave the disposal to the kids or Got Junk people or suck it up and toss them in the recycle bin. Which is what I did.
With things slowly improving to where the museum can reopen maybe next month hopefully this summer or fall we can start giving away all the train mags that our members have collected over oh so many years. If per chance we are not allowed to give them away at the museum there is the possibility of giving them to the kids and their parents who come by the house to visit our Halloween and Christmas layouts we do in the garage.
