N-Scale is featured in the April Model Railroader including an editorial, two N layouts and a 2-page piece on Spookshow’s locomotive review site. It is good to see him recognized for his years of hard work for N users. - Tonkphilip
Huzzah! and yes! I always check out Spookshow before a purchase of motive power. It's an invaluable resource.
NEVER buy an N-Scale locomotive without checking out SPOOKSHOW Honest reviews and comments. SPOOKSHOW: http://www.spookshow.net/index.html If you have used Mark's website, a DONATION wouldn't hurt.
Just got the March issue earlier this week and the April issue is due to be on newsstands March 10th.
MR has more N scale stuff than RMC. RMC used to have in every issue an article entitled "N Scale Niche". But not anymore. Nice HO mag though.
From what I have read, N scale has the second largest market size ($*) in model railroading, behind only HO. So I expect a non-scale-specific mag like MR to have more HO coverage than N, but not by the extent it typically has. The layout articles, how-to-articles, and the published user layout photos all skew much more heavily to HO that the actual market does. While many of the ideas documented in MR's articles are not scale-specific, but applicable to any scale, they are typically, with few exceptions, accompanied by HO examples. Several years ago, the MR editor noted in his column that, if in any scale, the model railroad industry was expanding in N scale. *However, N scale locos, railcars, track, structures/kits, etc. are less expensive than similar HO products. Thus the percentage of participants (and thus potential magazine subscribers) practicing N scale could be higher than predicted by a simple comparison of market size in $.
I chose not to renew MR a year or so ago. Don't seem to miss it. Sad. I've subscribed to N Scale Magazine since the mid-90s and N Scale Railroading since it came out. NS has become much thinner in the last few years (wish I could say the same about myself). NSR is on hold at the moment. Next issue "early 2023" according to the website. I know Kirk's dealing w/ health issues. Pulling N-specific articles out of the mainstream magazines is like magnet schools pulling the smart kids out of zoned schools - the kids benefit, but average brilliance in the local school declines. Spookshow's site is indeed a valuable treasure!
From BigJake: "From what I have read, N scale has the second largest market size ($*) in model railroading, behind only HO." I think that you are right about the popularity of N scale being 2nd behind HO scale. The April 2024 Model Railroader editorial by Eric White notes that: "(Estimates vary but N makes up about 20% of modelers' primary scales, HO about 78% and O makes up most of what's left.)" Tonkphilip
That's interesting. I'd have guessed that N Scale comprised something like 35% and that HO would be less. MR would know though.
Considering MR is 'HO-Centric' I'm not sure how accurate their percentages are. They may not want to upset their HO base by giving N scale a bigger slice of the pie then 20% . All I know is....N Scale is the best scale !
This is a great question-there are a lot of great posts about the best scale (N!!!!) on this site, especially the kitbash/layout build threads, and I think many of them would be the start of great articles. Maybe if they receive more, we’ll get more articles from the field as well as more n scale specific content from the MR staff in their projects. I’d encourage folks that have the ability to do so to look back at their posts and see what they could build out and submit. I’m not in a place to do so myself right now, but I hope to do so in a year or two. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That's a really valid point. If a count of N Scalers have abandoned MR and MR bases its findings of reader surveys, N Scale's percentage would be less than actual. I gave up on MR in the late '80s when it seemed that a handful of the same contributors dominated every issue. Also. MR touted its ever-larger page counts, when in reality, most of the growth was in ads and the issues became difficult to store. A lot has changed since then and I should perhaps try MR again.
I can tell you that the editor of Railroad Model Craftsman would be interested in running more N Scale articles. Full disclosure: Said RMC Editor lives walking distance from UMTRR HQ and gave us the "assignment" of covering the National N Scale Convention in Nashville in person in our kitchen!
I would agree, completely. You cannot get any accurate sampling from a readership which is top heavy with users of one scale. Pretending to do so is a waste of time.
Although it has been many years since my last subscribing to RMC, they always seemed more friendly to presenting other than just HO.
MR’s survey shows an accurate picture of their subscribers. If their numbers were an accurate measurement of the hobby as a whole then G scale, 2 rail O scale, 3 rail O gauge and the other scales/gauges would only comprise 2% of all model railroaders. I know from observing the attendees at train shows, while not a scientific measurement but at least as accurate as a subscriber survey, that O and G gauge are far more popular than only 1-2%. Maybe the best way to estimate how many are involved in each scale is by units sold. It’s not perfect but probably far more accurate than a magazine’s subscriber survey. My estimate, based on train shows, is that 3 rail O gauge, HO and N are fairly close in numbers, G is about half as many as each of the big 3, and other scales/gauges have a relatively small number of enthusiasts.
According to the January issue circulation statement, MR is down to 66K subscribers. When I switched to N in 1990, I remember that number was about 250,000. Publishing woes overall, them plucking their own O and G scalers with their own mags, etc. probably cause that. I hope, but can't know, that the MR population hasn't shrunk that much, and I don't think it has. Although, the HIA used to publish total hobby sales, but haven't for the past three years or so. When I last saw it, MR was the leading hobby in spending and it was holding steady over $420 Mil at the wholesale level. That could be more sales to us old guys of newer tech, like sound locos. Also, a lot of guys near retirement took Lionel trains back up to relive their childhood. Somewhere around 2000, MR did an extensive survey and N was growing from about 15 to 25% of the hobby, and about 40% the size of the HO market but I think the recessions of 2000 and 2006-9 may have stalled that. In any case, even if it was N @ 20% and HO@ 60%, I have seen, even recently, that the total sales of most things in N are closer to 20-25% of the total the mfgs have for HO. I think that explains us getting mostly leftovers from Walthers structures in N. They have to sell enough in HO to warrant producing them in N at 25% of the sales.
