I Can't Decide Whether to Renew MR and Trains

Both my subscriptions to Trains and Model Railroader are up for renewal. At $42.95 each, I have to decide whether it is worth it to renew.

I don't read both cover to cover. I find a few interesting articles in each every month. Is it worth it? I'm not sure. Maybe that is my answer right there

I have already decided not to renew N Scale Collector which is also up for renewal. I am not a collector and barely read it.

I will continue to subscribe to Classic Trains and I buy each issue of SP Trainline.

I do not subscribe to either of the N Scale magazines.

I have some sound projects I could use the money for.

Let the discussion begin. I welcome all the opinions on TrainBoard, whether I agree with them or not.

 

Pete,I was in your boots last July when my MR subscription ran out.

Here's the question I asked.

1.Was I still enjoying MR?

2.Am I getting $42.95 worth of reading?

The answer to both questions for me was no since I enjoy reading NS and NSR far better and I dropped MR in favor of NSR and NS.

Oddly I haven't bought a MR since my subscription ran out and oddly enough after a life time of MR I really don't miss it.

 

One of my favorites lately has been Railroad Model Craftsman. I buy individual issues at my LHS. I usually pick up NS and NSR that way, too. Other favorites include Timber Times (comes out when it comes out) and Narrow Gauge Down Under.

 

I dropped both NSR and NS because they didn't hold my interest anymore and were a waste of money for me. In the last three years I've bought four NSRs based on peoples reviews and have really enjoyed those particular mags. I have never considered renewing either and never regretted dropping them.

If you aren't getting what you want anymore, let them lapse. It's not like you won't be able to get any issue that has something of interest for you. If you just like getting something on a monthly basis, you could put it on the ol' x-mas list. It makes for a simple gift for someone to get for you.


Jason

 

Approximately 9 years ago, for reasons to numerous to go into here...I had to make a similar decision. The two magazines Trains and Model Railroader, have been a mainstay in my collection for years. I decided my interest in Trains was waning as was my interest in the 1X1 foot scale prototypes. Trains were beginning to look alike with look alike power. When it came to my N Scale, model rail interests Model Railroader, didn't carry much on N scale. So, I backed off and dropped my subscriptions. The only wig wag I now get, is the N Scale. It's a bit cheaper and concentrates on issues I'm most interested in. Although, it seems to be redundant and repetitive.

Lot's of luck as you make a choice. It won't be easy to say goodbye to old friends.

Oh, I pick one or the other up from time to time, just to keep in touch...sort of.

Have fun!

 

Well I like MR and over the past year or so they have run articles that I am interested in as Im building my layouts. There are times when they run stuff that I dont care about but still enjoy to read and look at the pics. As for the N scale mages, I will only buy them if there is something in there that I am interested in and want to refer to later. Other than that, they will stay on the store shelf.

 

After reading MR for the last 5 years, I'm starting to see alot of articles repeat themselves just with better photography and different materials. I like NS and NSR more with each issue I read, the articles are good and I like their scratch building/kitbashing articles. One disappointment for me was that the kitbashing contest all included HO scale locomotives and didn't explore what other scales are capable of. Just my 2 cents.

 

I stop subscribing to the print magazines a number of years ago, letting each subscription lapse at it came due. I just wasn't getting what I wanted from the model railroading magazines for the price I paid. I still pick up magazines occasionally, when something catches my eye. In a way, we're back to the street vendors of a century ago, with newspaper hawkers. That's not a bad comparison, I think. Sell your wares at the newsstand or on the street corner according to its impulse. Of course, an article on the sexiest 2-8-8-2 around might not get me to buy.

 

I have found this an interesting thread. I am about to let my Trians subscription lapse but will keep MR. While I am in N Scale I have not found the N Scale Mags interesting I have not found enough for me to subscribe. In addition, since I am 80 miles and nearly 2 hours away from my LHS I cannot just pick up the interesting issues. So geography plays a big role for me. I guess, in the end, to each their own.

 

I agree with you about Trains and Classic Trains. I buy every Classic Trains and read every word from cover to cover. Trains, I find myself flicking through each issue at the news stand and buying it if there is anything interesting in it, they seem to have changed direction in recent years away from a railfan magazine more toward a railroad trade magazine, plus they seem to have followed MR with the trend to smaller, shallower articles with a footnote pointing you toward their website for more. I buy Railfan & Railroad more often than Trains.

 

I buy NSR pretty much every time it comes out. NS slightly less frequently. As for MR and Trains, I only get them when I see something that interests me. I do tend to pick up the special issues like Model Railroad Planning and Great Model Railroads. I usually get Classic Trains as well. Personally, I think there's more to be found in great places like Trainboard than any of the paper mags have to offer! wink::thumbs_up::thumbs_up::thumbs_up:

 

The paper magazines have certainly lost out when it comes to news and reviews of new products, by the time MR reviews a new loco I've had mine for six months and they are sold out everywhere.

 

I have had a conistant subscription to Trains for 10 years, and I love it. Some of the articles are very informative, and are well written. It provides good reading material at work when it is slow too, where a computer is not practical. I had a MR subscription for a few years, and dropped it around 2004. I have only bought about 3 since then. There is just too much HO scale and way to many pages of adds, the usable content in that magazine is slim. I have not got around to trying the N scale magazines, as I have never seen one before on the newsstand.

 

I have considered dropping MR before. I get excited about their article titles, but when the magazine comes I find they fall far short of what I was hoping. They seem focused on using very expensive off-the-shelf products, really large pictures, and hardly any text. It's like a not-very-informative picture book. They have strong opinions on how layouts should be built, and therefore every single article about layout building gives the same ideas--repeatedly over the years. Their reviews and technical stuff are all DCC, HO, and late-model trains, which leaves me out. OTOH, I really like reading about peoples' layouts and there is always one per issue. I also like reading stuff by Hediger and Sperandeo--who seem to be the last remaining real experts on train history and operations. When it came down to it, I lapsed one month and started jonesing, so renewed.

You know, though, buying old MR's from Ebay can be a lot more satisfying--because MR used to be a lot better magazine.

 

I forgot to renew my subscription to MR this month and the withdrawl symptoms are already starting. Plus I can't find one in the LHS anywhere. Gotta get my check in the mail. $42.95 is a bargain for a year of model railroad coverage. I also like all of the subscriber content on the MR site such as videos, track plans, etc.

I like the N specific mags, but it seems like I can read an entire issue cover to cover in an evening. Great quality but not enough quantity.

I discontinued my Trains subscription about a year ago because I swore I would never pay another penny for another Don Phillips grumpy-old-man column.

Jamie

 

Check your local public library. I quit subscribing to MR years ago when I found out I could get it at the library. Kalmbach sends copies out to public libraries, schools, etc for their use. My library keeps the current year on the shelf for check out and has every year back to about 1985 in the reference section. Like most of you I find most issues repetative. Occasionally I come across an article I want so I check it out and make a copy of it. I don't know if they do the same thing for Trains, haven't seen it at the library. Other publications I pick up at the LHS, but only if it contains something I can use.

 

My wife got me a subscription to MR and Trains for Christmas a number of years ago and since then she has kept renewing them. I read both from cover to cover nearly every month, sometimes several times. I love both modern era and older railroading so Trains has a lot of interesting information for me (and Don Philips is only one column so if he gets too grumpy I don't feel bad skipping over it). I also pick up Classic Trains at the grocery store when it comes out each quarter. (And RMC and the special issues - yeah - I liked the Realistic Track issue no matter how much the ripped it up other places).

I've been reading MR nearly every month since I picked up my first copy in August of 1973 for 65 cents. I know it's changed a lot since then. Model Railroading has changed a lot since then. I still like the magazine though. Yeah, some months I read through it quicker than others, but I still think it can be a good value. It's not that hard to get some useful bit of information or an idea on how to do something even if the article is focused on another scale. Let your creative juices flow.

I've never seen an NSR since I don't visit any hobby shop regularly enough to catch it in stock (if they even had it, I don't know), but I've got a fair collection of N Scale magazine - One of the CD's and a number of issues in groups during the late 90's. I had a subscription two years ago but when it ran out the finances at the time kept me from renewing. It's been on the "to-do" list for a while to send a check in. Just not enough tuits lately.

The bottom line is that it really doesn't matter what any of us think. It's what YOU get out of the magazine that should be the deciding factor. Sit down at a quiet moment and make a pro/con list and see where that leads you.

John H. Reinhardt

 

That's a good point, John. I always read the articles even when I think they have nothing to do with me. More often than not, I wind up learning something really valuable for my own layout. Who knew? And the MR is worth renewing for me, for that reason alone even if I didn't enjoy the other stuff so much (layouts, Hediger, Sperandeo). It's a good magazine, and I always end up enjoying it.

Classic Trains rocks, too. Love that, and wish it came out monthly!

 

Guys,Allow me to add this as a late PS to my first reply.

After I change primary scales from HO to N I started reading NS and NSR and I found my interest in MR was vanishing like my interest in HO and for my money NSR and NS was giving me far more for my money and now I eagerly await each issue and will subscribe to both magazines.

Back to MR..I recall rushing home from school to read my Dad's latest MR and this lead to a 50 plus years of reading MR.Then it happen.MR changed its direction to show casing museum quality Godzilla size layouts,pushing knit knacks from its advertisers by monthly infomercials while dropping some highly interesting columns.I could live with that since the worm had turn for the hobby in general.

I will more then likely buy the better issues of MR if there is interesting articles or a good N Scale article.

Back to NSR and NS..To my mind N Scalers should support these magazines after they are N Scale magazines aim toward the N Scalers much like the other speciality scale magazine such as The Narrow Gauge & Shortline Gazette,the S Gaugian and both O Scale magazines.