Model Railroad Magazines - UK??

[Scotrail]

Hi there,

I am looking to see if anyone here in the UK knows where I can access Model Railroad magazines?

I am aware of Continental Modeller - however, I am more interested in such as North American and Canadian 'N' guage magazines.

Any advice - greatly appreciated.

Scotrail

 

[Steve B]

This is the holy grail of MR magazines
http://www.trains.com/mrr/

 

[Scotrail]

Great Magazine

This is the holy grail of MR magazines
http://www.trains.com/mrr/

Thanks Steve - much appreciated - it looks a great magazine and site.

 

[modelbob]

I am aware of Continental Modeller - however, I am more interested in such as North American and Canadian 'N' guage magazines.

Any advice - greatly appreciated.

Scotrail

As someone has already pointed out, Model Railroader is the 900 pound gorilla of model train magazines. Excellent content, great photos, and well worth reading too. They have lots of ads of course, but the magazine is laid out so that there are very few (no?) ads in the feature articles section. They also don't do the usual "continued on page 129" as much as most mags do, so it's a very pleasent read.

Here's the magazine section of our links directory, lots more listings there:
http://www.modelrailroaddata.com/suppliers/Magazines/

 

[Scotrail]

As someone has already pointed out, Model Railroader is the 900 pound gorilla of model train magazines. Excellent content, great photos, and well worth reading too. They have lots of ads of course, but the magazine is laid out so that there are very few (no?) ads in the feature articles section. They also don't do the usual "continued on page 129" as much as most mags do, so it's a very pleasent read.

Here's the magazine section of our links directory, lots more listings there:
http://www.modelrailroaddata.com/suppliers/Magazines/

Hi Bob,

Many thanks for useful site.

Morgan, from Canadian Railway Modeller - is forwarding me their latest edition magazine - as it is an area which I wish to pursue with layout etc etc.

I am not quite sure if I should look at 'N' scale - due to limited space - what do you and any other readers advise? HO or N ?

Always value the experience of such people.

Kind regards to all.

 

[modelbob]

I am not quite sure if I should look at 'N' scale - due to limited space - what do you and any other readers advise? HO or N ?

Scale and gauge is a very personal choice, and it's influenced by a lot of factors. Here are a few to consider:

How much space do you have available?

What do you want to model? Mainline, branchline, logging, shortlline? Obviously if you're modeling a small branch it will be easier than if you plan on modeling modern 100 car long intermodal trains.

What do you want your layout to include? Will one or two detailed scenes be enough, or do you dream of a station, and enginehouse, and a yard, and a mountain scene, and a town and a city scene, oh and a steel mill, and coal mines for the mill, and... (How much room do I have again....)

What models do you want to purchase and what scales are they available in? If your favorite line's best known engine is only available in HO, that may well influence your choice.

What features do you want? DCC and sound for example are both easier in HO than in N, and the sound quality is better too.

Do you plan on scratchbuilding or super detailing? If so, and you want to model in N scale, do you have the patience and skills of a watchmaker?

How well do you want the detail to be visible. I don't know about you, but sometimes I have to squint at the really small stuff to tell what kind of steamer that really is.

Personally, I've chosen HO, for a variety of reasons, including an existing collection of rolling stock. I often wish I modeled in N scale when I'm desiging the track and wish I worked in O scale or even G scale when I see the detail you find on the big stuff, so I guess HO is a reasonable compromise for me.