Whilst of course I am indebted to all of you out there who take the time to read my online ramblings, here in my little corner of the world wide web (I still don’t know why people say ‘www’ when it takes more syllables to say than then full version), I firmly believe there is still very much a place for the printed word in magazine etc. especially in our hobby.
There is still something great about the feel and action of physically turning the pages and reading such diverse content, especially such that I would not usually search for or find on the internet. After all good and inspiration modelling is good and inspirational modelling whatever the scale and genre. Also model railway photography has come on leaps and bounds over the last few years, to something that is stunning and inspirational in its own right, especially from behind the viewfinder of the likes of Chris Nevard and Mike Wild. When seen in magazine these sometimes just leap off the page at you in a way I don’t perceive from the screen.
I have been fortunate to have had articles published in a number of magazines, and should you be interested in searching out a few, below is the list of where I can be found in the printed word:
Fisherton Sarum has appeared in the December 2007 issue of Railway Modeller, The April 2009 issue of Hornby magazine, and most recently the February issue of British Railway Modelling magazine.
My conversion of a Bachmann Southern N Class to a Southern N1 appeared in the August 2004 issue of Railway Modeller magazine
I have had three main articles (along with a couple of product review items) published in Hornby Magazine: the first of which was an article on my weathering techniques in the October 2008 issue. The March 2010 issue contained my article on my creation of LMS Coronation Class ‘City of Bradford’ as she appeared on the Southern for the Britsh Railways locomotive exchange trails in 1948. I also provided background information about the trials in general.
Lastly for the January 2011 issue I penned an article on changing identities of Ready to Run locomotives to obtain the locomotive name and number of your choice and covered how to repaint and line locomotives too.
So long live the printed word, I am sure that magazines are here to stay in our hobby for a while yet.
I think reading a mag is a bit like listening to radio. You won’t like everything in there but sometimes you find interesting things you didn’t expect. The web on the other hand tends to encourage people to disapear into ever more specialised areas. How many different bits of RMWeb do most people read ? 2mm forum AND Garden railways ? Yet people from one may find occasional bits of the other fascinating.
This prompted me to blog a little about this subject too, partly was prompted by the rmweb thread on the same subject.
The web can better facilitate discussion and showcasing, especially of the more niche aspects of the hobby.
I frequently discoverr things outside of my normal interest on RMweb for instance, 2mm and narrow gauge prime examples of this, that inspire and make me think.