A musing about MRJ

[Arun Sharma]

And this is the kind of disappointing attitude that may well sink MRJ in the long run. In the 4mm model railway world EM and P4 modellers are in the minority. Maybe in the MRJ readership, 4mm wise, they are in the majority. Who knows ? However, unlike you though, I still get inspired by quality modelling. I don't let the fact that it's in a gauge I have no interest in stand in the way of my enjoyment of the subject.

And I'm not advocating handing MRJ over to a Railway Modelleresque audience. God no !

But to use your words there is an alternative view to OO world. Disregarding your apparent prejudicial outlook on all things 00 there are some decent 00 modellers out there, you know....PMP ( who like me uses PECO track ) Chris Nevard and Tim Maddocks to name just three. ÌAre we saying that an article or two by them and that's an issue to avoid lest you suffer a sudden and inexplicable urge to narrow your gauge........No.....I thought not.



I take it that's aimed squarely in my direction, Jon. I'm not so obsessed by getting an article in MRJ to make things deliberately tricky for myself.

Why should I ?

On your example, I have three super smooth
Hornby J15s that will run beautifully over my peco pointwork. They will in time be weathered accordingly, coaled and crewed. They will look the part but going by the views of others, have no chance of being featured.

However, if I replace chassis wheel gears and motor, spend an age getting it to run to the same standard as the Hornby model this model, which looks the same has a better chance to get in the mag. Really ?

Other than demonstrating a degree of craftsmanship or not subject to how it runs, if at all of course, it's a pretty pointless exercise.

I would rather spend the time building a layout for my well running, well weathered and detailed out of the box loco to play on. And that may be where I'm going wrong.

I think overall, my kind of modeller is simply not the right sort to find themselves in MRJ. We're not welcomed by the finescale boys and we should remain in the other magazines and not get above our station.

I think that has been made abundantly clear.


Rob.

I wonder if that has always been so - Tim Shackleton did several conversions and kit builds in 00gauge. I seem to recall a 9F [92114], a Standard mogul with inspection saloon as well as a build of the SE Finecast 'Hush Hush'.
Tony Wright had a large layout article about his groups GCR 00gauge Charwelton layout published as well.
Seems to me that MRJ's criteria has always been quality of modelling rather than excluding anything that wasn't EM/P4 or S7.

 

[Pencarrow]

OO? Check
RTR? Check
Trainset couplings? Check

Still got in MRJ though. Pleased? Of course we were.





MRJ for me has always been about the stunning photos, particularly the ones that make you do a double take. I still remember the big fold out special print they did 20+ years ago of that 7mm layout (Hursley?). It had a caption along the lines of 'this is a model' and a damned good one it was too. Made me proud to be a modeller and was something to aspire too. Was on the wall of the clubroom for years.

I do feel sometimes there's too much emphasis on gauge, tools and complexity of the journey. It's the overall finished effect that does it for me. Oh, and enjoying what you do.

 

[Allen M]

I do feel sometimes there's too much emphasis on gauge, tools and complexity of the journey. It's the overall finished effect that does it for me.

I totally agree. I have always been a "cricket pitch" modeller. I am looking at the scine from 20+ yards away, or "over the fence at the railway". My judgement of a layout is thus, does it look real in miniature? Is it running like a real railway is likely to? If yes then it is right, if no then the wheel/track standards alone won't make it look right.

Just my thoughts.
Regards
Allen

 

[GrahamMc]

Then there was Alloa, OO, main feature in two consecutive issues of MRJ in 2014, no justification given or needed, just magnificent modelling that spoke for itself. Anyway, I'm off, back to the build threads.

 

[Pencarrow]

Good grief, it was Hursley and MRJ 40, so nearly 35 years ago.


Not sure if this was the poster image though...

 

[Dan Randall]

This was the poster Chris….

I thought it was so good, I ordered an unfolded copy from Wild Swan and had it framed. It looks very nice, on the wall of my man cave.

Edit: If MRJ ever do another “This is a Model Railway” poster, I think this would be an outstanding choice!.…



Regards

Dan

 

[Martin Shaw]

When I started this thread it was intended as a diversion intended for the users of this forum to explore where they were with MRJ. It was most certainly not for anyone to seek to score points by the level they have or have not bought into the ethos of the magazine and I'm sorry to see one or two less than temperate posts.

It matters not the distance between the rails of your models, their fidelity to the prototype and whether they are the right colour, the only person you need to please is you and if all you aspire to is OO RTR then so be it. Your as entitled to read MRJ and contribute to WT.

I don't know what's caused this outbreak of preciousness nor do I care beyond you are trashing my thread. Please don't do it, besides it's only toy trains and therefore gloriously unimportant.
Martin

 

[djparkins]

I don't know what's caused this outbreak of preciousness nor do I care beyond you are trashing my thread. Please don't do it, besides it's only toy trains and therefore gloriously unimportant.
Martin

Or to paraphrase what Bill Shankly said of football - Model railways are not a matter of life and death, they are far more important than that!

 

[Pencarrow]

This was the poster Chris….
View attachment 184882
I thought it was so good, I ordered an unfolded copy from Wild Swan and had it framed. It looks very nice, on the wall of my man cave.

Edit: If MRJ ever do another “This is a Model Railway” poster, I think this would be an outstanding choice!.…
View attachment 184889


Regards

Dan

That's the one, MRJ inspiration at its best, reinforced by the fact you've got the picture up 35ish years later. Still stands the test of time and shows what an absolute landmark moment that layout was.

 

[Martin Shaw]

A final comment to close off this thread, it has made up my mind. If this is the sort of behaviour that ensues from MRJ and it's adherents, and I fully appreciate its not a majority, then I'm better off without it. My collection can go to anyone who wants them and is prepared to collect them. PM me if your interested.
Martin

 

[paratom]

There I was sitting last evening with a recent MRJ on my lap and a suitably Christian piece of music on the gramophone, Berlioz Requiem which I find magnificent, when my mind wandered to question my relationship with the magazine. Issue 295 has just been published so another 5 will see us at 300 and me likely 70 years old which means I have been reading it since I was 31, eek. Of late I have found that it has become a habit, not an unpleasant one mind, but none the less at £6.20 a copy do I want to carry on regardless? I do little enough actual modelling these days and in addition after nearly 40 years there is inevitably some repetition of subject matter type, even if individual articles can be most absorbing. Having collected it from issue 0 I am perhaps reluctant to give it up however 300 seems a nice round number to stop at, and then of course how do I dispose of them, they are surely worthless monetarily at least. It is of course a first world problem and frankly given the over abundance available secondhand probably the nearest skip is the pragmatic solution. Anyone want a near mint collection, 0-294 plus compendia?
Martin

I have always thought of the MRJ as the Vogue of Railway modelling. If your layout appeared on the front cover then you have arrived and if it’s an exhibition layout invites will start flooding in. Like many readers I started buying Railway Modeller and Model Railway Constructer before MRJ was started. I found MRJ a welcomed break from all the adds you would get in the other magazines although I did think MRC was the better of the two and catered more for the fine scale modeller. You can please some of the readers all of the time and all of the readers some of the time but never all of the readers all of the time. Some of the articles in the MRJ I do find a bit long winded but I think you should expect that in a railway magazine that caters to fine scale modellers. I’m sure doctors who subscribe to the Lancet would find the same in their magazine. As for the price it’s just a reflection on the overall cost of getting the magazine published which has gone up like everything else. That’s the price you pay for a magazine that doesn’t bombard you with adds and has a small circulation. If the MRJ index could be updated I would keep the magazines because they make a fantastic reference for railway modelling. Maybe someone could volunteer to help out to update the index. If you are going to give them away donate them to a model railway club who could put them in their library if they have one. The MRJ has become part of my growing up and motivated me into fine scale modelling, it would be a shame to see its dimise.

 

[adrian]

[temporarily locked whilst I go through the reports and allow cooling off time. A good time for a little modelling at the workbench]