Trackside Magazine

With regards to the availability of Trackside magazine I picked up the first issue a couple of weeks ago in my local WHSmith. There were only two copies left which either means it sold very well or they didn't get many issues in. I also had to get Cycling Weekly for my Dad. Unfortunately they only had two issues of this sent in and they were gone already. The guy behind the counter said that they were not going to get any more issues of CW in for that week. So perhaps the same thing has happened with Trackside magazine. I guess it depends on what the distributor sends them.

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No faom here, just having had an online chat with the editor and one of the team - the idea is to branch into archives, photographs and preservation of S&T, rolling stock etc, steam, diesel, electric, horseworked, whatever.

 

Arived at work this morning to discover a colleague had brought in a copy of Trackside to accompany my copy of SR. The latter was read in a matter of a couple of afternoons in the sun and as has been said already, feels weak compared to the SR of old. My subscription is an annual gift from SWMBO and I've been wondering for a while whether to continue with it or not.

So far I've only had a quick flick through the new kid on the block but must say, that I like what I see and am looking forward to thumbing through it in more depth over the next few days. Yes, it does appear to be a bit lococentric but unlike SR, a wider range of locos included. There is also a piece about Barrow Hill and Horsted Keynes which I had to read a bit about before having to get one with other things.

I won't be cancelling my SR subscription (just yet) but will be holding they're future editions to account and monitoring how this new publication stacks up.

 

Cheers @Shaggy, I’m kind of thinking the same thing myself.

 

Well I finally saw a copy in a WHS reading room near me. A quick flick didn't encourage me to part with money, and it is a non standard size to boot which I find irritating as they can't be filed in any standard box/folder. I dislike Railway Modeller for this reason.

 

I have often noticed articles in railway journals suffering from "Elegant Variation" (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elegant_variation). On page 19 the same locomotive is referred to as:
Bahamas
'Jubilee' No. 45596 Bahamas
the Ingrow based Stanier 4-6-0
the LMS machine
No. 45596
the 4-6-0
the '5XP'
For those who know that those all refer to the same loco, the number of different terms is excessive but does no great harm. For any reader who did not already know that those are all descriptions of the same loco it might be confusing. If those aspects are thought to deserve mention they could be made explicit: "No. 45596 Bahamas is ...".

But there is worse. An item on Betton Grange on page 21 refers to it as "the first Collett 5ft 8in wheeled 4-6-0 to run since the mid 1960s". If they had said "the first Grange ..." that would have been OK. Their love of elegant variation has led them astray, forgetting the Manors that have run since then.

 

Picked up issue 2 in Carlisle on Saturday more people from Steam Railway seem to have jumped ship.

 

Picked up issue 2 today. Very impressed with this issue. The Lynton and Barnstaple article with a fold out map is excellent. I thought that this issue was much better than the first one. I will definitely be looking out for future issues.

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I'm impressed with the quality of printing - both colour and also printed on decent paper. I've bought the first two as single issues, but I will sign up in advance for the next 12, it complements my "Railway Magazine" subscription nicely

 

Steve
I will be subscribing. In the latest issue of Bluebell News, there is an advert for Trackside
it states you can earn £5.00 for the Bluebell Railway Trust by subscribing . Have to enter BLR as promotional code and my BRPS membership nr at Checkout.

Paul

 

Reserve judgement until I have got a copy, try for issue 2 this weekend at the local WHS.
I think it may be because of becoming increasingly chronologically challenged, but with the latest issue of Steam Railway to drop through the door, I find it goes from bad to worse. The articles on "lines we love" feel patronising and as though they are written for a travel magazine with a readership who isn't an enthusiast/hasn't been there before. "My bucket list" of overseas place to visit before popping one's clogs (or should it be safety valve?) whilst having some interest is presented in the same poor style. I wouldn't mind Tim's feature on stations if the photo's included at least a train, better still a locomotive in the frame.
Good job everything doesn't appeal to us all in the same way, but when my sub's are up I don't think they are going to get renewed, shame really as I have every issue from No. 1 (any bids as I am about to start de-cluttering whilst I am still physically able!!).
Harold.

 

I don't think I will be renewing my subscription to Steam Railway. Really disappointed with the recent issues.

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I did think Steam Railway did improve a few years ago when Mr Wilcock went and the likes of Tony Streeter, Danny Hopkins, Nick Broderick etc took over.
I don’t think the last year and Covid have helped, regarding a lack of news, I do wonder if somethings happened behind the scenes with the publishers and editorial staff.
A lot of the staff seemed to have jumped ship and have popped up on this new mag.
As mentioned on the Bulleid Pacific thread I thought the recent piece on 35028 was rather good.

 

IMHO the second edition is a deal better, being quite noticeably less lococentric.

 

Bloody Hell Paul! Give them a chance, there’s only been 2 issues out so far!

 

My subscription to SR renews every September, so will most probably let that go ahead this year, just to see if it improves, though it will definitely be dumped next time round if it doesn't.
They seem to be desperate to fill space with fairly unexciting articles at the moment - eg 4 pages on a Fireless in a field in Leicestershire when 1 page would have done it justice, plus other things that have appeared like the page on model railways - and I don't really see who the "Lines we Love" is aimed at, not that the "Bucket List" ones are much better. I've been on the West Coast Wilderness Railway and thought the article in the current edition was very "lightweight" compared with what they could have put in those 7 pages. At least they are still running steam there, which is more than they are doing on the Grand Canyon Railway which featured a few editions back, so that one was seriously out of date!
Things like the Clan Line article, or the Stanegate Restoration and Beavertail restoration have been good, but they are few and far between at the moment. The fact they redesigned the layout so there is less copy per page doesn't help either........

 

Have another look at what I actually said and you will see I felt the second edition to be a deal better''.

 

Having read the rest of this thread. OK I've taken both first and second edition. Though it has already fall foul of sloppy/journslist licensei ssues, with the atricle by former head of the NRM Andrew Scott. When he mentions that the top haslf of the former Grosmont Signal Box is now at the North Tynedale Railway at Alston. So if Alston is on the North Tyne, I take that Kielder Water and Forest are both on the South Tyne and in Durham. Quite a glaring mistake or putting it another way, I'm glad I'm fick and don't have an University Eduction.

 

I have long believed that journalists go through special training to ensure that they will get at least one fact wrong in every article.