Do you miss the free calendar?

The free gifts aren't an incentive to buy the magazine for me. I buy the RM because it's a decent read!

That said, I still can't understand the logic of the "headline news" and then "track record" feature. What's the purpose of it?

 

I have noticed the Headline News featues pretty much purely National Rail news rather than mainline / preserved line steam or diesel, then there is more national rail stuff at the back in Track Record, maybe removing that one would help?

 

The Headline news conveys stories of significant importance. Usually franchise announcements rolling stock orders, fatal or serious accidents, and other stories which are important but have broken after the news pages in Track Record have closed for press.

As we produce anything between 100 and 116 page issues, the features are prepared first, followed by the Track Record news, but as the month progresses, items of significance are earmarked for Headline. As the Track Record news pages (except the Portfolio ones) are signed off a week or more before the last Headline page is passed, there will be stories that break in the intervening week so these are prepared for Headline. If we sat on them for a month, we'd be accused of not being topical.

I accept that in the Headline there may be the odd filler too - but that's editing.

You will see in the November Headline news section there are a couple of major announcements on the main line steam front.

 

My own gripe - common to all the magazines - is the lack of a date as to when the news (both Headline and Track Record) pages were compiled (signed off)...

Jeremy