Issue 121

Just received Issue 121. I have to state a personal view that I consider the latest "Heritage Railway" to be one of the best issues to date and far superior to any of the competition currently out there on the bookstalls.

This edition has transpired to be well-balanced in content between historical material and present day events ... an issue crammed-full of well-written, topical (and not so topical) material that has been presented in a totally un-cluttered and easily-read format. Might I be so bold as to add here that the latter is a problem from which at least one other leading periodical regularly suffers, arguably causing many to purchase elsewhere?

For me, the major attraction of Issue 121 really has to be that it contains some of the finest action pictures seen for some time - particularly those amazing snow-scenes of "Scots Guardsman" during its recent foray over the Settle & Carlisle. Well done, to all concerned!

On the 'down' side, the less than perfect paper quality and thickness does the title no favours, but, of course, that is all down to a perennial problem of keeping down costs. But, why is it that the centre-pages always seem to detach themselves from the rest of the stapling after only a day or so? A very personal view also is that far too much space is regularly taken up to include such less welcome features on model railways and listings of preserved railway events/contact details. All of this not-so-topical 'padding' could easily be condensed into half of the space currently utilised!

I also wasn't too enamoured with the 'freebie' poster included this month ... one which must have cost a packet to produce and clearly took the place of not a few printed pages that might have been included. Apart from locoshed mess-rooms perhaps (and only perhaps), who amongst us all can honestly admit to actually putting such pictures up onto their walls? Despite this, one mag editor recently told me that such inclusions did help sales figures. Why, then, did the poster of "Tornado" (a nice shot, incidentally!) end up in my wasterpaper bin ... along with all the other crap that WH Smugs insist in shoving between the pages? I suspect that a blinkered 'keeping up with the Joneses' element (no pun intended) might have been closer to the truth.

The publishers also appear to have almost got over their earlier problems with colour reproduction issues - ones that seem to have have plagued "Heritage Railway" and some of their 'bookazine' titles for some considerable time. Nevertheless, I am also aware that at least one well-known photographer (not myself!) has complained that the 'original' he submitted did contain far more detail - and not the 'black splodge', as he described the printed effort to have produced. And, another photographer is far from happy that the entire bottom half of his own submission - and what he considered to be the focal point of the image - had been totally cropped.

Not quite there yet, but getting there!

 

You must have a pretty low opinion of the rest of the railway press then....


To me the paper issue means its a mag I won't buy as what ever the content is like it is spoilt by the low grade paper.

 

Steam Railway also uses what does appear to be the same quality of paper - that is also 5 microns thick (0.05mm) - and the centre-pages of the copies of the issues of that one, when I buy it, also do tend to detach themselves far too readily!
More generally speaking, my view is that all the three 'leading' publications clearly have their highs and lows - many being ones which have already been adequately addressed time and time again on this forum - but that Heritage Railway usually comes out marginally better .... on average!

 

1 micron is 1/1000 mm not 1/100 mm.

 

well given the comments about what a great mag it is, I checked it out a Derby station today.


I'm sorry but the pic of Tangmere at Folkestone is a disgrace -I'm not paying money for a mag that thinks it ok to get the public to pay for that quality of printing in this day and age.

 

You don't buy the magazine .... you appear to be easily "insulted" .... so why even bother involving yourself in the Heritage Railway section of the site when you appear to have such a low regard for the magazine??? I am sure the absence of your patronage will not be missed .... either at the Derby Station bookstall .... or within this forum!
P.S. My copy appeared to be just fine and I had no issues with the quality of the printing whatsoever!

 

I have removed all unrelated stuff to the bin.
Please keep the content related to the magazine.
Thank you.