R = Railway Modeller [Volume 61 Issue 720 October 2010 £3.60 pp 156]
Recommended by a friend (you know who you are ;-)
Page numbering: the strangest (though logical) page numbering system I have come across. The first 36 pages (excluding the cover - I feel a strange compulsion to be precise ;-) are adverts (predominantly 6&8pt listings of equipment) and these are all suffixed with an "a". The magazine proper starts on page 733 - so it has contiguous numbering like an academic journal. (Railway Modeller is obviously a keeper - not something you read on the loo and throw away). This goes on until page 816... and then there's more adverts for another 36 pages (excluding the cover) which start from 37a.
It's an easy thing to knock I suppose... as a 'modeller' you spend a lot of time crafting and creating your trains and the scenery - I can see the appeal - then you play with the trainset - I can see that I guess. I just didn't realise quite how much - you create this fantasy world, recreate timetables, events, etc. Maybe it's a bit like dungeons and dragons in that respect - but more solitary and less dice.
The guy who devised this timetable said "the amount of time I have available for operating my layout is not great. A simple timetable with only a few trains is ideal when I only have 20 minutes or half an hour free, whereas a more complicated one is fine for when I have more time with the layout." He also suggests that the use of flipcards can be helpful to manage the process.
- Would I buy again: errrr... no :)
- Time taken to read: train journey, cup of tea, and a bath or two
- I learnt 1: you can build a trainset for yourself at home, for exhibition (portability then becomes important), and/or as a collaborative effort as part of a club (there seem to be lots of clubs)
- I learnt 2: there are lots of different gauges - it varies but N gauge (for example) is on a scale of 1:148 and the track is 9mm wide (in the UK at least)
- I learnt 3: a lot of time and research is put into developing layouts, though liberties and creative licence can be taken, and a lot of skill and thought are then put into crafting landscapes and layouts - it is quite impressive :-)
- Alternatives: possibly. I just knew this was the one :)
Bought from: WHSmiths at London Bridge station. It was all a bit of a rush. The young woman who served me was very friendly and half-heartedly tried to persuade me to buy an obscenely large chocolate bar for a pound. I declined, and bought this magazine and some gum with a fiver.
[in case you were wondering... the caption for the main photo is: "Den Herper and family arrive from London for a week's holiday at Penhelligan Farm B&B." - strange (very strange) but true!].