How do you read MR

[BR60103]

For me, it varies a bit. If there's a cover article that really draws me in (Scottish steam engines of the 1920's), I read that first. Otherwise, I may flip through it. I look at the list of adverisers inside the back cover and find that there's an old editorial or article there instead, so I read that. Then I go to the contents to see where the cartoon is. Then I look through all the little columns and hobbyshop ads looking for the cartoon. Then I read the little columns at the back, and work my way forward. (That's because our newspaper used to have the comics on the 3rd last page of the inside section.) Then I look at the articles to see if there's anything urgent.
Then my wife calls me for supper and I put the magazine down. When I get back, It's been tidied away to the shelf my magazines always go to. I spend the rest of the month reading bits and pieces from all the magazines on the shelf.
I have a pretty solid collection back to 1959, and I never throw out. You never know when you might decide to model the Santa Fe line through the Alleghenies.

[n2mopac]

Well, I for one am glad to hear that someone else truly enjoys reading MR on a monthly basis. I often wonder why many on this forum bother subscribing to a mag which they seem to enjoy so little. Anway, that said, I read MR by beginning at the front cover and reading the short articles as I go. When I get to the features I save them for last. I especially enjoy Tony Koester's column. I read all byt the features the first day usually. Then I ration the features over the course of a week. As I go I make my own index on my computer of articles that I believe my be useful to me personally in my own modeling.
Ron

[Anonymous]

Thought I'd throw a fun thread in. I have found over the years the way I read an MR has changed. Now before I go any further this is not a thread to slag MR so please save your MR slagging for another thread. This is about openly admitting you anxiously await the next issue and aren't afraid to tell the world. There has been enough negative posts about MR. But I for one still wait for it the most of all the mags - and heck - I'm in N scale (and trust me, the guys at MR will get that joke).

So when you get home, how do you read MR? Do you plow through it in one sitting, do you hunt and peck looking for specific articles, do you go slow rationing portions out over time. How do you read MR?

I've found that for me, it has changed over time. When I first read it, it was a two night affair, with specific articles sought and read in the first night. Then it was finished the second night. All my reading is done at night.

Now, when I first purchase it and get it home, I first go through it quickly, not really reading anything specifically but getting a feel for it. I mentally bookmark certain articles I want to read. I now call my method the "slow tease" approach. The second night I will read what I have bookmarked as my favourites, there are usually three or four articles that call out to me immediately.

From there, I go to the "secondary articles." They could be secondary because its something I'm very familiar with - like a how to ballast approach - and am skilled at, to issues that I'm interested in but have put on the back burner - like directional running.

Then there are articles where I want to be fully awake, bright and bushy tailed before I approach them, often this read is on day 3 or 4 of the mag being home. Any article by Bruce Chubb will fall into this category and anything slightly electronically challenging to me also falls into this category. I'm fairly secure in DCC basics so that the DCC article has to be a bit complex before I feel I need to be fully awake to get it. Oh yes, signalling articles fall into this category as well.

From there, are the "left over" articles. Something that isn't pulling at me but I think might put a smile on my face - like the O scale coffee table layout that was published. This is where I will read the "other scale's" offering.

I might then put the mag away for a week or two and pull it out again. This is when I go through it with a microscope. And MR will be happy to hear this: it is this time that I start reviewing all those little ads I never paid much attention to in the past. In fact, I will yellow sticky a page that has an interesting ad and go to their web site and check it out. A NOTICE TO ALL ADVERTISERS IN MR - IF YOU DON'T HAVE A WEB SITE OR EMAIL ADDRESS, YOU MIGHT AS WELL BE ON THE MOON IN MY BOOKS.

And what do I read last, well all the product offerings in the "other" scales.

But its not over. I know only keep 10 years worth of MR. So once a year, I will spend one evening reviewing 2 mags from the priori year until I have re-read all 12, then on to the next year...etc ... until I have reviewed all mags for the past 10 years. I do that every year and give my last years mag to a "needy" teen.

So how do you read your MR?