What do you do with your old Model Railroader Magazines?

[jrbernier]

I have MR 'complete' from about 1948(when they went to the larger format). Let's get then on CD-ROM or DVD - my shelves are feeling the strain!

Jim Bernier

[Anonymous]

I'm fairly new to the hobby,but not too long a friend of mine gave me several several issues of MR dating from 1934 to 1960.(very inspiring) thankyou

[Anonymous]

I have several MR magazines that was given to me ,from 1934 to 1960. I think they are awsome. thanks

[krump]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ConrailGP38-2

I keep them. In unorderly stacks[:D]

I like this ! he's the honest guy in the crowd[^][^][^][^][8D][:D] more power to ya Conrail
cheers[C):-)][(-D][(-D][(-D]

[lupo]

offcourse the magazines pile up within an arms lenght of my favourite spot on the couch, if you have four piles roughly the same height, put on a 4'x 4' piece plywood on top and you have a table to put your favourite magazines on! [:D][:D]

[Anonymous]

I have all of mine in their blue binders from 1980-2003. I look back at the older issues and wonder wht the heck happened to such a fine magazine. Every now and again I "toy" with the idea of getting rid of them (let's face it, moving with them is a pain in the ***.), but then I remember about an article on building a 35mm view camera, or super detailing Bowser Atlantics, or detailing and weathering some Atlas structures. Then there's Gordon Odegard's wonderful series about scratchbuilding a brass mikado, and I am reminded of why these mags stick around in my life.

[Anonymous]

This years issues are all over the house, but mostly on the floor on my side of the bed. The last 5 years are in the blue binders. After that they go in a 2 gallon zip lock bag and are under the layout in cardboard boxes. Some times if I feel like reading I'll go open an old year and just reread the whole year. The ads make me sick United ATSF 2-8-0 $39.95 and I only bought two.

Bob

[ClinchValleySD40]

After one year, I go through them and cut out any articles or such I want to keep. Some issues are so good I keep the entire thing. Any not cut up I give to a few young people that love trains. I've also been known to leave one in the dentist office waiting room.

[Anonymous]

Save them and pretty randomly read them over and over, especially in the morning during and .....ahem....after I have my coffee.
Mark
http://webusers.warwick.net/~u1015590/

[ozzy01]

I keep mine. Got them from Oct.1981-present. I keep them in magazine holders,they do a good job. Each one will hold a year. I keep them for modeling projects and looking at my favorite layouts.

[chutton01]

Count me among those who extract the articles I want from a given issue (this gives me a good idea of the quality of the issue - some months yield up only one article to save, some four or five) and recycle (or toss) the remaining 'hulk'. Since I purchase other mags like Rail Model Craftsman or Mainline Modeler only if they have several articles of interest to me, their quality quotient is rather skewed...
Although not quite as organized as mondotrains, I do use several accordian folders labeled for gross-level topics (locomotives, rolling stock, structures, scenery, construction, electrical, etc.), and also label each article as to it's fine-level category (prototype locomotive, model locomotive, weathering techniques, decalling techniques, painting techniques, and so on.) Some quick tips/reviews/hints are scanned or typed into my computer.
Certainly saved a lot of space.

[Martin4]

I keep every one of them and often browse through any one I picked ; as long as you get experience many things shine under new light.

Martin
Québec City

[Anonymous]

The blade has come out ladies & Gentleman. My MR's are getting hacked apart. Only keeping what I can't live without.

No offense, but those with many years of MR on file have motivated me even more. If I keep keeping 12 issues/year, I will have a serious issue in a few years!

I'm doing this with everything in my house and everywhere in my life as a matter of fact. Slimmin' down. Feels Great!!!

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TEFFY

This years issues are all over the house, but mostly on the floor on my side of the bed. The last 5 years are in the blue binders. After that they go in a 2 gallon zip lock bag and are under the layout in cardboard boxes. Some times if I feel like reading I'll go open an old year and just reread the whole year. The ads make me sick United ATSF 2-8-0 $39.95 and I only bought two.

Bob

Ahhh, finally someone else who reads the old ads. Those of you wielding sharp objects are killing me.[swg]

OK, I admit it. I'm lucky to have the space and money to be able to afford to keep them all in binders and on bookshelves.

The online index is really the key. if someone asks a question, it is a simple task to look up the answer. My reference library is always open, however it is not a lending library.

[Anonymous]

When I buy a Model Railroader Magazine I store it away in a filing box for future reference.

[darth9x9]

I keep a spreadsheet listing the articles that I may need in the future. I take my old issues and store them on a shelf in chorological order for easy retrieval.

[TrainFreak409]

Okay,
I may only be 15. And, I may have only signed up for MR a year ago. But, I have A LOT of train magazines. Let's see, I have MR, Trains, Classic Toy Trains, Garden Railways, MRC, Extra 2200 South, Railfan, and Railroad, S Gaugian, Walthers, Historic Rails, ummm, uh, there's more, I know there is.
And, working at a train store has helped me find very useful magazines. My oldest is from 1953.

I plan to never throw away a train magazine, no matter how much space they take up.

[8]TrainFreak409[8]

[Anonymous]

I have every issue since Sept 1947. There may be other categories than listed in the poll, as I think I save most of them for sentimental reasons rather than future reference....Years ago, I went through all of them, and made up a "future reference" index, and it was pretty well all on structure and detail projects that could be adapted to "today's" materials...although I am not hesitant to use "yesterday's" materials.
I keep them on steel shelving, under the layout, in those 'Bankers Box' foldup boxes, that hold magazines vertically.
The 40's-50's issues I have 3 years in a box....later there are two. For the 80's, a box holds one years' worth.Right now, about 15-16 issues fit in a box.
Even now, every once in a while, I'll get out a box and review some old articles, just for fun, and to reminisce.
I will be re-reading through many of John Armstrong's articles next.
regards;
Mike[:)]

[JoeVoisinSr]

I keep all of my MR magazines, mostly in boxes but I do keep afile on articles of special interest to me. I also like to pick up older issues of MR at model railroad shows. You can usually pick them up for around 50 cents which is a great savings and the information in these older issues is still terrific. Joe Voisin Sr. NW Ohio

[Anonymous]

I have constructed cabinets along one wall of my railroad shop. The bulk of the cabinets have drawers designed so that I can hang my MRs on stainless bars, three years worth to a drawer. I have full years of MR back to 1948, and intermittent copies back to 1937. I also have a listing of every article on locomotives (including drawings), cars, structures, and what have you so I can reference whatever I am working on. Give up a single issue of MR? Never! It is so easy to find railroad related information when you have your own archive and a complete index. Granted, it does take about a half day once a year to keep the index updated, but that is no real hassle with a computer. I do not present this as the best answer or the only answer to the problem of magazine storage. It is quite simply the system that works best for me.

For the thrill of a lifetime, blow some steam up your pant leg.

Tom

[krump]

I'm building a garage for magazine storage

[CBQ_Guy]

I keep all mine for reference. Have all from 1966, IIRC, up to July of 1978, I believe. Then there is a large gap. Started subscribing again around 1990 or so, and have them all up to now. All are packed away in boxes in the basement, but as I work on room prep down there in anticipation of building the "dream layout", shelves will be installed to hold them, and others, too.

Many years ago I used to buy the binders, but they got too expensive, so when I take them out of the boxes, I think I'll just buy some kind of cheap, cardboard bin type holders for magazines and organize them by year.

Finally, I really think those of you who only copy, tear out and keep the articles you're interested in are making a BIG mistake and will be sorry someday. I say this because your interests in the hobby may change at some point in the future, or you may become curious about some other facet, scale, whatever some day, and you won't have the magazines to go looking through for articles on that newly acquired interest. Too late!

[leighant]

I read my Model Railroader several times, then I catalogue it for various information:
Any rolling stock of Santa Fe Rwy. All data catalogued by car class.
Any photos, track diagrams of stations (locations, not just depot buildings) on ATSF.
Any layouts representing Santa Fe prototypes.
Any other Santa Fe information.
Railroads, other (ie other than Santa Fe). I keep detailed catalogues of info on rolling stock & other info on SP, MoPac, other RRs that operated in Texas, AND PRR.
Railroads, general information.
Industry-specific data on traffic and commodities of my 25 or so favorite industries.
Modeling information (general) on casting, couplers and trucks, electrical, freight car modeling, layouts outstandings (about 1 in 4 covered in Model Railroader
locomotives, operations, painting, passenger modeling, photography, scenery, signalling, structure techniques, track.
Structure plans and photographs usable for modeling, filed in about 20 subcategories.
Texas towns.
Texas layouts (located in Texas and model of Texas RRs)
Houston layouts (in and of)
East Texas forest industries and forest-related railroading.

Then I put the magazines in my library. I have some issues back to 1948. The collection is complete only from 1966.
My railroad information file is about 3MB. Sometimes I actually use some of it for modeling!!!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CBQ_Guy
Finally, I really think those of you who only copy, tear out and keep the articles you're interested in are making a BIG mistake and will be sorry someday. I say this because your interests in the hobby may change at some point in the future, or you may become curious about some other facet, scale, whatever some day, and you won't have the magazines to go looking through for articles on that newly acquired interest. Too late!

I totally hear you, but unfortunately, if I kept every piece of paper / article related to my career, hobbies, etc. that I came across that could possibly interest me in the future, I'd probably have a 10,000 square foot library.

Trying to live on the leaner side of life here... (two moves in a year, plus helping a couple other people move has helped shape this attitude. Everyone has a reason for keeping their junk, that's why they have so much)

With the internet, there's even less reason to keep stuff.

At least now I'm mostly a digital packrat. I keep a lot of junk on my computer. By the time my day has come to go (I'm young, so I've got some time here) my offspring will only have to throw away the present day equivalent of a few dvd's! [:)]

[Anonymous]

I put them in a pile until I can go through them & keep the covers & cut all of the informative articles & put them in clear organizer storage envalopes & recycle the rest of the magazine! .............PS; I do wi***hat they'd put them all on CD programs for the computer! Kind of like what MAD Magazine has done. I've got the whole collection with EVERY page on just a few CD's.........."HAPPY RAILS"

[greendiamond]

For those in the recycle mode (magazine relocation-landfill,etc.), you might want to consider any retirement homes, nursing facilities, VA hospitals, scout troops, etc to see if they are interested. Most of these places or groups don't have the funds for subscriptions, but may be willing to take back issues off your hands for others to enjoy.

You might want to take a couple of issues with you to your next doctors appointment and leave them at the office. You know with the rest of the out dated magazines. Maybe someone will pick it up, take it home and get involved with the hobby.

Take some of your old magazines with you to the train shows you may attend and ask some of the parents if it's okay to give some to their children.

Remember if you are going to get rid of them anyway, why not share with others.

November is National Model Railroad Month....Contact your local library.....Maybe they will allow you to give them your magazines to pass out free to their patrons in November.

I too will begin to clip articles I want to save to thin the herd. Some magazines will not have anything removed and those will be donation fodder. The rest will be recycled.


Mike Tyl

[Noah Hofrichter]

I finally signed up for a subscription a few years ago, but I get as many old MR's as I can and I keep them. I've got about thirty of just MR's right now, then about 20 Trains, and about 5 MRC. I used to read the current issue at the library, but then i decided I'd rather have the issues in my library.

Noah

[jfugate]

I store them the same way public libraries do ... vertically in magazine boxes. I order them chronologically and then whenever I do an index search on here, I go to the right box and pull the issue.

I have a complete collection of MR going all the way back into the 1950s. Every now and then I have need to pull an older issue when I'm doing research. I did the "cut out the stuff that looks interesting and save it" route on my old NMRA bulletins, then did an index search on here for a topic and found I had clipped and thrown out the part from that issue I wanted.

No more! I just save them in the cardboard boxes ... you can find them at OfficeMax and OfficeDepot for a reasonable price.

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jfugate

I store them the same way public libraries do ... vertically in magazine boxes. I order them chronologically and then whenever I do an index search on here, I go to the right box and pull the issue.

I have a complete collection of MR going all the way back into the 1950s. Every now and then I have need to pull an older issue when I'm doing research. I did the "cut out the stuff that looks interesting and save it" route on my old NMRA bulletins, then did an index search on here for a topic and found I had clipped and thrown out the part from that issue I wanted.

No more! I just save them in the cardboard boxes ... you can find them at OfficeMax and OfficeDepot for a reasonable price.

Absolutely Joe, if you have the space, don't destroy them. Just yesterday I looked something up when someone here asked a question. There is no substitute for a complete library, especially if you have already paid for the material.[;)]

[Anonymous]

i used to have about 70 of them. But "one who shall not be named" threw them away.[censored][censored][censored][censored][censored][censored]