Railway Magazine : oh dear.....

[gazthomas]

I find there is far too much overlap between RM, Railways Illustrated and Rail Express. I guess there is only so much news to go around

 

[Forty29]

Looking to the future with the rising costs of quality paper, magazine production will become difficult to make a profit, if indeed they make much now, and holding a printed copy will be scarcer and we'll have to rely on electronic copies replacing them. This will be a shame as holding a printed copy is much preferable to downloading.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Comparing the paper quality today in Smith’s RM feels very similar to Private Eye.

 

[Justin Smith]

This will be a shame as holding a printed copy is much preferable to downloading.

I agree completely, no more reading my RWM whilst having my breakfast....

 

[Tubeboy]

As an RM subscriber, I received an email earlier today from Kelsey Media inviting me to BUY a Railway Magazine 2026 calendar. £9.99. I’ll pass.

| Kelsey Media

| Kelsey Media

shop.kelsey.co.uk

 

[birchesgreen]

Vistaprint can do an A3 size one with your own photos for not much more than that.

 

[Justin Smith]

As an RM subscriber, I received an email earlier today from Kelsey Media inviting me to BUY a Railway Magazine 2026 calendar. £9.99. I’ll pass.

| Kelsey Media

| Kelsey Media

shop.kelsey.co.uk

Cheeky buggers ! I wonder how many they'll sell ?!?
I didn't know about that so we bought a Chesterfield Canal Calendar instead, that cost about a Tenner (incl P&P) but one could at least feel good about donating to the canal restoration appeal though TBH it's better quality than the old RWM calendars as well.
I would not have bought the RWM calendar (even at a Fiver) on principle.

 

[Peter C]

Apologies for "bumping" this thread, and especially so because the question I've got isn't really an "oh dear" so much as a simple "oh" -- it just didn't seem worth making a whole new thread about this one question. Does anyone know why the March 2026 edition of The Railway Magazine comes with a copy of the April 2024 edition? I don't know whether all copies are like this -- I got mine from the WHSmith at Plymouth station, and didn't look to see if there were any issues not in the plastic wrapper -- but it just struck me as a bit odd.

I imagine there's probably a really simple reason such as they need to get rid of old stock (the price on the cover was still £5.70 so it's not as if I paid for two, and I'm quite happy to read the April '24 one as it's not one I think I've got), but I'm just curious as to why this is the case. (There's nothing, as far as I can see from a flick through the March '26 issue, to suggest a reason, and the April '24 edition looks like a standard copy -- there was also no way of seeing what was on the other magazine in the wrapper without removing it.)

-Peter

 

[DelW]

I think I remember that being done once before, maybe five or six years ago - again a random old issue bundled with the current one.

My local TGJones (previously WHS) hasn't stocked Railway Magazine since about November, though it has other railway mags. I've been getting mine from Sainsbury's since then.

 

[Peter C]

Thanks for that -- now you've mentioned it being done before, I seem to have a very hazy memory of seeing it somewhere with another railway mag but can't remember any of the details. Interestingly, the Smiths in Plymouth station still has a decent selection of railway magazines, whereas my local Sainsbury's has none!

-Peter

 

[DelW]

I don't need to make a trip to Sainsbury's until sometime next week, but I'm intending to pick up the March issue then. I'll see whether that has the extra copy or not, I think that sometimes these 'extras' are specific to one retailer.

 

[Justin Smith]

My local TGJones (previously WHS) hasn't stocked Railway Magazine since about November, though it has other railway mags. I've been getting mine from Sainsbury's since then.

Does anyone know why ?
Is it a distribution arrangement or simply a fall off in demand ?
Whatever the reason it's a bit sad really....

 

[Jimini]

I don't need to make a trip to Sainsbury's until sometime next week, but I'm intending to pick up the March issue then. I'll see whether that has the extra copy or not, I think that sometimes these 'extras' are specific to one retailer.

They are specific to retail group(s) -- commonly known as 'multi-variants' in the industry.

Does anyone know why ?
Is it a distribution arrangement or simply a fall off in demand ?
Whatever the reason it's a bit sad really....

Distribution arrangement, most likely. Each retail group has a 'range' agreement, which are commonly broken down into sub-categories based on space / store size etc. Magazine publishers typically pay an annual fee to the retail group to list their product(s). Looks like TJG have reduced spend and / or capacity, which has resulted in this particular magazine being 'de-listed'.

 

[Peter C]

I don't need to make a trip to Sainsbury's until sometime next week, but I'm intending to pick up the March issue then. I'll see whether that has the extra copy or not, I think that sometimes these 'extras' are specific to one retailer.

As it happens, I popped into TGJones today and they had the March '26 edition of the Railway Magazine just on its own, without the random extra copy, so I assume it's specific to WHSmith shops?

-Peter

 

[richardlong]

Apologies for "bumping" this thread, and especially so because the question I've got isn't really an "oh dear" so much as a simple "oh" -- it just didn't seem worth making a whole new thread about this one question. Does anyone know why the March 2026 edition of The Railway Magazine comes with a copy of the April 2024 edition? I don't know whether all copies are like this -- I got mine from the WHSmith at Plymouth station, and didn't look to see if there were any issues not in the plastic wrapper -- but it just struck me as a bit odd.

I imagine there's probably a really simple reason such as they need to get rid of old stock (the price on the cover was still £5.70 so it's not as if I paid for two, and I'm quite happy to read the April '24 one as it's not one I think I've got), but I'm just curious as to why this is the case. (There's nothing, as far as I can see from a flick through the March '26 issue, to suggest a reason, and the April '24 edition looks like a standard copy -- there was also no way of seeing what was on the other magazine in the wrapper without removing it.)

-Peter

I’m a subscriber - I didn’t get any old issues bundled in with my subscription copy of March 2026.

 

[rogerfarnworth]

I have been a subscriber to the Railway Magazine for many many years and in fact have a (more or less) complete collection of bound copies stretching back to 1941, however I am losing enthusiasm for that particular publication.
Latest ? No calendar ! Even worse they never gave any notice they weren't doing them any more, I could have bought a nice 2026 calendar at Barrowhill had I known !
Other issues have included the changing size of the publication in May 2025 which is obviously problematic for those of us having our magazines bound. On the subject of which they have also stopped doing the printed yearly index (the last one was 2023's), another reason to make one think twice about bothering to bind ones copies..... Plus there's the lower quality paper leading to poorer picture quality.
One wonder what famous editors of the past would think ? I'd bet Nick Pigott (or any of editors past or present) is far from happy about it all......

I do like the older smaller RMs from the early to mid-20th century!

 

[DelW]

I don't need to make a trip to Sainsbury's until sometime next week, but I'm intending to pick up the March issue then. I'll see whether that has the extra copy or not, I think that sometimes these 'extras' are specific to one retailer.

As it happens, I popped into TGJones today and they had the March '26 edition of the Railway Magazine just on its own, without the random extra copy, so I assume it's specific to WHSmith shops?

-Peter

Having finally remembered to visit the magazine racks during today's Sainsbury's shop, the March RM from there did indeed come on its own without any extras.

 

[Jimini]

Having finally remembered to visit the magazine racks during today's Sainsbury's shop, the March RM from there did indeed come on its own without any extras.

I refer you to my previous post on this matter

 

[DelW]

I refer you to my previous post on this matter

Yes, I'd seen that, I was just tidying up my own loose ends ...