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The Mainline => Baggage Car - Daily Chat => Topic started by: NEMMRRC on September 30, 2018, 09:51:37 AM

Title: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: NEMMRRC on September 30, 2018, 09:51:37 AM
I have a LOT of old model railroad magazines. It's a variety of the major publications. I've subscribed over many years and collected past issues. I no longer want all that paper.

What to do with all those magazines?

I have a couple of the digital collections so I can use that for reference.

Any suggestions besides thrown them in the garbage ?

Thanks for your input.

Jaime
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: S&S RR on September 30, 2018, 10:07:36 AM
Jaime


I'm going through the same process. I have boxes full of magazines stored under the layout, most of which were stored before the digital versions were available.  I made the decision to get rid of all my paper versions, EXCEPT for the GAZETTE.
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: ACL1504 on September 30, 2018, 10:37:10 AM
I went through the process as well.

I offered all 500+ I had to the local railroad clubs, FREE! No takers.

I offered them FREE to the local hobby shop and suggested they sell them for $1 each. No deal.

I offered them to other modelers, FREE! No takers.

The City Garbage Collector took them all for FREE.

Tom  ;D
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: ACL1504 on September 30, 2018, 10:38:02 AM
Just go ahead and throw them out and save yourselves a lot of trouble.

Tom  8)
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: Vietnam Seabee on September 30, 2018, 10:55:09 AM
Tom...I wish I had known...I would have taken them as I could have driven over (from Lee Rd and Edgewater) and picked them up...oh wait.....my wife would have 'blown a gasket' as she's trying to downsize ;-))

Terry
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: bparrish on September 30, 2018, 11:06:29 AM
Possible solution.....

Carry a few issues with you to various doctor offices and the like.

Leave them behind as a recruiting strategy.   

similarly...  some schools will accept them in their "take it " area for anyone who might come along. 

Just an idea.

See ya
Bob
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: EricQuebec on September 30, 2018, 11:09:47 AM
The only one problem I see for taken all to the garbage is :
In some very old issue of RMC, or MR we can fund some little jewel of draw that take a very good model today. (for example, the Oct 1955 issue of RMC, for the Lloyd Geibner article,and that G. Sellios have done, or some very interesting article about E. S Tenement  row).
But that's right that the recent issue of this magazines have no more value than the paper where they're printed.
Just an opinion
Eric
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: NEMMRRC on September 30, 2018, 11:26:03 AM
Quote from: bparrish on September 30, 2018, 11:06:29 AM
Possible solution.....

Carry a few issues with you to various doctor offices and the like.

Leave them behind as a recruiting strategy.   

similarly...  some schools will accept them in their "take it " area for anyone who might come along. 

Just an idea.

See ya
Bob

Great idea !

Jaime
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: NEMMRRC on September 30, 2018, 11:26:43 AM
Quote from: EricQuebec on September 30, 2018, 11:09:47 AM
The only one problem I see for taken all to the garbage is :
In some very old issue of RMC, or MR we can fund some little jewel of draw that take a very good model today. (for example, the Oct 1955 issue of RMC, for the Lloyd Geibner article,and that G. Sellios have done, or some very interesting article about E. S Tenement  row).
But that's right that the recent issue of this magazines have no more value than the paper where they're printed.
Just an opinion
Eric

I plan to harvest those jewels before letting go of my "stash".

Jaime
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: Janbouli on September 30, 2018, 03:19:16 PM
I like the idea of giving them to a school , maybe the crafts teacher at a school to give to interested children.
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: NEMMRRC on September 30, 2018, 04:40:34 PM
Quote from: Janbouli on September 30, 2018, 03:19:16 PM
I like the idea of giving them to a school , maybe the crafts teacher at a school to give to interested children.
I'll ask around to see if that's an option where I live.

Jaime
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: ACL1504 on September 30, 2018, 04:59:24 PM
Quote from: EricQuebec on September 30, 2018, 11:09:47 AM
The only one problem I see for taken all to the garbage is :
In some very old issue of RMC, or MR we can fund some little jewel of draw that take a very good model today. (for example, the Oct 1955 issue of RMC, for the Lloyd Geibner article,and that G. Sellios have done, or some very interesting article about E. S Tenement  row).
But that's right that the recent issue of this magazines have no more value than the paper where they're printed.
Just an opinion
Eric

I forgot to mention I pulled out all the articles and pictures I was interested in.

Tom ;D
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: ACL1504 on September 30, 2018, 05:00:10 PM
Quote from: Vietnam Seabee on September 30, 2018, 10:55:09 AM
Tom...I wish I had known...I would have taken them as I could have driven over (from Lee Rd and Edgewater) and picked them up...oh wait.....my wife would have 'blown a gasket' as she's trying to downsize ;-))

Terry


Terry,

I got rid of them some 15 years ago.  8)  I had them back in the 40's to late 90's.

Tom  ;D
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: vinceg on September 30, 2018, 05:06:05 PM
Man....yet another timely topic. I'm cleaning out under my layout as well as I prepare to do more wiring and other work. I also want to just dump a zillion issues of MRR and other mags but I keep thinking there will be a couple of things I want to keep. The reality is that I can probably find stuff as good or better on the Internet now, but there are a few jewels as others have said. Maybe I could just focus on saving the full color pictures of the FSM ads that used to come out.....
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: KentuckySouthern on March 17, 2025, 10:32:35 AM
Bump
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: Philip on March 17, 2025, 10:38:41 AM
I have a collection back to the 60's I'll never sell ...sinister laughingggggggg ;D

Philip
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: Dave Buchholz on March 17, 2025, 10:46:01 AM
IN particular Diagrams or blueprints can come in handy. I have a bunch of Narrow Gauge Gazette issues to "unburden what has been" lying around. But the were some Blueprints I want to copy first, before they head to Ebay.
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: jbvb on March 17, 2025, 12:49:47 PM
I've been having my old MRs, RMCs, Trains etc bound into books; they're shelved underneath my layout.  I should see if I can still find a binder.  If I want to get rid of any, the early December NEMTE show in Marlboro MA has a "free" area for unwanted books and magazines.  I don't recall us having any left to recycle on recent Sunday afternoons.
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: Bernd on March 18, 2025, 11:57:06 AM
I should open up a library. Here's a pic of all my Model Railroader's from 1963 to 2008. Gave up on MR when there was nothing but buy new and DCC articles. They lost me when they stopped printing articles like E.L. Moore used to write. Also have the same in RMC and still getting them. Have all the Mainline magazines plus the full DVD plus magazines articles for The Narrow Gauge 7 Shortline Gazette. Plus a few other from days gone by.

A picture of the MR's

MRmagazines.JPG

Bernd

Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: Rick on March 18, 2025, 06:56:10 PM
I know it's already been mentioned, but I gave all my magazines to the HO club I belonged to.
They give them away to kids during their open house events.
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: robert goslin on March 19, 2025, 04:05:45 AM
I had all the 1980's ones, 10 years complete, and many other years, of model railroader.

A local hobby shop used to have a vast collection of these 2nd hand magazines.
I went to them to offer them for free.  They told me no one wants the old ones and they had just disposed of 6 pallet loads from their stock, and a lot more to go.
I even offered them to local NMRA members, no takers.

I ended up cutting out any articles I wanted, usually only a few pages out of a whole magazine, and now keep those in a folder.
The rest of the magazine just went in the paper recycling bin.
Of course all those articles I did keep, are barely looked at, so they'll probably go in the bin eventually too.
The articles I mainly kept where by or about, Malcolm Furlow & George Sellios.
Title: Re: What to do with old model railroad magazines?
Post by: Larry C on March 19, 2025, 04:55:55 PM
I went though the same scenario a few years back. Kept a couple of 1972 MR's and a years worth of NGSL gazette; just couldn't part with the Gazettes with the shiny covers. Those I do look at every so often.