Circulation of N Scale Magazine and N Scale Railroading?

[casmmr]

I have been a model railroader off and on (more on than off) since 1964.  In that time I have purchased most of the mags at my LHS which closed about 2005.  Since then, I subscribe to only one mag.  The rest of the info I now get from the net.  I have 4 children, 25-35 years of age.  None of them take a printed mag, only on line mags.  How many here subscribe to Model Railroad Hobbyist?  This is the future of model railroad publishing.  Cry all you want, the days of printed material are drawing to a close, just like the days of the buggy manufacturer and the buggy whip maker.  This may be harsh, but, if you want to keep using printed material, join the Amish, you can then also use a horse and buggy, kerosene lamps and other 19th century items.

[kelticsylk]

If magazine sales and availability are a measure of the modelling population, there are a lot of Germans.  I think there are also a number of UK magazines.

I think you bring up a valid point. In countries where trains are still a big part of everyday life the hobby seems to be thriving. Switzerland, Germany, Japan and others still have passenger service that actually serve passengers. They are intercity, not commuter.

There are whole generations of Americans who have no idea about trains. The trains they do see are plain brown wrapper freights. Not even something to read on the sides, just alphabet. Trains use to catch the attention of the general public, not just railfans. Railroads have no "stage presence" in America today.

This lack of interest leads to lower magazine sales, leaner model selection and a dearth of hobby shops.

[Rossford Yard]

Interesting on the E subs. I re-upped MR and added the E magazine feature.

I'm not totally sure why the govt. requires subscription/circulation info be published annually, or in a continual deficit situation, maintain any sort of monitoring of that, but if they continue to do so, I gather its time for them to add e magazines to their laws.......

[havingfuntoo]

I stop my subscriptions to the model magazines when the drawings stopped. I keep checking to see if there has been a change in content .... no  change. In actual fact it seems to be getting worse ...... the articles seem to me to push companies that advertise and the unbiased opinion is now gone.   

[Chris333]

They publish the numbers as part of an advertising audit I believe. You could tell the mag you want to put an ad in, they tell you it will be in 100,000 issues and charge you for it, but then only print 10,000 copies and you would be screwed.

[OldEastRR]

I'm wondering how many modelers have stopped reading Model Railroad News since now it is almost only HO and large gauge stuff reviewed. Another magazine that should have "HO" added as the first word of it's title.