>>> r a i l o h i o . c o m Trains, cameras, food, anime. Who needs more? |
||||
|
>>> The Real Value of Magazines
Sunday, October 25, 2009 I was digging through a friend's sash of railroad magazines last night helping him catalog his collection and give it some semblance of organization. For my troubles, we were working until after 1:00am, he let me take home a small stack of magazines. I ended up taking twenty issues of various titles including Rail Classics, Railway Quarterly, Railfan & Railroad, Trains, Railroad Model Craftsman, and Passenger Train Journal; the oldest issue is from 1960, the newest from 1995. In spite of that each issue has something in common: at least one article I'm interested in reading. But what about the rest of each issue? Surely I can enjoy more than a dozen pages out of each, right? Sure I can! That is the real value of reading and collecting magazines, I will eventually read and learn about something I don't have a strong interest in. The Internet has bred a generation of self-centered railroad enthusiasts, for lack of a better term. Everyone follows the same message boards with the people they like and there's no cross-talk of ideas or interests. Modelers rarely seem to understand how railroads actually work. Steam fans can't fathom how anybody finds a diesel to be interesting. Simply put, Internet railfans are too focused on their own interests to form a broader knowledge of railroading. How are magazines different? Each issues will undoubtedly have "good" and "bad" articles, that is, those we find of interest and those we don't. We will eventually read everything in the magazine, however, even the "bad" articles. We have paid for all the content, we might as well read it, right? As individual bits these extra articles don't seem like much at first but after reading a decade's worth of magazines a greater pool of knowledge is formed. I still find the 1960s and 1970s obsession with steam in Trains magazine to be incredibly boring, but at the same time I have learned a great deal about railroading in another generation. I still believe that the best railroad education comes from printed media. User-generated "Web 2.0" content can only take us so far. There are literally tens of thousands of old magazines floating around at train shows and swap meets for pocket change each. Maybe next time spend ten bucks and pick out a couple that look interesting and give them a try. What you learn from them will be greater than a night spent on The Gauge. Labels: railfan Posted by Brian at 1:16 PM |
>>> About Me Brian M. Schmidt is a freelance writer and photographer from northwest Ohio. View my complete profile >>> Links Cafe Unknown Last Otaku Standing Rambling West route99west.com/addendum Under the Weather Blog World Scott >>> Previous Posts
>>> Archives
>>> Colophon All content © , Brian M. Schmidt Powered by Blogger Site design by route99west Atom feed here RSS Feed here |
|||
<< Home