BRM- March 2024 Issue

 I picked up my copy from the local newsagent expecting to be charged around £6.75. Imagine my consternation when the lady asked for £9.99! "This had better be good", I thought as I stumped up wearing my best poker face and walked back to the car.

Back at the ranch, I made a coffee and scrutinised the contents. A good deal of excellent content- James Hilton's sublime Lochdubh in 2mm with big logo 37s. Very tasty! James has the chops to make even a shelf layout look like something rather larger... I believed the captions where it said "heading back to Inverness".

Elsewhere in the mag, a wondrous evocation of the 1880s, "Oakhurst Town" in 7mm. Gorgeous locos, not a pannier in sight. The Mansell "Gunboat" model has started me on a quest to find out more about this class. Everything on the layout is a bit too clean, but that's a matter for taste, I guess. I can't fault it otherwise. Great photos, too.

Speaking of photos, "Brunswick Yard" (00) has some stonking shots. This is a layout from an ex P4 pundit, who returned to 00 for the sake of reliable running. I'm not going down that rabbit hole, but I will say that the layout is stunning, and awoke some of the old black magic in me. My eyes roamed round the room looking for a class 37 and some plywood for a baseboard. It all seems so achievable, but I don't think many of us have the chops that Peter Degnan has. His locos brood, needing to get out on the main line- and the model fitters and structures on the layout make me believe they are trying their best. What a layout.

Robin Gay's P4  "Rolvenden" is also a masterpiece, put me in mind a little of Nigel Adams, but Robin's locos and rolling stock are so very sweet. Full of Col. Stephens atmosphere. Some good description in the article, nice photos too- very enjoyable.

Other highlights are Mike Russell doing a superb paint job on an Ellis Clark Presflo Cement wagon in 7mm. It looks so real at the end, with lots of tips on how to get there.

Tony Wright has a great feature on tarting up a Hornby open wagon that cost 50p from a model shop second hand bin. The result is really nice and had me thinking about a couple of wagons in my box of doubtfulness. He sweetens up a £20 Lima 45XX too, although I think that's beyond help... actually, second thoughts, it's not bad.

Mike Russell strikes again with an article about 3D printing, modding to be precise. I can't comment on that, being an old Luddite.

Then, the safest pair of hands in the business, Phil Parker, takes us through part-building a laser cut signal box kit. He always has something handy to impart and this was no exception. I hope they remember to put part two in next month's mag. There's also a feature about constructing a whitemetal fire engine in 7mm. It's a useful "vehicle" to talk about soldering and a few other techniques, so full marks for that. Whilst exquisitely built, I just keep thinking "Camberwick Green" and can't take it seriously. Never mind, some really good advice in the feature.

"How to animate your layout" by David Lund deals with adding street furniture to an N gauge street- I somehow thought it meant make the model vehicles move? A bit disappointing, I'd like an article about that.

One of the highlights of the magazine for me was the feature on the Embsay & Bolton Abbey steam railway, my kind of line, lots of industrials, nice structures...after reading this, Petra and I will be visiting this year.

Hornby

There is a four page feature, looking suspiciously like advertorial, about Hornby. Interesting since it includes an interview with the new brand manager, Martin Weaver. I can perhaps now see some of the reasoning behind what seemed (to me) inexplicable decisions, such as the Beatles branded models, or the dumbing down of some of the range into "Railroad" models. I'll have to wait and see. But it's nice to see that there is a young team at the helm, that can only be a good thing.

There's some super photography in the "Community" pages from the usual suspects, I see Ruston is on form!

There are the reviews, which replicate pretty much what every other mag has said, but perhaps with a little less objectivity. I approve of the "What we liked" box, but there should be a "What we didn't like" as well.

The take away...

My take-away is that this is one of the best BRM's of late, well up to standard and worth the usual price of  £5.49. But here's the elephant in the room- we are treated to an issue of "Traction" stapled in to the centre, 30 odd pages of modern stuff- which I quite enjoyed. But I didn't want it. Neither did I want the DVD "free" with the mag. I would rather have just gone without them and paid my money...six quid, even, for such a good mag. I suppose subscribers get all this lot thrown in with the subscription, so that's fine. And if I'd seen this in Sniffs, the extra stuff and the price would have made me walk off. But the nice lady at the newsagents orders it in for me and I couldn't very well turn to her and say "I'm not taking that." Since I buy quite a few mags from her every month, she won't feel the fact that I've cancelled my sub with her very keenly, but I think Warners should "think on". I can't be the only one.