Model Railway Journal

paratom

paratom

Western Thunderer
Today I popped into Newport, not to see that magnificent transporter bridge but to buy my copy of Model Railway Journal which I have been buying since the first issue came out. It will be my last trip to a W H Smith on the high street to buy my copy as readers will be aware that they are closing all their high street stores. I couldn't help think that this is not good news for the MRJ as I would imagine a lot of their readers buy the magazine in the high street and W H Smith being only one of the shops that seem to sell it although I did manage to pick up a copy in a local news agent in Dolgellau a few years ago. I hope I hadn't deprived a local fine scale modeller who had asked the shop to get them a copy.
Not a problem you may ask as the issue can be resolved buy buying a subscription which I will have to do in the future. Unfortunately the publishers haven't kept up with the times and I will have to try and find a cheque book, if I can remember what one looks like and post them a cheque for half a years subscription. I suspect that they aren't taking a full years subscription because the don't want to commit to a years publication. I do hope they sort out an easier way of paying for a subscription and this will be the catalyst for Cygnet Magazines to offer online shopping but luckily I did manage to find a cheque book, I just hope the Banks continue issuing them.
 
WM183

WM183

Western Thunderer
I don't understand the obsession with checks in the UK. Pardon, cheques.

You cannot cash, deposit, write, or otherwise use a check in any way here in Holland. I cannot write a check even if I want to, and I cannot cash or deposit one if it is sent to me.

Strange.
 
RichardS

RichardS

Active Member
WM183 said:
I don't understand the obsession with checks in the UK. Pardon, cheques.

You cannot cash, deposit, write, or otherwise use a check in any way here in Holland. I cannot write a check even if I want to, and I cannot cash or deposit one if it is sent to me.

Strange.
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I don't think many here in UK are obsessed with cheques (check is the American spelling btw) I cannot remember the last time I wrote one. There are a few old fashioned businesses and a few older people who still use them. They often claim it a virtue that they have not moved into the 20th century let alone the 21st.
I seldom carry cash these days.
 
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DavidB

Western Thunderer
I wrote a cheque this morning to pay 3 bills for our cars. I always pay them by cheque. If a trader wants paying by bank transfer (as the thatcher did last month), then they have to wait until I go somewhere where there is a bank. I am not a banker and have no idea how to use internet banking. There are now no banks between Exeter and Barnstaple, a distance of more than 40 miles and few post offices.

My wife runs a literary branch which meets four times a year. Some people pay cash on the door but many pay by cheque. It is not unusual to have about 15 cheques to pay in after a meeting. Card machines are too expensive and not viable.

I use cash for most purchases under £20, otherwise a debit card.

MRJ disappeared from our locality a few years ago when the newsagent closed. Smiths in Exeter was the only place left where MRJ could be browsed and bought.
 
timbowales

timbowales

Western Thunderer
For "enthusiast" magazines in my part of Carmarthenshire it is High Street WHS in Carmarthen, Llanelli or Swansea or nothing. When they go we will be left with one on Swansea High Street Station but that doesn't carry all the magazines that the other three do. Sad.
 
John57sharp

John57sharp

Western Thunderer
Our local newsagent/sweet shop/vapes and duck food shop - the delightfully named Cosmic News - always gets a stack of MRJs and seems to sell them all, though I’m yet to meet a fellow buyer in store…..

Titfield will sell you a subscription AND they take cheques.(I think)
 
John57sharp

John57sharp

Western Thunderer
Sometimes,if I miss an issue or 2, I buy them direct from Titfield and add in something else to make the postage worthwhile.
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
So, is there any way to get MRJ posted to the door, without using a cheque, as I no longer have a chequebook, and apart from possibly subscribing to MRJ have no conceivable need for one?

I model, but do not live in the early years of the previous century! I don’t use cash unless absolutely necessary either.

I’m happy with BACS or Direct Debit, both of which are free for buyer and seller, and extremely convenient.
 
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Simon H

Western Thunderer
I still go into our high street WHS and buy RM and (sometimes) MRJ. When we lived in Kent, I'd go into Ashford to buy my other regular, Continental Modeller, but it's not available (even to order) from Ross WHS so I usually pop to Hereford Model Centre for my copy.
RM and the other large circulation mags are available in several outlets in Ross, along with a wide selection of magazines about tractors and shotguns.
Most of the things like society subscriptions that I formerly used cheques for now seem to accept either PayPal or direct card payment, though I do still have a cheque book...somewhere!
I've got to pop into town later, to do a BACS transfer for an item bought via a forum; not a problem as it's only a 5 minute walk. I've tried to set up Internet banking, but each time either one or the other of the two activation letters the bank send (a couple of days apart) has either gone astray or I've lost it while waiting for the other one to arrive.
When I left railway employment last year, there was still a notice up in the ticket office, dated 2015, regarding personal cheques no longer being accepted; when I bought a ticket at Gloucester Station last Saturday, a notice in the window announced that no cheques at all would now be accepted. I guess that sooner or later, banks will cease supplying new books and, eventually, dealing with them at all. Where this leaves people who still wish to use them, I've no idea.
Simon.
 
Flaxfield

Flaxfield

Western Thunderer
I normally get mine from either Simon at Titfield or the WHS in Cardiff.
I've also bought from the lovely people at Booklaw.

However, buying from either Simon or Booklaw is fraught with danger as I always look for something else so that I get ' value for money ' for the postage cost.............

Rob
 
Ian@StEnochs

Ian@StEnochs

Western Thunderer
Postal Order?, still available to buy at post offices, if you can find one.

The demise of cash and cheques in favour of only electronic funds may not be such a good thing. I recently listened to the Radio 4 drama, ‘Money Gone’ which deals with the fallout if/when electronic cash fails. It is 4 episodes but we’ll worth a listen.

Ian.
 
Eastsidepilot

Eastsidepilot

Western Thunderer
I get my copy direct from the publishers, but there is Newsstand and Papers Direct who supply all types of mags. but postage is added. From the publisher it seems to be post free, 4 x £6.50 =£24.00
As for those who don't do internet banking and want to buy with cash or cheque then whilst we still have cheques use the publisher.

It's the same problem with Doctors for the mainly elderly who are supposed to book an appointment by email according to our so called government ? so what do they do if they do not have email access ? ..........off topic now :D
 
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DavidB

Western Thunderer
Eastsidepilot said:
It's the same problem with Doctors for the mainly elderly who are supposed to book an appointment by email according to our so called government ? so what do they do if they do not have email access ? ..........off topic now :D
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Indeed, off-topic, but we do not have the facility to book appointments remotely. The phone takes an eternity; usually they phone you back anything up to 2 hours later, usually when you have just popped to the loo! Making an appointment in person involves being 'triaged' then sent an appointment by text or phone message which you cannot respond to because they do not receive replies. This means yet another trip to the surgery to make an appointment at a convenient time, anything up to 8 weeks ahead. Doctors are like policemen - invisible!
 
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James Spooner

James Spooner

Western Thunderer
I must confess to maintaining a chequebook solely for my MRJ subscription. I have about twenty cheques left in the book so that will be good for another ten years…

Nigel
 
jonte

jonte

Western Thunderer
DavidB said:
Indeed, off-topic, but we do not have the facility to book appointments remotely. The phone takes an eternity; usually they phone you back anything up to 2 hours later, usually when you have just popped to the loo! Making an appointment in person involves being 'triaged' then sent an appointment by text or phone message which you cannot respond to because they do not receive replies. This means yet another trip to the surgery to make an appointment at a convenient time, anything up to 8 weeks ahead. Doctors are like policeman - invisible!
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They won’t remain invisible to you for long if keep using the term police’man/men’ online ;)

Anyway, they’re way too busy penning narratives for their political masters to be interested in policing your property, David.

Show them some respect :p
 
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alant

Western Thunderer
I tend to buy MRJ and occasionally other railway modelling magazines from WHS as I can usually browse the content before deciding if to buy.

When WHS close, browsing will obviously not be possible and I sometimes find the content in MRJ not always of interest. I know Simon at Titfield tends to list the content in MRJ but you cannot beat a look for yourself.
 
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