Nostalgia & History > Old RR Magazines

I want to hear what you do with your old railroad magazines, Trains, Classic Trains, Vintage Rails, Pacific Rail News, etc. Do you keep them? DO you stack them up in chronological order? Do you cut out articles you like and toss what's left? Just wondering. I'm cleaning up and have hundreds lying around, trying to figure out what to do with them.

I have about 5000 magazines including every Trains Railroad- Railfan MR RMC going back to the 1960s or earlier as well as all Diesel Era and 2200s Approximately 8 full large bookshelves They are all in order as I like to be able to look stuff up I would recommend keeping them as there is always a market for them If you want to get rid of them try putting them on Ebay or on this sites classified section Or you can always donate them to a local Model railroad club

I've collected all but two TRAINS, and have Pacific News going back to 1967, plus 30 years or more of others (CTC BOARD, R&R, etc.) all in chronogical order on closet shelves in my office. Every once in a while I randomly dig out an issue and re-read it and enjoy seeing what has happened since then. - Tony J.

I have the entire collection of "Trains" (back to Vol 1, Issue 1 in Nov. 1940), and "Classic Trains", with most everything prior to 1980 in protective plastic. I store them chronologically in those plastic magazine holders you can buy at office supply stores. I also have a scattering of other periodicals that have articles of special interest to me. I also have Model Railroader magazines back to the 1980's, but I do not plan to archive them, I just haven't had time to cull them down and just keep special articles of interest.

I had a lot of mags from the 1960s Trains and automobiles. One day I cleaned house and tossed all the magazines. Been kicking my own butt ever since. I did keep books and specific literature from various railroads. Around 1987 I suscribed to Classic Toy Trains, I have every issue (two of the premier!, one unopened) and Trains. Since then I subscribe to Classic Trains as well, I keep them all.

Gonut

I forced myself to get rid of most of them and focus on only buying things I really need. Sold lots to a dealer. I hate to throw them away if someone could use them, but don't have the time or desire to sell them singly. I only kept what I thought I might need for reference. I hit the library once in a while to catch up on Trains. Reading magazines helped me learn alot when I was younger, but my interests are more specific now, so I am more into books or RR paper.

A few years ago I went though all my RR mags and culled about 60%. The ones I kept are logged in a computer database that includes all my railroad printed material -- books, magazines, post cards, timetables, brochures, newspaper articles, etc. That's the only way I can keep track of what I have. I sold a few of the discarded magazines on eBay, but most of the magazines I just took down to my train club and gave away.

Just curious... Does anyone have a complete (or largely so) collection of the DRGW's Green Light newsletter/magazine? I have a couple of them and have considered trying to put together a collection of them.
Just wondering whether anyone has done so, and whether the magazine was consistently interesting over the years? (Actually, didn't it start out as a plain-paper newsletter, and eventually become a thin four-color magazine?)
Does anyone know when the first one was issued, and how often they came out (It may have changed over the years)?
Anyone with ideas on how I might get started collecting them, I'd love to hear from you (I hate to try to do it one or two issues at a time)...
Take care,
-Wes

Regarding the previous question, you might try joining the DRGW Yahoo Group and ask the question there, if you haven't done this already.

DRGW Wrote:
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> Just curious... Does anyone have a complete (or
> largely so) collection of the DRGW's Green Light
> newsletter/magazine? I have a couple of them and
> have considered trying to put together a
> collection of them.
> Just wondering whether anyone has done so, and
> whether the magazine was consistently interesting
> over the years? (Actually, didn't it start out as
> a plain-paper newsletter, and eventually become a
> thin four-color magazine?)
> Does anyone know when the first one was issued,
> and how often they came out (It may have changed
> over the years)?
> Anyone with ideas on how I might get started
> collecting them, I'd love to hear from you (I hate
> to try to do it one or two issues at a time)...
> Take care,
> -Wes


I think the Green Light is pretty old, so trying to assemble a complete collection would be quite an expensive and time consuming challenge. I seem to remember that the Speed Lettering Rio Grande logo was a result of a contest that ran in the Green Light.