Loading timer

LTSV > Rail Data > More > Reviews List > Review Details
Title:Rail Enthusiast / Rail Review image
Author:n/a
Publisher:EMAP, Peterborough
Format:Magazine
Subject:Railways
Category:News
Spec:A4, stapled, c.64 pages, initially mainly B&W photos, later in full colour
Publication date:1981-present
Summary:Started in 1981, Rail Enthusiast (later just Rail) was initially targetted at people interested in modern trains, with a strict 'no-steam' policy.
Review:Bob Wallace has a lot to answer for! The first of his 'Wagons Roll' columns appeared in the June 1984 issue of what was then Rail Enthusiast, and it opened my eyes to an aspect of the railway I had barely noticed before. The articles were an interesting mix of news, background information and type profiles, with the odd bit of nostalgia, and several photographs were included each time. Rail Enthusiast became plain 'Rail' in 1988 and switched from monthly to fortnightly in 1989, with Wagons Roll appearing in alternate issues. Later issues carried fleet changes for each month although pressure of space meant that these were mainly limited to the air-braked railway-owned types. The privatisation of BR caused the supply of information to dry up and for a while the articles were predominantly pictorial. The March 1996 issue carried the last article by Bob Wallace, after which coverage became very intermittent and limited. The magazine became more and more targetted at railway professionals and featured less about the trains and more about the business of running trains. It is worth mentioning the Departmental Developments column by Roger Butcher. These appeared in almost every issue across the same time span (1984 to 1996) and often covered departmental wagons as well as the more usual coaching stock and on-track plant. Location reports were often produced and there were regular updates on the internal user fleets.
Reviewed:12/04/2009 by Thomas Young (Comments made by others can appear in the notes section towards the bottom of this page)
Sample pages:(Click on any image to view full-sized in a new window)
Page image Rail Enthusiast magazine has started as a bi-monthly in 1981, but by 1985 it was being published every month.
Page image The 'Wagons Roll' column started in 1984 and gave news updates on the wagon fleets. For the first few years, each issue also included a wagon profile, detailing a particular type.
Page image News about locomotives and multiple units was presented in a class-by-class format. For the first few years of the magazine, topical pages were printed on yellow paper!
Page image Transfers and other changes were tabulated in 'All Change', usually at the back of the magazine. The presentation was very clear and logical.
Page image Roger Butcher's Departmental Developments column was usually entertaining, managing to include some humour and nostalgia. As well as news, this often had features on stock that could be found at particular locations.
Page image From the mid-1980s, individual changes to the coach fleet were listed each month, resulting in pages full of numbers for the crunchers.
Page image Updates on the departmental coach and internal user fleets were regularly included, these containing a lot of interesting background information.
Page image For a while the wagons column provided detailed fleet updates each month.
Page image As well as detailing additions to the departmental fleets, Roger Butcher's column also regularly provided information about disposals.
Page image By the mid-1990s coverage of wagons and departmentals became patchy, especially following the launch of competitor Rail Express in 1996. Rail seemed to be becoming more about the business of running trains than about the trains themselves.
Notes: No notes have been left yet. ?There may be some notes posted but which have not yet been approved.
Edits:This item has not been edited.