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Title: | Motive Power Monthly |
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| Author: | n/a |
| Publisher: | Ian Allan |
| Format: | Magazine |
| Subject: | Railways |
| Category: | News |
| Spec: | A5, stapled, 48-64 pages, numerous B&W and some colour photos |
| Publication date: | 1986-1991 |
| Summary: | Ian Allan developed a portfolio of magazines intended for different sections of the market. Motive Power Monthly, as the name suggests, was for those interested in current rolling stock. |
| Review: | Motive Power Monthly was a rebranding of Modern Railways Pictorial, itself an offshoot of Modern Railways. As an aside, Modern Railways covered major wagon developments up to the mid 1980s. MPM started off with a regular wagons column written by Roger Silsbury. This ran to two or three pages and was often accompanied by one or two pages of large photographs. The content was a mixture of news and background information and the articles featured in most issues until the magazine's demise in 1991. There were also articles on freight flows and yards and works (such as Carlisle Currock) that featured photos and information on the relevant wagon types. |
| Reviewed: | 16/07/2015 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)
Although branded as new, MPM was a re-titling of Modern Railways Pictorial.
As with its previous incarnation as Modern Railways Pictorial, the new title contained a mixture of news and features, with an emphasis on photographic coverage. Most issues included a few pages of colour photos.
There was text too, including coverage of rolling stock news using the familiar 'class-by-class' format.
From the start there were pages devoted to wagons and to departmental stock, these included a mixture of news and features.
Departmental stock was covered, early issues giving an overview of the various types, numbering schemes etc. Later on, the pages were usually either news updates or features on particular aspects.
Transfers and other stock changes were detailed each month, though the format was not as clear as some other magazines. For example, note how the news here is split into sections for September part two and October part one.
The use of colour printing was limited but it was spread evenly across the news, features and 'specialist' columns, the latter including wagons.
Feature articles were varied, covering locations, traffic flows, rolling stock types and other aspects such as photography. The rolling stock features reviewed the history of particular types with text, data and photos. Types covered were not limited to locomotives. For example, this was the first of two articles looking at the humble EPB units. |
| Notes: |
No notes have been left yet. ?There may be some notes posted but which have not yet been approved.
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| Edits: | This item has not been edited.
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Although branded as new, MPM was a re-titling of Modern Railways Pictorial.
As with its previous incarnation as Modern Railways Pictorial, the new title contained a mixture of news and features, with an emphasis on photographic coverage. Most issues included a few pages of colour photos.
There was text too, including coverage of rolling stock news using the familiar 'class-by-class' format.
From the start there were pages devoted to wagons and to departmental stock, these included a mixture of news and features.
Departmental stock was covered, early issues giving an overview of the various types, numbering schemes etc. Later on, the pages were usually either news updates or features on particular aspects.
Transfers and other stock changes were detailed each month, though the format was not as clear as some other magazines. For example, note how the news here is split into sections for September part two and October part one.
The use of colour printing was limited but it was spread evenly across the news, features and 'specialist' columns, the latter including wagons.
Feature articles were varied, covering locations, traffic flows, rolling stock types and other aspects such as photography. The rolling stock features reviewed the history of particular types with text, data and photos. Types covered were not limited to locomotives. For example, this was the first of two articles looking at the humble EPB units.