11-21-2009, 02:56 PM
I think it also depends on your interest in the prototype. I model Santa Fe in the Southwest, Southern California in particular. None of the modeling magazines have very much southwest scenery articles. At the NMRA National convention in Anaheim in July of 2008, I attended a scenery clinic put on by Miles Hale. He is from Missouri and works as a spokesman for Woodland Scenics also a Missouri company. What he models is Missouri scenery, which looks nothing like the Southwest. The climate and rainfall of each part of the country dictates what the scenery will look like for the area you model. I belong to the Santa Fe Modeling and Historical Society and subscribe to the Warbonnet. I also get the free subscription on line to Model Railroad Hobbyist. I buy magazines off the news stand only if they have content specific to my interests. Since Model Railroader is from Milwaukee and most of their writers that are not from that area are from New England, there is seldom anything in MR that is of interest unless there is something from Andy Sperendeo on Cajon Pass or David Barrows on the Santa Fe. RMC is better, but most of their content refers more to the East Coast or mid west.