Phil's lecture

Just over a week ago, I gave a talk to the Lutterworth Railway Society. Entitled "The Joys of Model Railway Publishing", I used my "career" writing for model railway, and other magazines as the basis for a look at how publishing for our hobby has changed over the years. It's an interesting world. Those early articles were wordy, and light on photos. Tony Wright shot my first layout on a medium-format camera, and took 12 images. Yes, just 12. When I come back from a shoot, I'm looking to have 50+ to choose from, and that's the stacked ones. The process can involve 1500 pictures taken on the day. A bigger change has taken place with practical articles though. A picture is worth a thousand words, and they are so much easier to take now. No more waiting nervously for the photos to be processed, knowing that it wouldn't be possible to reshoot them. Reproduction is better now, so we show people what to do, instead of just telling them. There are also articles I no longer need to write.…