Continental Modeller Jumps the Shark

I'm not sure quite when Continental Modeller jumped the shark, but it has. The magazine has completely succumbed to the 'narrow gauge disease' that has afflicted it's parent magazine.

If you're interested in standard-gauge mainline modelling, especially with modern diesel and electric operation, January's issue is very thin indeed. They've gone into obscurity in a big way, the railway equivalent of the John Peel Show on an off-night. We have the following:

• Six pages of Peruvian 3' gauge, with all photographs of the same class of loco.
• Six more about narrow gauge line in Germany, 100% operated by railcars.
• Four pages of scale drawings of a Bosnian Klose articulated tank engine (last one withdrawn in 1967) with an absurdly complicated system of connecting rods. Only a skilled engineer working in a large scale could hope to build one.
• Four more pages of Cumbres and Toltec (3' again)
• Four pages of a Dutch 60cm diorama.
• Another couple of pages on a narrow gauge layout set in Cuba.
• Another page wasted on a stupid 15" gauge tourist railway in Tasmania.

This has gone beyond parody. I'm beginning to think we'll be seeing more D&E era continental stuff in MRM!

Why are Peco Publications so obsessed with narrow gauge? The Railway Modeller often gets criticised for too much emphasis on narrow gauge, but recent issues of CM seem to indicate it's getting even worse. Not that I'm against narrow gauge in small doses, it's just that I object to two-thirds of what was once a worthwhile magazine to be taken up something that represents a tiny fraction of the world's railways.