Body

Magazines - A review of publications available for the Austrian market

by Tim Goody

Eisenbahn

After the serious problems of last year (mentioned in previous Journals) when pressure from the OBB in response to unwelcome criticism led to a disastrous attempt to revamp the magazine, a new publisher has taken over. Surprisingly this is a Swiss firm, Minirex Verlag; of Luzem. Alfred Horn is still editor, assisted by some of the same team as before; otbcrs have dropped out as a result of disillusionment and those who worked for the OBB acre inhibited by threats of disciplinary action if they revealed internal problems. Publication abroad will presumably ensure editorial freedom and the magazine has returned more or less to what it was before. It is still printed by Bohmanri in Vienna. The format has been changed somewhat, generally for the better The very small photographs that were typical have been made bigger and many of them are now in colour. Some of the articles are fairly technical and require an advanced knowledge of technical German. Historical articles and news items indicate that the editor has an interest in the railways of the former 4ustro-Hungarian empire. The model railway section has been reduced to 2 pages at the

Eisenbahn: Minirex Verlag, Postfach 3720, CH-6002 Luzern. Annual subscription S.790

Schienenverkehr aktuell:

This magazine is aimed more at the railway enthusiast and originally had a strongly nostalgic content with many pictures from the days of steam. These days this aspect has been reduced, though there is still an emphasis on the older locomotives that are disappearing so fast from the OBB scene and most issues have 2 or 3 pages of photographs from 30 or 40 years ago (mostly by Alfred Luft). There is an 8 page model railway section. The magazine is of a good technical standard, though there are no colour pictures as the publisher's printing works does not have the facilities and the circulation is too small to make a change in the respect possible.

Schienenverkehr aktuell Verlag Pospischil, Postfach 222, A- 1021 Wien. Annual subscription S.698

Modellbahnwelt

This magazine, as its title suggests, is primarily for railway modellers, though there is some prototype news. It is produced as a private enterprise by its editor Franz Steiner in his spare time and until recently was almost entirely written by him as well. He now has assistance from some of the former contributors to the model railway section of Eisenbahn who were dismissed in last years shake-up of that publication. In these circumstances Modellbahnwelt reaches a surprisingly high standard of content and technical production (including many colour illustrations). hi addition to reviews of new products, it includes layout suggestions based on Austrian prototypes (recent suggestions have been based on Nustelbach, Payerbach, Linz, Urfahr, Keinberg-Gaming and Ried im Innkreis). This is probably the best choice for those whose primary interest is in modelling. An annual subscription is also considerably cheaper than those of the other to magazines as it appears only six times a year.

ModeIIbahnwelt: Postfach 110, A-690l Bregenz. Annual subscription S375