Perhaps the NMRA could use the good-will of hosting and making available to everyone, for free, the all-time, every-magazine index of all indexes, as an incentive to get people to join and support that endeavor.  If I saw them doing such a thing for the benefit of the hobby, I might be interested.  Instead, all they seem to tout is the same old schlock about "we promote standards" and "Master Model Railroader/Achievement program".  These are fine, and fellowship with like-minded folks is good, but membership is down, isn't it?  I tried to visit their "library" back when it was in Chattanooga years ago and was under-whelmed.  Seems like hosting THE index, would make a good statement to the hobbyists and the public.

Glad I have the MR 75 years DVD archive.  Sure wish RMC would do the same...

Galen

Perhaps the NMRA could use the good-will of hosting and making available to everyone, for free, the all-time, every-magazine index of all indexes, as an incentive to get people to join and support that endeavor. 

Not as long as the NMRA oldhats are around.  They don't think you should have access to any benefit if you are not a member.  In other words, if you wanted access to any index via the NMRA, it would be through a paywall of some sort first.

But you WOULD think the NMRA would have already done this project...

I’m a bit puzzled by this.

The index must be in a database of some kind.  It should not be that difficult to either connect to the existing database or if necessary convert the data to a new database format.  People do this all the time.  Is it the cost involved in doing so?

I agree it was a pretty good resource to look for info.

I am subscribed to Trains.com and my biggest concern at the moment is it seems to be constantly changing and it’s hard to find things.  Access to all the magazine archives is a big plus for me but the site needs a bit of work.

They recently added five free older books as PDF downloads.  I was expecting that over time this selection would increase.  Now they have vanished and I have no idea where to find them.

My Zineo is still working fine to download my MRR to my device.

Mike

"But you WOULD think the NMRA would have already done this project..."

The NMRA is the LAST entity I'd want right now involved with compiling and maintaining a comprehensive model railroad magazine index for exactly the reason you stated -- a paywall -- and for another -- its old-boy mentality and organizational politics.

The first thing the NMRA would do is restrict free access to members only and charge the rest of us a one-time use fee. That's assuming the NMRA could get its act together to even get an easy-to-use search function on its site.

No, kept the NMRA as far as possible from control of a comprehensive magazine index.

I just contacted MR/Trains, etc. To CANCEL my subscription. Told them it was because of their dropping Zinio and making it more difficult for me to enjoy the digital magazine. It just bugs me to have to maintain my subscription just to be able to view magazines that I had paid for prior to this fiasco they've generated for themselves. What surprised me was the blah way they advised me of the return of the fee. Also: I visited the NMRA index and they are increasing it's availability to all of us. You can view it for free. If you register, and you with to contribute, you can do so. The new index is on xls. And that's my favorite tool. The search facility on Excel/or whatever is easy and accurate. So I look forward to NMRA making this new index available. I get the feeling it's in beta and not sure just how much info will be available. On my home PC, my personal indexes are tailor made for me. "PRR" is inserted wherever it's appropriate.

The NMRA index is not on there servers but at someones office.  I do not think it has ever been an NMRA project, they just hosted the page.  I posted an email about it a few post ago.

I have been a faithful subscriber to MR for over 55 years.  For the most part, they were the backbone of the hobby and I learned most of my skills through their efforts.  But several years ago, (about the time Westcott et.al. retired/quit/died) they lost the spark.  The writing has become sophomoric, the personalities about as exciting as a limp dishrag and, apparently, they no longer have a "Grammar Nazi" (or an editor/proof reader who actually reads and corrects each issue before it goes out) on staff.

Big Al Kalmbach must be spinning in his grave over what his creation has become.

Very sad.  But I guess is just again points up, "ain't nothin' forever"........ especially when it's all about money.

I also stopped subscribing to RMC. They too, have failed with the digital magazine. It don't save off line so the only way to view it is to go through the web site. And now, I won't be able to see those magazines I just bought for the last year or so. I tried saving direct to my PC with "html" but they somehow disappear. Apparently White River must be thinking similar to MR. And as I've mentioned before, I do have them all on a spreadsheet for an index. So, hopefully this "independent" person at NMRA will create this Excel sheet with "everything but the kitchen sink" on it. So even if he isn't an official of NMRA, he might create something useful. We can only hope!

To Mr. Pennsy_Nut:  If you had not stopped your RMC subscription, you would have found that it is possible to download and save any portion (article, range of pages, etc.) or a whole issue as a PDF file on your computer. Look for the "...more" menu item in the lower right, select Print and you have all those options. Then when you go to actually print, "Save to PDF" or your local printer are offered. Works without a hitch.

Being able to save RMC locally is a fairly recent (last year or so) development, enabled by their changing hosting services for their online magazines. 

When they made the switch I lost access to the year of online magazine's I had had previously. They were very nice in allowing me access to the new site so I could download them all. 

It still takes a big screen to read them, but it can be done.