It was always the philosophy of our founder, Sydney Pritchard that it is best to concentrate on the future rather than look back at the past. In fact, he wrote those very words when we celebrated our 40th anniversary in 1989. Nevertheless, 60 years of continuous publishing is an important milestone and we would like to share and reflect with you here, our long history.

Ian Allan started The RAILWAY MODELLER in 1949 and in those distant days it was edited by G.H.Lake; the foreword to the first issue was written by well known Chairman of the Model Railway Club, G.P.Keen. He said the event of a new journal was of outstanding interest and importance and he hoped it would keep firmly to a policy of two essential purposes, firstly to lead the hobby (not to follow behind others) and secondly to provide it with sound foundations. Although we do not like to boast we believe we have stuck with those principles by being innovative in our approach to all aspects of the hobby. We realise of course there is always room for further development and new ideas and we hope you will notice that we frequently make small changes in the way we do things, even in the way we present our features for you to enjoy.

Mr Lake only stayed a few months and the new editorship was taken over by the very young and enthusiastic Cyril Freezer who worked on the magazine part-time with Ian Allan and then fully under the direction of Sydney for over 27 years. John Brewer took over this important position and, as many of you will know,is still working for the magazine after 30 years’ service but relinquished his post as editor in June 2008. Steve Flint, our long time photographer, friend and contributor to the magazine, has become our latest editor, since the July issue, and we all wish him well. So in the 60 year history there have only really been three editors. This must be unique for any magazine since it just goes to show the devotion and enthusiasm that both Cyril and John have shown in providing the very best through the pages of RAILWAY MODELLER for all to read.

As recorded in RAILWAY MODELLER there have been many changes within the hobby over the past 60 years, most of which are for the better but perhaps it is more correct to say that it has progressed considerably, especially in the UK, over recent years. The superb quality and variety of merchandise today would be unrecognisable in 1949; just look at the new Hornby T9, which is reviewed in our February issue.

Going back to the beginning, it was Mr Ian Allan who had the wisdom in January 1949 to see the need for a new model magazine dealing with railways from the average modeller’s point of view. The phrase ‘average modeller’ was to become our masthead slogan and stayed for 42 years! In 1951 it was obvious to Sydney Pritchard that The RAILWAY MODELLER was failing, and he decided to approach Ian Allan direct to see if the magazine was for sale. A £100 deal was signed, being paid in two instalments, and the magazine together with its editor moved to Seaton and quickly progressed to become the market leader, a position it still proudly holds today. In 1949 the magazine started with 36 pages, including the covers, and of course had a very small page size. Today the average contents are 148 pages, all printed to super-A4 size on top quality paper and in full colour.

It is interesting to note that our loyal contributor, Rev.Peter Denny,is also celebrating around 60 years of his famous Buckingham Branch. In the early days a friendship soon built between Cyril and himself and one of Peter's earliest articles on constructing a Great Central signalbox was published in The RAILWAY MODELLER of January/February 1951. No doubt it will be interesting for many readers to see that we have in this issue published an updated feature on Buckingham Great Central, and this railway is also shown on film in our DVD Xtra No.5. It is something definitely not to be missed.

It was in 1945 that the famous American journal Model Railroader dropped the word ‘the’ from its title and so it was that in April 1954 (a reversal of the last two digits!) the same word was dropped from RAILWAY MODELLER, Sydney Pritchard having thought that the word was superfluous and literally got in the way on the front cover. The heading ‘Railway of the Month’ appeared in January 1952, which was the commencement of the first volume under the Peco Publications flag. This issue was re-styled with a larger paper size and a new-look front cover. January 1962 saw the commencement of ‘Plan of the Month’, whereas ‘Junior Modeller’ started way back in 1956. This name remained for over 45 years and in 1994 changed to ‘Student Modeller’, and more recently to ‘Right Away’. As from this January issue it is our intention to develop this feature, providing more information for the new enthusiast and it will be called ‘Railway Modelling Explored’.

Another long-standing feature of RAILWAY MODELLER has been the annual Cup. This was first awarded for an article presented by Norman Eagles on putting the timetable into operation. He was presented withthe Cup in March 1954 and, as many of our readers will know,the essence of the Competition – that the winner is chosen by the readers – has remained unchanged since. This, in fact, is the time of the year when you should be voting for your favourite feature of 2008. Please see our ‘News’ section of the January 2009 issue for further details.