01-28-2009, 09:59 AM
I don't really care one way or the other. If the layout in question has something in it that I can learn from, it doesn't matter if the builder is a "professional" or just a modeler doing it for fun. If it doesn't show me anything I can use, I may read it out of curiosity. I probably buy less than 3 issues of Model Railroader and Railroad Model Craftsman per year. Some years I don't buy any. If they only have 1 article that I can find use for, I look at it and decide if it is an article that is likely to be combined with other similar articles to be put into a book. If that is the case, I'll wait for the book and see if it has enough useful information to prompt me to purchase it.