Magazine Subscriptions FAQ

You can subscribe online at harburnhobbies.co.uk. Choose the magazine you want, select the UK or Overseas option to match your delivery address, and complete checkout.

You can also subscribe by telephone on 01297 62 62 03, by email to subscriptions@peco.co, or by post to PECO Publications, Underleys, Beer, Seaton, Devon, EX12 3NA.

Every subscription includes:

• 12 monthly issues, delivered to your address
• Delivery included in the price, whether you are in the UK or overseas
• Free access to the complete digital archive through Pocketmags, for as long as your subscription is active
• New digital issues on your device on the day of publication

The difference is the cost of international postage, which is significantly higher than UK delivery. Both options give you the same 12 issues and the same digital archive access.

There is no separate Europe rate. If your delivery address is outside the United Kingdom, choose Overseas.

Yes. Railway Modeller and Continental Modeller are sold as separate subscriptions, so buy one of each if you want both. They are treated as two independent subscriptions with their own start dates, renewal dates and digital access.

You pay once. A subscription is a single annual purchase covering 12 issues, and it does not renew automatically. Nothing further is taken from your card.

When your 12 issues are complete, your subscription simply ends. You do have the option to renew up to 3 months before your expiry date, which you can do online via your subscription dashboard.

Your subscription normally starts with the first issue published after your order is processed. If you want it to begin with a particular issue then please get in touch.

Yes. If you want the magazine without a printed copy, digital-only subscriptions are sold directly by Pocketmags at pocketmags.com.

These are separate from a print subscription bought through PECO and are managed through your Pocketmags account.

Log in to your Harburn Hobbies account dashboard here. You will see your Subscriber Number, active subscriptions and renewal date.

Once your subscription is within 3 months of renewal, you will be able to renew early to ensure a seamless continuation of your subscription.

Because subscriptions do not renew automatically, you renew by placing a new order. You can do this from the subscriptions section of your Harburn Hobbies account, or by contacting us directly.

We will contact you before your final issue so you have plenty of time to renew without a gap.

Yes. Use the Renew Early option in your account. Your new subscription is created straight away and shows as Pending until your current term finishes, at which point it becomes active.

This means you can renew whenever it suits you without losing any issues or shortening the subscription you have already paid for.

Yes, within three months. If you renew within three months of your subscription ending, we can backdate the renewal so it continues from where your previous term stopped. You receive the issues you missed rather than starting from the current issue.

After three months, we treat the renewal as a new subscription starting from the next available issue.

Yes. Open the subscriptions section of your account and update your delivery address there. Please do this at least 21 days before you move, so the change reaches our mailing file before the next issue is processed.

See Digital editions and the archive below.

Digital editions and the archive are provided by Pocketmags, our digital partner. You can read in a web browser, or in the Railway Modeller and Continental Modeller apps on iPhone, iPad and Android.

Your digital archive is provided by our digital partner Pocketmags and is included free with your subscription. You need to activate it once, after which it stays linked to your account for as long as your subscription is active.

Step 1: Activate your access

1. Go to the activation page for your magazine: Railway Modeller at pocketmags.com/activate/railwaymodeller, or Continental Modeller at pocketmags.com/activate/continentalmodeller.
2. Enter your email address. If you already have a Pocketmags account, log in. If not, you will be asked to choose a password.
3. Enter your Subscriber Number and surname. Your Subscriber Number is printed on the front of the address sheet that comes with your magazine, and is the part before the forward slash. If your address sheet shows 123456/7, your Subscriber Number is 123456.

Step 2: Start reading

In your browser: go to My Library at Pocketmags and your archive will be waiting there.

On a phone or tablet: download the app for your magazine, then log in with the same Pocketmags email and password you used in Step 1.

• Railway Modeller: App Store or Google Play
• Continental Modeller: App Store or Google Play

If you already have the app installed, please update it to the latest version before logging in.

If you subscribe to both magazines

Activate each title separately using its own activation link above. Use the same Pocketmags email and password for both, and both libraries will appear in the same account.

If something is not working

For anything to do with activation, logging in, the apps or the archive itself, contact the Pocketmags support team at help@pocketmags.com. They run the platform and can sort access problems fastest.

If you cannot find your Subscriber Number, or your subscription details do not look right, contact our Subscriptions Team at subscriptions@peco.co or on 01297 62 62 03.

It is printed on the front of the address sheet that comes with your subscription copy. It is the first part of the reference, before the forward slash. If your address sheet shows 123456/7, your Subscriber Number is 123456.

Yes. Each title activates separately, using its own activation link. Use the same Pocketmags email and password for both, and both libraries will appear in the same account.

Every back issue, fully searchable, including the advertising pages. Railway Modeller runs back to 1949. Access lasts for as long as your subscription is active.

Railway Modeller and Continental Modeller digital editions have moved from Exact Editions to Pocketmags. Follow the activation steps above to set up your Pocketmags account and your archive access will carry over.

For anything to do with activation, logging in, the apps or the archive itself, contact Pocketmags support at help@pocketmags.com. They handle the digital platform directly and can resolve access problems fastest.

For anything to do with your print subscription, your address or your renewal, contact us at subscriptions@peco.co.

Yes. Buy the subscription in the normal way and enter the recipient's name and address as the delivery address. The magazine goes to them and the payment stays with you.

No. The subscription sits in the account of the person who paid for it, because that is where the order was placed. The recipient receives the magazine but does not manage the subscription.

The person who paid, always. Renewal contact goes to the account holder, so a gift subscription will not prompt the recipient to pay for something they did not buy.

Not automatically at checkout, but we can arrange it. A subscription normally starts with the first issue published after your order is processed, so if you order in November the first issue will arrive well before Christmas.

If you would prefer the subscription to begin with a particular issue, tell us when you order and we will set it up that way, provided that issue is still available. Order online as normal and email subscriptions@peco.co with your order number and the issue you would like it to start with, or place the whole order by telephone on 01297 62 62 03 and tell us at the time.

For a Christmas or birthday gift, the usual approach is to ask us to start the subscription with the issue that lands just after the date, so the first copy arrives as a surprise rather than early. Please allow up to six weeks between placing your order and the first issue arriving, and order in good time if you are giving the gift on a fixed date.

If you would like something to hand over on the day, let us know and we will confirm the start issue by email so you have the details to pass on.

Direct Debit has been withdrawn. Subscriptions are now a single annual purchase instead of a recurring payment, so there is nothing collected from your bank account on an ongoing basis.

If you previously paid by Direct Debit, your subscription is being moved onto the new system. Your existing term is unaffected and you will receive the issues you have paid for. When that term ends, you renew by placing a new order rather than by continuing a standing payment.

You do not need to do anything with your bank. If you want to cancel a Direct Debit mandate that is no longer being used, you can do that through your bank at any time.

Under the old Direct Debit system your subscription continued automatically. Under the new system it does not, so we contact you before your final issue to let you know it is time to renew if you want to carry on.

The email is a prompt, not a payment request. Nothing is taken unless you place an order.

Please contact us at subscriptions@peco.co and we will check your record.

We are aware that some subscription records carried across from the Direct Debit system with renewal dates that do not match what the subscriber expects. If your date looks wrong, it is worth telling us rather than assuming it will correct itself. Tell us your name, your Subscriber Number from your address sheet, and roughly when you believe your subscription started. We will correct the record and confirm the right date back to you.

You will not lose issues you have paid for while we sort this out.

If your subscription started under the old system, you may need to create an account at harburnhobbies.co.uk using the same email address we hold for you. If it still does not appear, contact subscriptions@peco.co with your Subscriber Number and we will link it up.

Allow up to six weeks. Magazines are printed and mailed to a fixed schedule, so your subscription starts with the first issue published after your order is processed rather than with a copy sent immediately.

If nothing has arrived after six weeks, contact subscriptions@peco.co.

Contact us at subscriptions@peco.co and we will send a replacement copy free of charge. If we cannot supply a replacement, we will add an issue to the end of your subscription instead.

Please tell us within 14 days of the on-sale date in the UK, or within 28 days if you are overseas. If an issue arrives damaged, let us know within 14 days of receiving it.

Log in to your account and update your delivery address in the Subscriptions section. Please do this at least 21 days before you move, so the change reaches our mailing file in time for your next issue.

Address changes made after the mailing file has closed take effect from the following issue, and we cannot replace copies already sent to an old address where we were not told in time.

No, not via your account dashboard. Please get in touch with the Subscriptions Team and we will do our best to help you.

Yes. Your subscription is managed through your account at harburnhobbies.co.uk. Use the same email address you used when you subscribed, and your subscription will appear under Subscriptions.

Your Pocketmags account for digital reading is separate. You need both: one for the subscription itself, one for the digital archive.

Check that you are logged in with the same email address you used when you subscribed, since a subscription placed under a different address will not appear.

If it is still missing, contact subscriptions@peco.co with your name, postal address and Subscriber Number from your address sheet, and we will find it and link it to your account.

Yes. Please email our Subscriptions Team at subscriptions@peco.co from your old address if you still have access to it, or from your new one if you do not, telling us your name, your postal address and your Subscriber Number. We will update your record and make sure your subscription stays linked to it.

We would rather you let us do this than change it yourself, because your subscription is matched to the email address you registered with. Changing it in the wrong place can leave your subscription looking as though it has disappeared from your account.

Please keep your email address up to date

Subscriptions do not renew automatically, and we send your renewal reminder by email. If we hold an address you no longer use, that reminder will not reach you and your subscription may lapse without your realising. It is worth telling us as soon as your address changes.

Your digital archive login is separate

The email address you use to read the digital archive is held by Pocketmags, not by us, so changing your details with PECO does not change your Pocketmags login. If you would like to change that too, update it in your Pocketmags account or contact help@pocketmags.com. Your archive access will continue to work in the meantime.