About LOK MAGAZIN

LOK MAGAZIN

LOK MAGAZIN is the monthly German railway magazine published by GeraMond Verlag in Munich, one of the country's leading railway enthusiast titles. Appearing since 1962 with a circulation of around 12,000 copies and 114 pages per issue, it covers the world of railways with a distinctive editorial concept: since the first issue of 2018, each edition has concentrated on a single railway line, presenting its history, its present operations and its vehicles in depth. With editor-in-chief Florian Dürr, managing director Clemens Schüssler and publisher Rudolf Heym, and lead editor Max Voigtmann, the magazine combines the enthusiast's passion with professional journalism, in print monthly and online at lok-magazin.de.

Overview

LOK MAGAZIN is a monthly magazine for railway enthusiasts, published in Munich by GeraMond Verlag. The magazine appears twelve times a year with 114 pages per issue, print ISSN 0458-1822, and a sold circulation of around 12,000 copies. The annual print subscription costs 99.60 euros, with a combined print and online subscription offered on the magazine's website.

The editorial concept sets the title apart in the railway press. Where most railway magazines assemble a mix of news, vehicle portraits and historical articles, LOK MAGAZIN has, since the January 2018 issue, dedicated each edition to a single railway line: the complete story of one Strecke, from its construction and its historical significance to its current operations, its stations, its signalling and its rolling stock. The line focus gives each issue the depth of a monograph while maintaining the magazine's monthly rhythm.

The publisher is GeraMond Verlag GmbH in Munich, one of Germany's leading publishers for railway, modelling and history titles. The managing director is Clemens Schüssler, the publisher (Herausgeber) is Rudolf Heym, the editor-in-chief is Florian Dürr, and the lead editor (leitender Redakteur) is Max Voigtmann. The magazine's website lok-magazin.de presents the current issues, the subscription offers and the archive.

History

LOK MAGAZIN was founded in 1962 by Karl-Ernst Maedel, one of the pioneers of the German railway enthusiast press. Maedel, a railwayman and author, understood that the railway needed its own journalism: the daily press reported the accidents and the fare increases, but nobody documented the locomotives, the lines and the operating practices with the thoroughness the subject deserved. The early 1960s were the years when the steam era was ending on the Deutsche Bundesbahn and the enthusiasts organised themselves to document the disappearing world: Maedel's magazine, appearing initially every two months, gave the movement its journalistic voice.

The founding generation of the railway press was shaped by the sense of loss: the steam locomotives were being scrapped, the branch lines closed, the old operating practices abandoned. The magazines became the archives of the disappearing railway, and their readers became the chroniclers. Maedel's LOK MAGAZIN, with its serious, fact-oriented approach, set the tone for the German railway press: the precise technical data, the careful historical research, the high-quality photography.

Through the decades the magazine accompanied the transformations of the German and European railways: the end of steam, the electrification, the high-speed era, the reunification of the two German railway systems, and the liberalisation with the rise of the private operators. The GeraMond Verlag, which took over the title, developed it into one of the flagships of its railway programme, alongside the modelling and history titles. The Munich publishing house, itself a product of the railway enthusiasm of its founders, provided the professional infrastructure: the editorial staff, the photography, the distribution, and the cross-media marketing.

The editorial relaunch of January 2018 marked the most significant concept change in the magazine's history: the decision to dedicate each issue to a single railway line. The line monograph concept responded to the readers' desire for depth: instead of the magazine mix, each issue offers the complete portrait of one line, researched and photographed in detail. The concept has defined the magazine's identity ever since.

Content and Sections

Each issue of LOK MAGAZIN presents one railway line in its entirety. The historical section traces the line's construction: the political and economic motives, the engineering challenges, the opening, and the development through the decades, from the steam era through the Bundesbahn and Reichsbahn years to the present. The contemporary section documents the current operations: the timetable, the operators, the rolling stock, the freight traffic, and the infrastructure.

The photographic documentation is central: the magazine's photographers capture the line in all seasons, the trains, the stations, the bridges and tunnels, the signal boxes and the details that make each line unique. The maps and plans orient the reader: the route map, the station layouts, the gradient profiles. The vehicle portraits present the locomotives and multiple units that operate on the line, with their technical data and their history.

The combination of the historical depth and the contemporary documentation makes each issue a reference work on its line: the readers collect the issues as the encyclopedia of the German railway network, line by line.

The line-monograph concept also serves the travel impulse: the reader who has studied the issue can travel the line with the magazine as the guide, recognising the stations, the bridges, the signal boxes, and understanding the history behind them. The railway enthusiast's journey, the Fototour along the line, becomes the informed pilgrimage. Few magazine concepts connect the reading and the hobby as directly as the line portrait: the issue is both the reading pleasure and the travel companion.

Publisher and Organization

LOK MAGAZIN is published by GeraMond Verlag GmbH in Munich, the specialist publisher for railway, model railway, history and technology titles. The managing director is Clemens Schüssler, the publisher is Rudolf Heym, the editor-in-chief is Florian Dürr, and the lead editor is Max Voigtmann. The GeraMond programme includes some of the best-known German railway magazines, and LOK MAGAZIN is among its flagship monthly titles.

The business model combines the newsstand sales and the subscriptions, with the annual print subscription at 99.60 euros and the combined print-online subscription. The enthusiast readership provides the stable foundation: the railway enthusiasts are among the most loyal magazine buyers, and the line-monograph concept gives them a compelling reason to collect every issue. The collector's logic is the magazine's economic strength: each issue covers a different line, so the completist reader cannot skip one without leaving a gap in the encyclopedia. The special editions and the book programme extend the brand.

Digital Presence

The website lok-magazin.de is the magazine's digital home: the current issues, the subscription services, the archive, and the online shop for back issues and special editions. The combined print-online subscription integrates the digital access into the subscription model. The social media channels present the magazine's photography and promote the current line portraits. The digital archive is particularly valuable for the line-monograph concept: the reader researching a specific line can find the issue that covered it, and the back-issue shop makes the out-of-print line portraits available to the collectors completing their encyclopedia.

The digital strategy serves the print magazine: the website recruits the subscribers, sells the back issues, and presents the brand, while the monthly print issue remains the core product: the 114-page line monograph that the readers collect. With its history since 1962, its line-focus concept since 2018, and its Munich publishing home, LOK MAGAZIN remains one of the defining titles of the German railway press, in print every month and online every day.