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July issue of Railway Modeller


rue_d_etropal
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another excellent and well mixed edition. Not allthe articles actually interest me, but I am happy with the rest. Scale drawings as well, like the old days-who said there was noone who could do them.

The Comment page is also very interesting, and a bit controversal. Dealing with the way disabled and shorter people are treated at exhibitions,  yes that does mean layouts put at a height , those in wheelchairs can not see. Having venues disabled friendly should incude layouts.

 

Contents list here http://www.pecopublications.co.uk/Railway-Modeller-July-2017.html

Edited by rue_d_etropal
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another excellent and well mixed edition. Not allthe articles actually interest me, but I am happy with the rest. Scale drawings as well, like the old days-who said there was noone who could do them.

The Comment page is also very interesting, and a bit controversal. Dealing with the way disabled and shorter people are treated at exhibitions,  yes that does mean layouts put at a height , those in wheelchairs can not see. Having venues disabled friendly should incude layouts.

 

Contents list here http://www.pecopublications.co.uk/Railway-Modeller-July-2017.html

could not agree more with the comment re disabled people,I had a stroke at the turn of the century,and was chair bound for some time, around the time that there was a vogue for eye level viewing.

 

I went  to a few exhibitions and saw a great deal of base board construction and curtain material.

 

I could not get into quite a few exhibitions, an awful lot of halls are up steps.

 

I am better thanks as is the situation, mostly

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There is a way that those who insist on having main part of layout at high level, and that is to build the front edge at table height, and then you can at least see something. It is a compromise, , but is based of what Jack Nelson suggested back in the 40s, having a low to high transition from front to back of layout.

I think one of the 'rules' in the Cameo competition listed elsewher is to have layout at eyelevel height so not viewable to those in a wheelchair. I might be wrong, but there needs to be a move from these types of layouts to ones that sit those who can not stand up and see layouts at 'eye level'.

I does surprise me that venues don't have easy access these days. There has to be a pretty good reason not to, and anyone putting on an exhibition should think of this.

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I think one of the 'rules' in the Cameo competition listed elsewher is to have layout at eyelevel height so not viewable to those in a wheelchair. I might be wrong, but there needs to be a move from these types of layouts to ones that sit those who can not stand up and see layouts at 'eye level'.

 

The snag with sitting down low to control layouts is that there is often the need to get up to move around and re-rail, add or remove stock which then involves painful bending for some (or even the effort of getting up out of low seats). Plus, of course, those paying customers of a tall statue get a poor downward helicopter view unless they are able to bend or squat down.

 

Layout height is a two way street and there are those who make good arguments for both sides - and a solution suitable for all is not easy or straightforward. One solution I did see at an exhibition was the issuing of periscopes to those who had difficulty seeing high layouts (although very few were high).

 

However, the subject has been done to death on RMweb on a good many other threads. I'm not sure it's a good idea to rake it over again here regardless of the RM comments.

 

G.

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If you want people to view it at eye level put some chairs out front. Simples as they say. Cameo layouts with top screens are often equally annoying for tall people as the builder, perhaps at 5ft 6" tall, has a lowered eye-level and as well as annoying wheelchair viewers also alienates tall people as the top screen forces us to bend.

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If you want people to view it at eye level put some chairs out front. Simples as they say.

 

Unfortunately not that simple.

 

Not all venues have a supply of chairs available, they can easily become an obstruction in aisles and cause congestion/trip hazard (H&S?), reduce the number of people able to view a layout at one time, can encourage people to sit for long periods to rest, eat their sandwiches, etc., rather than view the layout preventing others viewing and prevent easy interaction between operators and customers when they are sitting behind either side of a layout. There's always pros and cons and the issue is not that 'simples'.

 

G.

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I couldn't agree more regarding the sometimes excessive heights of some layouts. I wish the owners would also consider the fact we need to encourage the youngsters. You can't expect them to take up the hobby if they can't see what you are displaying. I'm about average height and even I struggle with some layouts. Steps are a good idea, although that doesn't help the wheelchair users. Ramps? But that then starts an Elf and Safety debate...

 

 

Regarding the magazine, A3s and N1s? That's another one to buy then.

 

 

 

Jason

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Agreed this has been discussed a lot online, but it is now the subject of an article in Railway Modeller. That makes it relevant to discuss now. 

My layouts and displays are always on tables. The only problem I have is that if I sit down I tend to then stand up to talk to people, as talking upwards I find awkward. I have bought some folding bar stool  type seats, and tried them out. They are not as comfortable but for some of of my layouts work well.

I think there are some difficult questions, with sometimes totally opposing views on them, but we have to be practical, and find practical common sence answers to problems. It is all too easy to sit back and ignore .

One of the problems with table height layouts is small fingers. I have tried screens in the past(damaged by an OAP passing), so now set all my layouts and displays 6in back from the edge. You are,not going to stop those wandering small fingers, but at least to can stop the accidental ones. I do still get youngsters reaching out, trying to touch, but parents are usually pretty good at stopping anything happening. I have noticed some far more alarming things happening with layouts set higher, tempting young fingers upwards, and tottering stools and chairs likely to result in far more damage.

Over the past couple of years I have noticed Railway Modeller is raising some good points, possibly because it is almost completely contributer based with respect to articles. Some seem to forget that the hobby is for the many not just the few.

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Some seem to forget that the hobby is for the many not just the few.

 

It strikes me that insisting on having all layouts down low on tables is making the hobby available to a few rather than the many.

 

G.

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That makes it relevant to discuss now. .

 

No; it has been done to death on here many times over more than 10 years. Just because it's mentioned in the Modeller it doesn't mean we need a re-run here.

 

End of.

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Not much DE this time round, but still find the rest interesting

Yes, that did rather put me off purchasing the current issue. But hopefully next months will be different.

 

G

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Not much DE this time round, but still find the rest interesting

I reckon of all the UK outline mags, RM has the widest coverage of scales, gauges and periods. This month there're two layouts featured representing current mainline modelling, which I think is fair, with reviews of the Heljan Peak and DJ Models' class 71.

 

I like the mix we get from RM.

 

Enjoying my read!

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

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Given that the strength of RM is its breadth, there are bound to be editions that don't quite hit the spot for any given individual. Personally, the current one doesn't much excite me, but then I can be pretty sure that the next one, or the one after, will, and it's always, always a better bet than most of the opposition, which I find either a bit too finicky, or a bit too 'dumbed down'.

 

Kevin

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No; it has been done to death on here many times over more than 10 years. Just because it's mentioned in the Modeller it doesn't mean we need a re-run here.

 

End of.

That is only one side of the discussion. Now that RM has actually published a good quality article on the subject, the discussion is open again. Only those on one side think there should be no discussion. RM is posing the questions, raising the issues some(a minority) would rather went away, but RM reaches far more in the hobby than other magazines. That is far better for the hobby in the long term.

I am a systems person, and sometimes you have to turn things around to get a better view. What might seem obvious , might not actually be the best way forward.

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  • 5 weeks later...

I am never surprised when a model railway magazine has little in it to interest me. Given the sheer breadth of the hobby, this is surely inevitable, at least some of the time. We even get this argument in the Gauge O Guild Gazette, which by its very nature is much more specialised that the Modeller can ever be. Too much S7! Too much tinplate! Too many articles that involve working with lathes! So it goes on.

 

I pity the editors of these magazines, which I why I rarely write to them complaining about a lack of 7mm scale GCR layouts set in the summer of 1914. If you see what I mean.

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Well, the August one is out, and, to prove my point above, it has a lot more in it that hits the spot for me.

 

If a person doesn't like what's in it, they can always submit an article about their own work, which they, presumably, will like.

 

Kevin

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The august one has an article about cbus, plus two other articles about modern control systems, and another about proper mechanical interlocking, which, on top of some cracking garden railway stuff and several southern things makes it really interesting ...... only one modern image layout, but who knows what September will bring (shorter days, and mist).

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 but who knows what September will bring (shorter days, and mist).

 

January brings the snow,

Makes your feet and fingers glow.

 

February's ice and sleet,

Freeze the toes right off your feet.

Welcome, March, with wint'ry wind,

Would thou weren't not so unkind.

 

April brings the sweet spring showers,

On and on for hours and hours.

 

Farmers fear unkindly May,

Frost by night and hail by day.

 

June just rains and never stops,

Thirty days that spoils the crops.

 

In July the sun is hot,

Is it shining?

No it's not!

 

August, cold and dank and wet,

Brings more rain than any yet.

 

Bleak September's mist and mud,

Is enough to chill the blood.

Then October adds a gale,

Wind and slush and rain and hail.

 

Dark November brings the fog,

Should not do it to a dog.

 

Freezing wet December, then...

b***** January again!

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I liked the article on the lever frame, and seeing a 7mm NSWGR 38 running outdoors wasn't something I expected!

 

I think RM is really firing these days. Great breadth of subjects.

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