RMweb Gold gwrrob Posted January 8, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 8, 2018 Are you sure it wasn't this? artworks-000043373193-37unra-t500x500.jpg Mike Shouldn't that be on bullhead track thread. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Storey Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 I was very pleasantly surprised by Episode 1, which dealt with all the social aspects of being a railway modeller, the engineering challenges of the project and the issues of trying to get volunteers to be productive, in a very clever way. I am looking forward to the rest of the series. Having been a volunteer on the Festiniog in my teen years, and latterly on the Corris, I can fully appreciate the balance between touchy-feely and hard core project management. I have never had a session on track building or maintenance, as a volunteer, where any of the situations shown were absent. We all accepted we needed to be shouted at for anything to actually get done, because almost everyone had a different opinion of how anything should be achieved, and liked to talk about it an awful lot, rather than actually do it. I have a been a garden railway modeller for many years, laying and using exactly the scale and live steam operation they are attempting (albeit with rather more robust track), so I understand the technical and time challenges. Remember this is TV, They will only show the exciting bits. They will not show the bits where all is made well afterwards in the pub...... 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 (edited) I was very pleasantly surprised by Episode 1, which dealt with all the social aspects of being a railway modeller, the engineering challenges of the project and the issues of trying to get volunteers to be productive, in a very clever way. I am looking forward to the rest of the series. Having been a volunteer on the Festiniog in my teen years, and latterly on the Corris, I can fully appreciate the balance between touchy-feely and hard core project management. I have never had a session on track building or maintenance, as a volunteer, where any of the situations shown were absent. We all accepted we needed to be shouted at for anything to actually get done, because almost everyone had a different opinion of how anything should be achieved, and liked to talk about it an awful lot, rather than actually do it. I have a been a garden railway modeller for many years, laying and using exactly the scale and live steam operation they are attempting (albeit with rather more robust track), so I understand the technical and time challenges. Remember this is TV, They will only show the exciting bits. They will not show the bits where all is made well afterwards in the pub...... Oh, I don’t know; it was a regular feature of Time Team.. Was a time when shouting at people to get things done was a fairly standard procedure, but these days, it’s generally regarded as a sign of poor management technique, and lack of pre-task briefing. That, or being Italian; I’ve had my fair share of “Latin passion” working for Saipem... Edited January 8, 2018 by rockershovel 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suffolk Rob Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Well I enjoyed it for what it was. It was never going to be finescale modelling and capturing a "general" audience is more about the scale of the challenge than the actual task itself so "the Victorians couldn't" is a better selling point than "the Highland didn't want anyone else having access to Inverness". As with any program that follows a group of people, everyone's going to have some individuals they took to more readily than others, I certainly did but don't see this forum as the place for those views, especially when, as far as I know, they could well be one of you! Will keep watching as I now really want to know if they succeed. For me the right sort of telly for Sunday night, much better than gritty depressing realism when I've got Monday to look forward to! Rob 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will J Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Glad you enjoyed it... (and genuinely interested in people's opinions if they thought otherwise!).. 'Third prat from the left'. I'm not sure you will see that much of me... was doing a lot of stealth tracklaying! 17 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 blrscreen4.jpgGlad you enjoyed it... (and genuinely interested in people's opinions if they thought otherwise!).. 'Third prat from the left'.I'm not sure you will see that much of me... was doing a lot of stealth tracklaying!blrscreen2.jpg I spotted you in episode one 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamport Southport Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 Fake! That's not Scotland. The weather's wrong for starters. Jason Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted January 9, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 9, 2018 Fake! That's not Scotland. The weather's wrong for starters. Jason It must be, all those midges. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 I've just remembered that this is not the first railway project Claire Barratt has been involved in. She helped restore a Protected Simplex on Salvage Squad about 15 years ago. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Huw Griffiths Posted January 9, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 9, 2018 I've just remembered that this is not the first railway project Claire Barratt has been involved in. She helped restore a Protected Simplex on Salvage Squad about 15 years ago. There was also a Blackpool "Coronation" tramcar, in another programme. I know - some people don't regard trams as "proper" trains - but I always have. If in doubt, I apply the "duck test" (you know the one - if an item looks like something - and behaves like it - it isn't too difficult to work out what you're looking at). Let's face it - trams run on rails (including "reserved track", in the case of Blackpool trams) - and that's before anyone starts to think about coal wagons being collected from a connection with "standard" railways and hauled by an electric loco, along the Blackpool tramway's tracks to a power station. (Anyway, it's just like me to think about Blackpool trams. My earliest memory is of climbing the centre stairs - and travelling on the upper deck of a Blackpool "Balloon" tramcar - as a 2 year old, in the late 1960s. I've liked trams ever since.) Huw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 45156 Posted January 9, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 9, 2018 Well, I enjoyed it, and spent a while playing "Spot the RMWebber". Nice to see one whom I've also met in the person of Jenny. I didn't cringe, and I didn't think that it played up the more common perception on the hobby. As to arguments, get a group of more than two individuals together, then they can easily start, and of course, the TV just LOVES to show a confrontation - it makes "bettter viewing" than a load of folks getting on with each other. I did like the idea of the traction track, and the use of a live steamer - and my wife actually commented on it, and also on some of the layouts featured. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobby Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 (edited) In order to claim a record for longest model railway, To do that it should be a model railway... So what's the definition of a "model railway"? Like 5050 I do not regard this as a model railway... Longest Train Set is perhaps a better description... i suppose some will call me elitist, but for me a model railway should be a collection of models put together to represent the a Railway. Not sections of track slapped down on the ground... I suppose it's one of the dangers of us wanting to have records for every little thing... Edited January 9, 2018 by Hobby Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chriswright03 Posted January 9, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 9, 2018 Does it really matter? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jol Wilkinson Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 I was very much reminded of those leadership/management courses while watching episode one. Take a group of people who don't know each other, divide them into different groups, select team leaders on a seemingly random basis, give them a difficult task for which they probably have no experience, put them in "strange" surroundings and set each team a target to achieve, providing a competitive element. Add to this a lack of proper planning by the organisers, no "on the job training" and you have the ideal recipe for a tv programme with a bit of conflict, emotional out bursts, criticism by the "experts" who set it up but undoubtedly a happy outcome. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Phil Parker Posted January 9, 2018 Administrators Share Posted January 9, 2018 Add to this a lack of proper planning by the organisers, That couldn't be further from the truth. This is telly, it was MUCH better planned than it might appear on screen. All that specially designed track didn't appear from thin air, nor the specially designed quad bike trailers for a start. Early last year, the producer was talking about the teams having to build spirals to gain height too. Anyway, look out for a behind the scenes account in the March issue of Garden Rail (blatant plug). 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobby Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 (edited) Does it really matter? Obviously not to you! I just think this "need" people have to get a record of some sort leads to some stupid ideas sometimes, this being one... I could just about see the point of the James May thing but this rather just smacks of "we want a record" mentality which i just don't get... I suppose it makes "good TV" for modern day viewers... Edited January 9, 2018 by Hobby Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 45156 Posted January 9, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 9, 2018 I have a lot of knowledge of "reality TV" in connection with my current occuption/hobby as a part time antique and collectibles dealer, and from that, I am acquainted with many of the antique centres and dealers, who appear on these "antique" shows as sellers. There are many tricks used there to make the shows work. "Discounts" are handed back after filming. "DIscounts" are agreed and paid for by a runner before filming. Higher discounts are rewarded by longer air time, and additional shots of the seller's premises. Items are planted to be "discovered" by the expert. Auctions are massaged by having bids on the book or telephone bids placed by the production team. Sellers of items "sold" at a discount are bought back by the same seller at the auction. All of these are from personal experience, and gained from conversation with the dealers involved. My point here is that reality is only as real as the TV people want to portray. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chriswright03 Posted January 9, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 9, 2018 Obviously not to you! I just think this "need" people have to get a record of some sort leads to some stupid ideas sometimes, this being one... I could just about see the point of the James May thing but this rather just smacks of "we want a record" mentality which i just don't get... I suppose it makes "good TV" for modern day viewers... My bold. This is the point of the whole thing though and it is nothing to do with model railways or records at all. In answer to your statement above no it doesn't matter to me. I couldn't care less but I will tell you something that did ring a bell with me. When some of them were saying how they keep quiet about their hobby because of concerns about what others think. Looking at some of the replies in this thread (and others) it is easy to see why that happens. Sometimes some of us just take it all too seriously. So if it is a model railway or not matters not a jot to most people and if the Guiness record cannot be obtained because it falls outside of some guideline then so be it. There are a lot of people from those involved in planning, those involved in the actual event and those that watch the completed artivcle that will have enjoyed it and that is what is important. I watched it and whilst the presenter gets on my nerves or should I say that seemingly over enthusiastic style of preenting I still managed to find it a light enough piece of entertainment to pass a bit of time. I will watch the rest of them and I hope that in some way it raise the profile of the hobby rather than concentrates on the many divides we sadly have in it. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobby Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 This is the point of the whole thing though and it is nothing to do with model railways or records at all. Sometimes some of us just take it all too seriously. Yes I agree with you on the top point, that's why i said it! Wit regards to the second point I don't agree... To object to being laughed at for your hobby is not taking the hobby too seriously, it's just asking that we allow people to "live and let live"... We could just accept that we are the butt of many jokes but I don't see why we should... I'll leave it at that, Chris, it's clear we have differing views on this but like you I will be watching the rest of the programmes, but not from a modelling point of view, just pure entertainment! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted January 9, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 9, 2018 "good TV" for modern day viewers... But perhaps old faarts won't like it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted January 9, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 9, 2018 select team leaders on a seemingly random basis Actually, I was meaning to ask how the team leaders were chosen, this was presumably a Producer's decision before the start of the whole project? (good choices all round, by the way). 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jol Wilkinson Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 That couldn't be further from the truth. This is telly, it was MUCH better planned than it might appear on screen. All that specially designed track didn't appear from thin air, nor the specially designed quad bike trailers for a start. Early last year, the producer was talking about the teams having to build spirals to gain height too. Anyway, look out for a behind the scenes account in the March issue of Garden Rail (blatant plug). I was especially thinking of planning for the river crossings, track curves, etc. Perhaps this was planned as presented to create a challenge for the track builders and create "better" tv. If you were building a layout, you would prepare by identifying what track components you needed. While that clearly couldn't be done for the whole length, some "shorter" curves (such as my childhood Hornby Dublo set had) would possibly have helped. Am I being too pragmatic or were the track laying teams simply expected to use their initiative? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny Emily Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 (edited) Fake! That's not Scotland. The weather's wrong for starters. Jason Just keep watching. Four seasons in one day, I was warned. The warning voice spoke the truth. Actually, I was meaning to ask how the team leaders were chosen, this was presumably a Producer's decision before the start of the whole project? (good choices all round, by the way). I have no idea. I have no management experience nor do I have experience of leadership. Thanks for your vote of confidence! Edited January 9, 2018 by Jenny Emily 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobby Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 But perhaps old faarts won't like it? Nope, us old faarts like car crash TV as much as the rest... Just gets a little close to the bone when it purports to involve our hobby! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 I wasn’t aware of the “antique auctions” thing but being familiar with auctions, I’m hardly surprised. A friend of mine appeared on “Techno Games” or some such show, and dismissed it afterwards as “fixed” and not worth his time; he binned a subsequent invitation to appear again, on the basis that once was quite enough. Long ago and far away, I was involved in an episode of Blue Peter, visiting a tunnelling machine at Shepherds Bush... no names, no pack drill.. the presenter refused flatly to get in the riding skip. Well, that happens, it’s easy to become accustomed to these things, so a secretary from Thames Water was quickly sent over to make-up... the other presenter went down the shaft and a piece to camera recorded. The secretary was carefully filmed on the edge of the shot, and so we progressed. The BBC seemed surprised and disappointed that the multi-million pound machine hadn’t been rescheduled to suit their endless delays, but a wall of timber was built in the reception eye, sprayed with grout and the machine broke through THAT. Meanwhile presenter A visited the sister machine, then on blocks under heavy maintenance in a yard near Feltham. A further piece to camera was recorded, at night under floodlights... the final edited version appeared to show presenter A on the footplate as the machine broke through, while presenter B enthused in the shaft bottom. Wonderful stuff. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now