RMweb Premium DLT Posted March 5, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 5, 2017 There's been a lot of discussion about this on another forum, the consensus being that either they have no idea of whats involved in building ANY sort of model railway, or they are off their collective rockers. Or both... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Huw Griffiths Posted March 6, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 6, 2017 (edited) We'll, I'm not too worried as long as they don't have their heads in the Sky … .*(* Clearly, I'm not suggesting that they do. I should also point out that other programme makers - and commercial TV channels - are available.) Edited March 8, 2017 by Huw Griffiths Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny Emily Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 Of course, their main objective is in making a television programme that is entertaining to watch. Whether the project succeeds or not is actually immaterial as long as the main objective is successful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 ... they have no idea of whats involved in building ANY sort of model railway... I read that plainly in everything that Love Productions have put out so far. We want people with the knowledge to work on a project to make us a lot of money. Anyone contemplating involvement should particularly keep in mind that the 'personality presenting' is an unknown quantity. Could be a Dan Snow, that might be OK; or it could be something in the Chris Evans category. I don't believe there is any significant financial obstacle, you only have to thnk about the budgets that must be involved in getting telly entertainers, 'name' specialists, and locations with all the necessary crew, kit and support together, over weeks of filming for the likes of Great Throw-a-Bee Off the Island Challenge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted March 13, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 13, 2017 I don't believe there is any significant financial obstacle, you only have to thnk about the budgets that must be involved in getting telly entertainers, 'name' specialists, and locations with all the necessary crew, kit and support together, over weeks of filming for the likes of Great Throw-a-Bee Off the Island Challenge. But this isn't 'I'm a nobody get me out here' or the 'Great British Innuendo off', this is small time low budget stuff. There will be a decent sum for the 'talent', an almost reasonable sum for the crew and TV filming gear (they'll still moan how they got more on Dr Who) and if you are lucky £500 for everything else. Hence looking for knowledgeable volunteers rather than having to pay for professionals. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryP Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 (edited) Commercial TV has average budget of £500,000-800,000 per hour, so money's no real object. Edited March 15, 2017 by HarryP Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted March 16, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 16, 2017 Commercial TV has average budget of £500,000-800,000 per hour, so money's no real object. I can assure you that does not translate into money on the ground, and that figure is presumably more prime time Ant & Dec type programming rather than off peak or daytime. The large TV executive salaries and expense accounts are paid out of that figure. I'll bet the team turn up saying they haven't got much money for this project, despite the fact that most of us could deliver a show for considerably less than half a million! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 There was an attractive young lady canvassing on behalf of this show at the Nottingham Exhibition today. The accompanying leaflet makes for interesting reading. Filming is in June. O gauge to be used. Plastic track has been mentioned. Steam or battery powered locomotives. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris M Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 G would be more sensible than O. G locos are designed to cope with rougher track work and all weathers. This is not a requirement for most O gauge locos. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 Indeed. A point that I made to them last summer, and which they understood, at the time ........ quite why they have fastened on 0 I have yet to discover. K Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Really would like to offer to help thr project, but filming takes place during term time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 There was an attractive young lady canvassing on behalf of this show at the Nottingham Exhibition today. The accompanying leaflet makes for interesting reading. Filming is in June. O gauge to be used. Plastic track has been mentioned. Steam or battery powered locomotives. As I read the first line, I thought it was going to turn into a limerick..... Oh well. But propulsion by "steam or battery" makes sense, reducing the reliance on long metal conductors. However, O gauge plastic track? That sounds like a disaster in waiting, what with flexing of the track in all axes (loads of scope for derailment) coupled with the possibility of wheelslip on even a moderate gradient. (And horror of horrors, don't say that they've found a huge cache of Big Big Train track!) @ Nearholmer: Its probably because its bigger than OO, easy to see, not so toylike but not as "expensive" as laying at least a thousand feet or so of G track. Personally I thnk they should have been brave and invited the model engineering community to provide some suitable locos - I'd have loved to hear the genuine gas turbine model of the GT3 bashing through the Great Glen... ie: You can't help but love a model loco that requires a bloke standing by with a fire extinguisher when starting the loco. Of course, one problem (of many), would be the cost of laying a decent trackbed and track for such majestic machines! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 I certainly think G scale would be the better option. I wonder how many people have signed up to assist the project. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 (edited) " ...... O gauge plastic track? That sounds like a disaster in waiting ......" Depends what form it takes. Imagine a fairly heavyweight extrusion, made from recycled plastic, a plank, in effect, with either two ridges 32mm apart, or a slot 32mm wide, formed in it as it is extruded. Would make an ideal combination of "track" and "track-bed", although it wouldn't like a great deal like conventional track. If you want it to look a bit more Railway-like try https://www.filcris.co.uk/product/curved-track-board-peco-st607-19mm-x-140mm-wide-x-965mm-radius-45-degree-arc-pecor3st607 Kevin Edited March 18, 2017 by Nearholmer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 The pre-formed extrusion solution sounds an expensive thing to set up just for a TV commission, and it still doesn't make an ideal running surface unless the locos have ... traction tyres. The plastic roadbed pieces for conventional track sound a good idea, 6ft lengths with prelaid Peco track and some sort of positive alignment widget could be put down and taken up quite quickly. It also just occured to me that "plastic track" might have merely been a reference to "plastic sleepered track", ie just ordinary Peco flexitrack... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 I caught part of an episode of Mythbusters involving a long stretch of Hotwheels type toy car track. They seemed to have some fairly serious alignment problems caused by thermal expansion and contraction of the track as the temperature changed and/or the sun fell on different sections over time. Whilst I can see the merits in Kevin's idea, I do wonder if it would encounter the same problems. I like those recycled plastic track boards though. If O gauge track is a prerequisite, something like a Roundhouse Millie in SM32 might be a reasonable bet for motive power. Robust and well engineered enough to go the distance and lacking too many frills which might go wrong. If they moved filming to Western Australia I can point them at 100+km of largely intact, largely unobstructed, former railway trackbed, through attractive countryside. Rain would cease to be a problem, Australians are almost excruciating in their unwillingness to nick stuff and I'd be more than willing to take the now valueless equipment off the company's hands afterwards . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted March 22, 2017 Author Share Posted March 22, 2017 (edited) I like the roundhouse loco idea - I've got a 'Billy' (!) and I'd wager that, with proper maintenance and a vast amount of gas, it could go the distance. WA? Don't you have a heap of venomous snakes living there? I don't fancy crawling about on my hands and knees laying SM32 track with the possibility of coming nose-to-nose with one of those blighters. K Edited March 22, 2017 by Nearholmer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris M Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 They seemed to have some fairly serious alignment problems caused by thermal expansion and contraction of the track as the temperature changed and/or the sun fell on different sections over time. Whilst I can see the merits in Kevin's idea, I do wonder if it would encounter the same problems. . Can't see this being a problem in Scotland! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcD Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 Contraction could be a problem in the middle of summer in the Highlands along with snow, hail, heavy rail and scotch mist. Expantion due to a heat wave in Scotland not a big risk, there is a greater chance that the stock and track being carried off by the midges. On a serious point if heat expansion is going to be an issue, which I have experianced at shows, running east-west would give more problems than running north-south as one side of the rail would be heated more than the other which could lead the track to bend as the rails act as a bio-metal strips. Marc Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nile_Griffith Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 Commercial TV has average budget of £500,000-800,000 per hour, so money's no real object. Really!!! Boy have I been lied too........... The sh*t people pull eh? I wonder where my colleagues have been hiding their Astons and Ferrari's........... Git's. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 There was an attractive young lady canvassing on behalf of this show at the Nottingham Exhibition today. The accompanying leaflet makes for interesting reading. Filming is in June. O gauge to be used. Plastic track has been mentioned. Steam or battery powered locomotives. As I read the first line, I thought it was going to turn into a limerick... The attractive young lady canvassing, Had a leaflet that made interesting reading, June's plan of attack, Gauge O plastic track, And battery powered or steaming. That's the easy bit sorted out... 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 The attractive young lady canvassing, Had a leaflet that made interesting reading, June's plan of attack, Gauge O plastic track, And battery powered or steaming. That's the easy bit sorted out... Yep - now make it interesting..... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Huw Griffiths Posted March 22, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 22, 2017 (edited) Yep - now make it interesting..... Depending on exactly where in the Glen this enterprise will actually be, I suspect that some of the challenges involved might be rather "interesting". Wait a second - did you have a different definition of "interesting" in mind? Joking aside, it could also be interesting if someone from the production company were to post directly on here - better still if they were to take on board some of the constructive suggestions about the concept and what's likely to be involved. Edited March 22, 2017 by Huw Griffiths Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rue_d_etropal Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 Strikes me that unless they can ship in a lot of people, they won't have many to help them. The technical problems are just as bad as the original scheme, but the big advantage for the original scheme was that there are a lot of model railway groups along the route, and instead of concentrating on building the railway they could have done a possible PR job for these societies and the work them do, which could be shown as being community focused. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Visitors to Ally Pally at the weekend may have had the chance to meet Rebecca and Rosie from the research team at Love Productions seeking people interested in taking part in the project. On Friday Phil interviewed Charlotte Armstrong and from the video it's evident that there's bags of passion and enthusiasm from the team to make a very interesting TV series. It's not just a programme for model railway enthusiasts of course, this will be entertainment which will be a good thing for highlighting the hobby and the problem-solving nature of our kind. Bake Off means a lot more people make cakes (which Phil feels is a very good thing) and this could be one of the best adverts this hobby has had for a few years to get people to show an interest in the hobby. It's also evident that a lot of thought has been put into overcoming challenges and there's going to be some interesting engineering challenges along the way. Good luck to them and anyone who gets involved! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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