Great Model Railway Challenge - Channel 5

[Malcolm7mm]

The rules indicate that there is a "shop" of sorts set up in the 'studio' (it can be seen in some shots) from which competitors are able to purchase any items they may run out of (e.g. ballast), though there is a penalty for doing so.

 

Otherwise the nearest model shop is the Berkshire Dolls House & Model Shop in Twyford.

there was supposed o be a shop but all there was was the shop that is at Fawley for tourists  in the final there was a box of leftovers that could be used but in the main if you didnt bring it with you then it wasnt there 

[Phil Parker]

Only because variety is the spice of life.

 

As you have said repeatedly.

[Hobby]

Realistically I think we'll only see one more series using model railways, after that i suspect they'll try another modelling hobby for the variety.

[Delboy_Trotter]

I don't post here much - largely browse for ideas/inspiration

 

My 2p on the GMRC is that i enjoy it - its nice to see something different, a bit off piste and a bit of fun, and shows what can be achived in a relativley short space of time with a bit of enthusiasum and imagination, in a relativley short space of time

 

Personally i really belive there is a place for something as off beat as Go-Forth or the Basingstoke layout built in a short space of time, next to a mm perfect replica of your favourite station/era/location that someone has taken years of care/attention and research to build - i can appreciate both for there merits, indeed myself im partway through building a thomas the tank engine based layout in a coffee table in 00, and have ideas in my head for a larger 00 loft layout, loosely based around the southern region, but mostly a figment of my imagination with rule 1 in full force

 

What i thing GMRC does is challenge the concept of what is a model railway - and its many things to many people, be it the 6 x 4 round and round you tinker with, but love equally as much as the epic mm perfect replica that is a lifetimes work and goes to show just how much fun you can have and shows you can build exactly what you want, and most importantly what you like, none of my layouts will ever be exhibiton/magazine standard layouts, but they will be my labours of love - something that comes across in the GMRC is the obvoius enthusiasum the teams have for there layouts

[TheQ]

Connecting multiple layouts would be easy you just supply them with one piece of track each side pre fitted on each layout.

[sharris]

Realistically I think we'll only see one more series using model railways, after that i suspect they'll try another modelling hobby for the variety.

 

Who knows? Who would have thought competitive Bed & Breakfast management could last for 14-ish* series? 

 

(*there seems to be a bit of a discrepancy between Wikipedia and IMDB about how many series there are)

[t-b-g]

I have eventually got around to seeing part of one of the episodes.

 

It isn't railway modelling as some of us would approach it but I certainly didn't see anything I found offending. People building "train sets" in an artificially created environment, with deadlines that don't often crop up in the hobby and the added pressure of cameras just waiting for a mistake to be made.

 

As long as nobody wants to take it as anything other than a bit of light entertainment and fun, I can't see that it will have done the hobby any harm and may well have done it some good.

 

I was told how the activity on the Missenden Abbey website went through the roof after the first show and that at least one person signed up for a course as a direct result of the show, plus it has lots of people talking about the hobby.

 

I don't think that many experienced modellers are going to learn anything they didn't already know about how to build a model railway but for a novice, or somebody thinking about having a go, if it encourages them to make a start, it is OK with me.

[Graham Walters]

When it takes three days for a modeller to airbrush 12 OO huts, you have to wonder if he has the right skills to do the job, or was he using the right paints !

I was impressed with the BB team, and the steampunk version has some nice quirky bits but Tonbridge was IMO what most people think the hobby is, and gave a totally wrong perception of it.

 

It's still not 'must switch on TV' for me, and I cannot put my finger on why it isn't

[t-b-g]

When it takes three days for a modeller to airbrush 12 OO huts, you have to wonder if he has the right skills to do the job, or was he using the right paints !

I was impressed with the BB team, and the steampunk version has some nice quirky bits but Tonbridge was IMO what most people think the hobby is, and gave a totally wrong perception of it.

 

It's still not 'must switch on TV' for me, and I cannot put my finger on why it isn't

 

The hobby is not about trying to build a layout in 3 days while being filmed. The program is not about showing how 99.9% of modellers build their projects. Once you get those ideas out of your head and accept it for what it is, it really doesn't seem so bad!

[Phil Parker]

The hobby is not about trying to build a layout in 3 days while being filmed. The program is not about showing how 99.9% of modellers build their projects. Once you get those ideas out of your head and accept it for what it is, it really doesn't seem so bad!

 

Strictly speaking, your version of the hobby isn't building a layout in 3 days. Others have had a go - Iain Rice & co tried it as Scaleform once as I recall and they aren't the only ones. The hobby is wide-ranging and well all do it differently and get different things from it. As long as you enjoy your hobby, you are doing it right. The GMRC teams do look like they are enjoying it for the most part and that's a pretty good advert for what we do.

 

Very true about the 99.9% though - but then having watched modellers building layouts, it's not a great spectacle. Watching blokes standing around drinking tea and watching paint dry is not TV gold. I can imagine a snooker commentator, "Dave is approaching the layout with the platelayer's hut. He's going to put it in place. No, he's changed his mind. Now he coming back. Nope changed his mind again. Now he's going over to the computer to post on RMweb. He's back, but with some sheep to put in a field. Will it go here? Or there. No, he's hesitating again..." (continue until the audience is asleep).

[Jeff Smith]

Reminds me of Monty Python's Thomas Hardy live writing sketch.....

[t-b-g]

Strictly speaking, your version of the hobby isn't building a layout in 3 days. Others have had a go - Iain Rice & co tried it as Scaleform once as I recall and they aren't the only ones. The hobby is wide-ranging and well all do it differently and get different things from it. As long as you enjoy your hobby, you are doing it right. The GMRC teams do look like they are enjoying it for the most part and that's a pretty good advert for what we do.

 

Very true about the 99.9% though - but then having watched modellers building layouts, it's not a great spectacle. Watching blokes standing around drinking tea and watching paint dry is not TV gold. I can imagine a snooker commentator, "Dave is approaching the layout with the platelayer's hut. He's going to put it in place. No, he's changed his mind. Now he coming back. Nope changed his mind again. Now he's going over to the computer to post on RMweb. He's back, but with some sheep to put in a field. Will it go here? Or there. No, he's hesitating again..." (continue until the audience is asleep).

 

That is a fair point but most layouts built to that sort of timescale were special "challenge" type projects. I did once build a "trainset" for a friends Grandson for Christmas in a couple of days, so I have done it once but it was very much a "trainset" rather than a layout. I didn't enjoy it!

 

You are quite right. Filming a modeller like me or many others building a layout over a period of years would make very dull TV.

 

An artificial deadline and a contest is not how I model but it certainly makes for more entertaining viewing than I could provide.

[Huw Griffiths]

Strictly speaking, your version of the hobby isn't building a layout in 3 days. Others have had a go - Iain Rice & co tried it as Scaleform once as I recall and they aren't the only ones. The hobby is wide-ranging and well all do it differently and get different things from it. As long as you enjoy your hobby, you are doing it right. The GMRC teams do look like they are enjoying it for the most part and that's a pretty good advert for what we do.

 

Very true about the 99.9% though - but then having watched modellers building layouts, it's not a great spectacle. Watching blokes standing around drinking tea and watching paint dry is not TV gold. I can imagine a snooker commentator, "Dave is approaching the layout with the platelayer's hut. He's going to put it in place. No, he's changed his mind. Now he coming back. Nope changed his mind again. Now he's going over to the computer to post on RMweb. He's back, but with some sheep to put in a field. Will it go here? Or there. No, he's hesitating again..." (continue until the audience is asleep).

 

"...and for those of you watching in black and white, the pink beach hut is next to the green."

 

OK - perhaps not - for all I know, it might be next to the blue one - or even the one with a tricolore flag sticker on the roof.

 

 

Seriously though, one of the best bits about railway modelling is that it's a hobby - so you don't have to be totally serious about everything all the time - unless, of course, you want to.

 

 

Huw.

[Colin_McLeod]

The hobby is not about trying to build a layout in 3 days while being filmed. The program is not about showing how 99.9% of modellers build their projects. Once you get those ideas out of your head and accept it for what it is, it really doesn't seem so bad!

 

 

 

 

Very true about the 99.9% though - but then having watched modellers building layouts, it's not a great spectacle. Watching blokes standing around drinking tea and watching paint dry is not TV gold. I can imagine a snooker commentator, "Dave is approaching the layout with the platelayer's hut. He's going to put it in place. No, he's changed his mind. Now he coming back. Nope changed his mind again. Now he's going over to the computer to post on RMweb. He's back, but with some sheep to put in a field. Will it go here? Or there. No, he's hesitating again..." (continue until the audience is asleep).

Agree that watching genuine building of a model railway would be boring TV.

 

Series one could feature the top ten box opening videos.

[Robin2]

When it takes three days for a modeller to airbrush 12 OO huts, you have to wonder if he has the right skills to do the job,

This brings to mind one of the nice features of the program (IMHO) - it is showing very clearly how inclusive railway modelling is. There are other examples through all the episodes.

 

Indeed this Challenge is very different from the others like the bake-off and the pottery-throw-down because it is for teams rather than individuals.

 

...R

[Philou]

Well ..... where do I start? Full confession - I haven't seen any of the episodes (yet) (YouTube will have to be my friend) as I am out of 'region', so no catch-up TV for me either. Other confession, I don't have a layout - but that is due to start soon.

 

I'm writing this solely from what I've read on this thread and my take is this:

 

The programme makers gave the teams tasks that stretched their imaginations and took them possibly out of their comfort zone (and probably a number of those who are modellers and watched too). This is perhaps no bad thing. Seemingly it has been made for entertainment (has to attract a certain number of viewers) and if it hadn't had the entertainment (animations and the like) then it would, for the average viewer no doubt, been deemed booorrring.

 

I wondered, therefore, if when viewing the programme, one should look at it more through a child's (or novice's) eyes. I have two grand sons (7 and9) and I have completed one layout for the one and the other is completed trackwise but is waiting for me to finish the ballasting and scenery and this has taken forever!! This is where it has gone wrong (for me). The layouts I sought to create are ones where, in my world, the track (albeit 2nd/3rd radius set track) is billiard smooth, ballasted, painted, roads laid out, with kerbing, grass stuck down properly, buildings - the works.

 

You know what? The grand sons don't care about that - they play on the one layout that is finished with non-scale vehicles, bits of cardboard for extra buildings and trains that go lickety split around the roundy-roundy in different directions. Stuff the 'rusty rails' Pappy, the scale trees and the rest - this is what WE want in OUR railway world and we're having fun. And I agree wholeheartedly.

 

Is this then the idea of the show? To show what can be done in limited time? Think Christmas Day and setting up the new Thomas the Tank engine (or for someone a bit older maybe a DCC starter set). The fun is setting up and running it and then adding to it at birthday times and then, getting it onto a board then ....... see where I'm going?

 

When we're older and our eyes see scale, proportionality and prototypes differently, then yes, we put the dinosaurs aside and start 'modelling'.

 

I say good for the programme makers and those that took part, as it seems it has already created interest and perhaps taken the hobby out of the 'closet' and made it more mainstream. If you're proud of your model, let others know - maybe, just maybe - they too are closet railway modellers or would just like to get started.

 

Just my ramblings,

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[Coryton]

When we're older and our eyes see scale, proportionality and prototypes differently, then yes, we put the dinosaurs aside and start 'modelling'.

 

I'm - slowly - building what is supposed to be a Proper Layout with real scenery, ballasted track etc, and a reasonably plausible selection of rolling stock.

 

But a couple of small dinosaurs appear to have made their way into one of the fields.

 

The sheep seem fascinated. Fortunately the dinosaurs appear to be vegetarian.

 

None of them have noticed the Weeping Angel lurking in the corner yet.

 

A serious layout doesn't have to be completely serious all the time. (Other views are available).

 

I do agree about children seeing things differently though...giving an 8 year old a free hand to paint rolling stock can be quite fascinating. I would never have thought of painting a tank engine in blue, red and silver stripes.

[Marcus-Jay]

None of them have noticed the Weeping Angel lurking in the corner yet.

Probably blinked and missed it :-)

[Robin Brasher]

I used to display my model of Corfe Viaduct in a shop window in Swanage High Street. The only time that there were handprints from tiny hands was when Thomas the Tank Engine was on display during Thomas the Tank Engine weekend. Perhaps the public is more interested in things that do not appeal to serious railway modellers.

[Robin Brasher]

Following the success of Model Railway Challenge and one of the editorial staff of the Railway Modeller being a presenter I wonder if Channel 5 would like to do a programme about Pecorama.

 

They could show a new layout being built, how it would fit in your home and what happens to the layouts when they are scrapped.

 

Seaton Junction has ended up at our model railway club but it has been leaning up against a wall for a couple of years.

[Mike Storey]

The format of taking a more realistic period to build an entire layout has been tried, as a TV format. I am thinking of the series "The Garden Railway", presented by the very funny and personable Mark Found. This series took each stage of the build, in each episode, using the formula of an enthusiastic near-idiot, with a sceptic spouse, being shown what to do by an expert or two, as their small back garden became a horrible mess, until, butterfly-like, a charming layout emerged and order was restored. In between the concrete pouring and track laying, there would be visits to other garden railways around the country (including of course Bob Syme's fantastic wonderland - shows how long ago this was). It was rivetting and compulsive viewing, even though the gauge, scale and power source he was using, was not one of my choice, largely because it was so entertaining.

 

But it was only on one of the Sky Discovery channels, although you can still see every episode on YouTube. But it did get some reasonable viewing numbers I believe, for that kind of channel, so one wonders what such a series would obtain on a main channel. But it proved that the right presenter(s) and format, are everything.

[Hobby]

That's true, though I feel a garden railway is very different to an indoor railway as far as prospective viewers are concerned. By making the railway in the garden you also introduce the garden itself which has a whole (very large) TV viewing public many of which would also tune in. An indoor layout would be much more "hardcore(!)" and I suspect severely limit the numbers watching.

 

Someone on another forum came up with an interesting idea, though. The "bake off" programmes have had a series "on the side", so to speak, running alongside the existing programme (many other series have done the same thing - the Apprentice and Versailles) where some detail or information can be added to the basics of the original programme. Something like that would give us the opportunity to show "How things were done" and also trips to see other layouts... A thought for if it gets another series perhaps?

[MarkSG]

For reference, Bachmann are posting a running tally of their products used on the programme. The latest news article also confirms that the winning layout will be at Warley, on the Bachmann stand. 

 

 

http://news.Bachmann.co.uk/2018/10/Bachmann-products-as-seen-on-screen/

[Ian Morgan]

And, according to the Railway Modeller news, another Challenge layout will be on the Peco stand at Warley.

[Chris M]

The format of taking a more realistic period to build an entire layout has been tried, as a TV format. I am thinking of the series "The Garden Railway", presented by the very funny and personable Mark Found. This series took each stage of the build, in each episode, using the formula of an enthusiastic near-idiot, with a sceptic spouse, being shown what to do by an expert or two, as their small back garden became a horrible mess, until, butterfly-like, a charming layout emerged and order was restored. In between the concrete pouring and track laying, there would be visits to other garden railways around the country (including of course Bob Syme's fantastic wonderland - shows how long ago this was). It was rivetting and compulsive viewing, even though the gauge, scale and power source he was using, was not one of my choice, largely because it was so entertaining.

 

But it was only on one of the Sky Discovery channels, although you can still see every episode on YouTube. But it did get some reasonable viewing numbers I believe, for that kind of channel, so one wonders what such a series would obtain on a main channel. But it proved that the right presenter(s) and format, are everything.

Mark Found and his programme caused me to spend a lot of money!