Jump to content
 

Great Model Railway Challenge - Channel 5


Recommended Posts

Out of interest, how do you think they should present it?

I was trying (obviously ineffectively) to make the point that they should not pretend that the now complete model is what was presented for judging and thereby creating the impression that the judges got it all wrong.

 

...R

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Me and the Team (The Railway Video Division), have been restoring our Heat Layout "Go Forth" (The WW1 Blackadder Layout) over the past few weeks.

 

As you can imagine, it sustained a bit of damage after filming, being broken up and transferred back to one of our garages, before being moved once again to Signals Model Shop, in Midsomer Norton, Somerset, where it is currently being stored and rebuilt (They only moved into there's new shop on the High Street the week before we moved it there). 

 

The plan is to have the layout on Public Display to Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Signals Models Openning, on Saturday 3rd November - 10am to 4pm. Enter is free and there's going to be 10% off everything in store too!  :locomotive:

 

After that we don't exactly what to do with the layout. We would love to take the layout on the road to show, but sadly non of us have the space to store, or transport to move the layout. One option we are looking at is possibly selling the layout for charity. 

 

Until then, here's some pictures of the rebuild of the layout, and if you happen to be free on Saturday 3rd November, do pop over to Signals Models to come and say hi! 

 

If Signals were amenable to the idea, it would be nice if it could be kept on display until at least the following weekend (100th anniversary of the Armistice).

  • Like 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

I think the nearest model shop is rather a long walk from Fawley Hill.

 

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.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

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.

 

Hi there,

 

OK - there was a shop of sorts at the event- or so it appeared.

 

We were not able to buy anything from the shop at all.

 

Part way through our heat it was being taken down and everything on it packed away.

 

Fortunately between us we had taken a shop full of reserve items - just in case....

 

Thanks

Link to post
Share on other sites

If Signals were amenable to the idea, it would be nice if it could be kept on display until at least the following weekend (100th anniversary of the Armistice).

 

 

That is a great idea. Callum's 'Amiens' WW1 layout inspired me to build 'Aftermath' WW1 layout. After six shows I have donated my model to Stow Maries WW1 airfield museum (last weekend). They have invited me to attend and demo the model on Sunday Nov 11th. It is really special to use these special models this year I think. 

 

Incidentally myself and Callum know each other fairly well. We have displayed at the same show, and I think I might have tipped him off about the GMRC if memory serves. He's a terrific modeller with his team. They deserve to do well on this show. 

  • Like 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

I was trying (obviously ineffectively) to make the point that they should not pretend that the now complete model is what was presented for judging and thereby creating the impression that the judges got it all wrong.

 

Well, I'm sure they would not want to deliberately mislead anyone, so I expect a little note displayed at the front of the layout will keep everyone happy.

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

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.

We had them penciled in "in case of emergencies" ;)

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, I'm sure they would not want to deliberately mislead anyone, so I expect a little note displayed at the front of the layout will keep everyone happy.

That would certainly satisfy me.

 

...R

 

PS ... I think I know what you mean, but a lot depends on what is written on the note

      "We wuz robbed" would not cut it    :)

Edited by Robin2
Link to post
Share on other sites

One of the things that has impressed me is how well the professional modelling judges have come across on screen. You would probably expect that of Kathy Millatt, as she produces videos for her own YouTube channel and knows how to present properly (although that isn't necessarily a given, as a quick glance at some other model railway channels on YouTube will demonstrate). But Steve Flint has been a bit of a revelation, he's a TV natural.

 

Maybe C5 should sign them up for a follow-on series, titled "Steve and Kathy's Model Railway Hunt", where they go around looking at existing layouts and talking to their creators. I'm thinking of mainly static tourist attraction model railways here, such as Pendon, Bekonscot and, if the budget stretches to an overseas visit, Miniatur Wunderland. But maybe a visit to a big show and looking at some of the layouts on display would work, too. I think they'd make an excellent "good cop / bad cop" double act, with Kathy enthusing over the quality of the modelling and explaining it for the benefit of non-modellers watching, and Steve adopting a more perfectionist "Just look at the kink in that track!" approach. :)

  • Like 11
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Maybe C5 should sign them up for a follow-on series, titled "Steve and Kathy's Model Railway Hunt", where they go around looking at existing layouts and talking to their creators. I'm thinking of mainly static tourist attraction model railways here, such as Pendon, Bekonscot and, if the budget stretches to an overseas visit, Miniatur Wunderland. But maybe a visit to a big show and looking at some of the layouts on display would work, too. I think they'd make an excellent "good cop / bad cop" double act, with Kathy enthusing over the quality of the modelling and explaining it for the benefit of non-modellers watching, and Steve adopting a more perfectionist "Just look at the kink in that track!" approach. :)

I like the idea but it would be a hard slog finding sufficient static tourist model railways of suitable quality. The one on Canvey Island in the transport museum is a case in point. When it first opened it attracted quite an audience because of its multiple trains running on several tracks, today you will be lucky to see more than one train running. The reason being most of the original builders/operators have moved on or died and with them going so did the knowledge and experience. Also over the years maintainence and repairs have not kept up and the whole layout looks very tatty.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I like the idea but it would be a hard slog finding sufficient static tourist model railways of suitable quality. The one on Canvey Island in the transport museum is a case in point. When it first opened it attracted quite an audience because of its multiple trains running on several tracks, today you will be lucky to see more than one train running. The reason being most of the original builders/operators have moved on or died and with them going so did the knowledge and experience. Also over the years maintainence and repairs have not kept up and the whole layout looks very tatty.

 

Well, I mentioned three in my post. There's also Southport Model Railway Village and World of Model Railways in Mevagissey. Bear in mind that it wouldn't be aimed primarily at hobbyists, the "massive train set" type of exhibit would also be an important part of the formula. Round it off with a visit to Warley, and you've got a six-part series. That's enough for a speculative show that needs to be kept to a pretty low budget.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

I like the idea but it would be a hard slog finding sufficient static tourist model railways of suitable quality. The one on Canvey Island in the transport museum is a case in point. When it first opened it attracted quite an audience because of its multiple trains running on several tracks, today you will be lucky to see more than one train running. The reason being most of the original builders/operators have moved on or died and with them going so did the knowledge and experience. Also over the years maintainence and repairs have not kept up and the whole layout looks very tatty.

 

This seems to have been the fate of many display model railways and their close cousin the model village. Anyone remember Tucktonia? Opened with great fanfare, articles in the model press etc. ten years later it was a bit of a dump and closed down. Like any but the most iconic tourist attractions they tend to be a bit ephemeral.

 

And as your example shows, even those in respectable museums tend to fade away. 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

However such a spin-off series needn't necessarily be confined to tourist attraction railways. There are plenty of private "Layouts that never leave home" that could be featured (with the security precaution of not revealing their location). A visit to TBG's to view Buckingham would be a good episode!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Not necessarily. There are thousands of great prototypes that you never see modelled. There are thousands more models of GWR branch termini than there were actual GWR branch termini, but when was the last time you saw anything modelled from South America, or North Africa, or Scandinavia, or Russia? Railways don't end at Dover.

 

One of the Two exhibition layouts I have built defo ends at Dover (Dover Train Ferry 1966) and another defo in Russia as 'Polovova' Russian HO seen at a number of exhibitions in the south over the last few years

post-29624-0-32171100-1540469496.jpg

post-29624-0-75415300-1540469506.jpg

post-29624-0-66440700-1540469513.jpg

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

Think of a programme like Grand Designs which takes an esoteric subject and makes it seem exciting, challenging, and rewarding.

 

Grand Designs evolved from property porn in to little more than a drinking game many years ago:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/nov/13/kevin-mccloud-grand-designs-drinking-game

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/11229505/Kevin-McCloud-my-secret-Grand-Designs-drinking-game.html

 

(Note: I'm not suggesting that a drinking game can not also be exciting, challenging and rewarding.)

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Suggests a rule change in favour of long & thin but modular layouts.

 

Or they simply allow every team to go their own way with a scale and gauge of their choice. Given the series' focus on imaginative interpretation of the brief I think that would be easier than trying to get them all to link up.

 

But I would agree they need more variety than roundy-roundy layouts.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, but it needs to be challenged just as all parochialism and small-mindedness needs to be challenged.

 

I would tentatively suggest that a more effective way to 'challenge' it would be to build a model railway of your own to showcase your particular philosophy, rather than trying to explain at length why everyone else is doing it wrong ("it" being a personal hobby, after all, which ultimately has minimal impact on the wider world).

 

I accept that GMRC is a game show crossed with reality TV, but wish it wasn't so.

 

It's OK, you don't have to watch it if you don't like it.

 

I used to think that Horizon was an informative and educational science documentary series but, since it seemed to stop being that some time ago, I stopped watching it.   Being an IT professional, not a TV producer, it was unlikely that anything I was in a position to do would result in the programme changing simply to satisfy my own personal taste.  I'm sorry that it went downhill the way it did but there are other programmes to watch, and indeed other things to do to pass the time rather than vegetating in front of the telly, so in the grand scheme of things it ranks about the same as Eagle comic's decline and eventual disappearance from the newsagents in the 1960s i.e. very, very far from earth-shatteringly important.  So far, in fact, that even my Dad wouldn't have suggested driving there for the summer holidays (and believe me, that's a long way).

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • Administrators

Or they simply allow every team to go their own way with a scale and gauge of their choice. Given the series' focus on imaginative interpretation of the brief I think that would be easier than trying to get them all to link up.

 

But I would agree they need more variety than roundy-roundy layouts.

 

Why? Because it will bring in more viewers, or because it will satisfy someone who doesn't like the format? 

 

I'd suggest that the only rule change would be that it would be possible that the layouts are linked together. There's nothing to preclude this from a continuous run - just have branches off as required. However, I'd say leave well alone. Joining modules built in a hurry by different people is a world of trouble. Tracks even a couple of millimetres out won't align properly. It can be done, but you'd want to test before construction progressed too far and that isn't interesting viewing. There's also the issue of control systems - DC or DCC? 

 

I'm not saying it can't be done, just that in this specific context, it's probably more trouble than it's worth.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Why? Because it will bring in more viewers, or because it will satisfy someone who doesn't like the format? 

 

I'd suggest that the only rule change would be that it would be possible that the layouts are linked together. There's nothing to preclude this from a continuous run - just have branches off as required. However, I'd say leave well alone. Joining modules built in a hurry by different people is a world of trouble. Tracks even a couple of millimetres out won't align properly. It can be done, but you'd want to test before construction progressed too far and that isn't interesting viewing. There's also the issue of control systems - DC or DCC? 

 

I'm not saying it can't be done, just that in this specific context, it's probably more trouble than it's worth.

 

Only because variety is the spice of life.

 

I agree trying to join umpteen layouts built by different people would be a major operation and I can't see there would be much gain.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...