hicksan Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 Whether or not you let children play with your layout anyone running an end to end layout would be well to locate their controls to the front of the layout IME - obviously more easy with a dcc handset system as it immediately makes you part of the watching audience and readily open to conversations. At Oxrail a few weeks ago, the 'Snakebend' US-themed N gauge modular railway allowed kids at the exhibition to drive huge freight trains along five scale miles of track through three large rooms using handheld digital controllers, supervised by operators. The operators took over once they reached the fiddle yards. The concentration and pleasure on the faces of the young drivers was priceless. I wish there were more modular railway groups in the UK, in different scales, because they offer opportunities for public participation like this. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLBH Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 Have I missed the bus in complaining about the bagpipes announcing the arrival of the Aberdeen team? It's not like there was Morris dancing music each time an English team turned up. [Ducks as thread disappears up another blind tangent for a few pages]You're not wrong. I'd half expected the token team from north of Hadrian's Wall to be called the Flying Scotsmen. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Years ago (30+) there was a feature in one of the magazines, probably RM, that showed what could actually be achieved in 6'x 4' using I think Setrack and ready made buildings. It was an oval with single face through station and a couple of sidings. I can't remember if there was a loop, possibly. There were tunnel mouths at each end and a reasonably high hill right across the back. Anyway the scenic side was extremely good and went a long way to disguise the simple nature of the track plan and tight curves. Sounds like Bredon. Lovely little layout. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Smith Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Having Googled Bredon it's more complex than I remember but probably what I was thinking of.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSG Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 * Girls can be train drivers just as much as boys. It's great Daddy/Daughter time building it together, gets domestic approval much more than a sole project would, and far more rewarding to build than a flipping dolls' house. My elder daughter has been coming to model railway exhibitions with me since she was a baby, and she still enjoys them. She's also a big fan of the "Warrior Cats" series of books, and has asked me if we can build a layout based around them as a theme. My tentative thoughts on it are that it might be a good project for 009, since it would be a good chance to build a somewhat stereotypical (but hugely fun) "rabbit warren" layout that fits on a single board that can be stored in her bedroom. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JohnR Posted November 5, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 5, 2018 Have I missed the bus in complaining about the bagpipes announcing the arrival of the Aberdeen team? It's not like there was Morris dancing music each time an English team turned up. [Ducks as thread disappears up another blind tangent for a few pages] You're not wrong. I'd half expected the token team from north of Hadrian's Wall to be called the Flying Scotsmen. Me too. It felt forced as the team captain was obviously not a native speaker of the Doric! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Colin_McLeod Posted November 5, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 5, 2018 I like it that many of the competition entries are subsequently being shown at model railway exhibitions. You never see the products of the Great British Bake off appearing in public months later! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDJR7F88 Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 A short video from our little show at Signals Models with our Blackadder layout -Go Forth. hope it's of interest! 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin2 Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 I did offer. She asked for a railway instead. Sensible girl. When you find yourself in a hole the first thing to do is stop digging It is neither more nor less sensible to like railways or doll's houses - just different things of equal value. ...R Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium phil-b259 Posted November 5, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 5, 2018 I have that problem with my first name which is spelt with two L's. The reverse often happens with me - I can always pass on the spare ‘L’s if it helps Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil gollin Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 I like it that many of the competition entries are subsequently being shown at model railway exhibitions. You never see the products of the Great British Bake off appearing in public months later! . Why would anyone want to see a row of empty plates ? . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 . Why would anyone want to see a row of empty plates ? . Green fuzzy lumps? Or Anthony Gormleys 1980 bread sculpture..... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 (edited) When you find yourself in a hole the first thing to do is stop digging It is neither more nor less sensible to like railways or doll's houses - just different things of equal value. ...R Not sure who should put their shovel down, if I'm honest This is a model railway forum, so expect some baby-train centred banter. I wouldn't recommend going on Derby City Soccer FC's fan page and suggesting Nottingham Soccer Academicals are just a different team of equal value Edited November 5, 2018 by 'CHARD Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TouchCabMike Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 (edited) You're not wrong. I'd half expected the token team from north of Hadrian's Wall to be called the Flying Scotsmen. Token team? Hmmm Edited November 5, 2018 by TouchCabMike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TheQ Posted November 5, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 5, 2018 (edited) Scotland has a population of about 5.5 million Wales has a population of 3.3 million Northern ireland has a population of about 1.8 Million England has a population of about 53 million So to be quitable Scotland should have had about 1.2 teams Wales should have had about 0.75 of a team Northern Ireland should have had about 0.4 of a team England should have had about 12 teams The number of teams weren't that far out.. Edited November 5, 2018 by TheQ 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hicksan Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Each row of terraced houses was placed on the layout separately (they weren't all on the same sub-base) so therefore to my mind would constitute separate items. (To borrow the station analogy, if the pre-built station building was already glued to the platform, one item - if they were placed on the layout one after the other, two items. Correct. That was our understanding also, after discussion with the production company. They were supposed to have been mounted on a common base (into two long street-length blocks each consisting of a road with terrace on either side, counting as two prebuilt items - not one as stated incorrectly by me on the programme) - which, at least as far as we were concerned, had been agreed with the production company as such in the detailed lists and descriptions we had sent them and with specific correspondence and phone conversations on this particular question. The station on the viaduct and dock scene with animated ships were similarly listed as single items, as was the warehouse complex which should have been connected together with gantries and walkways. Whether the rules were meant to be interpreted like this is a matter for clarification before the next series, but we had no doubt that we sought and received confirmation to this effect. Obviously somewhere along the line between us and the production company and the judges there was a misunderstanding or miscommunication. At the end of the day we, the team, have to take responsibility for that. We accept that we lost and deserved to lose under the circumstances. However the question is moot because the prebuilds were not completed on arrival but broken into individual terraces because we had run out of time. Scratch-building is much more time consuming than kit-builds - there would not have been time enough to build even a couple on set - the printing alone takes days. The road sections had been lost in transit so had to be rebuilt. Ultimately the design was too ambitious given the techniques we were using and time constraints. The fact that the prebuilds were not finished as integrated units meant that they had to be counted as multiple items once queried. We accepted that we had no grounds to argue against the concerns raised by the judges. We agreed that the rules had been broken but that there had been no deliberate attempt to cheat. We stand by that. We offered to remove items but were privately asked not to do so because the production company wanted footage of the layout completed as designed. We agreed that building it was anyway more important to us than going through to the final. This is why we decided effectively to disqualify ourselves rather than compromise the layout. We knew that decision meant we would not win, but honestly we were not bothered. All the rest is pantomime. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hicksan Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 ...did we get to see the aftermath of the helicopter crash? It landed on the camera. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLBH Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Scotland has a population of about 5.5 million Wales has a population of 3.3 million Northern ireland has a population of about 1.8 Million England has a population of about 53 million So to be quitable Scotland should have had about 1.2 teams Wales should have had about 0.75 of a team Northern Ireland should have had about 0.4 of a team England should have had about 12 teams The number of teams weren't that far out.. This is indeed spot on. However... Watch a number of such programmes and you realise that the 1.2 Scottish teams on average becomes precisely one, with no statistical variation. You would expect there to be occasions when there are none, and occasions when there are two. Come to that, look at the Walking Lost Railways programme - one Scottish, one Welsh and four English lines. I have no particular agenda in wishing to see the number change in one direction or the other, but it does seem interesting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hicksan Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Hi, Peco was one of the sponsors along with Hornby, Bachmann, Gaugemaster and Deluxe Materials. Might have been Metcalfe as well. Spoiler Alert: I probably misheard but didn't one of the teams say that the Ealing comedies were all about underdogs succeeding against the odds - what about the fate of the main male characters in the Lavender Hill Mob and the Ladykillers?. Regards Nick Sadly that was only the first part of a longer dialogue, which continued more or less as follows: The protagonists in The Lavender Hill Mob and The Ladykillers failed, in both cases, because they lacked the ruthlessness to carry through their dastardly plan to its logical conclusion. They were defeated because their own consciences would not permit them to win - because they weren't clear in their own minds exactly what winning was. After making this point I went on to explain that, for Missenden team, winning the competition was not as important to us as building an inspiring layout that showcases the best of what we have been taught by the real experts at Missenden Railway Modelling Courses. What really mattered to us was not competing with the other teams, who each equally deserved to win, but competing with ourselves: to build something better than any of us had ever built before, better than any of us could ever build individually and have a good time together as friends while doing so. We accepted that we had broken rules, albeit unintentionally, for which we would have to take the consequences but had decided to build the layout as designed knowing that we wouldn't then win. If doing so meant that we would be effectively disqualifying ourselves then so be it. As close as I can remember, word for word. One of my colleagues remarked afterward that it was far too philosophical for mainstream television. Regrettably he was right because it all got cut. Thanks for spotting it though, giving me the chance to clarify how creative editing can completely change the context of what is said and turn something intended as positive and gracious into something which appears negative and arrogant. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin2 Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 It landed on the camera. Perhaps the camera was broadcasting on the same frequency as the 'copter and was the cause of the crash? ...R Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butler Henderson Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 (edited) On the subject of wiring up points wonder how Peco feels it comes across, assuming they have watched the programme - think how much quicker the matter would be if they were factory pre-wired with all possible connections and it was for the purchaser to snip wires off rather than solder wires on, and no damage likely from a stray soldering iron. Edited November 6, 2018 by Butler Henderson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobby Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Bit of thread drift but I thought that the main protagonist in the Lavender Hill Mob did succeed. He got away with some of the gold, enjoyed himself for a year or so enjoying himself to the full and didn't resist when they eventually caught up with him as he'd had his enjoyment... Or have I mis-interpreted the ending of the film all these years! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signalist Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 This is indeed spot on. However... Watch a number of such programmes and you realise that the 1.2 Scottish teams on average becomes precisely one, with no statistical variation. You would expect there to be occasions when there are none, and occasions when there are two. Well the TL Ninjas team was 50% Scottish, 17% English, 17% Irish, and 17% Welsh. That balances up the figures a bit. The Walford pre-build was done in Scotland - well away from the sound of Bow Bells. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signalist Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 On the subject of wiring up points wonder how Peco feels it comes across, assuming they have watched the programme - think how much quicker the matter would be if they were factory pre-wired with all possible connections and it the purchaser had to snip wires off rather than solder wires on, and no damage likely from a stray soldering iron. We did consider using the new bullhead track with Unifrog at one time, but the radius of the points was too big. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JohnR Posted November 5, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 5, 2018 Dont Peco do point motors pre-wired? At least the surface ones? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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