A New Hope - Great Model Railway Challenge benefits

[Ian Morgan]

You might see me in a new silly hat this Friday.

[Phil Parker]

Do we have to wear silly hats whilst doing it ?

 

It seems yes. Here's me with a previous editor of Garden Rail plus the editor of Garten Bahn magazine.

 

 

It seems a "distinctive" hat is part of the uniform.

[Ian Smeeton]

It seems yes. Here's me with a previous editor of Garden Rail plus the editor of Garten Bahn magazine.

 

Editors.jpg

 

It seems a "distinctive" hat is part of the uniform.

Where is yours, then?

 

Regards

 

Ian

[Tony Davis]

To answer the topic heading; one direct benefit I have found is that I now have a good reason to bugg disappear into the spare room and watch it on the recorder whilst SWMBO is engrossed in Strictly whatsitcalled. It is such a good reason in fact, that I can use it to bugge disappear into the spare room and watch "Public Eye" on the recorder too, whilst she is watching some soap or another.

 

Glad to see they are planning a second series!!

[GWR8700]

I enjoyed the programme, it's nice to get the hobby on TV.  I think it would have been nice if they had found a way to get some impressive home layouts into the show a bit more just to showcase what is possible without time constraints.

Nice programme, will tune in for a second series if one appears.

Edited November 10, 2018 by GWR8700

[Castle]

Do we have to wear silly hats whilst doing it ?

Yes, yes I do...

 

 

Sorry Stubs - couldn’t resist it! I’ll get my coat...

 

All the best,

 

Castle

[Scottish Modeller]

Yes, yes I do...

 

270F5595-D088-4AE1-B499-D75B5F1A4624.jpeg

 

Sorry Stubs - couldn’t resist it! I’ll get my coat...

 

All the best,

 

Castle

 

I can confirm that Castle was seen to be wearing this every day during our heat...…

[Scottish Modeller]

Hi all,

 

OK - time to feed the rumour mill!

 

I've registered an interest with the producers to have an N Gauge layout/team in Series 2

 

I had to decide on a name for the entry - 'The N'gineers' was the name I decided on.

So - before you all ask questions…….

It's a bit early to say much as the actual rules for Series 2 are still under discussion

It is unlikely that there will be a separate GMRC competition for N Gauge layouts

The rules for the N Gauge entry will be the same as for all other entries.

I've had to submit a proposal to the same casting email address as everyone else - no preferential treatment.

Nothing much else I can say until a few things happen.

1 - The Rules are fixed and circulated and the themes decided

2 - The Venue and Dates are announced

3 - The proposed entry is confirmed as participating.

So - time to dream. thinks of a few things to incorporate on a potential layout entry!

 

Thanks

 

ps - I've allready posted regarding this on the N Gauge Forum...……………………….

[57xx]

Do we have to wear silly hats whilst doing it ?

 

No but you should ensure that there is always a toilet modelled somewhere.

 

I think. Can't quite remember where I saw that...

[MrTea]

I do think Andy's original question, '...is this the best thing to happen to the hobby in a long time?' is worth exploring a bit further.

 

It's great to hear from exhibition attendees and organisers that they've seen a noticeable increase in attendance by families in the weeks that the series has been running.  It certainly encouraged me to get out of my (admittedly very comfy!) armchair and visit Wycrail 18 with my kids the other weekend.  I put a few of my thoughts about our experience on Graham Muz's thread here.

 

I've skimmed this whole thread but I'm not sure if I've seen any feedback from model shop staff or people who deal with club enquiries about whether they've seen any increase?  I would imagine the next few weeks is critical in this regard, and the timing is perfect with it being the run up to Christmas.

 

I suspect people joining clubs is likely to be more of a slow-burner in terms of take up.  But if people are turning up to exhibitions then that's a great starting point.  Getting people to join organisations and contribute isn't perhaps as easy as it once was but it's certainly possible.  You just need to make the organisation accessible and fun to people who might be thinking about joining.

 

As Andy mentioned the younger generation (and I can just about include myself in that) have a real tendency to look to the internet as their first port of call when it comes to research.  I work in digital so I thought I'd have a quick look and see if I could find any evidence of increased interest in our hobby.  I was pleasantly surprised with what I found:

 

This is from Google Trends and shows searches for 'model railway' since January 2018.  There's clearly been a spike in the past 6 weeks or so.  It would be interesting to dig into this a bit more and see if it translates into interest in topics such as buying models and/or making scenery and the like.

 

If you look to other major platforms such as YouTube and Twitter there are clear examples of content related to the show being very well received, as well as positive comments from people who maybe aren't long standing railway modellers.

 

Top viewed videos as of Saturday morning on YouTube for 'Great Model Railway Challenge'.

 

Some great feedback from a viewer via Twitter.

 

As for how to capitalise on this, there's definitely an opportunity.  And as a community we've probably got 2 or 3 months to make the most of it (unless there's a second series in 2019).

 

For me, exhibitions and clubs need to make the layouts that were constructed during the series accessible to the viewing public.  Some are already doing this e.g. the layouts featuring at the Warley show and Railway Video Division's layout featuring at a local model shop.  Being able to include 'As featured in the Great Model Railway Challenge' on press releases and Social Media posts including using the hashtag seems like a bit of a no-brainer.

 

I've seen some really good suggestions on this thread so far but what do others think?

 

 

[JohnR]

IMG_4615.png

This is from Google Trends and shows searches for 'model railway' since January 2018.  There's clearly been a spike in the past 6 weeks or so.  It would be interesting to dig into this a bit more and see if it translates into interest in topics such as buying models and/or making scenery and the like.

 

 

Looking back on Google Trends over a longer period of time shows that there has been a steady decline over the last 10 years - and this uptick is from an historic low. Is it more than seasonal variation with a bit of statistical variation thrown in? Not so sure. But lets hope it IS the start of a revival, and that not only is the 2nd series a success, but other channels look to cover Model Railways too. 

 

Edited November 13, 2018 by JohnR

[Pacific231G]

Looking back on Google Trends over a longer period of time shows that there has been a steady decline over the last 10 years - and this uptick is from an historic low. Is it more than seasonal variation with a bit of statistical variation thrown in? Not so sure. But lets hope it IS the start of a revival, and that not only is the 2nd series a success, but other channels look to cover Model Railways too. 

 

Google.JPG

Interesting. There was a very sharp peak around December 2014 - considerably higher than the present rise (it produces the 100% interest datum) but much shorter. I can't relate it to anything specific unless there was a TV advertising campaign around that time.

I also looked at Google Trends for Railway Modelling - a term I'd expect to see used more by people with some existing awareness of the hobby- and the graph is very different with no particular rise relating to the dates of the GMRC seres. What we don't know are the total number of searches these figures relate to as they only relate to a percentage of the highest level of weekly interest. I think a very jagged graph would suggest a fairly small total number of searches as a few more or less would have a more significant impact. 

 

BTW that trend for a steady decline since 2004 also appeared in most practical hobby type terms I tried from photography to fishing

['CHARD]

 

BTW that trend for a steady decline since 2004 also appeared in most practical hobby type terms I tried from photography to fishing

 

Familiarity with a number of crafty females indicates that equivalent pastimes involving fabric, thread and yarn bimble about in a similar way to those you mention, occasionally spiking when a renewed casual interest is piqued by some nonentity on television expressing a passing fascination in one or other branch of creativity...

[colin smith]

How many games do teenagers go through? Loads. How much do they spend watching some awful film at the cinema with drinks, burgers and popcorn? £20 or more. How much on mobile phones, tablets and apps? Too much.

 

What you need is to get those youngsters to spend it on model railways rather than other hobbies. That's the challenge.

 

Jason

I'm not sure we're going to convince any youngster to take up the hobby if we take the attitude that their current interests are somehow wrong.

Fifty years ago if I wanted to revisit D-Day I was rubbing transfers of tanks into a booklet or running around the garden with a cap gun.

Today I can be in the landing craft as it hits Omaha Beach complete with full sensory overload and a real chance of getting shot. Okay, the penalty is Game-Over' rather than a War Commission grave but it's a million miles from playing in the back garden.

For all the sophistication of today's model railways, we are standing next to them and turning a knob to make them go just as we were fifty years ago. There's no immersive element.

 

I suspect it's hard enough for real life to compete with the experience of 'playing' a computer game, let alone model railways.

Edited November 14, 2018 by colin smith

[colin smith]

I'm a regular reader of MRJ and I really appreciate the skills of the folk who populate its pages with exquisite pictures. They are certainly models in the sense that they are not real trains and they are certainly railways because they have track and trains. But I'm not so sure they are "model railways" - where is the play value? They seem to me to be things to look at rather than to play with.

...R

Surely for those modellers the 'play' value comes from the construction. After all, a watercolourist takes great pleasure from producing their work even though there's not much they can do with the finished painting.

[colin smith]

The question is what would a 6-7 year old want to play with - a steam train or a modern train?

 

When our father's were growing up it was the archetypal express steam train circuit, when I were a lad it was the HST (and one solitary coach)  so that would suggest today we need modern trains at a reasonable price which represents what a child will see on today's railways.

Not necessarily.

The idea that one models what one is familiar with didn't apply to me.

I have almost no memory of mainline steam and the nearest railway growing up was the very uninspiring 'Hastings Branch'.

In fact, I don't think I had much interest in 'modern' railways at all, but rides on The Bluebell, Isle of Man, La Rhune, and Ravenglass and Eskdale were another matter.

My own model railway, circa age 11-14 was a sort of BR steam-era branchline but again it was from a time I had no experience of.

 

Then I read Railway Adventure by Tom Rolt and my interest in narrow-gauge began, but even then I was drawn to an era that ended long before I was born.

Edited November 14, 2018 by colin smith

[colin smith]

If you've not been in one for a while then you'll be surprised to know that many libraries are still very active...

 

 

There is a group in town encouraging youngsters to model however - Games Workshop shops. Sunday morning tends to be painting tuition time.

Totally agree about libraries. Re Games Workshop, I think there is a good point that railway modelling doesn't exist in isolation. There are a lot of hobbies that involve many of the same skills and, to varying degrees, many of the same desired outcomes.

[Signalist]

I watched Model World in the '70s. The effect it had on me was to get a realisation that I could do a lot better than my bare track on a bare baseboard with a few buildings dotted around and produce something more scenic, more operationally interesting, and more in line with what was being exhibited without being an elite modeller.

 

I suspect the impact of GMRC will be similar and inspire people to try a few things and succeed. Obviously the format is a bit different to Model World but if there is a bit more demonstration of things and discussion of layout features in the next series the impact should be quite marked on people having a go who would otherwise be quite content for a while before giving up.

 

A more detailed focus on the scratch build challenge showing the techniques used to modify the items might help a bit too. 

['CHARD]

It just occurred to me that a daily children's programme used to sporadically inject Triang-Hornby into our living rooms after school; lo and behold here's a thread we collectively made earlier....

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/113733-bbc-tv-blue-peter-childrens-program-1970s/page-1

 

Some topics covered on Blue Peter that wouldn't seem out of place for novices - but I think the inclusion of stuff like this wouldn't work on a show with GMRC's format....

[colin smith]

Just read through the thread and was interested to see the comments on Games Workshop.

 

I'm not au fait with the history of war-gaming but I suspect there was a moment when traditional wargamers replaying Waterloo, Cannae, and Gallipoli were anxious about the declining interest in their hobby only for Games Workshop, etcetera, to come along and save it with battalions of.... orcs.

 

I wonder what the traditional gamers attitude was. I suspect I would have been one of those harrumphing that orcs were beyond the pale, but I can't deny it is the same hobby whether it's Wellington or Saruman leading the troops.

 

What I mean is, perhaps the thing that will increase take-up of model railways is as, apparently, outlandish to us as orcs were to the traditional wargamers.

[Pete Thorpe]

One of the commonest comments I hear at exhibitions is "I couldn't do/make that" to which my response is "Why, what happened when you tried?"

 

Of course, they often haven't tried but when I explain how I've built something or got a certain effect the reaction is usually "Oh, it's as easy as that?", which I think is great because they will now go away and hopefully have a go themselves with a knowledge they didn't have before, and the confidence to have a go at other aspects of the hobby.

[JohnR]

It just occurred to me that a daily children's programme used to sporadically inject Triang-Hornby into our living rooms after school; lo and behold here's a thread we collectively made earlier....

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/113733-bbc-tv-blue-peter-childrens-program-1970s/page-1

 

Some topics covered on Blue Peter that wouldn't seem out of place for novices - but I think the inclusion of stuff like this wouldn't work on a show with GMRC's format....

 

Surely Blue Peter is the origin of the "Scratchbuild Challenge"??

[KarlW]

As I said on another post - it was seeing these new layouts and how they came together that got me thinking about the hobby again after many years away. The closest I have got to watching trains run around and creating railways was on Transport Tycoon on my PC for the longest time, but I've been involved in modelling for a while with Games Workshop products. Seeing the two mixed on Laurie's Team Steampunk layout showed me that some of the skills I learned in modelling tanks and infantry could easily be passed along to railway modelling, and with me showing a keen interest again after decades away (I'm now in my mid 30's) - my father also seems to have got the bug after watching the show with me.

 

I don't understand why people would think that this wouldn't attract people to the hobby - noone really seemed to be portrayed negatively (except maybe Missenden's interpretation of the rules) and the show contained fine examples of modelling that at least encouraged two Welsh guys enough to think they could mske a good stab at it!

[souwest]

A great opportunity for the railway magazine publishers to re-rerelease the basic guide to starting in model railways with, where they have been involved GMRC references on the cover. Glossy appeal.

[souwest]

To answer the topic heading; one direct benefit I have found is that I now have a good reason to bugg disappear into the spare room and watch it on the recorder whilst SWMBO is engrossed in Strictly whatsitcalled. It is such a good reason in fact, that I can use it to bugge disappear into the spare room and watch "Public Eye" on the recorder too, whilst she is watching some soap or another.

 

Glad to see they are planning a second series!!

 

Yes, to decide on a second series during the production of the first must mean they have a good idea of their success.