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GMRC Series 2 - Episode 6 - Semi-final 1 - 'Myths, Monsters, Legends and Fables'


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2 hours ago, Legend said:

Ok if that’s what you like , but I don’t think it’s what 99% of Railway modellers actually like .

 

You have evidence to support that 99%? Of course not, you are extrapolating from your own opinion again. Even looking at this thread, the figure would be proved wrong.

 

More to the point, as has been said repeatedly, this show is NOT aimed at railway modellers. If it did, there wouldn't be enough of them to persuade advertisers to fill the slots. Even then, the "modellers" would then moan about every other aspect of the show. 

 

33 minutes ago, Mallard60022 said:

However, I shall repeat, it is just not my cup of tea

 

You keep coming back to tell us you don't like it. We got it the first time.  No-one forced you to watch it, and no-one forces you to follow this thread.

 

If anyone doesn't like the show, fine. Instead of moaning on here, how about trying to work out how to hang on to those new faces we'll see through the door at shows? I recognise several commentators who participate in the regular "the hobby is doomed" discussions. Well, IF you care about the hobby, do something about it. Impress show visitors, or even:

 

5 hours ago, jools1959 said:

 All I’m going to say if you don’t like it or think you can do better, get off your bums, form a team of six and apply for the next series and we can all have a pop at your efforts.

 

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2 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

 

You have evidence to support that 99%? Of course not, you are extrapolating from your own opinion again. Even looking at this thread, the figure would be proved wrong.

 

More to the point, as has been said repeatedly, this show is NOT aimed at railway modellers. If it did, there wouldn't be enough of them to persuade advertisers to fill the slots. Even then, the "modellers" would then moan about every other aspect of the show. 

 

 

You keep coming back to tell us you don't like it. We got it the first time.  No-one forced you to watch it, and no-one forces you to follow this thread.

 

If anyone doesn't like the show, fine. Instead of moaning on here, how about trying to work out how to hang on to those new faces we'll see through the door at shows? I recognise several commentators who participate in the regular "the hobby is doomed" discussions. Well, IF you care about the hobby, do something about it. Impress show visitors, or even:

 

 

Well thank you for that Mr Parker. I also understand what you are saying, however I always thought RMW was a broad church where people could express their thoughts and enter into decent discussion about stuff even if they disagreed?  Obviously I was wrong, despite this being a thread about a programme and not the people involved. So, to your relief I am sure I shall, as you suggest, move on from here as I do not have to watch'it' or follow this thread and leave you to get on with your day.

Phil

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56 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

Maybe not 99% but certainly half, if the other modellers I meet regularly are typical. I watched the first series but something (I'm not even certain what it was) by the fourth programme in this one, put me off it.

 

John

That's a pity because I believe you might have liked this from Heat 5 (available on My5 catch up)

 

DSC08653.JPG.3b0da853bb245405b331186bb690567b.JPG

 

 

C'mon guys - lighten up a bit! GMRC is an entertainment programme based around model railways, pure n simple. We knew that when entering and we knew we risked ridicule etc being otherwise experienced railway modellers. Happily, the Heat 5 theme allowed us to build a 'proper' model railway (which is intended to have an exhibition future); the Semi-Final theme ... er ... well ... gave us the opportunity to do something different and to challenge ourselves, all very much in the name of entertainment. I have had plenty of 'loved it!' messages from family and friends who are not otherwise railway modellers.

 

A few related thoughts.

 

Our 'proper' Grantham layout was designed to have a working road system designed in to it. I held off implementing it for many years whilst we built the railway proper. However, it is now operational, complete with a working traffic light (prototypical - I have the photo to prove it). The result? Everyone loves the working road vehicles and the traffic light! Is that 'railway modelling'? Am I bothered? Of course not! The paying public are being entertained and the minority cognoscenti can still appreciate the ex-GNR diagram xyz 3 plus 2 1/2 BCK at the head of the glorious rake of teak coaches that has paused at the station for a loco change.

 

Count up how many layouts have buses on bridges, a simultaneous wedding and funeral taking place at the obligatory village church, a burning building with attendant fire engine, a naked couple making out in the forest... Yet it's all an integral part of the model railway hobby, part of the 'equation' that is keeping the hobby vibrant in the face of the i-phone generation.

 

Good grief - even the late, great Roy Jackson had a two wheeled rodent with 'tail' lamp which he occasionally attached to the rear of a train at an exhibition!

 

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15 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

You have evidence to support that 99%? Of course not, you are extrapolating from your own opinion again. Even looking at this thread, the figure would be proved wrong.

 

If I'm wrong then where are all the fantasy layouts at exhibitions? I dont think I've ever seen one

 

Of course anything that gets people into the hobby is good . But its not Railway Modelling as I know it.  Its actually more like Dungeons and Dragons or Warhammer with a train running through it.

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If I'm wrong then where are all the fantasy layouts at exhibitions? I dont think I've ever seen one

 

There was an outer space layout (may have been Mars, I can't remember) at the East Anglian Model Railway exhibition when we took Grantham there.  That was before the TV show had been filmed, possibly before it had been conceived.

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14 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

That's a pity because I believe you might have liked this from Heat 5 (available on My5 catch up)

 

DSC08653.JPG.3b0da853bb245405b331186bb690567b.JPG

 

 

 

I'm told that photos submitted to Continental Modeller of this layout show proper Swiss stock. And isn't that crossover laid out as if for right hand running? (Not that I know enough about Swiss railways to know whether they run on the right or the left)

 

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I actually was going to write except for Thomas the Tank Engine , but that is of course railway related  and actually from where many of us first caught the bug.   But fantasy to me is Volcanoes, Monsters, new planets  etc .  I am not decrying the efforts of those that took part , far from it . I did  see a layout that had Kings Cross and st Pancras on it , looked very good .

 

I take it back. I have seen a fantasy layout . Aberdeen showed their winning layout at Model Rail Scotland in February. But I'm sure thats the one (excluding Thomas) and of course that was because of the GMRC.

 

 

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25 minutes ago, Legend said:

 

If I'm wrong then where are all the fantasy layouts at exhibitions? I dont think I've ever seen one

 

Of course anything that gets people into the hobby is good . But its not Railway Modelling as I know it.  Its actually more like Dungeons and Dragons or Warhammer with a train running through it.

 

Ankh Lesspork springs to mind immediately, and there's a Steampunk layout (details of which I've forgotten) on the rounds recently. 

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22 minutes ago, Legend said:

 

If I'm wrong then where are all the fantasy layouts at exhibitions? I dont think I've ever seen one

 

 

We had one at the Broadland MRC Show at Aylsham, a couple of years back. The exhibitor later appeared in GMRC series one.

 It had everything from Dinosaurs to rockets, the exhibitor wore a sort of  steam punk outfit.

The kids absolutely loved it

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Almost every non-prototypical layout is fantasy, it just depends on your interpretation of the term. If you build a "what if" GWR terminus in a mythical town, that's fantasy. Just because you have used stock from a particular period or made it look very realistic doesn't get away from the fact that you cannot find the location - or remnants of in real life.

 

Our heat layout was a "what if" branchline terminus, it's just on another planet and instead of the more common dairy or goods yard, we added in some rockets and used red and yellow scatter rather than static grass and hedgerows. 

 

Personally I love the Emmet inspired fantasy stock that's being created at the moment. I am seriously thinking about building a small layout just to run a few bits, as it looks fantastic and would be a real talking point. 

 

Our semi-final layout is based on a real place, but for the limitations placed on us by the rules, is not prototypical. Fantasy? Please make up your own minds when you see it :)

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57 minutes ago, joppyuk1 said:

 

Ankh Lesspork springs to mind immediately, and there's a Steampunk layout (details of which I've forgotten) on the rounds recently. 

Going way back, Far Twittering and Oysterperch, and much more recently the delightful (and beautifully modelled) Hobbiton.

 

However all those mentioned are railways with a fantasy setting (as have been some of the better GMRC efforts). Taking freelance modelling of fictitious railways overlaid on real places (something like DLT's brilliantly evocative Marshwood Vale Light Railway) moved toward a less logical conclusion.  The danger of the GMRC format (which is, I think, what Legend is driving at) is merely using the railway element as a device to link together various fantastical concoctions.

 

The difficulty with creating a really good fantasy layout is the same as faces those who build layouts based on an amalgam of features typical to their chosen railway, as opposed to modelling a prototypical location. It's the need to create and develop a concept, then coherently combine ones chosen elements seamlessly. That's something more suited to an individual than a group and unlikely to be do-able over three days from a standing start.

 

I suspect that the secret of success in the GMRC is for the team to have agreed on a concept before getting there, thus ensuring the maximum amount of time can be devoted to making the thing, whilst having a fairly firm idea of what looks right as they go along.

 

John

Edited by Dunsignalling
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44 minutes ago, whart57 said:

 

I'm told that photos submitted to Continental Modeller of this layout show proper Swiss stock. And isn't that crossover laid out as if for right hand running? (Not that I know enough about Swiss railways to know whether they run on the right or the left)

 

Blimey, you've got your ear to the ground!

 

DSC08637.JPG.fe157060b7f9b6c326d7ebf1d1655ccd.JPG

I think 'proper Swiss stock' ought to be clarified! The so far silent Richie from Team Grantham is a compulsive stock collector so dug out what continental stock he had and brought it round for a photo shoot. However, I do intend to acquire some reasonably representative stock going forward (the kettle and stock in the branch platform is mine). This photo is one that I didn't send to CM as it did stretch plausibility a little (no overheads and stock fouled the platforms on corners).

 

Ha! Listen to me - 'plausible'?!?!

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55 minutes ago, Legend said:

I actually was going to write except for Thomas the Tank Engine , but that is of course railway related  and actually from where many of us first caught the bug. 

You became a serious railway modeller on the basis of initially being attracted by fantasy trains with talking faces - Quod Erat Demonstrandum!

 

Not 'having a go' at all - it's a good discussion - merely to say that this is EXACTLY the reason we threw our hat in to the ring, ie to promote the hobby, to show how fun and interesting it can be, get people along to model railway shows, have them visit their local model shop (if there still is one) in the hope that they will indeed 'catch the bug'.

 

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I’ve been reading a lot of these comments with great interest. I fail to see how anybody taking part in this competition, given the fact that there are themes to comply with and animations to incorporate, could possibly do anything but make a ‘fantasy’ layout based on their imagination.   The board is 10ft x 5ft and nobody to my knowledge has filled the whole baseboard with something representing a ‘real’ place apart, possibly from the one set in Holland with real water flooding it (Three Millers) and Team Grantham Heat layout ...... sorry if I missed any of the others.  

 

As our theme was Best of British we chose to base our layout in typical British countryside. We were very pleased with our cliffs, our village, our seaside, our farmland, our river and estuary (which by the way,  now looks amazing now that it has properly dried). However, despite the fact we tried to make a ‘typical’ countryside, it still had to come from our IMAGINATION.  The only thing that was fantasy I suppose, was the crochet trees, and I can honestly say that these have been much better received than I ever expected. In fact I have been asked to make a YouTube video of how to make them. 

 

We entered because I wanted to make my grandchildren proud of what I could do and my best friends and family were brave enough to join me in an all female team despite most of them having almost no railway modelling experience. We have had a great time and are very happy with what we have achieved. BUT it is television and a challenge and definitely not the ‘real world’. We have just enjoyed it for what it is! 

F9423AA1-37ED-43C1-A867-3A4B08F23E66.jpeg

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1 hour ago, LNER4479 said:

You became a serious railway modeller on the basis of initially being attracted by fantasy trains with talking faces - Quod Erat Demonstrandum!

 

Not 'having a go' at all - it's a good discussion - merely to say that this is EXACTLY the reason we threw our hat in to the ring, ie to promote the hobby, to show how fun and interesting it can be, get people along to model railway shows, have them visit their local model shop (if there still is one) in the hope that they will indeed 'catch the bug'.

 

 

Lol fair point LNER 4479.  The only point I’d make is that Thomas is most specifically railway related and actually features real operating practices, although of course bricking up trains in tunnels is not recommended .  Whereas GMRC seems fixated by non railway items such as Volcanoes etc , to the extent the trains are incidental. .  I do appreciate those taking part are given a brief and have to entertain. And there’s clearly some great Modelling going on. As I’ve said if it attracts folk to the hobby then great . Now where’s my Woodland Scenics molten lava ? 

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I have just watched the best of British heat (as much to try and spot my friend Neil as anything else), this is the first and only time I have seen any of these programmes.

 

Within the constraints of being a reality TV programme it seems to me to do a very good job. There is clearly much more to each of the teams and entries than can realistically be fitted into one programme but I think the overall result and impression given of the hobby and its participants is at the very least OK and quite possibly pretty good.

 

The scratch building challenge would fill me with dread and boredom in equal measure and I think all the participants did a great job given the dreadful things they were given to work with. Mind you I don't know why that bloke scraped off all that nice silver foil off his communications tower.... (sorry Neil)

 

Everyone looked to be mostly enjoying themselves and there seemed to be a good spirit of fun and cooperation amongst everyone.

 

And I really liked the crochet trees too, I'd never have thought of that. While they may not have been meant totally "seriously" I think they actually looked pretty good, and they certainly raised lots of smiles. And I admire the Loco ladies leader for getting a team together in the face of what appeared to have been some initial reluctance (from her friends), a great back story too, the boat was a very nice touch.

 

Thanks and more power to everyone's elbows and here's to another series.

 

Simon

 

 

Edited by Not Jeremy
missing word
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13 minutes ago, Legend said:

non railway items such as Volcanoes etc , to the extent the trains are incidental.

 

800px-Mt.fuji_&_bullet_train_-_panoramio

 

:bomb_mini:

 

Trains running round extinct volcano.

 

F3CABF.jpg

 

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Just GOT to share this little story from today with you.

 

Andrew arrived at lunchtime in preparation for taking Shap to the Hartlepool show this weekend and we're doing some last minute further development work on the fiddle yard. Knowing that we would no doubt be nattering on about GMRC with us being on the last two episodes, Mrs 4479 decided to 'escape' this morning to go on a local walk with two friends.

 

Not a chance! Both (friends) had seen the programme and were gushing with how much they'd enjoyed it and insisted that Gill passed on their congratulations to us - specifically mentioning the radio telescope (from Heat 5). One even went so far as to say that their husband was in utter admiration and is now talking about taking up railway modelling as a hobby!

 

Result, I'd say?

 

 

Andrew has his 'Team Grantham' T-shirt with him and we'll all be wearing them with pride at the show this weekend.

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Even though a lot of what's seen on GMRC isn't railway modelling in the conventional sense, it does at least get the word out that railway modelling still exists as a hobby; that you can still buy all the bits and have fun putting them together. You wouldn't necessarily know that if you weren't connected to someone in the hobby, what with the demise of the traditional toy shop, shop front display, mail order catalogues, Christmas TV ads etc. How visible is railway modelling to the average bod? Unless you go sniffing around the specialist magazine racks you're not necessarily going to pick up on the fact that the hobby's still out there and going fairly well.

 

Good to see railway modelling portrayed in a positive light in a recent episode of Endeavour, by the way. They started off with a sad-sack middle-aged bloke up in his attic, still living with his mum. Then there was a murder, and the finger of blame seemed to point to the sad-sack., before apparently being undercut by the way that he seemed to assist the police in their enquiries, offering them a lead that led, indirectly, to the discovery of a body. I thought "this is quite clever, they're playing against our expectations here" - but, wait! It turned out that the sad-sack was the serial killer all along!  Bless.

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