Non member view and thoughts about the Gauge O guild

[hayfield]

9 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Most memorable queue that I can recall was for one of Dave and Shirley Rowe's layouts. But of course that only had a short frontage which alters the dynamics of the calculation.

 

Joseph

 

 

Those of us who model will have our likes and dislikes as to which layouts we stop and admire, and of course there will always be exceptions

 

Certainly many clubs have found out the hard way how to both make and loose money at shows, certainly for local shows attracting (year after year) the public and being able to supply the refreshments are two major areas that generate revenue. The next element is to have a mixture of both layouts and trade that will attract paying customers to return

 

Personally I would prefer to go to shows in the format of Railex, Scaleforum, Expo EM etc, but for a local show which depends on the general public it would be a financial disaster. And I would miss some lovely layouts 

[fail safe]

Exactly Hursley and the MRJ show had the most humongous queues of all time, it's gone down in history. Ironically Hursley, and Inkerman St from the MR,J had nothing whatsoever to do with the Gauge 0 Guild. Those layouts and other features in MRJ set a trend in fine scale 7mm scale that the Guild didn't seem to notice or be able to capitalise on and hasn't done so to this day. The layouts were never featured in the myopic Guild Gazette because its a members only magazine, and yet the Guild has always laid claim to 0 gauge in a way that one would think you have to be a member to model in that scale.

 

A similar thing is happening today with RTR and modern post steam interest because the Guild members are vastly steam oriented. If that's what they are, then so what. Why don't they just admit it and happily get on with being what they are in stead of pulling their hair out over not enough modern image and diesels etc. They will never be representative of such a broad spectrum.

[Joseph_Pestell]

3 hours ago, Nick Holliday said:

What about the queue for Hursley at the MRJ show in Westminster?!?

 

I was probably living abroad at the time and missed that one.

 

I do recall Hursley as the first layout to look so real that one had to check the cover of Railway Modeller twice to see it was a model.

[JeremyC]

To return to the original question.

I first modelled in 0 gauge in the 1980s. I joined the GOG because at that time it was almost the only way to find out about 0 gauge suppliers as there were very few adverts in the magazines (remember this was pre-internet). I was a member for about 6 or 7 years and left simply because my interests moved away from 0 gauge. (I was also a member of the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association and left for the same reason.).

I restarted in 0 gauge again about three years ago because arthritis in my fingers was making scratch / kit building in 4mm quite difficult. I am a member of two clubs who have O gauge layouts (one only has an O gauge layout) both of which count GOG members among their membership. I have not considered re joining the GOG mainly because I do not see the need; searches on the internet have so far found enough suppliers of 0 gauge parts to fulfil my requirements. As has been pointed out (and was the reason the Guild was originally formed) specialised scale societies mainly exist to support those minority scales which need specialised parts / suppliers. The problem the GOG has is that there are now quite a large number of kit and component suppliers and with so much RTR now available as well 0 gauge has gone main stream and doesn't need the Guild to survive. This suggests the GOG probably needs to reinvent itself. Further back in this thread it was stated by Arun Sharma that:

"It is probably worth pointing out for the sake of clarity that the Gauge 0 Guild does NOT have any branches or affiliated clubs."

Perhaps this is something it should consider having?

 

It is noticeable there is  a preconception running through this thread that one reason the GOG is old fashioned is because it is steam orientated. The idea seems to be older people model steam whereas the younger modellers are into Modern Image. I know a few younger modellers (20, 30 year olds) and would say that around 50% model steam. I also know a number of older folk who model diesels.

 

As an interesting aside. One of the proposers of the founding of the Gauge O Guild was also a founding member of my local model railway club in Edinburgh!

 

JeremyC

(Not Jeremy[space]C)

 

Edited August 7, 2020 by JeremyC
correcting typo

[Hibelroad]

Another thread on this forum has noted that exactoscale track components are now only sold through society stores, so to obtain 7mm components it would be necessary to join the Scale 7 Group  Why don’t the Guild sell them through their Stores ? Err... Oh.

 

[009 micro modeller]

41 minutes ago, JeremyC said:

It is noticeable there is  a preconception running through this thread that one reason the GOG is old fashioned is because it is steam orientated. The idea seems to be older people model steam whereas the younger modellers are into Modern Image. I know a few younger modellers (20, 30 year olds) and would say that around 50% model steam. I also know a number of older folk who model diesels.

 

Yes, I’m not sure where the idea that somebody’s age correlates to the age of the subject matter they model comes from. I suppose if it’s based on ‘what they remember’ it would make sense, but even so...

[Lochgorm]

1 hour ago, Hibelroad said:

Another thread on this forum has noted that exactoscale track components are now only sold through society stores, so to obtain 7mm components it would be necessary to join the Scale 7 Group  Why don’t the Guild sell them through their Stores ? Err... Oh.

 

A year's membership of the Scale 7 Group is £25 and as well as access to the Scale 7 stores members benefit from a 10% discount on Slaters products.  It doesn't take long to recoup the cost of membership.

 

No prizes for guessing which organisation I left in the spring and which one I joined.  In fact it is a major disappointment that the continuous, circular and acrimonious whinging from the Guild forum has spilt over here.  And before any bright spark suggests it, wild horses wouldn't tempt me to rejoin the Guild.

 

Charlie

 

 

[Compound2632]

11 minutes ago, Lochgorm said:

A year's membership of the Scale 7 Group is £25 and as well as access to the Scale 7 stores members benefit from a 10% discount on Slaters products.  It doesn't take long to recoup the cost of membership.

 

 

Is that all Slaters products or specifically 7 mm scale ones?

[chris p bacon]

10 minutes ago, Lochgorm said:

In fact it is a major disappointment that the continuous, circular and acrimonious whinging from the Guild forum has spilt over here.

 

Whilst I agree that arguments sometimes shouldn't be perpetuated on other forums, I get the feeling that some G0G members can't discuss their own elections on the G0G forum so have found a voice here.

So long as the thread is informative and courteous I'm sure Andy Y will let it run, should it not it'll be locked pronto.

[MarcD]

I think the question is what does the Guild do for me? Doesn't matter what type of modelling you do if you can't write a list with the a few major things on then you're not going to join. Many years ago I joined my local club and at the time they had 3 sections US N gauge, Swiss HO and BR 1980's OO.  As none of these interested me and I couldn't persuade anyone else to do join me in British N gauge I left.

Marc

[MarcD]

14 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Is that all Slaters products or specifically 7 mm scale ones?

It's all Slater's products as far as I can remember

Marc

[Compound2632]

5 minutes ago, Furness Wagon said:

It's all Slater's products as far as I can remember

Marc

Tempting, tempting. I suppose I'd have to build one 7 mm D299 kit to Scale 7 standards!

[fail safe]

I'm not sure anyone has actually suggested outright that older people model steam and younger ones diesel. It's more the fact that the GOG membership itself is made up mostly of older people who mostly model steam. It's not clear cut though, and there is bound to be a bit of both. When I was a member until March I couldn't see much at all that was informative on post steam modelling, either on their forum or in their Gazette. Much more on here such as Heaton Lodge Junction. I'm told few Guild members on their forum had even heard of that layout until a few weeks ago when a modern image modeller mentioned it. Then apparently someone in the Guild management suggested they could use it for publicity to get members!  

[009 micro modeller]

36 minutes ago, fail safe said:

I'm not sure anyone has actually suggested outright that older people model steam and younger ones diesel. It's more the fact that the GOG membership itself is made up mostly of older people who mostly model steam. It's not clear cut though, and there is bound to be a bit of both. When I was a member until March I couldn't see much at all that was informative on post steam modelling, either on their forum or in their Gazette. Much more on here such as Heaton Lodge Junction. I'm told few Guild members on their forum had even heard of that layout until a few weeks ago when a modern image modeller mentioned it. Then apparently someone in the Guild management suggested they could use it for publicity to get members!  

 

Wasn’t this featured in the G0G Gazette?

 

On a slightly related note, how do people in G0G generally view micro/small layouts?

[fail safe]

42 minutes ago, 009 micro modeller said:

Wasn’t this featured in the G0G Gazette?

Do you mean Heaton Lodge Junction ? if so then no definitely not. They hadn't hard of it until a few weeks ago! 

 

On micro layouts I've seen members take the proverbial out of small modern depot layouts.

Edited August 7, 2020 by fail safe

[009 micro modeller]

Just now, fail safe said:

Do you mean Heaton Lodge Junction ? if so then no definitely not. They hadn't hard of it until a few weeks ago! 

 

No, I mean Cromer, as in the link.

[fail safe]

1 minute ago, 009 micro modeller said:

 

No, I mean Cromer, as in the link.

Ah yes, thats been around for ages. 

[Gilbert]

1 hour ago, 009 micro modeller said:

 

Wasn’t this featured in the G0G Gazette?

 

On a slightly related note, how do people in G0G generally view micro/small layouts?

They have published a number of books on the subject - one very recently and the old one used to be a free download IIRC

They are on number 3

Chris

Edited August 7, 2020 by Gilbert

[009 micro modeller]

12 minutes ago, fail safe said:

On micro layouts I've seen members take the proverbial out of small modern depot layouts.

 

Interesting. Because I suspect that the space needed for 0 gauge would prevent some people from making larger layouts. Realistically, I would expect most people who do have access to more space to be both older and financially better off.

 

Edit: just seen Gilbert’s response as well so the above may not always apply.

Edited August 7, 2020 by 009 micro modeller

[fail safe]

Smaller layouts are popular in 0 gauge. The famous Hursley was built into garage. Looking on Facebook groups it seems garden railways are also becoming more popular and not just older people. 0 gauge gives you more for your money in that you don't need so much stock to be of interest. The sheer weight and presence of locos and stock is satisfying enough. Once modellers come over to the scale they are smitten. Resistance is futile.

[Osgood]

What is it about the Guild that puts you off?

What does it do that you don’t like?

What doesn’t it do that it should do?

 

If you  were to consider joining an association of 1:43.5  / 1:48 modellers, what would it have to provide to make it worthwhile?

Is there an alternative format to the existing Guild organisation that might make for compelling membership?

Would you prefer an association that is more specific / specialist than anything 0 Gauge ?

 

[laurenceb]

I first saw Brian Daniel's superlative diesels in yhe Gazette and dont recall any wailing and gnashing of teeth

[kevinlms]

16 hours ago, fail safe said:

Smaller layouts are popular in 0 gauge. The famous Hursley was built into garage. Looking on Facebook groups it seems garden railways are also becoming more popular and not just older people. 0 gauge gives you more for your money in that you don't need so much stock to be of interest. The sheer weight and presence of locos and stock is satisfying enough. Once modellers come over to the scale they are smitten. Resistance is futile.

Which is a good reason for not starting, if it means disposing of a lifetimes collection. 

[fail safe]

3 hours ago, kevinlms said:

Which is a good reason for not starting, if it means disposing of a lifetimes collection. 

Take the plunge it's good having a clear out anyway. Good for the soul. And most people find 7mm scale so much  more rewarding.

[Pacific231G]

22 hours ago, 009 micro modeller said:

 

Wasn’t this featured in the G0G Gazette?

 

On a slightly related note, how do people in G0G generally view micro/small layouts?

As Gilbert had pointed out, the GOG has published a number of books of small layouts so it can't be too negative. Though I've no intention of modelling in 1:43.5 scale (The French generally use that scale rather than 1:45)  I find them very useful for good idea for even smaller layouts in 1:87 scale.  

 

The thing I do find odd though is the habit of including each contributor's membership number with their name and I've also noticed that in the GOG Gazette. I'd have to search high and low for my membership number (if any) for any of the societies I belong to.