Is the hobby changing?

[bike2steam]

Sorry to bang on about bells and whistles.

 

At a show yesterday the exhibtion manager asked for the two minutes silence. Everyone complied except a DCC sound layout which echoed across the hall with all the gismos going at full blast.

 

Explanation? To much of a hassle to turn it all off as it took time to re boot.

 

Can't write up here what I and others felt.

 

Jack

 

Wasn't Poole was it ?? The exhibition manager there (Barry) is only a little guy. I didn't get there 'till after I'd paid my respects at our village memorial. If it was, and I had got there earlier, I'd have pulled his plug. Name please (by PM only), then I wont invite to the Blandford show.

['CHARD]

Oh I hope and pray that certain members' prejudices (including mine) about certain cliched layout types (another thread refers) don't get reinforced by public naming and shaming.

 

Best done off-board, I politely suggest, for fear of stereotyping.

 

Just a thought.

[pete_mcfarlane]

Don't get me started on the overuse of DCC sound at exhibitions by certain (normally larger scale narrow gauge) layouts. It's bad enough at the best of times having to listen to their silly clanking bells and squealing flanges, without having it interrupt the two minute silence.

 

I've come to regard such layouts as the model railway equivalent of teenagers playing bad dance music through the speakers of their mobiles. It's not the noise itself, but the fact that they force you to listen to it that is annoying.

 

Rant over. Goes away to calm down and design an EM pulse weapon that fries DCC sound chips.

[Oldddudders]

I've come to regard such layouts as the model railway equivalent of teenagers playing bad dance music through the speakers of their mobiles. It's not the noise itself, but the fact that they force you to listen to it that is annoying.

O/T, but as I hinted above, it's the way people are. Saturday morning at the small local supermarket, a bloke is power-washing his new-ish BMW M3 - a very posh car for around here. Both doors wide open, and the sound system cranked right up. Our hobby just apes life itself - unfortunately in this case!

[BigMal]

Don't get me started on the overuse of DCC sound at exhibitions by certain (normally larger scale narrow gauge) layouts. It's bad enough at the best of times having to listen to their silly clanking bells and squealing flanges, without having it interrupt the two minute silence.

 

I've come to regard such layouts as the model railway equivalent of teenagers playing bad dance music through the speakers of their mobiles. It's not the noise itself, but the fact that they force you to listen to it that is annoying.

 

Had one of these p***ts with his 00 Hornby trainset at Alsager the previous weekend. Full set of sound fitted locos bleating and bellowing in my left ear at 110db even though they were all stood in the fiddle yard

 

 

Rant over. Goes away to calm down and design an EM pulse weapon that fries DCC sound chips.

But what about those working in 00 or P4

 

Mal

[S.A.C Martin]

One would hope (should the report be accurate - no reason to disbelieve it, aside from the initial "no...I don't want to believe that..." moment one feels) that the operators in question would apologise to the show's organizers and perhaps waive their fees/etc in favour of donating to the Royal British Legion.

 

Thankfully the people in question seem to be a minority amongst our little corner of the globe.

[GC Jack]

I won't publicly name and shame but I sent a private message that I hope will ensure that it doesn't happen again.

 

I was exhibiting alongside these guys. We weren't in the main hall but I was told the sound carrried through. The layout kept moving as well.

 

They were abosutely obsessed by the gismos and even ran a loco without a body to show off the chip.

 

To be fair I heard the excuse second hand, I was so angry with them that if I had spoken to them I would have lost my temper. The trouble is they let the side down for all us by behaving like this.

 

Jack

['CHARD]

I won't publicly name and shame but I sent a private message that I hope will ensure that it doesn't happen again.

 

Let's hope that hits home, Jack.

 

Matter possibly closed, then. Thank you.

[GC Jack]

You should name and shame in my opinion......

 

its awlays good to know who one is refering to

 

They will get the message OK don't worry!

[Colin_McLeod]

Once the facts are established, I am all for "naming and shaming" in cases such as this. Why should we protect the identity of people who have trod on the feelings of the vast majority.

 

.... I'd have pulled his plug.

 

I would have been racing you to it.

[pete_mcfarlane]

Had one of these p***ts with his 00 Hornby trainset at Alsager the previous weekend. Full set of sound fitted locos bleating and bellowing in my left ear at 110db even though they were all stood in the fiddle yard

I've a vague memory of seeing such a layout, possibly even the same one, at a show recently. That's all I remember about the layout, which perhaps speaks for itself.

 

They were abosutely obsessed by the gismos and even ran a loco without a body to show off the chip.

 

I wonder if these people have considered putting up signs of the front of the layout telling everyone how much their locos cost? We are considerably richer than yaw!

[Andy Y]

As a holding comment I have had a conversation with the Chairman of the club whose layout gave rise to this issue. He wasn't present at the show but will be coming back to me after consulting with those who were.

[Andy Y]

As a holding comment I have had a conversation with the Chairman of the club whose layout gave rise to this issue. He wasn't present at the show but will be coming back to me after consulting with those who were.

 

To come back to this point the Chairman of the club whose layout was exhibited has called me back.

 

two out of three of the layout's operators were away from the layout at the time on a tea-break. They were in an area where the two-minute silence was observed. The exhibit was in a separate room/corridor away from the main hall and no PA announcement was heard, the exhibit had members of the public talking and the operator did not realise the silence had taken place. This was only established upon the return of the other two operators.

 

On balance there should be a clear direction from exhibition organisers that a silence will be observed and again communicated at the point of it taking place in a form that should be audible to all exhibitors and visitors.

 

The Chairman apologises for any offence was caused; it was certainly not their intention to disregard the silence and it appears to be an unfortunate set of circumstances.

 

However everyone (exhibitors and visitors alike) should know the time and shouldn't need to be told to observe a silence in this day and age.

[Catkins]

It is pleasant to see the club chairman's response here, and we have a few more facts in the general domain.

 

I do not agree to a public name and shame, but I do agree that the exibitors, operators and visitors should respect a silence - and the organisers could have easily covered that by putting a notice up on the entrance doors, and going round the layouts to spread the word.

 

Back on topic -

Yes the hobby is changing, mainly for the better as we now have production methods that allow new manufacturers and products in the market place and the general standard of out of the box models has increased, e.g. Tri-ang and Hornby never put the right bogies under the 37, with the ex-Lima model Hornby now have the right bogies, we don't need to get guitar strings to detail bufferbeams, and the paint finishes are improving.

However there is the worsening side of the hobby, with the increase in technology DCC and now Hornby's Railmaster, increasing the base costs, the greater duplication of planned or actual releases, e.g the blue Pullman, and - dare I say it - the narrowing of eras / periods / epochs being covered by the manufacturers.

[Guest dilbert]

 

To come back to this point the Chairman of the club whose layout was exhibited has called me back.

 

two out of three of the layout's operators were away from the layout at the time on a tea-break. They were in an area where the two-minute silence was observed. The exhibit was in a separate room/corridor away from the main hall and no PA announcement was heard, the exhibit had members of the public talking and the operator did not realise the silence had taken place. This was only established upon the return of the other two operators.

 

On balance there should be a clear direction from exhibition organisers that a silence will be observed and again communicated at the point of it taking place in a form that should be audible to all exhibitors and visitors.

 

The Chairman apologises for any offence was caused; it was certainly not their intention to disregard the silence and it appears to be an unfortunate set of circumstances.

 

However everyone (exhibitors and visitors alike) should know the time and shouldn't need to be told to observe a silence in this day and age.

 

Sounds wishy-washy...

 

There was an area where the two-minute silence was not to be observed ? WWI & WWII could also be attributed to 'unfortunate sets of circumstances'.

 

It was a cock-up and won't happen again would be a positive message... dilbert

[GC Jack]

Thanks for this Andy. I was alongside this layout and I knew the silence was taking place and stopped my layout.

 

However, I am very happy with the apology, which I didn't expect, so lets hope that we all can learn from it and draw a line under this now.

 

Jack

[Ozexpatriate]

If you compare a recent US survey about 45% of those asked were already DCC and another 40% IIRC anticipated going DCC in the forseeable future. If you don't want to go DCC ( I have both and rarely use DCC), you don't have to.

This is particularly true in the high-end of US models where it is now normal for the sound equipped decoders to sense either DC or DCC signals and behave accordingly. MTH decoders will sense DC, DCC or MTH's own proprietary DCC equivalent. You have complete flexibility to run DC or DCC controls, or visit your friend's layout without any concerns.

 

There are still a lot of DC offerings though. The very low-end of the market (cheap trainsets) is of course pretty much exclusively DC.

[GC Jack]

This is particularly true in the high-end of US models where it is now normal for the sound equipped decoders to sense either DC or DCC signals and behave accordingly. MTH decoders will sense DC, DCC or MTH's own proprietary DCC equivalent. You have complete flexibility to run DC or DCC controls, or visit your friend's layout without any concerns.

 

There are still a lot of DC offerings though. The very low-end of the market (cheap trainsets) is of course pretty much exclusively DC.

 

I am sorry I am an old git really and I don't understand much of this computer speak, could you explain what MTH and IIRC means please?

 

Jack

[Oldddudders]

MTH - Mike's Train House, a US brand that has recently moved from exclusively large-scale into HO, with considerable sales success.

 

IIRC - If I Remember Correctly!

[coachmann]

Slightly off-topic, but I wonder how many folk remember a time when this country observed 10 minutes silence every weekday morning when "Our Story" went out on Radio One. One would walk into a shop only to be told to shush, and offices and building sites fell silent while heart warming/heart rending true stories were aired by the inimitable Simon Bates.

['CHARD]

'Our Tune,' I think you mean, Coach. I remember it well!

[Colin_McLeod]

 

WWI & WWII could also be attributed to 'unfortunate sets of circumstances'.

 

 

CLASS!

[Ozexpatriate]

could you explain what MTH means please?

MTH - Mike's Train House, a US brand that has recently moved from exclusively large-scale into HO, with considerable sales success.

MTH rebranded itself as MTH Electric Trains, dropping the "Mike's Train House" reference. I'm not sure why. I have been very pleased with their products. They recently released a very nice set of N&W Pohattan Arrow coaches that I purchased. I had to be careful removing the observation car from it's tray to not disturb the radio antenna strung along the roof line.

 

Their proprietary DCC system is branded DCS.

 

If I remember correctly, "Mike" was involved in a successfully resolved legal fracas over fair modelling use of the UP's logos including fallen flags like the SP that were merged into the UP.

 

High-spec modelling is alive and well in the US and MTH is a leader in the way the hobby is changing in the US.

[RBE]

 

This is the site I use every time the old 'too expensive' line comes up, allows comparison based on RPI change or indexed against average earnings, personally I think the latter is more relevant.

 

http://www.measuring...h.com/ppoweruk/

 

Then I am correct. I entered a value of £25 for 1991 which is what the average lima desiel was back then and in present day it works out as approx £40 to £49. Now thats a far cry from the £100+ figures we see now.

 

Cav

[newbryford]

 

Then I am correct. I entered a value of £25 for 1991 which is what the average lima desiel was back then and in present day it works out as approx £40 to £49. Now thats a far cry from the £100+ figures we see now.

 

Cav

 

But a Lima diesel these days is still £25..........................

 

Quality of product - in the main - has improved more than double IMO. The Hornby 60 is far superior to the Lima 60 (what's the betting that somebody chips in with the Hornby v Lima 31 debate?)

 

Cheers,

Mick