British Model Railway Awards 2015 - The results!

[Colin_McLeod]

Very interesting results. Congratulations to everyone.

 

In these election weeks here in Ireland a line up like this would given Hattons enough votes to form a government!!

 

[Fenman]

You could try reading all the thread and points made.

 

Hope that will help your lack of understanding.

 

G.

Ok, let me give another example.

 

You wrote that only Bachmann provides a "complete spectrum" for the modeller, unlike Hornby.

 

For any model in Britain (other than maybe freight-only) set before the arrival of Mk1 coaching stock, you're likely to have to use Hornby products. It's true that Bachmann has some (pretty ropey) Bulleid coaches in its range (though let's not forget that for years on end their catalogue did not contain a single Southern (or ex-SR) steam loco. Not one). But you'd struggle to provide a "complete spectrum" by using only Bachmann products.

 

This is not to get at Bachmann, or to promote Hornby: I use products from the ranges of almost all the manufacturers. But over- or under-stating how wonderful any particular one of them is strikes me as a bit odd.

 

Paul

[Gary H]

I am also astonished that the Sutton Locomotive works Class 24 is just one position ahead of the Dapol Class 73 of which the IC version and blue examples are not even the correct colour!

Taken all with a very large pinch of salt.

As with all these types of awards etc, it always depends on how many people buy the product, not so much a reflection on wether its any good or not.

[Wheatley]

As with all these types of awards etc, it always depends on how many people buy the product, not so much a reflection on wether its any good or not.

I don't think it even depends on that, I voted in every category and the only items on the lists I actually own or have seen in the flesh are the LMS horsebox and the BR Grain. I suspect I'm not the only one.

[sp1]

I don't think it even depends on that, I voted in every category and the only items on the lists I actually own or have seen in the flesh are the LMS horsebox and the BR Grain. I suspect I'm not the only one.

I didn't vote this year - but last year I voted only for items I had purchased or seen/ handled (in this case they were outside my sphere of interest but still good models): if someone votes in every category without even seeing the models in question then the results are absolutely meaningless.....

[Wheatley]

Exactly.

[Mike Storey]

I never physically handled, or indeed even saw, my local prospective MP (when I lived in the motherland) but I still managed to vote for him. I voted for the idea that stood behind him.

 

I think the same might be true of votes for models. There may be many votes cast for the willingness of a manufacturer to have produced something they liked, even if they hadn't bought it. I have been guilty of voting for the 4 VEP in the past, on the basis that it was gutsy of Hornby to make that investment, for a model I really needed. But even I never bought it, because there were just too many faults, until they brought out the new, much improved version, which I did buy in quantity.

 

So, perhaps this is a natural follow up to wish lists. If your dream comes true, but the actual model is not very good, you still may feel a moral obligation to vote for it, for appearing at all.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

So, perhaps this is a natural follow up to wish lists...

 I rather think so. It's a (weak) substitute for the more significant knowledge, did it actually sell and clear the expected profit for the manufacturer?

 

...If your dream comes true, but the actual model is not very good...

 The only moral obligation I feel with items I have wished for by public poll, is to purchase an example, in the hope that it is up to snuff. Now so far, the wish list jobs that have come through for my interest have all been good enough - or much better than just 'good enough' - so there's been none of the reluctant purchasing at all to test my compliance with that moral obligation. I do feel I might have baulked at something as poor as the original 4-VEP had I asked for that, (much as I did with Hornby's Gresley gangwayed coaches, just not good enough, but not having ever voted for them there's no conflict).

 

...you still may feel a moral obligation to vote for it, for appearing at all.

 The MOTY voting though I do on a 'best of what I purchased' basis, no wishlist consideration. I do hope to be completely torn this year in the OO steam loco division between the Heljan O2 and the NRM/Rapido Stirling single. (Other entrants welcome, but they are going to have to be very good (and LNER group) to see off my present heavyweight polesitter.)

[DJM Dave]

I rather think so. It's a (weak) substitute for the more significant knowledge, did it actually sell and clear the expected profit for the manufacturer?

 

 

The only moral obligation I feel with items I have wished for by public poll, is to purchase an example, in the hope that it is up to snuff. Now so far, the wish list jobs that have come through for my interest have all been good enough - or much better than just 'good enough' - so there's been none of the reluctant purchasing at all to test my compliance with that moral obligation. I do feel I might have baulked at something as poor as the original 4-VEP had I asked for that, (much as I did with Hornby's Gresley gangwayed coaches, just not good enough, but not having ever voted for them there's no conflict).

 

 

The MOTY voting though I do on a 'best of what I purchased' basis, no wishlist consideration. I do hope to be completely torn this year in the OO steam loco division between the Heljan O2 and the NRM/Rapido Stirling single. (Other entrants welcome, but they are going to have to be very good (and LNER group) to see off my present heavyweight polesitter.)

King, 14xx, d600, 1361, J94 and those are just from my stables. And the J94 will be available in LNER black

[Arthur]

 

Am I reading that right Dave, is the D600 Warship expected this year?

[Dunsignalling]

I would certainly not vote for any model I hadn't at least seen and preferably seen running.

 

This time, I had plenty to choose from and eventually placed the Hornby S15 marginally ahead of the Kernow/DJM O2 which came out on top, with the Hornby 'Black Motor' demoted only because of the hand-rail issue. I bought two of each and a third S15 is a distinct possibility in 2016.

 

I regularly operate on a friend's layout which exposes me to the possibility of Eastern Region contagion but, whilst his K1, J15 and D16 are very much on a par with my selections, personal prototype preference is my inevitable tie-breaker, as I guess it is for most of us.

 

However, the real star-buy for me in 2015 wasn't even to my regular scale, Dapol's  O Gauge KESR Terrier was just irresistible.

 

John

[sp1]

I never physically handled, or indeed even saw, my local prospective MP (when I lived in the motherland) but I still managed to vote for him. I voted for the idea that stood behind him.

 

I think the same might be true of votes for models. There may be many votes cast for the willingness of a manufacturer to have produced something they liked, even if they hadn't bought it. I have been guilty of voting for the 4 VEP in the past, on the basis that it was gutsy of Hornby to make that investment, for a model I really needed. But even I never bought it, because there were just too many faults, until they brought out the new, much improved version, which I did buy in quantity.

 

So, perhaps this is a natural follow up to wish lists. If your dream comes true, but the actual model is not very good, you still may feel a moral obligation to vote for it, for appearing at all.

I didn't physically handle my local MP either, but I did feed him laxative chewing gum when we were at school, causing him to mysteriously miss school for three days.....,

[davefromacrossthepond]

 I think all of the entries can be justifiably proud/happy of the results as I really don't think there is a "loser" among all of them and the level of "competition" was quite intense to be sure.  In looking at all of the categories, and all of the entries (not just the ones that placed first), it would seem to me that the real winners in all of this is us.  There are numerous high quality models being produced by a number of high quality manufacturers, sold by a large number of customer friendly sellers able to be seen at a large number of great exhibitions on numerous top notch layouts.  I find absolutely nothing to complain about (other than I wish I could get to the UK so I could attend some of these exhibitions in person!).  

 

Dave

[Retro_man]

   I find absolutely nothing to complain about (other than I wish I could get to the UK so I could attend some of these exhibitions in person!).  

 

Dave

 

Hi Dave,

 

The Great British Train Show will be held again this May 7/8 in Brampton, Ontario which is very close to Toronto Pearson airport and only about a 10 hour drive from Rhode Island...

 

It features many very high quality layouts and several vendors and is 100% British model trains.

http://www.theplatelayers.org/gbts2016/GBTS%202016.pdf

 

Steve

Model Railway Imports

Canada

[davefromacrossthepond]

Steve,

 

Thanks for the info.  So very tempting, but May is one of the busy times of the year for me at work, but I've saved both sites' urls - especially yours . . . i'm guessing when I finally settle down to start some serious British modelling I'll be sending you an email!

 

Dave

[Ross34]

I didn't vote this year - but last year I voted only for items I had purchased or seen/ handled (in this case they were outside my sphere of interest but still good models): if someone votes in every category without even seeing the models in question then the results are absolutely meaningless.....

 

Of course they are....

I guess I may be in the minority but I can't honestly see the point in these awards - maybe I'm missing something.

[jjb1970]

I think awards have to be taken with a pinch of salt. They are a bit of fun and it is nice that companies receive nice feedback but I don't think many models are either sold or not sold on the basis of model award results. As to voting, people vote for their own reasons and I think if a model has given somebody real pleasure and has meant more to them than any other model released during the year then people have as much reason to vote for that model than just voting on the basis of prototypical accuracy.