Modern Eras Made Clearer

[Hattons Dave]

Hi all!

Apologies for appearing outside the realm of the Hatton's forum (I'll go back after this, honest) however we're currently working on a project that we're keen to get feedback on from RMweb members and this seemed the best place to do it.

 

We've recognised that having a single era (No.9) for all items post the end of BR in 1994 isn't suitable due to the explosion in operators, liveries and types of rolling stock since then - very few of the liveries and operators in use in 2005 aren't around today, and certainly not those at the end of BR with one or two very minor exceptions. To this end we've created a pair of new eras to cover this period, and we're keen to hear what your suggestions for names for these eras are.

The dates are pretty set in stone and are as follows with our current working titles...

• Era 9 - Initial Privatisation - 1994 to 2004
• Era 10 - Rebuilding of the Railways - 2005 to 2015
• Era 11 - 'Current Era' - 2016 to 2026

The dates have been chosen as follows

• 9 - coverage of the 'shadow privatisation' era and establishment of franchises alongside the wide-scale withdrawal of UK-built 'heritage' locomotives and mainstream loco-hauled services.
• 10 - Completion of '21st century' projects such as HS1, Operation Princess and West Coast Upgrade. International franchise management becomes widespread. New rolling stock introduction gathers pace.
• 11 - Return to larger operating companies - eg. GWR and forthcoming London suburban franchise, arrival of IEP, mass cascading and withdrawal of second-gen BR-built rolling stock.

The idea would be that Era 11 would be 'christened' when Era 12 comes into effect as well as the date set in this period.

 

Any thoughts on names are greatly appreciated!

Dave

[jpendle]

Good idea, I can't think of any other names that could be used.

 

However in the great tradition of RMWEB how about:

 

Era 9: Total Chaos

 

Era 10: Rail Track, what a good idea

 

Era 11: Electrics finally achieve world domination

 

Regards,

 

John P

[Zomboid]

Railtrack had been gone by 2005, though.

[newbryford]

 

Era 11: Electrics finally achieve world domination

 

Regards,

 

John P

 

It'll never happen - Electrics don't sell..................... (hat, coat etc)

 

Era 11 - 'Current Era' - 2016 to 2026

 

Any thoughts on names are greatly appreciated!

 

Dave

 

Thankfully, you're not using the dreaded (IMO)  "Modern Image"......................

 

Cheers,

Mick

[jonhall]

Oh god no - use a date range that everyone understands - this is an artifical construct to cover up for poor research and/or to disguise how limited in duration some liveries were.

 

Jon

[newbryford]

Oh god no - use a date range that everyone understands - this is an artifical construct to cover up for poor research and/or to disguise how limited in duration some liveries were.

 

Jon

 

On a slight aside, we all know that during 1923-1948 there were only four liveries.......................................... (need to find another hat and coat.........)

 

 

Cheers,

Mick

[RhBBob]

For the last 43 years, I have modelled, in various incarnations, Germany, France and Switzerland. The latter, in particular, tend to re-furbish and keep alongside the brand new innovative stock, rather than chuck away.

 

 Now I know why 

[cal.n]

 

 withdrawal of second-gen BR-built rolling stock.

 

 

We don't model science fiction.  

[newbryford]

We don't model science fiction.  

 

By the time era 11 is done (2026) I'm hoping that the 142s will have gone................. although that maybe more fiction ?

 

Cheers,

Mick

[jjb1970]

I'd just use a date range. In the modern era liveries can have a very short shelf life, and many passenger trains operate in a narrowly defined area too making it even more restrictive if you want to have prototypical operation. Many trains always stayed within their own little area, but it was also the case that locomotives and hauled stock would travel far and wide and when combined with the fact that liveries lasted a reasonable period and overlapped quite heavily it allowed you to operate a huge range of trains alongside each other and be perfectly prototypical.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Not sure why we need these "era" constructs. Exactly 11-year long period lengths all seems very "pat" to me.

[jpendle]

Not sure why we need these "era" constructs. Exactly 11-year long period lengths all seems very "pat" to me.

I would tend to agree. But I find it much easier to find stuff on Hattons website as I can filter by ERA. It gives me less stuff to look through to find what I want.

I don't care about Era's in any real way as I know, and I'm sure most modellers know, which models suite their chosen time period.

As a way to narrow a search on a website for suitable models I think it's a good idea. It would be even better if they could be sorted by livery or operator but that's a lot more work for people like Hattons.

 

Regards,

 

John P

[Wheatley]

If you're going to use liveries and rolling stock introductions you could easily split Era 3 into three on its own:

 

Era 3 (1923-30)- early grouping - pre-grouping system with new liveries.

Era 4 -(1930-39) grouping rationalisation - new rolling stock, simplified liveries, bigger engines, faster trains.

Era 5 - (1940-47) war and immediate post-war.

 

Which would make these new ones ... er ... 11 to 14? I'm with Jonhall - just stick the date range on the box, we'll work it out from that. Eras are a classic example of railway modellers' pigeonholeing obsession solving a problem nobody had.

[Dungrange]

I tend to agree that there is a need to split Era 9 since it now represents more than a 20 year time span, but the constantly changing franchises and operators makes it difficult to define easy split dates in the same way as 1923 and 1948 are obvious demarcations in railway history.

 

Era 9 - Initial Privatisation - 1994 to 2004

 

I tend to agree with this, with most heritage traction having been removed from the network by c 2004 and the loss of mail by rail.  I'd tend to prefer "Early Privatisation" as a title, but have no objections to what you propose. 

Era 10 - Rebuilding of the Railways - 2005 to 2015

 

I don't particularly like the working title of this one: I'd prefer something like "Mature Privatisation", "Developed Privatisation" or "Established Privatisation", but whether the break point between Era 10 and Era 11 is correct is difficult to determine, as there may be a more obvious demarcation in the future.  As such, I think that the end date may be subject to change and therefore this could be termed "Recent Past" for now.

 

Era 11 - 'Current Era' - 2016 to 2026

 

This makes sense in 2016/17, but at some point will require a name of its own.  Only time will tell what that should be.

 

Whilst many people don't like the era system, I do find it a useful way to search the Bachmann and Hattons' websites.  Sort by era and I know I don't need to look through all of the BR era models to find the privatisation era models that I may be interested in.  For this purpose the exact start and end dates of any particular era are not particularly important because I tend to find that I look at both era 8 and era 9 models.  Some era 8 liveries lasted well into the privatisation era, but also because I have noted several instances where something is wrongly classified.

 

Ultimately the need to split the Era is largely driven by the huge number of different liveries in the privatisation period, which has resulted in a large number of models in this category.  Clearly Era 1 represents the longest duration, but there are so few models available that it would simply not be worthwhile trying to split this era up.

[newbryford]

 

 

Era 11 - 'Current Era' - 2016 to 2026

 

This makes sense in 2016/17, but at some point will require a name of its own.  Only time will tell what that should be.

 

 

 

How about calling it 2016-2026?

 

Cheers,

Mick

[Peter Kazmierczak]

2027-2037 will be interesting...............

[njee20]

By the time era 11 is done (2026) I'm hoping that the 142s will have gone................. although that maybe more fiction ?

We still won't have the Dapol model though!

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

 Another vote for lead with the date range, then a description.

 

'The present era' should be open ended thus: 2016 -   ; because an unknowable date break point to close the era may well become blindingly obvious in retrospect.

 

Any thoughts on names are greatly appreciated!
 

 'The present era' title would best commence with 'Contemporary and near-contemporary' with an updating rubric following, explaining what is encompassed as it happens, no attempts at prophecy.

[Hattons Dave]

Hi all,

Cheers for the feedback so far! Some interesting opinions and thoughts.

 

Just the clarify, the descriptions aren't official, more a way to explain our thought processes 

 

(and don't worry, the words "Modern Image" are banned in our office...)

 

Cheers,

Dave

[DerekEm8]

If you're going to use liveries and rolling stock introductions you could easily split Era 3 into three on its own:

 

Era 3 (1923-30)- early grouping - pre-grouping system with new liveries.

Era 4 -(1930-39) grouping rationalisation - new rolling stock, simplified liveries, bigger engines, faster trains.

Era 5 - (1940-47) war and immediate post-war.

 

Which would make these new ones ... er ... 11 to 14? I'm with Jonhall - just stick the date range on the box, we'll work it out from that. Eras are a classic example of railway modellers' pigeonholeing obsession solving a problem nobody had.

Why not just extend the 'era definitions'  eg - 3a, 3b, 3c etc   This could then extend to all the 'eras' and not require a total re-numbering of them.

[rob D2]

I like it , but I agree with du grange on the descriptions , I think his are clearer

 

Or you can use mine

1994-2004 tractors, peds and oily classics

2005-2015 rise of the sheds

2016-2026 personality bypass

 

Your welcome ！

[Jim Martin]

I like the era system. I don't use it myself but it's not meant for people who are worrying about exactly which Northern Rail transitional liveries are correct for their DMU fleet: it's meant as a convenient shorthand for people who fall somewhere between that and full-on "Rule 1". I think it's pretty good for those people (and I agree that it makes searching the Hattons website a lot easier).

 

I might consider moving the transition between eras a year or two in places (the Class 66s had all been delivered by 2002, establishing the Red Death as the primary locomotive livery in the process) but I think we're at the point where splitting the "modern era" up a bit is probably justified.

 

Oh, and anyone using the term "modern image" should be staked out in front of stampeding wildebeest. 

 

Jim

[Steven B]

Oh, and anyone using the term "modern image" should be staked out in front of stampeding wildebeest.

Unless you're modelling the mid 1960s!

 

Happy modelling.

 

Steven B.

[Jim Martin]

Unless you're modelling the mid 1960s!

 

Happy modelling.

 

Steven B.

 

Fair enough. Good point.

 

Although... shouldn't you be calling it "THE modern image" in that case?

 

Jim

[Worsdell forever]

But anything after 1923 is modern, isn't it?