Accentuate the negative - who's trying to kill the hobby?

[bradfordbuffer]

5 hours ago, BachelorBoy said:

 

If you are a freelance model railway journalist working from home, can you claim tax relief on your layout?

 

I can now feel 'youtube' pro bloggers twitching to get there SA100 tax return forms!

Tax reply....I'm sorry Mr X you it appears you have claimed for 8 cavalex class 56 locomotives to inland revenue limit is 2!

[woodenhead]

5 hours ago, BachelorBoy said:

 

Depreciation?

It's not mine...

[Phil Parker]

17 hours ago, MJI said:

Electric pc was on anyway,  so very little extra, 70 to 80 min less time due to no commute

 

Better mentally and over 200 quid a month less fuel.

 

The downside to working from home, is your home has to work. The sockets in the older part of our house went pop on Friday. My office and workspace is in there. I rigged a cable up to get the PC and broadband back on, but it's not ideal, and the photobooth and workspace remain dark.

 

Two days of electricians, and over £500 so far, and sockets were back last night. And went off again this morning.

 

So, what to do? WFH, I can't call the Facilities department and have them fix it, it's down to me. I can't DIY any of it, because I'm WFH and it has to happen fast as I can't take even a day off right now. If the house suddenly needs a rewire, that's going to be expensive, need to be done fast (WFH, no DIY), and still knock me out for several weeks as rooms are ripped apart. I'll need to hire space to carry on working, at my own expense. Arguably, it might be cheaper to bin my job and stack shelves at Poundland.

 

WFH can be good, but you need to remember you'll need to give a room over in the house (no, you can't balance a laptop on the kitchen table, you'll get back problems, the sort HR will blame on your incorrect workstation setup, and see you leaving the company) which means a bigger house at "enhanced" UK prices. And everything is down to you to make work and pay for. Absolutely everything. It's not a panacea.

 

Update: And now there is sewage bubbling out of the manhole cover behind the house. Call to Severn Trent, they will be here between now, and Friday. Call to emergency drain clearer, who should be here in a couple of hours. Hopefully, before the garden disappears under sh*t.

 

I am still trying to do some work. Deadlines don't respect house issues.

[bradfordbuffer]

3 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

 

The downside to working from home, is your home has to work. The sockets in the older part of our house went pop on Friday. My office and workspace is in there. I rigged a cable up to get the PC and broadband back on, but it's not ideal, and the photobooth and workspace remain dark.

 

Two days of electricians, and over £500 so far, and sockets were back last night. And went off again this morning.

 

So, what to do? WFH, I can't call the Facilities department and have them fix it, it's down to me. I can't DIY any of it, because I'm WFH and it has to happen fast as I can't take even a day off right now. If the house suddenly needs a rewire, that's going to be expensive, need to be done fast (WFH, no DIY), and still knock me out for several weeks as rooms are ripped apart. I'll need to hire space to carry on working, at my own expense. Arguably, it might be cheaper to bin my job and stack shelves at Poundland.

 

WFH can be good, but you need to remember you'll need to give a room over in the house (no, you can't balance a laptop on the kitchen table, you'll get back problems, the sort HR will blame on your incorrect workstation setup, and see you leaving the company) which means a bigger house at "enhanced" UK prices. And everything is down to you to make work and pay for. Absolutely everything. It's not a panacea.

 

Update: And now there is sewage bubbling out of the manhole cover behind the house. Call to Severn Trent, they will be here between now, and Friday. Call to emergency drain clearer, who should be here in a couple of hours. Hopefully, before the garden disappears under sh*t.

 

I am still trying to do some work. Deadlines don't respect house issues.

If emergency sewer man arrives on Sunday that will be a out of hours payment.....he will want time and a turd!😄

 

Recycling jokes! So very eco

[osbornsmodels]

its a good job sewer men and electricians don't work from home then.

[MJI]

58 minutes ago, osbornsmodels said:

its a good job sewer men and electricians don't work from home then.

They don't tend to work from offices either.

[Willie Whizz]

Ah, deadlines …

 

in the immortal words of Douglas Adams:  “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by”. 

[The Johnster]

On 18/02/2024 at 14:09, osbornsmodels said:

its a good job sewer men and electricians don't work from home then.

 

Perhaps the sewermen should work from offices; I know more than a few offices that are full of sh*t...

[jjb1970]

What is an office, it provides some function and is a collection of people, assuming it accommodates more than a single individual. Talking about offices is like talking about human kind, or any other large group, there are some generalizations which can be made but each is an individual and judging one according to observations of another is meaningless. I have worked at sea, in electricity generation in power plants, spent a lot of time in shipyards and engine factories and in governmental forums and office roles and wouldn't say the politics, social behaviours and general qualities of offices are either better or worse than any of the other work environments I've observed.

[MJI]

Just had 2 meetings.

 

1 person in north midlands, 1 about 1/2 mile away. Previous was 1 at work and me.

 

I am in my dining room, on an office chair, having a 5 min break while I try to work something out.

[Legend]

Every two weeks I travelled from Glasgow via Bristol to Swansea . Then Covid hit and we all went to video conferencing . When the restrictions were lifted it was realised that I and a good may others really didn’t need to travel, so for the last few years I worked entirely from home . It’s not all it’s cracked up to be , you can feel quite isolated and occasionally days passed where you never saw another soul !  Thank goodness for RMWeb ! However the only real losers were easyJet,Europcar and Ibis !  
 

Now happily retired it was actually a good transition 

[TEAMYAKIMA]

On 15/01/2024 at 10:35, AY Mod said:

What is doing the most harm to the hobby are not these changes as there are, and will continue to be, other shows to visit and other retailers and manufacturers to buy from. But the Jeremiahs of Facebook and YouTube don’t want that. What they want you, me and everyone else to know is that the hobby is doomed because everyone in it is old and can’t afford to pay rising prices or that they are young and can’t afford these prices etc. 

 

I believe that these things are a blip and that the hobby will continue to reshape itself; it’s not about light at the end of the tunnel, it’s a case of enjoying the view on whatever journey you can afford to take.

 

 

Whilst I do find any discussion about sewers to be fascinating, I do think a return to the theme of Andy's original post would be beneficial at this stage. There seems to have been a burst of optimism in the aftermath of all the (negative) press coverage. So, in my book, at least, a return to normality. 

[BachelorBoy]

On 21/02/2024 at 21:23, TEAMYAKIMA said:

 

Whilst I do find any discussion about sewers to be fascinating, I do think a return to the theme of Andy's original post would be beneficial at this stage. There seems to have been a burst of optimism in the aftermath of all the (negative) press coverage. So, in my book, at least, a return to normality. 

 

A question for you: how much do you think interest in modelling China has changed since you've been on the exhibition circuit? Is it expanding?

 

[TEAMYAKIMA]

12 hours ago, BachelorBoy said:

A question for you: how much do you think interest in modelling China has changed since you've been on the exhibition circuit? Is it expanding?

 

That is an interesting question, but firstly let me say that I don't think me having a layout on the exhibition circuit has influenced things that much, if at all. -

 

I assume you mean in the UK and my reply refers to the UK, but my understanding is that the new middle class in China have taken up the hobby themselves - I suspect mainly as collectors or if  they build layouts I think many might be more of the temporary type e.g. setting up on the floor rather than layouts as we know them here on RMweb.

 

Chinese HO started to be available in the UK (Bachmann) in 2001 and I think was mainly sold to people, like me, who wanted a souvenir/reminder of their trips to China to photograph steam.

 

I have been told that there is someone (in Wales?) building a large Chinese HO home layout, but AFAIK mine is the only Chinese HO exhibition layout.

 

The big problem with modelling Chinese railways is that, as a rule, the trains are very long - I have a 19 car passenger train on my layout and that is not particularly long for China - so there is not a lot of scope for a Chinese version of the typical GWR branch terminus.

 

Another factor is that Bachmann stopped manufacturing Chinese HO several years ago and whilst there are several new manufacturers, making fantastic models, they are not sold in the UK. Current Chinese HO models are really good, but as usual these days, made in limited quantities and so if you want to buy them you need to keep an eye on model shops in China and Hong Kong.

 

As regards my layout, I realised early on that I would not get many exhibition invites if my layout only appealed to visitors who were interested in Chinese railways - it had to appeal to a much wider audience. So, our policy is to appeal to two separate 'markets' -

 

1)  If enthusiasts want to know about the railways of China, the layout gives an accurate picture of what things were like in 2001 - the very end of main line steam - and we are very happy to proactively engage with them to pass on our experiences

 

2) If the general (family) audience wants plenty of movement and unusual features (not gimmicks) which they've never seen before, then we are there to entertain them. 

 

 

Edited February 23 by TEAMYAKIMA

[TEAMYAKIMA]

OK, let's stop talking about being positive - let's DO something positive - let's support a club which is being VERY positive.

 

Abingdon & District MRC are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year with their first ever TWO DAY show on March 2/3.

 

Yes, that's right - at a time when clubs are pulling out of putting on shows, at a time when two day shows are shrinking to one day shows, Abingdon and District MRC are going the other way - they are expanding, they are being positive, they are taking a risk in order to send out a positive vibe - time for us to put our money where our mouth is and support this kind of positivity.

 

How do I know so much about this show? Because we are going to be there and so, if you want to learn more about Chinese railways, you can always come and talk to me.

 

 

 

[Legend]

I’m sure Model Rail Scotland at the Exhibition Centre in Glasgow will be accentuating the positive today . Revolution have already made my day by announcing a 320 . There is a lot to look forward to 

[rob D2]

Saw a video with Pete waterman , I think he was right in the concept that kids today want to see todays railways as much as we all did in our day .

 

I imagine in 30 years time all the Gen z who liked trains will be nostalgic for  the covid era and building layouts with the units of today utilising their newly found extra disposable income .

 

And so the cycle will continue . As long as their are trains , there will be train fans and by extension modellers 

Edited February 23 by rob D2

[wombatofludham]

I must admit to having been watching a number of videos recently on the Choob of shows I can't really get to, living virtually on the beach (well, a few yards inland of it) in Wales with several hours of mountains to traverse to get to any exhibitions, even those in the part of Wales where they don't really speak proper Cymraeg y Gogs.  There's a surprising number of them which must be a sign of the hobby actually being in a good place, and they have made me determined to get over to the Midlands to visit a few more shows this year, so long as Welshpool isn't under water.  There were a few things that stood out though which I haven't noticed before;

Why don't exhibitors weather buildings?  The stock is often treated but the surrounding buildings look almost like new builds.

Similarly, when was the last time you saw pristine ballast unless after relaying?  Today, ballast looks a lot cleaner I grant you, since we stopped dumping (literally) aerosol brown liquid out of coach lavatories, no longer have widespread cast iron brake shoes scrubbing off iron oxide and replaced 1950s incontinent diesels dribbling oil everywhere, but up until the 1990s most ballast was a murky shade of brown or even black, so much so any new ballasting stood out like the proverbial baboon's bottom.  Yet a lot of the layouts I've seen film of have nice, clean ballast.

Arriving at a terminus at a scale 50 mph to stop with such a force you'd catapult the passengers through the building and into the next county.  Now I will put my hands up and admit to having a few buffer stop interfaces when operating "King's Oak" mainly due to one unit having some sort of inertia simulating DCC chip installed which I could never master, but when running "Dolgellau" I liked to run trains at scale speed, with gentle stops that wouldn't lead to HMRI popping round for a chat or having to get the whole Meirionydd ambulance fleet out.

Of course none of these observations in any way negates my respect and admiration for the modelling, and the exhibitors who have given up their time and incurred considerable expense and inconvenience to show off their modelling, which is often in all other aspects fantastic and deserving of praise.  Nor would I consider these things "deal breakers", I'm not that anally retentive, but it does seem a bit odd.  Of course, I suppose the correct attitude to take, which is what I do when at an exhibition in person, is to view the layout as a work of art, and as such, is allowed artistic interpretation and as such should be enjoyed in the round.  So what if the pigs are the wrong kind of pigs, the buildings look like they have just been erected and not a trackside fertilised tomato plant is to be seen, at least someone has produced a working artwork, sometimes of subjects which are unfamiliar or challenging.

[Captain Kernow]

6 hours ago, rob D2 said:

all the Gen z

I've never really understood this term. Who are they? What does it mean?

 

[MattR]

At least here in the U.S.:

 

Silent Generation: born 1928-1945 (ages 96-79)

Baby Boomers: born 1946-1964 (ages 78-60)

Gen(eration) X: born 1965-1980 (ages 59-43)

Millennials: born 1981-1996 (ages 42-28)

Gen(eration) Z: born 1997-2012 (ages 27-12)

Gen(eration) Alpha: born 2013-present (age 11 and under)

 

 

Edited February 23 by MattR

[rob D2]

30 minutes ago, MattR said:

At least here in the U.S.:

 

Silent Generation: born 1928-1945 (ages 96-79)

Baby Boomers: born 1946-1964 (ages 78-60)

Gen(eration) X: born 1965-1980 (ages 59-43)

Millennials: born 1981-1996 (ages 42-28)

Gen(eration) Z: born 1997-2012 (ages 27-12)

Gen(eration) Alpha: born 2013-present (age 11 and under)

 

 

That’s it ….I’m an X …my kids are Z….im guessing any grandkids are to be B ;)

 

My kids sometimes call me boomer just to wind me up. Even they know I’m not that old 

Edited February 23 by rob D2

[PMP]

1 hour ago, wombatofludham said:

I must admit to having been watching a number of videos recently on the Choob of shows

 

(snip)

There were a few things that stood out though which I haven't noticed before;

Why don't exhibitors weather buildings?  The stock is often treated but the surrounding buildings look almost like new builds.

Similarly, when was the last time you saw pristine ballast unless after relaying? 

 

(Snip) but it does seem a bit odd.  

The problem with ‘extrapolating’ observations as you have made is that the videos you’ve watched, only include elements that the videographer wants to film. There are plenty of examples of realistic modelling at exhibitions, and channels that cover them.

[Ian Fisher]

54 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

I've never really understood this term. Who are they? What does it mean?

 

Means B*gger all 

 

I dont get why people are so keen on labelling others 

[Captain Kernow]

1 hour ago, MattR said:

At least here in the U.S.:

 

Silent Generation: born 1928-1945 (ages 96-79)

Baby Boomers: born 1946-1964 (ages 78-60)

Gen(eration) X: born 1965-1980 (ages 59-43)

Millennials: born 1981-1996 (ages 42-28)

Gen(eration) Z: born 1997-2012 (ages 27-12)

Gen(eration) Alpha: born 2013-present (age 11 and under)

 

 

Definitely no disrespect to you, MattR and thanks for taking the time to explain it, but really, what a complete load of nonsense this need for labelling is...

Edited February 23 by Captain Kernow

[MattR]

38 minutes ago, Ian Fisher said:

Means B*gger all 

 

I dont get why people are so keen on labelling others 

 

It's a handy and shortened way to refer to people born in a specific time frame, rather than having to say "people between the ages of 27 and 12" and next year "people between the ages of 28 and 13" and after that "people between the ages of 29 and 14".

 

Guess we should stop "labeling" people as Victorians or Edwardians.

 

 

Edited February 23 by MattR