Noughties & Teenies

[griffgriff]

Hate to be a pedant, but technically the new decade starts in 2011, as there was no year '0', so 2000 - 2010 would be the full decade. Oh who am I kidding, I love being a pedant.

 

Ahem.

 

 

 

So there are 11 years in your decade

[Dave777]

Interesting, a former member here often used to suggest that Tesco should sell Hornby products

 

Seriously Dave, would you expand on that one?

 

 

Well, unlike my other predictions where I considered the current situation(s) and how they might be improved or changed, that one wasn't quite so based in expanding on the current situation and was more leaning towards a blatant guess at what might come true over the next 10 years and which I could then have the nerdy/irritating pleasure of saying 'I told you so' in 2020

 

 

BUT, to be honest the thing that triggered it was Gareth saying in another thread how much more he had to stock these days from the likes of Hornby (Skaledale, different liveries, more models, etc) and I was thinking about other things such as Base Toys, Dapol's N gauge range, Ixion models, expanding O gauge, etc, etc, and it struck me that there's just so much more stuff connected with model railways these days. Tescos is probably the wrong example really, I guess Modelzone would be nearer to the concept (or the long-gone Beatties as already mentioned), but only stocking model railway products (and not Modelzone's Tamiya kits, Scalextric, etc) and stocking the entire range from each manufacturer. So the thinking was really 'Is there just so much more stuff around these days for model railways that a chain of specific model railway shops could be established?'

 

It was a bit of prediction fluff really, the one I put the least thought into - probably not worth examining too closely

[298]

Interesting, a former member here often used to suggest that Tesco should sell Hornby products :icon_mrgreen:

 

Seriously Dave, would you expand on that one?

 

Tesco have a reputation for driving down suppliers costs and promoting their own, often inferior brands. I wouldn't like to see that in the Model Railway world, as any manufacturer needs a sustainable business base and guaranteed steady cash flow, otherwise they won't be able to stay in business. I'd rather pay good money for a decent product and local service, knowing the shop will still be there for the smaller specialist items that your Tesco's style shop won't stock.

[Guest Max Stafford]

For me, the decade has been marked by the emergence of super high-quality locos and rolling stock that fit perfectly into my mid-late 1960s modelling period. The flow has at times been overwhelming and has meant a lot of spending (I'm grateful for the fact that I was in a position to indulge this, unlike many), but the flow is easing and I'm now able to relax and get away from the highly acquisitive mode that I've spent the last five or so years in and which if I'm honest has at times made me feel a little uncomfortable.

I feel that a particular phase has passed and I can now move away from a rather materialistic period and get on with the honest business of building and operating.

 

Comparing the RTR situation of Jan 1st 2000 with that of today is actually quite staggering in retrospect when you compare the meagre differences between 1990 and 2000!

 

Dave.

[Guest Phil]

The defining moment for me, in railway modelling terms, was the introduction of the Hornby Class 50.

 

It showed me that there really was a future in British railway modelling, that the manufacturers really had dragged themselves into the 21st century.

As a diesel fan, the Merchant Navy had pretty much passed by unnoticed by me.

 

I only got back into model railways in 2002, and by the start of 2003 I was only just beginning to understand what Bachmann were about when I discovered their class 25, 08 and 37, but the class 50 brought things to a whole new level.

 

The Hornby 50 was one of the things that helped me to make up my mind about starting up a model shop, which opened less than 18 months later.

 

 

Very coincidental but the SWD decoder in a Hornby LLB class 50 belonging to my mate was probably what finally converted me totally back to British modelling. The look and the sound of that particular model was very impressive - the black window surrounds masking the windscreen ballsup.

 

I really wouldn't like to speculate too much on where RMweb and the hobby will be in 2019. Theres no doubt that new technologies will bring new goodies, and solutions to age old problems. One which I speculated on earlier today was 4 character headcode boxes on diesels. One of my trains on Sedgeley Jn is the Cardiff - Soho oil train which ran up loaded from Cardiff as 5M71 or 5M73. The GSYP hymek will work that train 90% of the time so the M headcode one end and the V headcode on the other will surfice.

but what of other diesels which work different trippers and trunk trains ? The mixed traffic Brush type 4s were working coal, freightliners, parcels, passengers etc so 7T54 is not really acceptable for a rake of maroon Mk 1s. It'll be interesting to see whether nano technology can bring us changeable panels - even on the scale basis of a six sided pencil barrel rotating behind the cab front.

 

I hope to be participate in the many topics which arise on here, and to keep in touch with a number of RMwebbers who I have met through this illustrious technology.

 

Thanks again Andy and the Mods for running a tight ship - long may RMweb continue.

[Guest dilbert]

Comparing the RTR situation of Jan 1st 2000 with that of today is actually quite staggering in retrospect when you compare the meagre differences between 1990 and 2000!

 

Meagre differences :icon_question: :icon_question: :icon_tongue:

 

The current state of the 4mm RTR environment was built on events that occurred 1990-1999 :

 

- Bachmann started the decade as a fledgling company, ending up as one of the major players in the market.

 

- Hornby had to drastically rethink and deploy a new business model. They ended up acquiring from Dapol most of the ex-Mainline/Airfix tooling and shifted their production facilities half way around the the globe.

 

- Lima didn't adapt during this timeframe and paid the price in the early years of the new century.

 

So by Y2K, the foundations were already in place for a greater variety of more accurate and better detailed models. The contrast between the Hornby & Bachmann catalogues of years 1990 & 2000 just on pure weight is significant :icon_thumbsup2:

 

As for 2019, I think that voice and RFID technologies will become more prevalent in layout control. No more going up to the loft on a cold winter's day. Fire up the PC in the warmth of your house, select a live video input stream to display on the wall and play with your trains (whilst indulging in a tipple of your favourite double malt). The technology exists today, it only needs an application overlay to be developped :icon_cool::icon_idea:.

 

Remote derailment management will still prove problematic...dilbert

[Bloodnok]

Here's a few predictions I'll nail to the wall:

 

Someone somewhere will tool up some RTL points which are 4mm/ft in terms of sleeper size and spacing, British in appearance, but generic enough to not pinpoint a specific origin region or railway company. They will be to OO gauge, have RTR compatible flangeways, and within a short period of time, have replaced Peco "Streamline" in the marketplace.

 

Sectional (train-set) track will also change - but in a different direction - to a robust 'ready ballasted' form. This will most likely be borrowed from overseas (and as a result, stay HO scale). I can see an integrated DCC operated point motor inside the 'ballast' moulding as a possibility for this track.

 

3D Printing will emerge initially as a form of scratchbuilding, and eventually will firmly challenge the conventional kit. An entire building (or even a locomotive bodyshell) can come out of the printer in one piece, no assembly required, to the right shape, and covered in fine surface detail. Don't think you can avoid painting though, I can't see this being printed "in colour" inside a decade - and you won't be able to print yourself a working locomotive either - that chassis is still going to need proper manufacturing.

 

While this is a major shakeup for the kit industry, but not really for RTR - they already have competition from kits, and I don't see this as vastly different. (If they could come out ready-painted, that'd be different...)

 

By the end of the decade, all new RTR models released will come with an onboard processor. It will be capable of producing high fidelity sound, though I'll not go as far as to say that all locos will have a speaker fitted - some element of cheapness will prevail, or that the sound will be accurate where a speaker is fitted - I don't expect a revolution in research accuracy from our RTR manufacturers. Control of lights and things like uncoupling will be expected. And it won't just be locos that are fitted with them - rolling stock will have them too. Carriages with controllable interior lighting, opening passenger doors and remote uncoupling ready to run straight out the box.

 

Despite all this technological progress, there will still be an expectation that a loco fresh out of the box will run when presented with 12v DC across the wheels - technology may move fast, but the general public don't always follow. There will be enough people out there with a loft empire built on DC that compatibility will be expected. Basic functionality beyond simply driving backwards and forwards will be available through the (by then obsolete) DCC standard, as there will probably be enough DCC gear out there that DCC compatibility will be required too. However, the processor will operate primarily over wireless. Any computer* will be able to operate the layout, with full autodiscovery of what locos, stock, and accessories are present. Oh, and I'd bet that DCC compatibility will be removed before DC compatibility is...

 

* Oh, and by that stage "Computer" will have changed drastically - device convergence and ubiquitous networking will have firmly taken hold, and for "computer" read a general purpose handheld tablet like device, which will be capable of a staggering range of tasks. It's not a laptop or a phone or a PDA or a media player or a game console or a camera as we think of them now - it's all of them together, and a bunch of other stuff too, all wrapped up in one device.

[Pennine MC]

Tesco have a reputation for driving down suppliers costs and promoting their own, often inferior brands. I wouldn't like to see that in the Model Railway world, as any manufacturer needs a sustainable business base and guaranteed steady cash flow, otherwise they won't be able to stay in business. I'd rather pay good money for a decent product and local service, knowing the shop will still be there for the smaller specialist items that your Tesco's style shop won't stock.

 

Oh quite, Andy. If you recall, that's what we used to tell the former member

[PhilH]

For me, the downside was the formation of RMweb - having to spend so much time seeing what all you lot have been rattling on about has seriously eroded my free time. (Whoa, that's just a joke..)

One thing I am very interested in for the not so distant future is the development of affordable laser cutters and 3D printers, plus of course really user friendly computer programs to use with them. For things other than locos and rolling stock, which, despite everybody wanting something different, we are starting to see some really fantastic models being produced RTR, for things other than these to be able to imagine, design and produce truly bespoke buildings, infrastucture and topography at home quickly and easily would, in my opinion, lead to a quantum leap in the scale (as in vista), quality and variety of layouts.

[Mikkel]

Highlights of the past decade

* Other than what has been mentioned in the posts above, I think the introduction of high quality RTP buildings deserves a mention, along with new landscaping techniques such as realistic grass etc. Suddenly realistic scenery is within everyone's reach. This includes the scope for simple modifications, see eg this thread.

 

* In web terms, the development of interactive fora like RMweb has made a pretty dramatic change compared to the traditional websites controlled by a single webmaster. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this really has revolutionized the way modellers share their work and learn from each other.

 

The future?

* Backgrounds that give a 3D impression

* Opening doors on stock

* Super-detail plastic figures in the smaller scales become viable (think Warhammer)

* Acrylic paint improved to even higher standards

* Small batch production leads to more pre-grouping RTR locos (ok that one may be wishful thinking, but let's see!)