Marcus-Jay

Are any of the teams from Series 1 planning to have another go? Do the winners get a chance to defend their Trophy?

As a S1 team member, we have, as a team, thrown our names back in for the next series.

I would assume that this time round the production company will have the luxury of too many entries and be able the pick and choose the contestants that best fit what they want to see, any 'repeat contestants' can just be used to fill gaps if there are any.

But that is just my personal guess work.

Call me a purist if you like, but the best model railway layout was the Fawley Flyers entry. I wouldn't look twice at the winning entry at an exhibition but I would look at the others.

 

Couldn't see the point of linking them all together. All it did was add unwanted stress to the build process for little effect.

 

The presenters and their lame 'humour' still irritate me, although I'm fine with the judges. The background music is an unnecessary distraction but virtually every TV programme seems to suffer from the same affliction.

 

Will I watch the second series if it appears? Probably but I would hope for some more sensible presenters. Would I enter a second series? Not a chance!

 

steve

I think there were far better layouts built in the series than Fawleys, but it is a matter of opinion.

Linking the layouts together, that adds another layer of tension that separates the final from the heats.

I suspect your hopes surrounding the second series will be in vain. I can't see any major changes being required to the format. The viewing figures show the program appealed to over 1 million people. The fact that a few serious modellers are are unhappy will be of little consequence as the program was not aimed at that target audience. Even if it was there would still be a division on how it should be done.

Leave television production to TV professionals... After all, the camera man didn't tell me how to lay track!

(ps the comment is not aimed specifically at you Steve, just using your post as an example)

<snip> Did the teams know about it before the heats or was it sprung on them?

That there was a scratch build challenge based on house hold objects - yes

What the objects were - no

Currently, the first official outing for our "Mattford" layout will be the CMRA Show in Stevenage; January 12/13th 2019

http://www.cmra.org.uk/exhibition.html

Who did the mpv with all the lights on it, was it a loan from legomanboffo?

As was the 153 on th Viaduct, and the 68.

I've created a sub-forum for content relating to the programme and the layout features so they don't get too lost down the lists.

 

I reckon I've missed something somewhere (on the layout features) so if you spot anything which needs to be moved into this area let me know!

Where is this please Andy? (Link)

I wonder if the use of DCC and DIY electronics would be likely to dissuade some people. Seeing some operatots staring at mobile phones while they work out what to do seems to be adding a level of complexity that might be too daunting. This may upset DCC afficionados but surely the programme should be illustrating techniques which are creative but not too difficult to learn.

Seeing someone staring at a mobile phone is precisely what I (me - myself - personally) WANTED to be shown, which is why the Diesel Dynamos layout was DCC and JMRI controlled.  The vast majority of people under the age of 25 will be looking at a mobile device on a very regular basis.

If I hand someone a MERG CAB DCC handset they can twiddle the knob to make something I've set up move. If I give them a mobile with all the buttons labelled "Lights", "Horn", and "Squeal" they will tap away.  Equally, if I put them in front of the  Guagemaster 4 knob controller they are just as likely (3 in 4 chance) to send the wrong train off in the wrong direction.

But then people like different things. I am not very good at scenery building, but I am good at wiring and related stuff. That doesn't mean I see a big hill with bushes and trees and walk away 'daunted'.

Every person that watches the programmes will take something different away from it. It is down to the production company to produce something that provides a broad appeal within the area they are trying to make an entertaining show about.

Fun fact, and not giving anything significant away,

(Catching up on several days away so only about 8 pages to wade through)

Another tidbit:

Also, if you watch the introduction in every episode you see 5 teams walking down the road. This is the 'walk-in shot from the final' so anyone wanting to place bets on who won the episode could have worked it out from about 30 seconds into show 1.

It did amuse me slightly that the only manufacturer to actually get their name on screen - as opposed to in the credits - was Heljan, on the containers on Clucas Bay. Which is even more impressive given that Heljan isn't a sponsor. Although I wonder if that's how it slipped past scrutiny - maybe the producers didn't realise that Heljan is a model railway company, and not a "real" name you'd expect to see on a container.

(Catching up on several days away so only about 8 pages to wade through)

Plenty of brand names visible in various eps.  Ours had Ryobi power tools and an unblurred Pringles tube for example.

Indeed, and this may actually be giving the impression that delicate soldering to pointwork is necessary. Given the demonstration runs shown so far amount to little more than a single successful traversal, the wiring certainly doesn't need to cater for an intensive exhibition schedule as seems to have been the assumption by the teams so far. Maybe future teams will learn to economise where they can afford to.

 

The Nim.

(Catching up on several days away so only about 8 pages to wade through)

Wiring loom for Mattford (Diesel Dynamos Layout) Pre built ready to attach to track droppers. Point motors attached and set up in JMRI. Alll running a few days before filming started.

Aberdeen produced probably the best layout of the series. A worthy winner.

I think it may have been mentioned earlier but we felt we were more in competition with the clock than the other teams, shown by the fact that we helped each other out where we could and from what I've read on here that happened in the other heats too.

I can only echo this sentiment. There was a lot of help going round. I know Fawley's captain spent a good 40 mins under the Railway childrens layout towards the end of day 2. If you look carefully at the overhead shot of the Railway Childrens layout sometimes you'll notice the faces are blurred so you can't see (if you pause it right) who is working on the layout. That secret is safe with me :-)

I'd imagine it was a bit more kick/scramble in the final as there was (someone correct me if I'm wrong?) no pre building allowed. But I'm sure the call of "anyone got a staple gun" still got answered by a team with one.

On another note as one of the competing teams, one thing that is not very clear on TV is the level or pre-building (or not) that went on. There were huge differences, representing a massive differential in hours. This happened in Heat 4 (so I'm told). This was not properly taken into account in the judging I feel. The rules will have to be locked down much more clearly if it ever happens again. Or no pre-builds allowed. That would sort the men out from the boys.

The attached screen grab shows the Fawley Fliers layout (youtube grab) at the beginning of day one and ours, the Diesel Dynamos. Given their workshop was the building we were shooting in they didn't have to move it far. I know from speaking to the team members they pretty much the entire layout working a week or so before the shooting began. One of their pre-built items was the entire upper section of the layout. Measuring roughly 8ft by 4ft (on a 10x5 layout), ballasted, wired and just requiring some scenic detailing. Kudos to them for; planning very well, interpreting the pre-built rules and getting it past the judges. The Railway children baseboards were totally clean when they arrived!

This is why I will be very interested in the final. If no prebuilding is allowed, as Laurie mentions, that will separate the men from the boys. I suspect the quality of finish on the final layouts will be substantially less than those in the heats. I'll be proved right or wrong on the 10th Nov

The programmes have been edited down into such short clips that it is hard to catch everything. I have watched some episodes 3 or 4 times, and still catch some things I had missed before. For instance, in Heat 4, with the Chilli factory, there is a brief glimpse of some lit burners and chilli peppers on the roof - real flames. I wonder who did the risk analysis on that?

They were real peppers on the roof and yes, we had actual fire on the layout :-)

The burners were acquired the night before from a local restaurant and put to good use. There was also a packet of indoor fireworks in one of our boxes, but we didn't have time to set these up on the last day.

If you watch it again you may also notice the freezer factory being placed over a a green bowl, this contained dry ice which I had made about 90 seconds before hand outside the building using a CO2 fire extinguisher and a pillow case (I'm not allowed to try this at home.. But at Fawley!!) This was the actual ice in the building. Sadly the mist effect we were looking for lasted about 30 seconds and then fizzled out. Not good when it took 2 or 3 minutes to get all the pieces of the production crew up and running. Another nice try.

We did embrace the fire and ice them with both hands, the only other detail we didn't get time to add was the freezer factory name:

CJ Freezers

_{Their layout had a very unfortunate computer crash at the start of judging and nothing ran for most of the judging period.  The most important criteria that we have is that the layouts must run.  It's a shame as it was a lovely layout otherwise.}

 

 

_Kathy

Indeed, a computer hitch stopped things running for us.  The edit suite made a very good job of making our 'final' look a lot slicker than it was. We also had a derailment, that was also omitted from the final cut. I was expecting to 'us' to be the comedic relief for the show. Thanks to those at Knickerbocker that cut it otherwise. The look of our performance in the final has been made to look a lot slicker than it actually was.  However, when the judging was over, the cameras needed to get a set of beauty shots of the layout, both with our trains running and the camera truck. During those 20 minutes, the layout ran flawlessly. Proving the saying "You win some, you lose some"

For Kathy to call Mattford a "lovely layout" is a great commendation. Her modelling skills surpass many on this forum. Indeed I recall when we arrived at Fawley chatting to her for a wee while not being able to put the name to the face I recognised. I had to ask who she was and which team she was on, only to be told she was a judge :-) Once I knew who she was I was able to talk about some of the things I had learned from her YouTube channel.

I think the 'point' that lots of members of this forum are missing is this show is not aimed squarely at the railway modelling fraternity, it's aimed at those who might be interested in getting into, or are starting out in the hobby. Mattford (not Mapford as stated on the show) is a lovely little 'train set' and it shows what 5 people can achieve in roughly 150 hours (5 x 30hrs as we did very little pre-build). When I am standing by Mattford at an exhibition I am hoping the people I talk to are the newcomers and the people who want to start back into things. Those of us that have been modelling for many years will regard Mattford as a very basic layout. Those who have not yet built theirs may look upon it as a simple inspiration of what they could achieve.

During the CMRA show in Stevenage, there is usually a lovely lady, Maggie Gravett, who takes a table full of kids, young adults, and anyone else who wants a go, and gives them a block of polystyrene and shows them how simple static grass is to lay and how easy it can be to build a tree. I know of two bedrooms where that tiny diorama they made 2 years ago is still on display next to the PS game boxes and other stuff. This is the corner Mattford will hopefully be in.

We have just been rebuilding Mattford to get it ready for the shows and people are asking what will you improve on. Aside from replacing foamboard with plywood, the layout will look almost identical to what was seen on television. We will probably add some more labels to the factories and the wiring is now stuck to the underside of the board as opposed to just hanging. However, I believe Mattford embraced the ethos of the show: To build a layout in a day, and that spirit is one to be maintained when we go to exhibitions.

(edited to add Maggie's name in)

Sorry if I've missed it but can anybody tell me what happened to this weeks layouts after the show?

Steve.

I understand Fawley's layout is on display at Fawley.

The Railway Children I'm unsure but I beleive the layout has been trashed (< I welcome correction)

The Diesel Dynamos layout (Mattford - NOT MAPford) is being refurbished and will be on display at the CMRA show in January 2019 and a few other places.

Uhmmmn... 

Your post makes no sense.

First time commenting but the Fawley Flyers layout looked very impressive for three days work.  Ballasting, point rodding, signals, it was just a shame that the Kerosine Castle didn't get a run.

 

But fair play to everyone who has competed, it can't be easiy getting a layout together in 24 hours whilst under the scrutiny of the television cameras.

Having seen what the Fawley Layout looked like before we started building I can assure you it wasn't built in the three days of filming. They made a very good interpretation of the scratch built item rule, their item being most of the upper level of the layout, and ran with it.

Fair play to them.

The Dynamos (team I was on) came in with some track laid, and the railway children had a blank set of boards. Ours was about 30hours, as we did a little track laying pre build work, and the RC boys in the 24 hours.

We were also the first show to be shot so no one really had a clue what to expect. Poor old Missenden were the last show and the production team knew how to play things.

None of them have noticed the Weeping Angel lurking in the corner yet.

Probably blinked and missed it :-)

Most youngsters these days become familiar with preserved steam long before they encounter the main-line network. Therefore, the likelihood of them choosing to model "modern" is, in no way, a foregone conclusion.

What information do you base that assumption on please John?

As for the scratch build challenge, Santa's Toy Factory, a pre-build model, incorporated plywood offcuts, plastic drain pipe, plastic water pipe, two yoghurt pots, two plastic shot glasses, two old radio knobs a supermarket trifle bowl, Xmas wrapping paper and lots of coffee stirrers. It's what we do.

Good job you were not in our heat..You'd have been ahead of the game :-)

I wonder why the 'pre-builds' weren't pointed out this week?

 

The Nim.

Wait until you see next week......

This programme could do with catching the banter between team members to give it a bit more life.

And indeed the inter-team banter, I know in our heat people were borrowing tools, helping each other out and generally mucking in if they had time to help. This could never be reflected in a 'competition' style program sadly. However, I assure you it went on.

Only a week until the Diesel Dynamos. I'm hoping to be a member of the "GMRC mostly overlooked" club. There is usually two on a team that are only referred to in passing :-)

If there was a second series, I wonder how the modellers themselves would do things differently, now knowing some of the pitfalls?

They would certainly be more guarded with their comments in front of the cameras.

 

Would then they start to "play the game" as has happened with other TV reality type shows as the series were recommissioned for further years?

 

Cheers,

Mick

Some of us went in with 25+ years of Television experience, you can guard all you want but a clever editor can find what they need.

But then I doubt you'll hear me speak (on Oct 26th)  at all :-)