Garden Railway Forum

What made me give up watching it was the annoying salesman talking presenter who had a conversation about the film Dunkirk with one of the team leaders who had a big issue with the carriage stock being from the wrong era (nevermind the scene with fantasy Spitfire magic carpet ride!).

ge_rik wrote: ↑Mon Oct 08, 2018 9:18 am Great British Bake Off for model trains.

The recipe

• Appoint a panel of judges, only one of whom knows something about the topic;
  make sure there are some 'characters' in the teams;
  give the teams challenges which include a high probability of failure;
  edit the footage to include at least one tantrum, at least one bleeped swear word and at least one team member having an emotional outburst - preferably filmed in close-up;
  and then make sure the final judgement is controversial

.

Rik

The judges were Steve Flint, Editor of Railway Modeller Magazine and Kathy Millatt, a writer for Model Railroader and producer of her own modelling videos - https://www.kathymillatt.co.uk/blog/ . Whatever else you don't like, neither can be described as "a panel of judges, only one of whom knows something about the topic".

Although Tim Shaw annoyed the heck out of me on Car SOS.

I don't understand at whom the show was aimed. I can't imagine we will see a second series.

As someone else mentioned where has the intelligent television show gone? With presenters such as Bob Symes and Heinz Wolff, everything today appears to be produced for society's lowest common denominator.

Oh dear, it wasn't great, was it? I've spent some time on the sofa fighting off a cold and thought this might be just the thing, but wasn't wildly impressed. I can see that model railways might need a little "sexing up" to make them suitable for prime time telly, but artificial themes, challenges and timescales just produced a heap of mediocrity. And since when have "animations" been A Thing in the world of model railways?!! Should've invited the judges round to see my model railway where animations include convincing weather effects and birdsong sound effects, vegetation that really grows and - for that wow factor - huge apples that fall on the track and threaten to squish the trains...

Despite the horrors of the first episode I will be watching the next one though - a fellow member of the Avon Valley Railway fundraising team is one of the participants so I want to see how he gets on...

Cheers,

Andrew.

PS Watched whatever the C4 programme about restoring carriages was called from my sickbed too - much better. I enjoyed how the calm and competent professional restorers resisted all attempts at made-up drama ("Oh no, they've run out of gunky yellow roofing compound, however will they finish the restoration?!! Oh, they've got another tin from the cupboard"). Beautiful carriages too...

Quote (Andrew)

"And since when have "animations" been A Thing in the world of model railways?!! Should’ve invited the judges round to see my model railway where animations include convincing weather effects and birdsong sound effects, vegetation that really grows and - for that wow factor - huge apples that fall on the track and threaten to squish the trains…"

Brilliant Andrew.

I started to think I would of liked to have seen your layout, then I realised you were talking about your 16mm line……………

Hope your’e feeling better Andrew….

practical_phil wrote: ↑Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:02 pm

ge_rik wrote: ↑Mon Oct 08, 2018 9:18 am Great British Bake Off for model trains.

The recipe

• Appoint a panel of judges, only one of whom knows something about the topic;
  make sure there are some 'characters' in the teams;
  give the teams challenges which include a high probability of failure;
  edit the footage to include at least one tantrum, at least one bleeped swear word and at least one team member having an emotional outburst - preferably filmed in close-up;
  and then make sure the final judgement is controversial

.

Rik

The judges were Steve Flint, Editor of Railway Modeller Magazine and Kathy Millatt, a writer for Model Railroader and producer of her own modelling videos - https://www.kathymillatt.co.uk/blog/ . Whatever else you don't like, neither can be described as "a panel of judges, only one of whom knows something about the topic".

Although Tim Shaw annoyed the heck out of me on Car SOS.

I stand corrected. Thanks for the background.

Rik

I found the presenters a bit annoying myself and I think the teams should be allowed five days to build and present their layouts. Apart from that it’s something to watch instead of soaps

Kevin

I would like to make the point that being an editor of a magazine does not make you an authority or knowledgeable on the published subject.

They may be employed simply for their skill at their job (yes I have known people who have been editors of publications with no knowledge or interest in what they edit).

I run this forum, doesn't make me the lord of any scale any gauge

All hail Tom.


Sorry, have I missed something?

I finally saw the first episode last night. Started off doing a "Dr Who" and hiding behind the sofa watching through my fingers, but actually I was pleasantly surprised. Actually, of course it had next to nothing to do with model railways, but having said that, there was some very nice modelling if you didn't blink too often.
Nobody in their right minds would try to build a layout in 3 days; 3 months minimum and 3 years preferably, so some of the criticism of things not finished was a bit unfair to say the least, although the Missenden lot deserved everything they got for their shear unfounded arrogance,IMO.

Taken as a piece of pure escapist entertainment it was actually streets better than most of the dire tripe the tv companies push out nowadays.

philipy wrote: ↑Thu Oct 11, 2018 2:16 pm
Nobody in their right minds would try to build a layout in 3 days; 3 months minimum and 3 years preferably, so some of the criticism of things not finished was a bit unfair to say the least, although the Missenden lot deserved everything they got for their shear unfounded arrogance,IMO

I agree Philip, The Grandkids are still adding stuff to the N Gauge layout I made for them over 4 years ago now.

And Missenden are typical of most small gauge exhibitors. They should have been banned well before the judging..

philipy wrote: ↑Thu Oct 11, 2018 2:16 pm
Taken as a piece of pure escapist entertainment it was actually streets better than most of the dire tripe the tv companies push out nowadays.

I agree with this also Philip, it was a great bit of escapist entertainment..

I am sick and tired of all the repeats and all that dreadfully load music they play when the presenters are talking…..WHY.

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:50 pm I would like to make the point that being an editor of a magazine does not make you an authority or knowledgeable on the published subject.

They may be employed simply for their skill at their job (yes I have known people who have been editors of publications with no knowledge or interest in what they edit).

I run this forum, doesn't make me the lord of any scale any gauge

I agree. But if you are a TV company looking for a judge, it's easier to pick the editor of a magazine published by one of the companies supplying product to the show. Also, if he's from the north (London based TV people gasp and wonder if he has a colour telly yet) it adds character. He's also likely to be within budget, which wasn't huge for this programme.

That said, Steve does come with a pretty serious modelling background so he's a long way from a beginner. I think they have probably picked the right two people.

I missed this week's instalment - through circumstances rather than deliberately. Has anyone seen it? Was it any better than last week's.

While it does irritate my sensibilities, if it does encourage any youngsters to enter the hobby then it's no bad thing. I'd still like to see a serious model railway series though. I'm sure I read somewhere that railway modelling is second only to angling in terms of popularity.

Rik

I thought this week's was better.

YouTube has to be the place to go for the less mind numbing content, although there is a lot of chaff to sort through before you find a grain of wheat.
I even enjoy some of the smaller scale content, if it's interesting, informative, and scripted well then I'll give it a watch.
I have a small flat panel TV in my modelling room, connected to t'interweb but with no ariel attached.

I enjoyed the small scale content very much well worth the watch but I found the DR who part boring as there was not a lot of railway content.

ge_rik wrote: ↑Mon Oct 15, 2018 4:09 pm I missed this week's instalment - through circumstances rather than deliberately. Has anyone seen it? Was it any better than last week's.

Yes, we watched, mainly because there was nothing else on that wasn't worse.

I did think this weeks episode was slightly better and I agreed that the winning offering was the best of the three.
Having seen both episodes I think my reservations are mainly centred around the concentration on animated features and very little attention paid to the railways.

I agree Phillip, it seems to be more on animation then the actual building of the layout. I think thats because most people generally wouldn’t have a clue what was being showed and the viewing figures would drop rapidly…

I also agree with Rik, in that why isn’t there a series on Garden Railways….

Maybe Practical Phil, could apply pressure with other editors from other publications to program makers…..

I'm actually beginning to warm to this programme. Last week's episode included some good quality modelling, given the timescale, and the outcome of the scratchbuild challenge showed what an accomplished modeller could achieve. I'm also relieved to see that my worst fears have not been realised. Rather than the presenters and editors portraying the participants as nerdy anoraks, they are recognising their talents and giving praise where it is due.

Let's hope it encourages a few people to take up the hobby. Be good to see one of the teams going large scale, though.

Rik

ge_rik wrote: ↑Thu Nov 01, 2018 7:25 pm I'm actually beginning to warm to this programme.

Let's hope it encourages a few people to take up the hobby. Be good to see one of the teams going large scale, though.

Rik

Totally agree there Rik…Hope they do.