Yep will watch but I doubt Marklin or HO will appear. Hornby I expect and Peco but be to the fore.
About time though we had a model rail programme.

Well now in my opinion that was the most embarrassingly awful load of drivel that I have ever wasted an hour of my life on!

Gave up half way through. I am not sure what they were trying to achieve but for me they certainly didn't achieve it.

Watched the first episode this afternoon. Well, I tried. Saw the first 15 minutes and then FF to the last 15 minutes.

I agree it is a bake off format. That Tim guy does the Car SOS show in UK with Fuzz Townsend. He is as annoying in that as he is this.

I'll probably do the same with the next episodes and miss out the nonsense.

Mike

A lost chance to show what a good hobby model rail is. What materials were used and what track and locos etc were never mentioned. Nothing to encourage anybody to take up model rail in my view.

I watched the repeat of the Model Railway Challenge today. I have to say that I was not as disappointed as I thought I would be after some of the comments here. Given the constraints of the competition in terms of time I think the teams did a good job to get their layouts going (with various degrees of success).

I don't think any audience would really have enjoyed an in-depth discussion of tree-making or weathering techniques. The coverage of the technical aspects of the hobby (such as track laying and scenic treatment) will never be more than superficial so as to maintain the interest of the general public. Instead we were treated to some fun cameo scenes and working models, and of course some nice model trains running at realistic speeds!

As with other similar programmes they used well known people for the judges. Steve Flint in particular, as editor of Railway Modeller magazine, added a degree of professional authority to the competition.

I actually find myself looking forward to the next one!

I watched both episodes that have been broadcast thus far today, and while I agree with the "Bake Off for Model Railways" comment i did find it reasonable light entertainment for a Sunday afternoon. They could have done with some time lapse shots showing progress on the better done layouts so you could see the progress being made, especially as the scenery was progressed.

I thought the scratch build challenge brought out some real inventiveness, the results of some of those were excellent considering they had only one working day to do it, even though there were some contestants who thought it a waste of time.

In both cases we worked out who the winner was before the judging actually happened, but I don't recognise either of the judges. I haven't kept track of who the editors of the MRR magazines and there are four major ones in the UK. But who the woman is I have absolutely no idea.

I don't know how one got onto the show, I hadn't heard of it until I saw the broadcast advertised in the TV schedules. I presume there was some advertisement inviting contestants to apply in some magazine or other.

I'll keep watching it for the light entertainment.

When I saw that I figured they had used a Noch pneumatic drill figure, but it turned out to be scratchbuilt from a much cheaper source ...

Family and friends describe me as a grumpy old sod. Currently I am six weeks into recovery from total knee replacement surgery which went very well, and I am making good progress. However, I have been upgraded to VERY grumpy old sod. My dreams of three months of undisturbed train room pleasure have been thwarted by my layouts needs for acrobatics, stretching and kneeling none of which I can currently perform. So, I watch endless crap TV at most times day and night. I also have a problem currently with a concentration span of about 15 minutes before I become restless for change.

So last Thursday evening I was flicking though the channels and came across the last few minutes of the latest episode of the model railway thing. The model railways were to me of very low standard, with emphasis on “special effects” Dinosaurs etc which have never been a part of the hobby I know and love. The judge who is the editor of Railway modeller looked entirely underwhelmed but smiled as he was probably going to pick up a good appearance fee for simply being there and could plug his publication discreetly. The lady judge was one of those bossy strict boring women who knew nothing about the subject but felt her opinion was important and indisputable. The contestants were picked to fit a stereotype that people believe makes a “railway modeller”. So, the grumpiness made me flick onto something else before the few minutes was up.

I couldn't care less about the program... But at this point in time, what really would be beneficial for the hobby are hoards of young people who would hassle their parents for a train set... May be a bit of non educational family entertainment might contribute to increased sales, and make the hobby appear approachable.

There is a bit more to the hobby than the high quality rendition of a given part of the world with matching rolling stock and locos... There are a lot of enthusiasts who see the hobby as a way to express creativity, explore technology or simply run trains.. and there is nothing wrong with any of the approaches in my view.

- Want to build a 100% accurate model of Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof in the 1930s? Go for it
- Want to put a space ship on top of the village church? Go for it!
- Want to pull a set of Donnerbüchsen with an E120? Go for it!
- Want to stage the destruction of London Waterloo station by Godzilla? Go for it!
- Want to scratch build your tracks and points? Go for it!
- Want to set-up an oval on your carpet and watch trains go in circle? Go for it!

It is all about having fun in the end....

I hear Great Model Railway Challenge will be back next year.

In a recent conversation with one of our club members, he mentioned regarding a model railroad competition which was held in the UK and broadcast on UK Channel 5. ‘The Great Model Railroad Challenge’ pits teams of 6 against each other in which the teams have 3 days to completely build a model railroad to a specific theme that is set for each episode. Winning teams progress to the final, where they meet the other winning teams. The show consists of 6 episodes, and since they are all on Youtube I thought I would share the links with you.

Episode 1



Episode 2



Episode 3



Episode 4



Episode 5



Episode 6 - Competition Final

Episodes 1 and 5 are still working on users.net....

Only playback on other sites such as users.net is disabled, you can still go to Youtube and play them there.

Right click on one of the videos above and select Copy Video URL. Paste that into a new browser window.

Kathy Millatt - highly respected modeller in the USA -