The Great Model Railway Challenge - an insult to one's intelligence

[Albert Hill]

If this programme helps provide a viable audience for the more interesting railway walks slot that follows it then that's fine by me.

[Atso]

Hi Mick,

I did say our hobby's target audience (we do need to get new people in), I couldn't say who Channel Five at trying to target. However if what I have been told is any indication, it would appear that many children are able to view the programme just fine.

[exile]

I think the function is called "record". Plus of course it is on Friday so no school tomorrow.

5pm would be no good. The parents would still be at or on the way back from work. While it may be important to capture the imagination of a 4 - 10 year old, without simultaneously capturing the purse strings you are going to fail.

[Graeme Leary]

Manna, it sounds as if you and I are lucky being exiled to the southern part of the Pacific Ocean. On the basis of most of the postings on this subject I must ensure my British contact, who goes to a lot of trouble recording (pirating??) UK TV shows and sending the DVDs to me, not to bother in this case.
Graeme (NZ)

[manna]

G'day Gents.

I don't know, we might be able to pick up a few hints, and if it gets Kids involved, it can't be a bad thing..........unless it all GWR.

manna

[markeg]

Only watched episode 1 on YouTube.
It is what it is.

Mark

[DonnyRailMan]

It reminds me of Blue Peter(get down Shep) crossed with Ground Force/ Generation Game (din't they do well )

[60526]

If anything it has made me want to go to McAlpine's Fawley Hill museum, it looks interesting. Something that might be coming out of the program is that it is highlighting the hobby. My club Newhaven & District MRC had their exhibition a couple of weeks ago and the number through the door increased by a fair number, locally we had actually reduced the amount of advertising, so something is going on?

[DonnyRailMan]

If it is to come back next year I think they should hange format it a little bit.
Do away with the Blue Peter bit and drop the two who front the show and just
have someone doing a voice over. .

[Norman Coyne]

Well as a "new" modeller & an LNER aficionado I came to this forum to pick up tips to get started & this thread caught my eye. After reading the comments I went to youtube to see what had ruffled all your feathers & what I came away with is quite honestly guys you are a pretentious bunch with a touch of sour grapes because you weren't asked to compete. I am expecting to be castigated for saying this but I have to say that The Great Model Railway Challenge is not an insult to my or anyone's intelligence who is interested in starting up in model railway construction, it was amusing & showed what can be done. So I will carry on watching & coming back to this forum to acquire & hone any skills I need but please guys I think you need to get over yourselves.

[Autocar Publicity]

Could I suggest gently that any forum with a modelling thread 'The glories of OO/HO' (viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13016) is unlikely to be a bunch of prentious prats. I've met some (too many) in my time and in all honesty, have to say that in my experience, this is one of the least pretentious forums on the Internet. Yes, we are serious about the LNER/modelling but all the members I've interacted with, whether online, PM or the old fashioned way, face to face, have been courteous, friendly, well-informed and often very skilled. I've learnt far more from them than I did from this programme.

As someone who has been involved in modelling for more years that I care to remember, I tried to view the programme with as much as an open mind as I could. My personal opinion was that it's interesting entertainment but like most TV - that's all folks... Yes, it's great modelling is being taken seriously and the viewing figures are good. But it's about as close to the reality of most people's modelling as most TV shows represent any area of human activity. So long as you accept that, you're unlikely to be disappointed.

When you know a little more than most, it's easy to see the weak spots in something aimed at an audience which knows less. We might want something more highbrow and/or informative, but that doesn't sell tickets/make money. And any criticism here would have been replicated tenfold on RMWeb if it hadn't have been for their censorship. As the old saying goes, killing the bearer of bad news might give you better news, but it won't be accurate. Perhaps it's better to take the view that this might attract 'new blood' to the hobby, who can find the truth behind any artistic/idealised representation on the silver screen for themselves?

[Norman Coyne]

Just to keep the record straight I have to say the word prats was yours not mine. I have gleaned a lot of knowledge from this forum in one way & another but the views expressed over the TV show came across IMHO as pretentious.

[52D sub shed]

I would struggle to express myself more eloquently than Autocar has and I fully support his views and the arguments he puts forward.
All I would add is that the most vocal supporters of this Light Entertainment show are those who have the most to gain financially by attracting more new modellers in terms of magazine sales, it is not being broadcast as a philanthropic exercise to promote the hobby.

Modelling magazines expend gallons of newsprint uncritically endorsing the programme on page after page of frothing enthusiasm.
Elsewhere a Web based forum censor has deleted dozens of posts expressing anything negative as soon as they appear.

BTW the definition of the word pretentious is "attempting to impress by affecting greater importance or merit than is actually possessed" surely an adjective which can clearly be applied to the Model Railway Challenge.



Geoff

[60526]

There is certainly no sour grapes on my behalf, I was club secretary when the TV company sent out the invite and we declined because we did not consider that we had enough qualified if that is the right word modelers to compete. Its possible that other clubs thought the same, I see that there is more than one group that is made up of people who hardly if ever met up before, some were not even railway modelers. I would assume that it has promoted magazine sales but I also think that it has promoted the hobby, just read my earlier posting. It is going to be exhibited at Warley I see, I wonder if they will see an increase in numbers due to this. I'm giving it a miss this year but going to P'boro and then will look forward to Stevenage in the new year, there is some decent LNER layout going I understand.

[Atso]

All I would add is that the most vocal supporters of this Light Entertainment show are those who have the most to gain financially by attracting more new modellers in terms of magazine sales, it is not being broadcast as a philanthropic exercise to promote the hobby.

I find the above statement very interesting as anyone operating a business is surely interested in financial gain. If they are not then why is the business operating? To expect such businesses (whether it be television, the press, manufacturers or retailers) to operate for charity is, frankly, an unreasonable expectation and surely by actively seeking to maximise their market base, they can continue to offer models to us for the foreseeable future. Considering that there are often discussions (not necessarily on this forum) revolving around the state of the hobby, how to attract new interest and supporting struggling model shops, I am surprised at the level of apparent hostility and criticism this television programme has generated.

Interestingly, this month's edition of Railway Modeller has an article on the programme. A fair proportion of this is dedicated to comments made about the show and I have to say, these represent a good range of viewpoints. From memory (my copy is at my girlfriend's) the article made some interesting points:

- The best ever circulation figures of Railway Modeller were c. 100k (this was many years ago).
- The average weekly viewing figures for 'The Great Model Railway Challenge' was 1.3M viewers.
- This is well over ten times the number of viewers per week than Railway Modeller was achieving per month at its peak.

I found out this morning that Lidl have started to sell an (apparently) exclusive Hornby train set which, while probably of no appeal to a seasoned modeller, is the first time I can remember seeing a Hornby set in a main stream shop for many years. It is an interesting coincidence that Lidl's executives have decided to sell such a set so close to the airing of Channel Five's programme. If this proves to be a successful item it could be of a longer term benefit to Hornby, who have had some well publicised financial issues over the last few years.

No, the programme is not aimed at experienced modellers but it appears to have been successful enough that Channel Five will be making a second season. Given that nearly every television station is interested in programmes that will generate the maximum viewing figures and therefore generate maximum revenue during the commercial breaks, this can only be seen as a positive side effect for the hobby overall.

As far as I can see there are many potential benefits from this show and no negatives. It will hopefully encourage (otherwise uninterested?) people to have a go at railway modelling which in turn will support our manufacturers, press and retailers. In time some of those attracted to the hobby may seek to further their knowledge of the railways and modelling skills and this could only be a benefit to smaller traders/suppliers and clubs and thus secure the future of the hobby for a future generation of modellers.

As far as I am aware, the fact that the show has aired has not caused any established modellers to leave the hobby, nor has it negatively impacted on our ability to purchase models, kits, equipment or other supplies.

Given that the show has opened up railway modelling to a much wider audience than our traditional modelling press, I cannot see how this can be considered to be anything other than a success for the hobby. Should manufacturers and the rest of the trade now be able to capitalise on this interest then it can only be to the benefit a wide range of modellers in the future.

Yes, many of those here are experienced modellers with an interest in prototypical modelling and/or enjoying the challenge of building things for oneself - however, I would suggest that we form the minority, not the majority of the existing market. However, if we look back far enough, there was something that ignited that initial spark of interest in the hobby and set each of us off on our personal journeys of learning and discovery to led to where we are today.