The Great Model Railway Challenge - Channel 5

[Noel]

The Great Model Railway Challenge on Ch5 or YouTube. New TV series covering layout building competition between 15 teams. Very entertaining and great publicity for the hobby. Episodes 1-3 now available on YouTube. The rest should be also on YouTube after its aired on Ch5.

 

Edited October 29, 2018 by Noel

[Tarabuses]

I have been disappointed by it to be honest.  Very little modelling has been shown, unless you want to incorporate silly items on your layout.  The cameras seem to prefer to focus on derailments rather than the detail of models.

[Patrick Davey]

Same - started off encouragingly but hasn't lived up to expectations.  Am holding off to see 'The Mother of all Layouts' to be built by the winners.......

[Noel]

8 minutes ago, Patrick Davey said:

Same - started off encouragingly but hasn't lived up to expectations.  Am holding off to see 'The Mother of all Layouts' to be built by the winners.......

Having watched episodes 2 and 3 I tend to agree. First episode was the best. Mind you one of the team leaders seemed rather arrogant, not to mention bending the rules!  Still fun to watch. At least the hobby is getting good exposure on a prime channel TV.

PS: The baseboards they are all using look very familiar and I just wonder if they came from somewhere near this part of the world  

Edited October 31, 2018 by Noel

[Garfield]

24 minutes ago, Noel said:

The baseboards they are all using look very familiar and I just wonder if they came from somewhere near this part of the world  

They are indeed the work of @Dave of this parish.

[Noel]

Just now, Garfield said:

They are indeed the work of @Dave of this parish.

That's a great 'coup'. Well done Dave.  I wasn't sure if they were his baseboards, or somebody had copied his innovative design. 

[Tarabuses]

On 10/29/2018 at 7:36 PM, Tarabuses said:

I have been disappointed by it to be honest.  Very little modelling has been shown, unless you want to incorporate silly items on your layout.  The cameras seem to prefer to focus on derailments rather than the detail of models.

Having seen episode 4 I might have to eat some of my words.  I think all three challengers were better than the previous heat winners.  A pity they had to meet each other at this stage.  The only mishap was a wayward lorry but there were plenty of trains running and some good scenic work on show. 

[StevieB]

 It is beginning to improve modellingwise. The winners of challenge no 4, the Fawley Fliers, raised the bar more than a bit.

Stephen

[jhb171achill]

I have to say that I found it very disappointing too, and not even good tv for the non-modeller.

Other members of my household thought it was “a load of rubbish” (a bit harsh!!) or “boring”. 

I think I’d go with the latter.

The dog snored during it. This gave it a bit of a lift!

[Broithe]

I haven't watched it, but my general rule is that a TV programme about something that you have some knowledge of is almost always disappointing. The 'team' seem to feel it necessary to introduce 'tension', by having unnecessary time constraints and by placing a few awkward people intentionally to wind up the competent ones, etc.

[irishthump]

To be honest I found it quite entertaining even if the whole concept is a little peculiar. To me, trying to achieve a layout with the time constraints involved is never going to work that well, and the "challenge" to incorporate the household junk into the layout just seems silly.

I have to admit the first episode made me laugh when that team who brought WAY too many scratchbuilt structures ended up losing! 

[Colin R]

After the airing of episode 1 I was told by my man at Peco that almost every copy of railway modeller and continental model that was still on the shelves (in the UK) had gone by the following morning the knock on effect is that the next issues of both magazines has been doubled in production.

Also it must have been good TV as they have commissioned a second series surly we have enough people on here that would be willing to form a team from the Green island that would like to compete? ( PS I am ruling my self out of this as I am not from Ireland).

[Broithe]

5 minutes ago, Colin R said:

Also it must have been good TV as they have commissioned a second series surly we have enough people on here that would be willing to form a team from the Green island that would like to compete? ( PS I am ruling my self out of this as I am not from Ireland).

Teams in these things tend to require a selection of "types", in order to promote 'human interest' from the audience.

 

The Quiet, Nerdy One.

The Capable, Practical One.

The One Who Gets Obsessed With Irrelevant Details.

The Bossy One That Gets Everybody's Back Up.

The One That Does Things Wrong.

Etc..

 

I'm naming no names, obviously...  

[Noel]

Not surprised mag sales went up after the TV show. It’s great fresh exposure for the hobby irrespective of the correctness of it. Out of tiny acorns do might trees grow. A kid watching the show getting their first train set may be the first step on a life long journey.

Personally I found Episode 5 more interesting than 2 & 3. Quality of track laying was good this week. I was astonished how bad some track laying was in previous episode by guys who were brilliant at scenery but totally blind to kinks in track joints and curves not blending into points properly. The track is the most important aspect of any layout. 

[Colin R]

You are so right I don't fit in to any of them, but it is very good observation from you, I was thinking in terms of showing there is more to modelling just the UK railway scene. I know they have had some narrow  gauge models in one show and there has been a half hearted effort to show some mainland European railways, But an Irish based layout with all the folk law that has to be a winner

[DiveController]

Anyone know of nay way to view it in the US?  The video above was deleted

[Noel]

1 hour ago, DiveController said:

Anyone know of nay way to view it in the US?  The video above was deleted

They keep getting taken down and put back up on YouTube. Back at the moment (link below). Alternatively use a UK VPN and watch directly on MY5. All 5 episodes are there. Great for watching UK TV players such as BBC, MY4, MY5, or Netflix USA.

Looking forward to the final

[brassnut]

3 hours ago, Noel said:

They keep getting taken down and put back up on YouTube. Back at the moment (link below). Alternatively use a UK VPN and watch directly on MY5. All 5 episodes are there. Great for watching UK TV players such as BBC, MY4, MY5, or Netflix USA.

Looking forward to the final

The final railway challenge tonight might be exciting lol

[Tarabuses]

Well, it was hard enough to follow three layouts being constructed each episode but now there will be five.

Edited November 9, 2018 by Tarabuses

[Noel]

Entertaining grand finale. I really enjoyed that series.  It was fun and entertaining despite the naff bits they naturally had to add for TV audiences rather than hobby purists. Well done the winners Aberdeen.

The final five all brought something worthy to Dave's baseboards. Well done Dave getting that job, one couldn't help notice the hidden engineering under the baseboards. Must have been painful watching the legs been sawn off by the winners. :) The Aberdeen winners visual theme would not have been my personal cup of tea, but wow it was absolutely stunningly creative and a visual feast worthy of the 'Wizard of Oz' set. I loved it. Deserved winners for creativity and execution. Very much liked the home teams results, must have been a close call.

[David Holman]

Sorry, thought the final programme was appalling. Those that went before were ok, if cringeworthy at times, but fitting five layouts into an hour was an abject failure. The focus was almost completely on the people, rather than their work, so I have no idea if the winning layout was actually the best one, as it was impossible to know from what little we saw of them.

 Shame, as it could have been so much better. If the producers took a leaf out of the BBC's delightful Repair Shop, they might be able to learn how to portray actual modelling, instead of a railway edition of Bake Off.

[Noel]

1 hour ago, David Holman said:

Sorry, thought the final programme was appalling. Those that went before were ok, if cringeworthy at times, but fitting five layouts into an hour was an abject failure. The focus was almost completely on the people, rather than their work, so I have no idea if the winning layout was actually the best one, as it was impossible to know from what little we saw of them.

 Shame, as it could have been so much better. If the producers took a leaf out of the BBC's delightful Repair Shop, they might be able to learn how to portray actual modelling, instead of a railway edition of Bake Off.

I hear you David, imperfect indeed, but it was massive exposure for the hobby on mainstream media targeted primarily at the mass audience rather than hobbyists. I thought the local teams work was stunning especially in the heats. 

[Colin R]

I would agree that while it is great to have a TV programmes about model railways, I think it lost the plot and only reinforced the vision of so many people who just don't get model railways, at work they used to say that I should not forget to watch my Thomas the tank engine programme, for me the highlight was always the scratch built challenge, it was a pity that some teams refused to take part in that part of the show.

While they covered quiet a bit of ground in some of the basic areas, I don't thing it went deep enough to help anyone who was getting in to model railways for the first time or what is more than likely would be a return to it after having had the family and finding themselves with a lot more me time .

I guess the old adage will apply here, that being -  you can't please all the people all the time.

Yes there have been much better TV programmes about modelling in general and I would think that there is a market for that as well on TV.

Colin

[Mayner]

11 hours ago, David Holman said:

Sorry, thought the final programme was appalling. Those that went before were ok, if cringeworthy at times, but fitting five layouts into an hour was an abject failure. The focus was almost completely on the people, rather than their work, so I have no idea if the winning layout was actually the best one, as it was impossible to know from what little we saw of them.

 

Reality TV is all about personalities (the more extreme the better) and impossible timeframe/challenge to spice things up. 

I always loved the garden make over programme where they sealed a freshly plastered garden wall with polybond and immediately painted it, the paint was almost guaranteed to fall off in a couple of days.

Combination of the X Factor and Hell's Kitchen would do wonders for the image of the Hobby.

All that's needed is celebrity modelers as judges & team mentors, Neil Young, Pete Waterman & Rod Stewart would fit the bill though not sure if they meet the extreme personality test.

Wonder do Simon Cowell & Gordon Ramsey play trains?

Edited November 14, 2018 by Mayner

[jhb171achill]

Likewise, I don’t see it as much of interest.

[David Holman]

Add in Vic Reeves, Jools Holland, plus the inevitable B and C list nobodies and the natural successor will be Celebrity Model Railway Challenge! Soooooo not going to happen, one very much hopes.

[snapper]

The Tv show model town was in the what to watch next section on you tube for me,  A lot more for the more traditional modeller and probably a better representation of the hobby (although it's your model do what ever you want). 3 videos covering 15 episodes, about 6 hours of video. I also remember another show on discovery about building a model railway in the garden but I cant remember the name of it.

 

 

Edited November 20, 2018 by snapper

[Warbonnet]

Pretty sure it was just called 'The Garden Railway' Snapper.

[Broithe]

4 hours ago, snapper said:

 I also remember another show on discovery about building a model railway in the garden but I cant remember the name of it.

4 minutes ago, Warbonnet said:

Pretty sure it was just called 'The Garden Railway' Snapper.