Gotta say, James May wouldn't be a bad host either. He's got his 1972 Flying Scotsman. A bit of a passion for trains and a model train set himself. I hope if this is done again or even in America that it's two teams and not over dramatized.
One thing I'd like to see in Series 2, if they're not able to show more of the modellers talking about how they are building their creations, is a drive to the website where extra material they couldn't fit in the main show could be hosted as short videos to further flesh out an episode. That way they can get as in-depth as they like as only those interested would go and seek them out, and they wouldn't lose the "mainstream appeal" of the main show. Battlebots (Robot Wars in America) is a show I can think of that does this, as fights that aren't aired on the main show get uploaded to RUclips instead so the fans don't miss out, but the casual viewer doesn't have to watch through a potentially dull battle during the main event. With a lot of people watching the GMRC On Demand anyway, having a healthy amount of additional material available online could surely only be a good thing.
I’ve not seen this program but it sounds like it’s a great idea poorly executed at times. It would be neat to see celebrity model train enthusiasts on there like Rod Stewart but probably cost prohibitive. I agree with what you are saying. This hobby needs a boost as younger generation is not getting involved as much anymore. Worse thing for a hobby is for people to tell others how to enjoy their hobby.
"A bad representation of the hobby becuase it's not geographically or historically grounded" Lol what? Have these people ever been to a model railway show? I see so many fictional layouts *everywhere* that historically accurate pieces seem to be the exception, not the rule. And I love seeing historically accurate pieces but they often do not make for great models, especially those that are limited by space. Every model railway exhibition has a half-dozen Thomas layouts, a dozen 'realistic' layouts based on fictional locations, and a half-dozen 'historically accurate' layouts. (And probably a giant Lego layout which is also fun to see - I also regularly see a 'fairy's enchanted forest' layout in my hometown which is constantly evolving and utterly beautiful, and mixing the fantasy into our hobby is always fun). The diversity of our hobby is our strength, some of us enjoy fictional locations and some of us enjoy accuracy, and most of us enjoy a blend of both ('Could-have-been' locations based on a particular railway but featuring a fictional location that matches the owners particular size restrictions and fascinations are particularly common). And I love every single one of these layouts, I've drawn designs that fill all of these. 'Could have been' railways give much more flexibility than 'the local abandoned freight line', yet both are super exciting to me.
Modeller here, I liked the GMRC, but it fell short sometimes. You pretty much covered it, the puns and the time constraints. I also wasn't a fan of the scratch build challenge, mostly because how insane some of the items were. It limited creativity instead of allowing it, which seems contrary to the point.
I don't know, sometimes limiting creativity (such as with a poem form for example) can make you think more outside of the box. With that said, if it was a show (I haven't seen the show but I think that was in this video as a clip?) I can see where you're coming from.
Needs to Come to America PDQ, with more "Biggest Little Railway," Two-Team Heats, James May & Rod Stewart, and Online Content and Interaction Sessions.
I certainly loved seeing the Hornby Flying scotsman be in BR blue and don’t forget the 8F with yellow smoke box and blue livery I sort of laugh med at it but when he explained that if steam was operating into the 1970s and 80s it made me wanna do something like it as well
As a model railroader I'm glad to see that the hobby I love is getting some more exposure. I don't know how to feel about the whole competition part though. Ohh and Chris, a lot of model railroads have some rules. For example, the one I'm a part of has a "No speeding/racing/driving too fast", "No American trains" that one is because we're based in Europe. We also don't allow models from a certain company called Mehano.
The rule about no non European locomotives seems a bit too vague. The s100s and s160s are American so by the rule it should be banned, but they saw most of their service in Europe. I feel like the rule ought to be changed to only vehicles that would logically be in Europe
Just got back from the ALLY Pally Model Engineer Exhibition where some superb modeling had been taking place. I admit to taking a photo of our Famous Photographer kneeling down in the corner of a Locomotive Shed in one inch to the foot scale! Chris you do come out superbly in this scale!! Friend and fellow 5 inch Jinty builder Tom says HI! David and Lily.
Although I have probably come across this a bit late in the day, I couldn’t agree more with your comments. I appreciate just how much thought and hard work went into this video and the many others you do. The speed of the cuts between hundreds of clips and images is miraculous. Keep up the good work.
I did enjoy the series, although I thought the overall style left much to be desired. Glad to hear you say that it's whatever you want it to be. When I was building my first layout, I quickly stopped frequenting model railway forums, mainly because of authenticity dictators telling me that the numbers on my Mk1 MR coaches didn't match that particular MR loco (just one example). I hope the second series airs here in Sweden.
There are a few changes I could see making the show work but it is my personal opinion. * One advert break per 30 minutes extend the route-making time shown on TV. * Have the "Challenge Build" as an off-screen challenge that the teams >have< to present at the construction phase, with the tutorial for the video as an extras video on the Channel 5 website. * Change the presenters to a presenter who we know has interests in model railways. * Guest "Third Judge" each week who helps with the voting (Rod Stewart as a Judge anyone?). * Limit it to 12 teams, BUT.... have a Second Chance Round, where the teams that came in Second Place get a chance to join the teams in the final. * Have the final episode be 1 Hour 30 Minutes or 2 Hours, annoyingly with the 2 or 3 advert breaks respectively. This way, each team gets equal showing, and you could have the Guest Judges return to possibly build their own route to show their enthusiasm for the hobby, just as a side-build that will be judged by the rest of the presenting team.
Looking back on this got me thinking. If a show like this is ever done stateside, I want Adam Savage as the host. He's not a railfan but the dude loves modelling. I think he'd be really enthusiastic about doing something like that.
It was a good show, model railways needs to be a broad church to cater for all. If it brings the hobby to new modellers then its a success at the end of the day. Agreed it could do with more screen time, maybe a "modellers' extra" show to follow up episodes with more detail.
I definitely agree that the criticism of some of the fictional elements in layouts is absurd, given how many model railroaders come at the hobby either come at it from a more whimsical direction (their is a lot of this in American O Gauge which I do), or make their own personal caveats on accuracy (accuracy is a sliding scale, everyone has their own opinions on how much inaccuracies they’ll put up with and even the most dedicated modelers occasionally allow the rule of cool to apply now and again). But I can also see where, as a show representative of the hobby, some might be a little annoyed with the “out there” themes like “fire and ice” that seem a bit vague and a bit goofy. I mean if I were the writer I’d set up themes that were challenging, broad, historical, and easy for viewers to grasp. Something like “industry” one week, “stations” the next ect ect. Then ones creativity isn’t necessarily stifled, but you have a clearer railway related theme to go off of. For stations, for example, do you go about trying to model a really big station? Prehaps a series of lineside halts? A quaint country station? Another thought for a format change: make a requirement everything being rtr, and in fact just give the team a box of new & used bits ala scrapheap challenge and say “go to it!”. It might also be interesting to have it be a competition between individuals building modules rather than a team initially, with the final team being made up of winners and made to build a full layout. Lots of conflict possibility with that. James May would have been a great host indeed.
Here's what I would do for an American version of this series: 1. Rod Stewart hosts, this is non-negotiable for anyone who reads _Model Railroader_ magazine like I do. 2. 4 teams of 6 Celebrities- Hollywood stars, TV stars, voice-actors, famous musicians, and sports stars (for example, a team of Gal Gadot, Adele, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Emily Deschanel, Grey DeLisle, and Jennifer Hale). 3. Each team has seven days to build a layout, and they have to start building by noon on Tuesday. 4. Each layout must be either HO scale or OO scale, must be between 100 square feat and 2,000 square feet in area (except for the season finale, in which there must be at least a mile of track), and may not have any curves tighter than a 24-inch radius or any grades steeper than 3 percent. 5. Each team is given one of four organizations that they will donate to: the Pennsylvania Railroad T1 Steam Locomotive Trust, the Stewartstown Railroad, the Bluebell Railway, and the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust. 6. Each layout is judged by a panel of five writers from _Model Railroader_ Magazine, each judge giving between 1 and 10 points. 7. The team with the most points for their layout wins that week's round, and wins $5,000 for each member, $40,000 for their organization of choice, and each member gets a free 10-year subscription to _Model Railroader_ Magazine. 8. The team that either accumulates the most points over the season wins $50,000 for each member, $400,000 to their organization of choice, and each member gets a free lifetime subscription to _Model Railroader_ Magazine. 9. There are 24 episodes, each of which has a specific theme that each team must build a layout to (and each team may be assigned one of four sub-themes): Episode 1- American railroads of 1830-1890 (Baltimore & Ohio, Union Pacific, Pennsylvania Railroad, and Santa Fe). Episode 2- Colonial Railways 1870-1920 (India, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East). Episode 3- British Railways 1921-1947 (LNER, LMS, Great Western, and Southern). Episode 4- European Railways 1925-1945 (Germany, France, Soviet Union, and Italy). Episode 5- 19th Century type railroad in a Medieval European Fantasy setting. Episode 6- A popular movie franchise ( _Jurassic Park_ , _The Godfather_ , the MCU, or Monsterverse). Episode 7- _Warhammer 40,000_ . Episode 8- A popular literary genre (Young Adult Dystopia, Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance, Alternate History, Cyberpunk). Episode 9- American Railroads of the Northeast, 1930-1960 (Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central, Baltimore & Ohio, and Erie). Episode 10- American Railroads of the Midwest, 1930-1960 (Milwaukee Road, Burlington Route, Rock Island, and Missouri Pacific). Episode 11- American Railroads of the Southeast, 1940-1970 (Southern, Chesapeake & Ohio, Norfolk & Western, and Louisville & Nashville). Episode 12- American Railroads of the West, 1940-1970 (Union Pacific, Santa Fe, Great Northern, and Southern Pacific). Episode 13- Each of the four teams is allowed to continue working on a layout from one of four previous episodes (Episode 3, Episode 6, Episode 9, Episode 12). Episode 14- A popular live-action American TV show. Episode 15- British Railways during the era of Nationalization (steam era, Dieselization, Beeching axe and 1970s, and high-speed era). Episode 16- European Railways 1970-present (Germany, France, Sweden, Italy). Episode 17- _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ or _The Legend of Korra_ . Episode 18- a Prehistoric layout based on a certain fossil formation (Permian-era Karoo formation of 255 million BC, Triassic-era Chinle Formation of 225 million BC, Cretaceous-era Kem Kem formation of 95 million BC, and Oligocene-era badlands of 25 million BC) Episode 19- Post-Apocalyptic/Horror theme. Episode 20- Build a layout based on _The Railway Series_ by Reverend Wilbert Awdry. Episode 21- Modern high-speed rail, 1960-present (Japan, France, Britain, US). Episode 22- Build a freelance model railway that is not based on any particular prototype. Episode 23- Science Fiction theme. Episode 24- Season Finale- build a layout with at least one mile of track.
Well said Chris. 2 youtubers I watch, Terrier55Stepney and S&DJR7F88 actually participated in the show, however, I thought I couldn't watch it. I found that BBC 5 has it online, (hopefully free) so I'll give it a chance. I remember when I was younger having a similar idea to The Great Model Railway Challenge, it does seem like a good idea. Edit: The Website unfortunately wouldn't let me watch it and I couldn't sign up for it either, I think because of my American address. That's my criticism, it can't be watched by international viewers, or at least not easily. If it was, I feel they'd get more viewers. As someone said below, it should be on Netflix, or RUclips.
It is on RUclips, sort of..... You can find it online without geoblocking without too much effort, the channel 5 website if you do work around the geoblocking (VPN tunnel to UK for example) it plays adds at the start for about 2 mins then even 10 or so at the worst times usually. And refreshing the page causes more ads!
@@NirateGoel That's insane. You'd think a free streaming service with a few ads at normal ad breaks would bring them an income, integrate it into the video if necessary to ensure ad block doesn't lose you money. (And thanks for the RUclips suggestion, I actually found it yesterday, sorry if this comes off unappreciative, I really do mean it, since you took the time to comment to help me out).
well said Chris ! agree totally. To me presenters were a little let down, but again it was all new to tv land. looking forward to the 2nd series when it comes.
I agree with you Chris, the show had its flaws (you pointed out my main ones) but was overall pretty good. Sounds like it was good for the hobby overall, apparently attendances at Model Railway shows like Warley at the NEC were up in the wake of the show.
I think I recognized someone from the Train Now Starring in the clips. The guy at 1:31. Not the guy with the black hair and not Chris. The guy with the partially bald hair and the goatee. Bloody hell I forgot his name.
My girlfriend enjoyed it. Enough said. It's brought I feel some much needed attention to the hobby that's brought it out of the dingy lofy & garage shadows.
Overhaul I did enjoy watching the The Great Model Railway Challenge and managed to see some of the layouts like City of Tiers at the recent Warley Model Railway Exhibition and they did look impressive, I felt that the beginning of the show was a bit rushed or cramming the start of it in but that understandable since it only on for an hour but after watching your 'Gauge The Issue' there are some bits that not noticing when watching that I thought, hang on I do agree, like when Tim Shaw explaining about a model bus and how it moves, I do agree that a modeller should of explained it. Honestly I did rally enjoyed this episode of Gauge the issue and it was my first video Gauge the Issue I watched.
Hello Chris when it comes to modelling i think there is only one golden rule It's your layout do whatever you want with it meaning you can have a fantasy fictional or historic layouts but with a form of creative licence and any highly strict modellers ( Rivet counters) do have their opinions but everyone to their own
i admit having the face of Car S.O.S on is good but the mentioned rock stars james may or even claire barratt from salvage squad/biggest little railway would of made a lovely host and seeing as model railway youtubers have appeared through the show maybe have a famous model youtuber as a guess judge/host to give the teams their scratch built challenge even mark found would of made an interesting presenter
Having recently marathoned the first heats of Season 2, I have to say that once you accept what the show is, I found it quite enjoyable. It has its issues here and there; the rushed editing, the utter lack of connection with the teams to the point of distinguishing them more by their layouts than their names, the sometimes cringy presenters (though I think they might've been toned down for S2... at least a little). Some of this is just inevitable by the medium of television; there's a lot to get through and only an hour's screen time to do it. If I did have one complaint though, and it is a big one, it's with the judging system they've used. Each team is judged on three criteria: Creativity, Build Quality, and Functionality. Okay, fair enough. But the problem is that each of these criteria are judged one a day throughout the challenge, which consistently led to biased scoring. The worst offender was the judging for Build Quality, which came on Day 2 when the layouts were often less than half finished AND was the same day as the Scratch Build Challenge when each team was a man down. The result was the judges making their final assessments when they layouts were not at their best and some teams suffering for it. Oh sure, they *say* in the narration that the scores may change with the final demonstration, but realistically that never once happened. So if your team is having a rough Day 2, too bad, that score is set in stone even if you pull off a miracle recovery in Day 3, which several teams did. Multiple times I felt like losing teams were robbed of their chance at advancement due to this unfair system. There were other problems as well, such as bias from the judges based on nothing more than personal preference; I absolutely disagree with the vlogger's assessment of the Loco Ladies' crochet forest in the Best of British heat; what's more British than crochet everything? And the editor seemed to have an unfair bias against teams of newbies even if he paid lip service to giving them credit for trying, his scores did not reflect that. But the scoring system is the big problem; if these scores are meant to change day by day, have them change day by day, don't say them once and then it's done. Otherwise, maybe judge creativity in concept on Day 1 and leave build quality and functionality to Day 3 when it call comes together, not Day 2 when everything is still a mess.
I really enjoyed the first few episodes (It was Channel 5, I wasn't expecting the Citizen Kane of railway documentary series') but maybe the fact that the theme became less relevant as the series went on was the reason I didn't care that much who won in the end. Sure, if I was allowed to do it, maybe I'd have a totally different opinion on it.
James richardson is one of the great football anchors of all time through channel four's coverage of serie a. I thought he did OK on this and much preferred him to the other bloke, or the judges (who seemed nice enough but not good at TV). I'd like a more historic and accurate focus to the challenges but you can't always get what you want and was happy enough to watch it.
As much as I love this channel it’s really brought to my attention just how awful other trainspotters can be as people. Things like that meme account in the last episode and the Hatred for this has really began to make me weary of actually meeting other enthusiasts because they might turn out to be one of these awful people and its people like that that are killing our hobby.
I have to say I agree with most of your observations. I was really looking forward to the show as advertised but I did feel the format squeezed too much into a single episode. Also, I feel they ought to let the teams have slightly longer as I only watched the first couple of episodes before I got bored of un-finished features.
The "21st Century Competition Reality Show" format doesn't work when trying to do a model railroading show in most cases. The competition that James May did was an exception because that was a once-in-a-lifetime outdoor endurance challenge. In order to be appealing for 21st Century television, a model railroading show should be done in the format that you'd see on show's like History Channel's Counting Cars where a customer comes in with an idea and a budget, and then the builders come together to build it and also show you how they make it, then bring the customer in to see the end result. That would be much more educational and less cut-throat.
I never really watched it. i love model railways, and trains, but... i was kinda turned off by trainspotting live (eurgh). i just assumed it'd be another attempt to make modelling look like another fast-paced action thing or thing for kids. i'll watch the second season if the reviews are good, but... i don't know if this is the sort of thing that should be televised.
The scrapbuild challenge was a waste of time personally albeit Drew (fawley flyers) made it look so easy! Some of the themes couldn't always be interpreted well such as fire and ice, maybe a lineside fire could have been thought out or a railway through an ice cavern, but the ice part doesn't really relate to railways a whole lot. The journey through time theme was pretty cool I have to admit as you could really relate it to the railways a whole lot more! :) Overall I liked the show, but it needs quite a lot of changes before season 2
Didn't get past the first episode because of the pacing and after asking you about it at Bo'Ness it seemed pointless to go on. But after watching this I might give it a second chance.
I think if they wanted to have someone funny from car sos they should’ve got fuzz as he was shown to be interested in trains and old buses so may be he could’ve brought his interest and expertise to the show
I enjoyed the show, against my expectations, where as I didn’t enjoy the BLR (sorry, just didn’t do it for me). With this show I did feel I’d like to have had more time on the people and on the actual modelling, but without the show being longer, it’s hard to see how you’d manage to cram more in. The other issue is who the target audience are; we already all know we like railways and models, and whilst the television companies want viewing figures, ours and newcomers, the companies supporting the show such as Bachmann are (my own conjecture admittedly) trying to reach out to new customers which need to come from outside the readership of popular magazines and exhibitions. And here’s the thing; my wife groans at the merest hint I’m going to mess with my models or watch another programme about steam, yet she was more excitable about this show and the results than I was. I went into work after the second episode and discovered a good number of non-railway people in the office were watching it. A railway modeller magazine turned up in a workshop canteen in amongst the usual Sun and Daily Fail dross. For that reason, I’m not so sure ditching someone like Tim, as cliched as his cheeky Car SOS caricature of the old radio presenter Tim can be, is a great idea, he may be making the show more accessible to non-rail people
I enjoyed it but I do thing they should have explored more of the side of exhibitions and how there enjoyed would have given the show more respect. (Respect used lightly)
I thought it was an ok program but hope if season 2 is coming along that someone takes a step back and looks at it's flaws and maybe listens to someone like you with a bit of experience. I thought the scratch build challenge was a waste of time and detracted from the layout build which surely was the focus - at least one team agreed with me as they didn't take part in the challenge. And while the presenters and judges may be qualified in their field there was a lack of personality in them which just dragged the presentation down. But I hope it runs again as it was a bit of gentle entertainment when there was nothing else on the box.
Why can't I find a decent larger scale plastic model kit of ANY British locos. I used to make pretty decent 1/32 aeroplanes etc, but packed it all away about a decade ago. Would love to build a well detailed British loco for static display in the same scale. The only offerings I can find are Trumpeter 1/35 Nazi locos. I would be thrilled to build up any of the tender engines featured in excellent Sole Slip (what does that mean?) vids (except for that fugly Bullied C1 thing). Not interested in displaying anything used for one-way passenger services. Any ideas?
I think that the show was a great idea, we want to explore more inclusivity on television and media, E-sports have been great at this, getting more people into hobbies with Video Games like street fighter, Smash Brothers, Overwatch and Apex. Events like that have been trying to make things "the masses" just see as stuff for children (Like video games or trains) into something a little more accepting. Because unfortunately there is still a stigma people that go "sports are physical things like football", when it's not, it's about building your craft, be that making model railways in a short amount of time or how well you can pull off a combo in street fighter. There will always be people that will try and tear it down because it's different from what they see as "normal". But as you say in this video it's about being creative, not everyone is the same, we all like different stuff, we don't live in the H.G.Well's 1984 universe.
Overall the program was OK but the worst part was the scratchbuild challenge. It was arse about face,, you don't just find something lying about and then think". How can I use that?" you have something you need to build and then find things that are suitable. In future they should ask teams to bring scratchbuuilding materials with them to build something that they actually need on their layout.
I actually pretty much hate the group that want historically accurate model layouts. They can produce some nice layouts but the group that are militant about it are the worst. My only grip other than channel 5s on demand service having so many ads, was that little time was spent with the modelers or showing the process. Things just happened between cuts for the most part. The puns were a bit annoying but I kind of just blocked them out. Having atleast one of the presenters an interest in railways or better yet model railways even with not too much would have made the show better and also a third judge that wasn't someone in the model railway world, and with just and interest. (I hadn't heard of either judge before the show).
I don't think it will be as successful in America. Europeans use trains a lot more in their daily lives than Americans/Canadians so it makes this kind of show more appealing for that audience since they experience trains on a daily basis.
Confusing with too many people! The one show I saw!! Says he who has met Cyril Freezer, Ian Rice, Roy England, Malcolm Mitchell, Gordon and Maggie Gravett and many more famous from Model Railways! Lets get to know who these people are and run over a week would encourage younger members! David and Lily.
I think a good GAUGE THE ISSUE episode would be an episode about making sure the right railways get the right motive power. You could call it "Iron horses for iron courses".
I like the show over all though it still needs to evolve. I thought "scratch build challenge" making stupid objects like ping pong balls, girls high heels shoes, bras, underpants. They gave a watering can and he turned it upside down in to an esso oil refinery / chemical plant, looked great just what I would do but then the presenter just started wingeing it looked like a watering can. It's an object and you have to make it work through "paradolia" to what it looks like in a confined space and scale. As for complaining about prebuilt objects and banning them and restricting time on builds and lack of tutorials or 3d printing and lack of different scales and gauges left it limited which the online world doesn't.
Cathy Millet (no idea on spelling) stood out for me, but not in a good way. I feel like they only brought her on for female representation and she happens to be involved in an adjacent hobby. She was overly critical of some of the efforts made by teams, almost like she was there to stir controversy at times.
There is indeed a 2nd series. This time, the episodes were within a 75-minute time slot, and compared to the 1st series (which was still fun to watch despite each episode only being within a 60-minute time slot), I could tell more was able to be fitted into the episode.
I don't know about the rest of you, I kinda like the idea. Maybe the techniques used by the teams are seen by entry-level modelers and it helps them take the next step or even find the elevators to the next level allowing them to save time and money. As for the hosts, oh lord I could tell they sucked the moment they started talking from this video, this is the same problem that Extreme Trains (a show on the History Channel ran into back in the 2000s) ran into. The host they had sucked as he tried to make everything seem big and exciting instead of letting the train do that, the cinematography was awkward (just count how many times they used a worm's eye view perspective with a tilted angle...per episode), and the history they told was... pathetically basic. I do hope they get their act together with season two because this show has a lot of potential and the model railroading community needs all the help we can get to bring in new people to the hobby. If it all works, the influx of new people may get manufacturers to finally realize that people in the US want more than just daylights and Santa Fe cab units, (give us more stuff from the southeast dangit, I can't afford brass).
I personally didnt like this show, even slightly. They wanted to show the teams building the layouts but jumped about so much in the edit that I lost track of who was who! Its another case of bad editing getting in the way of a good show. Why force it into one hour, why not make it two hours split up by a news break or something?
Ah yes, Great Model Railway Challenge.. Railway puns should be banned by law, Tim Shaw is great on Car SOS because a) cars are his passion and b) the restorations are for a good cause; but he isn't a railway presenter. James May would indeed have been better, as others have noted. I cannot criticise the teams, working wonders within the time constraints of a populist TV show, nor the expert judges, but GMRC reminds me when I want to watch something about railways, real or model, I stick to You Tube these days.
Gotta say, James May wouldn't be a bad host either. He's got his 1972 Flying Scotsman. A bit of a passion for trains and a model train set himself. I hope if this is done again or even in America that it's two teams and not over dramatized.
He even said that trains are better than the car
And on that bombshell...
I suspect he's really, really expensive!
@@Jimboliah3985 it's time to end goodnight
James May would be a good presenter.
One thing I'd like to see in Series 2, if they're not able to show more of the modellers talking about how they are building their creations, is a drive to the website where extra material they couldn't fit in the main show could be hosted as short videos to further flesh out an episode. That way they can get as in-depth as they like as only those interested would go and seek them out, and they wouldn't lose the "mainstream appeal" of the main show. Battlebots (Robot Wars in America) is a show I can think of that does this, as fights that aren't aired on the main show get uploaded to RUclips instead so the fans don't miss out, but the casual viewer doesn't have to watch through a potentially dull battle during the main event. With a lot of people watching the GMRC On Demand anyway, having a healthy amount of additional material available online could surely only be a good thing.
Extreme warriors: am I a joke to you
I’ve not seen this program but it sounds like it’s a great idea poorly executed at times. It would be neat to see celebrity model train enthusiasts on there like Rod Stewart but probably cost prohibitive.
I agree with what you are saying. This hobby needs a boost as younger generation is not getting involved as much anymore. Worse thing for a hobby is for people to tell others how to enjoy their hobby.
"A bad representation of the hobby becuase it's not geographically or historically grounded" Lol what? Have these people ever been to a model railway show? I see so many fictional layouts *everywhere* that historically accurate pieces seem to be the exception, not the rule. And I love seeing historically accurate pieces but they often do not make for great models, especially those that are limited by space.
Every model railway exhibition has a half-dozen Thomas layouts, a dozen 'realistic' layouts based on fictional locations, and a half-dozen 'historically accurate' layouts. (And probably a giant Lego layout which is also fun to see - I also regularly see a 'fairy's enchanted forest' layout in my hometown which is constantly evolving and utterly beautiful, and mixing the fantasy into our hobby is always fun). The diversity of our hobby is our strength, some of us enjoy fictional locations and some of us enjoy accuracy, and most of us enjoy a blend of both ('Could-have-been' locations based on a particular railway but featuring a fictional location that matches the owners particular size restrictions and fascinations are particularly common).
And I love every single one of these layouts, I've drawn designs that fill all of these. 'Could have been' railways give much more flexibility than 'the local abandoned freight line', yet both are super exciting to me.
As a railway modeller it might give them an aneurysm to find the word "Freelance"
@@prussia1557 - geographically or historically grounded - and watch absolutely nothing move for hours, just like in real life!
As a metalhead, I would've loved to see Bruce Dickinson present a show like this! Now he's a man who can present =D.
Amen! I didn't know Bruce was a model railroader. Just when I thought I couldn't love Iron Maiden any more ...
Modeller here, I liked the GMRC, but it fell short sometimes. You pretty much covered it, the puns and the time constraints. I also wasn't a fan of the scratch build challenge, mostly because how insane some of the items were. It limited creativity instead of allowing it, which seems contrary to the point.
I don't know, sometimes limiting creativity (such as with a poem form for example) can make you think more outside of the box. With that said, if it was a show (I haven't seen the show but I think that was in this video as a clip?) I can see where you're coming from.
Needs to Come to America PDQ, with more "Biggest Little Railway," Two-Team Heats, James May & Rod Stewart, and Online Content and Interaction Sessions.
Another fantastic editorial, Chris! Gotta love the "Bottom Live" inclusion as well!
I certainly loved seeing the Hornby Flying scotsman be in BR blue and don’t forget the 8F with yellow smoke box and blue livery I sort of laugh med at it but when he explained that if steam was operating into the 1970s and 80s it made me wanna do something like it as well
As a model railroader I'm glad to see that the hobby I love is getting some more exposure.
I don't know how to feel about the whole competition part though.
Ohh and Chris, a lot of model railroads have some rules. For example, the one I'm a part of has a "No speeding/racing/driving too fast", "No American trains" that one is because we're based in Europe. We also don't allow models from a certain company called Mehano.
The rule about no non European locomotives seems a bit too vague. The s100s and s160s are American so by the rule it should be banned, but they saw most of their service in Europe. I feel like the rule ought to be changed to only vehicles that would logically be in Europe
Mehano? Never heard of it.
@@heavytube7890 Its a Slovenian model railway company. Kinda niche like Marklin, but much lower quality. A bit like Lima or ConCor
Billy The Dog thanks!
7:48 good touch
I'm only 13, and I've been starting my own model railway, thanks to you for getting me into trains!
Just got back from the ALLY Pally Model Engineer Exhibition where some superb modeling had been taking place. I admit to taking a photo of our Famous Photographer kneeling down in the corner of a Locomotive Shed in one inch to the foot scale! Chris you do come out superbly in this scale!! Friend and fellow 5 inch Jinty builder Tom says HI!
David and Lily.
Although I have probably come across this a bit late in the day, I couldn’t agree more with your comments. I appreciate just how much thought and hard work went into this video and the many others you do. The speed of the cuts between hundreds of clips and images is miraculous. Keep up the good work.
I did enjoy the series, although I thought the overall style left much to be desired. Glad to hear you say that it's whatever you want it to be. When I was building my first layout, I quickly stopped frequenting model railway forums, mainly because of authenticity dictators telling me that the numbers on my Mk1 MR coaches didn't match that particular MR loco (just one example). I hope the second series airs here in Sweden.
There are a few changes I could see making the show work but it is my personal opinion.
* One advert break per 30 minutes extend the route-making time shown on TV.
* Have the "Challenge Build" as an off-screen challenge that the teams >have< to present at the construction phase, with the tutorial for the video as an extras video on the Channel 5 website.
* Change the presenters to a presenter who we know has interests in model railways.
* Guest "Third Judge" each week who helps with the voting (Rod Stewart as a Judge anyone?).
* Limit it to 12 teams, BUT.... have a Second Chance Round, where the teams that came in Second Place get a chance to join the teams in the final.
* Have the final episode be 1 Hour 30 Minutes or 2 Hours, annoyingly with the 2 or 3 advert breaks respectively. This way, each team gets equal showing, and you could have the Guest Judges return to possibly build their own route to show their enthusiasm for the hobby, just as a side-build that will be judged by the rest of the presenting team.
You have wached live tv right? Outside of Christmas and BBC Most if not all channels run adds 2/3 of the time, 10 mins prog then 5 mins add aprrox.
They need to have this on netflix
Looking back on this got me thinking. If a show like this is ever done stateside, I want Adam Savage as the host. He's not a railfan but the dude loves modelling. I think he'd be really enthusiastic about doing something like that.
It was a good show, model railways needs to be a broad church to cater for all. If it brings the hobby to new modellers then its a success at the end of the day.
Agreed it could do with more screen time, maybe a "modellers' extra" show to follow up episodes with more detail.
I definitely agree that the criticism of some of the fictional elements in layouts is absurd, given how many model railroaders come at the hobby either come at it from a more whimsical direction (their is a lot of this in American O Gauge which I do), or make their own personal caveats on accuracy (accuracy is a sliding scale, everyone has their own opinions on how much inaccuracies they’ll put up with and even the most dedicated modelers occasionally allow the rule of cool to apply now and again).
But I can also see where, as a show representative of the hobby, some might be a little annoyed with the “out there” themes like “fire and ice” that seem a bit vague and a bit goofy. I mean if I were the writer I’d set up themes that were challenging, broad, historical, and easy for viewers to grasp. Something like “industry” one week, “stations” the next ect ect. Then ones creativity isn’t necessarily stifled, but you have a clearer railway related theme to go off of. For stations, for example, do you go about trying to model a really big station? Prehaps a series of lineside halts? A quaint country station?
Another thought for a format change: make a requirement everything being rtr, and in fact just give the team a box of new & used bits ala scrapheap challenge and say “go to it!”. It might also be interesting to have it be a competition between individuals building modules rather than a team initially, with the final team being made up of winners and made to build a full layout. Lots of conflict possibility with that.
James May would have been a great host indeed.
Here's what I would do for an American version of this series:
1. Rod Stewart hosts, this is non-negotiable for anyone who reads _Model Railroader_ magazine like I do.
2. 4 teams of 6 Celebrities- Hollywood stars, TV stars, voice-actors, famous musicians, and sports stars (for example, a team of Gal Gadot, Adele, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Emily Deschanel, Grey DeLisle, and Jennifer Hale).
3. Each team has seven days to build a layout, and they have to start building by noon on Tuesday.
4. Each layout must be either HO scale or OO scale, must be between 100 square feat and 2,000 square feet in area (except for the season finale, in which there must be at least a mile of track), and may not have any curves tighter than a 24-inch radius or any grades steeper than 3 percent.
5. Each team is given one of four organizations that they will donate to: the Pennsylvania Railroad T1 Steam Locomotive Trust, the Stewartstown Railroad, the Bluebell Railway, and the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust.
6. Each layout is judged by a panel of five writers from _Model Railroader_ Magazine, each judge giving between 1 and 10 points.
7. The team with the most points for their layout wins that week's round, and wins $5,000 for each member, $40,000 for their organization of choice, and each member gets a free 10-year subscription to _Model Railroader_ Magazine.
8. The team that either accumulates the most points over the season wins $50,000 for each member, $400,000 to their organization of choice, and each member gets a free lifetime subscription to _Model Railroader_ Magazine.
9. There are 24 episodes, each of which has a specific theme that each team must build a layout to (and each team may be assigned one of four sub-themes):
Episode 1- American railroads of 1830-1890 (Baltimore & Ohio, Union Pacific, Pennsylvania Railroad, and Santa Fe).
Episode 2- Colonial Railways 1870-1920 (India, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East).
Episode 3- British Railways 1921-1947 (LNER, LMS, Great Western, and Southern).
Episode 4- European Railways 1925-1945 (Germany, France, Soviet Union, and Italy).
Episode 5- 19th Century type railroad in a Medieval European Fantasy setting.
Episode 6- A popular movie franchise ( _Jurassic Park_ , _The Godfather_ , the MCU, or Monsterverse).
Episode 7- _Warhammer 40,000_ .
Episode 8- A popular literary genre (Young Adult Dystopia, Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance, Alternate History, Cyberpunk).
Episode 9- American Railroads of the Northeast, 1930-1960 (Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central, Baltimore & Ohio, and Erie).
Episode 10- American Railroads of the Midwest, 1930-1960 (Milwaukee Road, Burlington Route, Rock Island, and Missouri Pacific).
Episode 11- American Railroads of the Southeast, 1940-1970 (Southern, Chesapeake & Ohio, Norfolk & Western, and Louisville & Nashville).
Episode 12- American Railroads of the West, 1940-1970 (Union Pacific, Santa Fe, Great Northern, and Southern Pacific).
Episode 13- Each of the four teams is allowed to continue working on a layout from one of four previous episodes (Episode 3, Episode 6, Episode 9, Episode 12).
Episode 14- A popular live-action American TV show.
Episode 15- British Railways during the era of Nationalization (steam era, Dieselization, Beeching axe and 1970s, and high-speed era).
Episode 16- European Railways 1970-present (Germany, France, Sweden, Italy).
Episode 17- _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ or _The Legend of Korra_ .
Episode 18- a Prehistoric layout based on a certain fossil formation (Permian-era Karoo formation of 255 million BC, Triassic-era Chinle Formation of 225 million BC, Cretaceous-era Kem Kem formation of 95 million BC, and Oligocene-era badlands of 25 million BC)
Episode 19- Post-Apocalyptic/Horror theme.
Episode 20- Build a layout based on _The Railway Series_ by Reverend Wilbert Awdry.
Episode 21- Modern high-speed rail, 1960-present (Japan, France, Britain, US).
Episode 22- Build a freelance model railway that is not based on any particular prototype.
Episode 23- Science Fiction theme.
Episode 24- Season Finale- build a layout with at least one mile of track.
Well said Chris. 2 youtubers I watch, Terrier55Stepney and S&DJR7F88 actually participated in the show, however, I thought I couldn't watch it. I found that BBC 5 has it online, (hopefully free) so I'll give it a chance. I remember when I was younger having a similar idea to The Great Model Railway Challenge, it does seem like a good idea. Edit: The Website unfortunately wouldn't let me watch it and I couldn't sign up for it either, I think because of my American address. That's my criticism, it can't be watched by international viewers, or at least not easily. If it was, I feel they'd get more viewers. As someone said below, it should be on Netflix, or RUclips.
It is on RUclips, sort of..... You can find it online without geoblocking without too much effort, the channel 5 website if you do work around the geoblocking (VPN tunnel to UK for example) it plays adds at the start for about 2 mins then even 10 or so at the worst times usually. And refreshing the page causes more ads!
@@NirateGoel That's insane. You'd think a free streaming service with a few ads at normal ad breaks would bring them an income, integrate it into the video if necessary to ensure ad block doesn't lose you money. (And thanks for the RUclips suggestion, I actually found it yesterday, sorry if this comes off unappreciative, I really do mean it, since you took the time to comment to help me out).
@@patrickwebb7311 they're on the show?
@@terryaltherr2481 Yep, S&DJR7F88 appears in Episode 2 I believe and Terrier55Stepney in Episode 4.
well said Chris ! agree totally. To me presenters were a little let down, but again it was all new to tv land. looking forward to the 2nd series when it comes.
I think I saw one of your mates in the show 8:01
We need a version in the states hosted by Tim Allen and Neil Young
I agree with you Chris, the show had its flaws (you pointed out my main ones) but was overall pretty good. Sounds like it was good for the hobby overall, apparently attendances at Model Railway shows like Warley at the NEC were up in the wake of the show.
I wonder if PBS will pick it up here the US.
I think I recognized someone from the Train Now Starring in the clips. The guy at 1:31. Not the guy with the black hair and not Chris. The guy with the partially bald hair and the goatee. Bloody hell I forgot his name.
That's Adam, I did a double take when I saw him
My girlfriend enjoyed it. Enough said. It's brought I feel some much needed attention to the hobby that's brought it out of the dingy lofy & garage shadows.
If I remember correctly, a few TTTE fans participated in the "Fire and Ice" episode under the team "The Railway Children."
Really?
Overhaul I did enjoy watching the The Great Model Railway Challenge and managed to see some of the layouts like City of Tiers at the recent Warley Model Railway Exhibition and they did look impressive, I felt that the beginning of the show was a bit rushed or cramming the start of it in but that understandable since it only on for an hour but after watching your 'Gauge The Issue' there are some bits that not noticing when watching that I thought, hang on I do agree, like when Tim Shaw explaining about a model bus and how it moves, I do agree that a modeller should of explained it.
Honestly I did rally enjoyed this episode of Gauge the issue and it was my first video Gauge the Issue I watched.
The railway modelling community is full of superiority complexes
Scrapheap Challenge did 5 Teams but over when Mupple espodes,that Eurovision is game Drinking model.
Hello Chris when it comes to modelling i think there is only one golden rule It's your layout do whatever you want with it meaning you can have a fantasy fictional or historic layouts but with a form of creative licence and any highly strict modellers ( Rivet counters) do have their opinions but everyone to their own
I only heard of it because terrier55stepney and his friends had a team.
i admit having the face of Car S.O.S on is good but the mentioned rock stars james may or even claire barratt from salvage squad/biggest little railway would of made a lovely host and seeing as model railway youtubers have appeared through the show maybe have a famous model youtuber as a guess judge/host to give the teams their scratch built challenge even mark found would of made an interesting presenter
0:37 I remember it being on channel Four, Damn Mandela effect!
I gotta contact my PBS station to see if we can do that in the states
I like that Bottom reference at 7:48
Hi Chris I was wondering if you were going to review CLASSIC STEAM TRAIN COLLECTION like GREEN ARROW GOES WEST?
I wondered where this was
Great video!
Having recently marathoned the first heats of Season 2, I have to say that once you accept what the show is, I found it quite enjoyable. It has its issues here and there; the rushed editing, the utter lack of connection with the teams to the point of distinguishing them more by their layouts than their names, the sometimes cringy presenters (though I think they might've been toned down for S2... at least a little). Some of this is just inevitable by the medium of television; there's a lot to get through and only an hour's screen time to do it.
If I did have one complaint though, and it is a big one, it's with the judging system they've used. Each team is judged on three criteria: Creativity, Build Quality, and Functionality. Okay, fair enough. But the problem is that each of these criteria are judged one a day throughout the challenge, which consistently led to biased scoring. The worst offender was the judging for Build Quality, which came on Day 2 when the layouts were often less than half finished AND was the same day as the Scratch Build Challenge when each team was a man down. The result was the judges making their final assessments when they layouts were not at their best and some teams suffering for it. Oh sure, they *say* in the narration that the scores may change with the final demonstration, but realistically that never once happened. So if your team is having a rough Day 2, too bad, that score is set in stone even if you pull off a miracle recovery in Day 3, which several teams did. Multiple times I felt like losing teams were robbed of their chance at advancement due to this unfair system. There were other problems as well, such as bias from the judges based on nothing more than personal preference; I absolutely disagree with the vlogger's assessment of the Loco Ladies' crochet forest in the Best of British heat; what's more British than crochet everything? And the editor seemed to have an unfair bias against teams of newbies even if he paid lip service to giving them credit for trying, his scores did not reflect that. But the scoring system is the big problem; if these scores are meant to change day by day, have them change day by day, don't say them once and then it's done. Otherwise, maybe judge creativity in concept on Day 1 and leave build quality and functionality to Day 3 when it call comes together, not Day 2 when everything is still a mess.
I loved that show it was so amazing
This was a great one Chris! Well done! 👍😊
I really enjoyed the first few episodes (It was Channel 5, I wasn't expecting the Citizen Kane of railway documentary series') but maybe the fact that the theme became less relevant as the series went on was the reason I didn't care that much who won in the end. Sure, if I was allowed to do it, maybe I'd have a totally different opinion on it.
James richardson is one of the great football anchors of all time through channel four's coverage of serie a. I thought he did OK on this and much preferred him to the other bloke, or the judges (who seemed nice enough but not good at TV). I'd like a more historic and accurate focus to the challenges but you can't always get what you want and was happy enough to watch it.
As much as I love this channel it’s really brought to my attention just how awful other trainspotters can be as people. Things like that meme account in the last episode and the Hatred for this has really began to make me weary of actually meeting other enthusiasts because they might turn out to be one of these awful people and its people like that that are killing our hobby.
I have to say I agree with most of your observations.
I was really looking forward to the show as advertised but I did feel the format squeezed too much into a single episode.
Also, I feel they ought to let the teams have slightly longer as I only watched the first couple of episodes before I got bored of un-finished features.
Good insights!
I enjoyed watching it.
The "21st Century Competition Reality Show" format doesn't work when trying to do a model railroading show in most cases. The competition that James May did was an exception because that was a once-in-a-lifetime outdoor endurance challenge. In order to be appealing for 21st Century television, a model railroading show should be done in the format that you'd see on show's like History Channel's Counting Cars where a customer comes in with an idea and a budget, and then the builders come together to build it and also show you how they make it, then bring the customer in to see the end result. That would be much more educational and less cut-throat.
I found the puns funny because they were so bad. Also, do you have a model railway and if so can you do a video of it please? :)
You had me at Bruce Dickinson great video as usual cheers Chris🍻🍺
I never really watched it. i love model railways, and trains, but... i was kinda turned off by trainspotting live (eurgh). i just assumed it'd be another attempt to make modelling look like another fast-paced action thing or thing for kids. i'll watch the second season if the reviews are good, but... i don't know if this is the sort of thing that should be televised.
They doing something very simular now on the dutch tv. But they have like 3 days time instead of 24 hours
The scrapbuild challenge was a waste of time personally albeit Drew (fawley flyers) made it look so easy!
Some of the themes couldn't always be interpreted well such as fire and ice, maybe a lineside fire could have been thought out or a railway through an ice cavern, but the ice part doesn't really relate to railways a whole lot. The journey through time theme was pretty cool I have to admit as you could really relate it to the railways a whole lot more! :)
Overall I liked the show, but it needs quite a lot of changes before season 2
Very good Chris , fair comments in all directions !
Didn't get past the first episode because of the pacing and after asking you about it at Bo'Ness it seemed pointless to go on. But after watching this I might give it a second chance.
I think if they wanted to have someone funny from car sos they should’ve got fuzz as he was shown to be interested in trains and old buses so may be he could’ve brought his interest and expertise to the show
I enjoyed the show, against my expectations, where as I didn’t enjoy the BLR (sorry, just didn’t do it for me). With this show I did feel I’d like to have had more time on the people and on the actual modelling, but without the show being longer, it’s hard to see how you’d manage to cram more in. The other issue is who the target audience are; we already all know we like railways and models, and whilst the television companies want viewing figures, ours and newcomers, the companies supporting the show such as Bachmann are (my own conjecture admittedly) trying to reach out to new customers which need to come from outside the readership of popular magazines and exhibitions. And here’s the thing; my wife groans at the merest hint I’m going to mess with my models or watch another programme about steam, yet she was more excitable about this show and the results than I was. I went into work after the second episode and discovered a good number of non-railway people in the office were watching it. A railway modeller magazine turned up in a workshop canteen in amongst the usual Sun and Daily Fail dross. For that reason, I’m not so sure ditching someone like Tim, as cliched as his cheeky Car SOS caricature of the old radio presenter Tim can be, is a great idea, he may be making the show more accessible to non-rail people
Is roger daltrey the lead sing from the who
I enjoyed it but I do thing they should have explored more of the side of exhibitions and how there enjoyed would have given the show more respect. (Respect used lightly)
Id happily have bruce be a presenter
Maybe wack in the iron crew
I agree with you. The main let down was the editing and silly presenters.
I thought it was an ok program but hope if season 2 is coming along that someone takes a step back and looks at it's flaws and maybe listens to someone like you with a bit of experience. I thought the scratch build challenge was a waste of time and detracted from the layout build which surely was the focus - at least one team agreed with me as they didn't take part in the challenge. And while the presenters and judges may be qualified in their field there was a lack of personality in them which just dragged the presentation down. But I hope it runs again as it was a bit of gentle entertainment when there was nothing else on the box.
Why can't I find a decent larger scale plastic model kit of ANY British locos. I used to make pretty decent 1/32 aeroplanes etc, but packed it all away about a decade ago. Would love to build a well detailed British loco for static display in the same scale. The only offerings I can find are Trumpeter 1/35 Nazi locos. I would be thrilled to build up any of the tender engines featured in excellent Sole Slip (what does that mean?) vids (except for that fugly Bullied C1 thing). Not interested in displaying anything used for one-way passenger services. Any ideas?
Love the commentary!
Fair assessment although I thought the presenting was alright
I think that the show was a great idea, we want to explore more inclusivity on television and media, E-sports have been great at this, getting more people into hobbies with Video Games like street fighter, Smash Brothers, Overwatch and Apex.
Events like that have been trying to make things "the masses" just see as stuff for children (Like video games or trains) into something a little more accepting. Because unfortunately there is still a stigma people that go "sports are physical things like football", when it's not, it's about building your craft, be that making model railways in a short amount of time or how well you can pull off a combo in street fighter.
There will always be people that will try and tear it down because it's different from what they see as "normal". But as you say in this video it's about being creative, not everyone is the same, we all like different stuff, we don't live in the H.G.Well's 1984 universe.
I liked The railway children team.
Edit: They accidentally left a tender engine in the mountain!
a different version of great British bake off but with model engines
Unusually, I can’t find anything to disagree with you about on that one
Interesting answer. Forgive me but I can't remember what we disagreed on before
Overall the program was OK but the worst part was the scratchbuild challenge. It was arse about face,, you don't just find something lying about and then think". How can I use that?" you have something you need to build and then find things that are suitable. In future they should ask teams to bring scratchbuuilding materials with them to build something that they actually need on their layout.
I actually pretty much hate the group that want historically accurate model layouts. They can produce some nice layouts but the group that are militant about it are the worst. My only grip other than channel 5s on demand service having so many ads, was that little time was spent with the modelers or showing the process. Things just happened between cuts for the most part. The puns were a bit annoying but I kind of just blocked them out. Having atleast one of the presenters an interest in railways or better yet model railways even with not too much would have made the show better and also a third judge that wasn't someone in the model railway world, and with just and interest. (I hadn't heard of either judge before the show).
I am hearing talk about bringing it to the USA
Wait, they are?
@@terryaltherr2481 I heard this from the Ken Patterson channel
I don't think it will be as successful in America. Europeans use trains a lot more in their daily lives than Americans/Canadians so it makes this kind of show more appealing for that audience since they experience trains on a daily basis.
Confusing with too many people! The one show I saw!!
Says he who has met Cyril Freezer, Ian Rice, Roy England, Malcolm Mitchell, Gordon and Maggie Gravett and many more famous from Model Railways!
Lets get to know who these people are and run over a week would encourage younger members!
David and Lily.
*i came here just for terrier55stepney*
Err wrong channel mate .
I think he is in here somewhere if you look hard
7:47 *Woah* 😂😂
I think a good GAUGE THE ISSUE episode would be an episode about making sure the right railways get the right motive power. You could call it "Iron horses for iron courses".
Chris Eden Green
The truth is - it was DIRE....!
I like the show over all though it still needs to evolve. I thought "scratch build challenge" making stupid objects like ping pong balls, girls high heels shoes, bras, underpants. They gave a watering can and he turned it upside down in to an esso oil refinery / chemical plant, looked great just what I would do but then the presenter just started wingeing it looked like a watering can.
It's an object and you have to make it work through "paradolia" to what it looks like in a confined space and scale. As for complaining about prebuilt objects and banning them and restricting time on builds and lack of tutorials or 3d printing and lack of different scales and gauges left it limited which the online world doesn't.
Cathy Millet (no idea on spelling) stood out for me, but not in a good way. I feel like they only brought her on for female representation and she happens to be involved in an adjacent hobby. She was overly critical of some of the efforts made by teams, almost like she was there to stir controversy at times.
Let’s just get James May on it, maybe through Clarkson on just for the jokes.
So is there a s2
There is indeed a 2nd series. This time, the episodes were within a 75-minute time slot, and compared to the 1st series (which was still fun to watch despite each episode only being within a 60-minute time slot), I could tell more was able to be fitted into the episode.
Tim is okay, despite the painful puns he does understand engineering, but pairing him with James May would have worked better.
Terrier55Stepney was there!!!!!!!
The teams get 3 days not 24 hours to build their layouts. Plus they get to work on their layouts before the show to get a head start.
That's 24 hours OVER three days
Competition is good it's healthy
I mean I only like it because because the club I’m In won lol
Well done
But max was in it.
I don't know about the rest of you, I kinda like the idea. Maybe the techniques used by the teams are seen by entry-level modelers and it helps them take the next step or even find the elevators to the next level allowing them to save time and money. As for the hosts, oh lord I could tell they sucked the moment they started talking from this video, this is the same problem that Extreme Trains (a show on the History Channel ran into back in the 2000s) ran into. The host they had sucked as he tried to make everything seem big and exciting instead of letting the train do that, the cinematography was awkward (just count how many times they used a worm's eye view perspective with a tilted angle...per episode), and the history they told was... pathetically basic. I do hope they get their act together with season two because this show has a lot of potential and the model railroading community needs all the help we can get to bring in new people to the hobby. If it all works, the influx of new people may get manufacturers to finally realize that people in the US want more than just daylights and Santa Fe cab units, (give us more stuff from the southeast dangit, I can't afford brass).
I actually liked extreme trains
Hi
I understand that every bake off spin off has to have a dynamic duo of presenters, but why do they all try so hard to be Mel and Sue?
I personally didnt like this show, even slightly. They wanted to show the teams building the layouts but jumped about so much in the edit that I lost track of who was who!
Its another case of bad editing getting in the way of a good show. Why force it into one hour, why not make it two hours split up by a news break or something?
It seems like a good idea for a show but it could really do without the puns that aren't even good enough for the Beano.
Jools Holland would be a great choice of host.
Ah yes, Great Model Railway Challenge.. Railway puns should be banned by law, Tim Shaw is great on Car SOS because a) cars are his passion and b) the restorations are for a good cause; but he isn't a railway presenter. James May would indeed have been better, as others have noted. I cannot criticise the teams, working wonders within the time constraints of a populist TV show, nor the expert judges, but GMRC reminds me when I want to watch something about railways, real or model, I stick to You Tube these days.
If you want to watch REAL model railways, look in at ruclips.net/user/JenniferEKirk - every Monday evening at 7pm UK time.
Bozy kalyn andio
The "stills" are annoying and distract from the video's quality. Just stop!