Channel 4 model railway challenge

[Hroth]

Well, I'll stick the recorder on, but its competing with Vera.....

[Theo C. Cupier]

" And funnier yet the RT blurb tells us the participants are 'tetchy'. The lead presenter billed as the one known as 'Stuck Drawbridge' in our family. Something of a Marmite choice there; I am sure he is a pleasant chap in reality, but in excitable TV presenting mode a little too much after the first ten minutes. However, I have my own modest little layout to play with so that's alright."

 

Having had dealings with Major Dick way back when I was still earning a crust and he was still wearing a green suit, I think " abrasive " is one of the milder of the descriptions applied to the character.

[Hroth]

" And funnier yet the RT blurb tells us the participants are 'tetchy'. The lead presenter billed as the one known as 'Stuck Drawbridge' in our family. Something of a Marmite choice there; I am sure he is a pleasant chap in reality, but in excitable TV presenting mode a little too much after the first ten minutes. However, I have my own modest little layout to play with so that's alright."

 

Having had dealings with Major Dick way back when I was still earning a crust and he was still wearing a green suit, I think " abrasive " is one of the milder of the descriptions applied to the character.

I think he gets a bit irritable when there's not enough krill in the environment...

[Christopher125]

Interview with Dick Strawbridge: http://www.bradfordzone.co.uk/the-biggest-little-railway-in-the-world-interview-with-dick-strawbridge/

[PatB]

I'm interested to note that, according to his Wikipedia page, Dick Strawbridge was commissioned in the Royal Signals in the same year my late father left and joined the General Staff. It's always made me wonder if their military paths ever crossed. Sadly Dad passed on before Mr Strawbridge's rise to televisual prominence and so I'm unable to ask.

[Pacific231G]

OK, if it includes a good dose of meeting a real engineering challenge even though the actual  challenge is fairly meaningless then it may be worthwhile and worth watching.  Looking at the actual engineering involved was what IMHO was missing from the James May toy stories and it was what made The Great Egg Race of distant memory a worthwhile programme that was AFAIR made by the BBC's Science Department.

Probably more model engineering than railway modelling but I doubt if that's important in this context.

[Colin_McLeod]

I'm interested to note that, according to his Wikipedia page, Dick Strawbridge was commissioned in the Royal Signals in the same year my late father left and joined the General Staff. It's always made me wonder if their military paths ever crossed. Sadly Dad passed on before Mr Strawbridge's rise to televisual prominence and so I'm unable to ask.

My condolences, but you could still ask Mr Strewbridge.

[Jenny Emily]

And funnier yet the RT blurb tells us the participants are 'tetchy'. The lead presenter billed as the one known as 'Stuck Drawbridge' in our family. Something of a Marmite choice there; I am sure he is a pleasant chap in reality, but in excitable TV presenting mode a little too much after the first ten minutes. However, I have my own modest little layout to play with so that's alright.

I couldn't find that description on the website. Is that in the paper magazine version?

 

Dick Strawbridge is a lovely chap; can't speak more highly of him from personal experience. A great bloke, always full of so much energy and passion for the projects he is involved in.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Yes, in the blurb in the 'choices' section (RT's sympathetic guidance for the indecisive). It's listed as a documentary too. Are we getting the full analysis of the technical problems that had to be solved? Now that would be interesting.

[Steamport Southport]

OK, if it includes a good dose of meeting a real engineering challenge even though the actual  challenge is fairly meaningless then it may be worthwhile and worth watching.  Looking at the actual engineering involved was what IMHO was missing from the James May toy stories and it was what made The Great Egg Race of distant memory a worthwhile programme that was AFAIR made by the BBC's Science Department.

Probably more model engineering than railway modelling but I doubt if that's important in this context.

 

Slight difference was that James May was trying to concentrate more on the fact they were actually toys rather than models or engineering parts (Meccano).

 

Like many of us wondered what they could build if they had millions of LEGO bricks, whether a train could run a proper distance rather than round in circles on the bedroom floor or whether the Action Man parachute would work if you chucked it out of a plane. It was more him trying to live out his childhood dreams than anything serious.

 

 

 

Jason

[Pacific231G]

Yes, in the blurb in the 'choices' section (RT's sympathetic guidance for the indecisive). It's listed as a documentary too. Are we getting the full analysis of the technical problems that had to be solved? Now that would be interesting.

It's a factual programme but I wouldn't describe it as a documentary. The definition is anything but clear cut but I've always understood a documentary to be a programme that describes or interprets a real world event or situation not one specially set up for the programme unless it's a recreation or dramatisatino of real events. By that definition the recent series "Paddington" is a documentary, but "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here" is not even though the things we see have actually happened. 

 

Having referenced it in post #231, I've just discovered to my great delight that twelve of the Great Egg Race programmes are still available  to watch from BBC Archive- 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/great_egg_race/

Sad that Prof. Heinz Wolff is no longer with us but at least some of the programmes he preserted are still.

The steam engine episide - a recorded outside broadcast from the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester -  included Fred Dibnah as a guest judge.

[Pacific231G]

Slight difference was that James May was trying to concentrate more on the fact they were actually toys rather than models or engineering parts (Meccano).

 

Like many of us wondered what they could build if they had millions of LEGO bricks, whether a train could run a proper distance rather than round in circles on the bedroom floor or whether the Action Man parachute would work if you chucked it out of a plane. It was more him trying to live out his childhood dreams than anything serious.

 

 

 

Jason

That's true and I did enjoy them on that basis just as I did his Toy Story films. Though I never had Lego or Scalextric as a child, I did have a train set and Meccano  and of course built Airfix kits so seeing them all taken to the Nth degree was great fun. I would though have liked a wee bit more about the technical challenges.

 

When this new series was first mooted I was rather afraid that it would just be a rehash of James May's two long distance model railway programmes but I'm a bit more hopeful now. .  

[PatB]

My condolences, but you could still ask Mr Strewbridge.

 

Well, I could, I suppose, but something which it might be reasonable to ask a close family member in a spirit of curiosity starts to verge on the side of a bit weird when directed toward a total stranger .

[PatB]

It's a factual programme but I wouldn't describe it as a documentary. The definition is anything but clear cut but I've always understood a documentary to be a programme that describes or interprets a real world event or situation not one specially set up for the programme unless it's a recreation or dramatisatino of real events. By that definition the recent series "Paddington" is a documentary, but "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here" is not even though the things we see have actually happened. 

 

Having referenced it in post #231, I've just discovered to my great delight that twelve of the Great Egg Race programmes are still available  to watch from BBC Archive- 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/great_egg_race/

Sad that Prof. Heinz Wolff is no longer with us but at least some of the programmes he preserted are still.

The steam engine episide - a recorded outside broadcast from the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester -  included Fred Dibnah as a guest judge.

 

Was that the episode where the Stornoway Crofters Association beat the professional engineers by thinking outside the box and building a peristaltic engine?

[F-UnitMad]

Slight difference was that James May was trying to concentrate more on the fact they were actually toys rather than models or engineering parts (Meccano).

 

Like many of us wondered what they could build if they had millions of LEGO bricks, whether a train could run a proper distance rather than round in circles on the bedroom floor or whether the Action Man parachute would work if you chucked it out of a plane. It was more him trying to live out his childhood dreams than anything serious.

 

 

 

Jason

I can confirm from experience that the Action Man parachute worked from off the top of a block of high-rise flats

It was finding him afterwards that was sometimes a bit fraught...

[Rumblestripe]

Looks good, I've watched a few programmes featuring the estimable Mr. Strawbridge and found them interesting and entertaining.

 

The female presenter in the foreground of the publicity shot looked familiar and, after a bit of digging, I found it was a lady called Claire Barratt who was in a previous C4 series you may recall called "Salvage Squad" where the team would restore various old mechanical contrivances such as a Centurion Tank, a Snowtrak and a Tram! She is described in IMDB as an "Industrial archeologist and steam/civil engineer".

 

This should be good.

[Pacific231G]

Was that the episode where the Stornoway Crofters Association beat the professional engineers by thinking outside the box and building a peristaltic engine?

Yes. I've found it but haven't had time to watch it yet.

[Hroth]

Looks good, I've watched a few programmes featuring the estimable Mr. Strawbridge and found them interesting and entertaining.

 

The female presenter in the foreground of the publicity shot looked familiar and, after a bit of digging, I found it was a lady called Claire Barratt who was in a previous C4 series you may recall called "Salvage Squad" where the team would restore various old mechanical contrivances such as a Centurion Tank, a Snowtrak and a Tram! She is described in IMDB as an "Industrial archeologist and steam/civil engineer".

 

This should be good.

Other restorations were a Thames fireboat and a Scammel Mechanical Horse.

[Steamport Southport]

Didn't they also do a narrow gauge diesel or petrol locomotive? A Motor Rail or Simplex I think it was.

 

 

 

Jason

[Steamport Southport]

Now being advertised/trailed on Channel Four.

 

Noticed just now whilst waiting for Father Ted.

 

 

 

Jason

[298]

Whenever I've spoken to friends who were directly involved or overheard conversations about it, they always mention a keyword as part of some secret code...

 

 

 

"Pub".

[Jenny Emily]

Whenever I've spoken to friends who were directly involved or overheard conversations about it, they always mention a keyword as part of some secret code...

 

 

 

"Pub".

 

Pubs?! What luxury was that?! The keyword we got to know was 'midge'. 

[dibber25]

I was asked about the C4 programme very early in its development but having taken part in the first James May exercise between Barnstaple and Bideford, on a paved cycle path, I could see no way I wanted to be involved. Inadequate preparation and the failure to consider what might happen if...........stumped that programme. (the weather changed, it got dark, the batteries were stolen, the temperature changed dramatically, 90% of the teams gave up and went home etc - all of which happened, leaving us trying to reconnect OO track at 11pm by the light of one young lad's mobile phone!). Provide an empty warehouse, a load of materials and some dedicated layout builders and, perhaps, do a model railway version of a 'bake-off' type programme. That would make a lot more sense and some good TV, too. (CJL)

[blueeighties]

I was asked about the C4 programme very early in its development but having taken part in the first James May exercise between Barnstaple and Bideford, on a paved cycle path, I could see no way I wanted to be involved. Inadequate preparation and the failure to consider what might happen if...........stumped that programme. (the weather changed, it got dark, the batteries were stolen, the temperature changed dramatically, 90% of the teams gave up and went home etc - all of which happened, leaving us trying to reconnect OO track at 11pm by the light of one young lad's mobile phone!). Provide an empty warehouse, a load of materials and some dedicated layout builders and, perhaps, do a model railway version of a 'bake-off' type programme. That would make a lot more sense and some good TV, too. (CJL)

Ditto for me Chris. I actually travelled up there to take part, but in the space of 24 hours had such a nightmare, I decided it wasn't for me. We are all different, others thrive in the same situation. Would be a boring World if we were all the same!

[Jenny Emily]

I was asked about the C4 programme very early in its development but having taken part in the first James May exercise between Barnstaple and Bideford, on a paved cycle path, I could see no way I wanted to be involved. Inadequate preparation and the failure to consider what might happen if...........stumped that programme. (the weather changed, it got dark, the batteries were stolen, the temperature changed dramatically, 90% of the teams gave up and went home etc - all of which happened, leaving us trying to reconnect OO track at 11pm by the light of one young lad's mobile phone!). Provide an empty warehouse, a load of materials and some dedicated layout builders and, perhaps, do a model railway version of a 'bake-off' type programme. That would make a lot more sense and some good TV, too. (CJL)

There were a lot of problems on the James May programme, all of which were avoided by Love Productions on this venture; there really is no comparison between the two. This wasn't about making an exhibition model railway with scenery and ballasted track, but everything about an engineering challenge of epic proportions. It was filmed over twelve days with a clear objective and a large team who were well motivated and prepared for a challenge that had never been attempted before through some of the most stunning yet challenging scenery imaginable.

 

You have to remember that this programme is aimed at more than just people who want to just watch a bunch of people in a shed craft a miniature version of reality; this was about attempting to fulfill unrealised plans that the Victorians had had to link Fort William directly with Inverness and attempting to do this in a fun and accessible way. This is intended to appeal to a very wide audience and be fun in every sense of the word.

 

A lot of people criticised this production from the outside and poured scorn on what Love productions and Channel 4 were trying to achieve without ever being a part of knowing what was going on. What will be shown on Sunday coming is an amazing programme that will do more good for the image of our hobby than a bunch of blokes in a big shed making hand crafted branch line termini against the clock ever could. It will also appeal to a broad cross section of society and stand a chance of getting far more of the next generation interested in model trains than anything else ever could. It also makes engineering fun and accessible and hopefully will attract more young people into pursuing that vocation as a career, or at least have a better grasp of it which is what this country so sorely needs.

 

Watch the programme on Sunday and you will not be disappointed. Those who took part had an amazing time and forged friendships and working relationships that will last.

Edited January 1, 2018 by Jenny Emily