71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by bazzer42 » Tue Jan 09, 2018 8:02 am

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2018 6:34 pm Well I just saw the Silver Lady end up in the drink, oops!

Fun to watch although not sure about the stereo type model railway people they have cast for the series, not doing the image of train enthusiasts any favours.
No mirrors in your place Tom? :) we are a bit odd but have to agree with you there are some extremes there. I think I liked the David Brent type manager....

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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by ge_rik » Tue Jan 09, 2018 9:23 am

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2018 6:16 pm Why are they all wearing life jackets? Do people walking their dogs near the canal have to wear them?
'Elf 'n Safety Risk Assessment no doubt!

Watched it last night after getting back from London after repatriating my daughter's cat (she spends Christmas with us - and she really like the garden (closet garden railway enthusiast methinks)).

I actually quite enjoyed it. Normally, I shun these 'reality' type of programmes but it was quite interesting to get the little featurettes on railways and railway modelling in between the silliness of the track laying etc.

They seem to skip over some sections of tracklaying though (eg up the paths in the woods), to focus on the traumas - eg people getting huffy and disagreements over what to do next. I thought the business with the train ferry was deliberately engineered to make 'good telly' - ie not letting them see the actual ferry boat before they had to design and make the transfer system!!! The snippet from next week's show gives a flavour of the inevitable next traumas in store.

Let's hope it encourages at least half a dozen more latent modellers into the fold.

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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by Big Jim » Tue Jan 09, 2018 10:42 am

It appears to have been a great boost to the hobby. I was looking at fb last night and Ivan Prior (IP engineering) mentioned that he had had a vast amount of enquiries and sales on the back of it. Apparently RH have also had much interest as well.

Any form of publicity for this strand of the hobby has to be good and anything that raises the profile of any type of modelling has to be a huge bonus. The more people that start to get involved with garden railways has a great benefit to all of us.

I would image that the sole goal of the production team is to make 'good' telly. This will mean that the various traumas and personalities will be shown in the most entertaining way possible in an effort to appeal to the widest section of viewers.

I find it interesting that there is a certain stigma attached to 'Playing Trains'. Perhaps this will help some of our fellow modellers come out of their sheds/attics/spare rooms and declare "Ich bin ein railway modeller" and wear their anoraks with pride.
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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by JMORG » Sun Jan 14, 2018 10:22 pm

Saw the after picture of the Silver Lady on the Roundhouse page, they really did ruin that didn't they!

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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by philipy » Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:45 am

Didn't see the first one because we were away, but saw last nights and really wished I hadn't. I simply can't find anything good to say about it and all that pathetic nonsense with the boat made me want to scream.
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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by tom_tom_go » Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:50 am

I agree with Phil, last night's episode killed it off for me as I find some of the characters patronising and I would of told them to f@#k off if they spoke to me like that.

I did chuckle though that the Roundhouse guy did not clean the jet or bother to test firing up the loco after it went in the drink until they went to start the journey again.

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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by FWLR » Mon Jan 15, 2018 8:33 am

I agree with previous comments about last night showing, it was abysmal to say the least, surely they could have come up with something better then a floating (or should I say) a sinking Silver Lady, they have not done our hobby much good with that episode at all and the person who got the quad bike in the river or was it a canal, I was losing interest by then, do others think that was a put on scene for the program, how the heck did he do it.

Though the Viaduct build I thought was a brilliant build of some stature, I am looking forward to the next build of the bridge, but it will have to improve for me to carry on watching it.

Those people with the Hi-viz equipment are doing my head in also, sorry.

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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by ge_rik » Mon Jan 15, 2018 8:59 am

Not watched last night's episode yet, but from the above, it doesn't sound promising.
At least it seems to have generated interest in the hobby, which is no bad thing...

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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by JMORG » Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:06 am

As it is TV, there needs to be arguments and disaster. Would it be as interesting otherwise?

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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by FWLR » Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:14 am

JMORG wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:06 am As it is TV, there needs to be arguments and disaster. Would it be as interesting otherwise?
Mmmmmm maybe, but you can tell the quad bike was a put on and no need for it really, now if someone fell in to the lock trying to get Silver Lady out, that would of been funny as well as being interesting.... :lol: :lol:

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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by tom_tom_go » Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:16 am

JMORG wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:06 am As it is TV, there needs to be arguments and disaster. Would it be as interesting otherwise?
And that's what is why I rarely watch TV, I get all that at work.

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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by TonyW » Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:17 am

JMORG wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:06 amAs it is TV, there needs to be arguments and disaster. Would it be as interesting otherwise?
Exactly my view. It is a TV programme, so we will be shown and told what the producers want us to see and know, in much the same way as they do with all other TV programmes including anything called "news".

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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by FWLR » Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:19 am

Still nobody has said anything about the quad bike incident.......

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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by TonyW » Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:20 am

FWLR wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:14 am... but you can tell the quad bike was a put on ...
Really? A bloke was hurt and it wasn't filmed. The latter would have happened if it had been planned, surely.
Last edited by TonyW on Mon Jan 15, 2018 11:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by philipy » Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:40 am

FWLR wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:19 am Still nobody has said anything about the quad bike incident.......
Whats to say? It was a pointless irrelevance. Was it put on? I doubt it and somebody did say something about getting it stuck ( or, more likely, accidentally putting it) in reverse.
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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by FWLR » Mon Jan 15, 2018 10:55 am

Come on...hurt, a little scratch on his hand, and how the heck did he manage to still get it stuck or whatever when the path was at least six foot wide if not more......I am getting to lean more towards Tom and not bother watching it from now on and if he was turning it around, which I think that was the intention, why didn’t he not have a banks-man, with all that elf and safety going on, but then again why would he need one, from his back to the back of the quad must have been at the most 12inch’s.

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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by Peter Butler » Mon Jan 15, 2018 11:20 am

I must admit I am tiring of the whole thing, it could have been a great opportunity to show ambition, leadership, engineering solutions, model making etc. all combined to make entertaining TV. However, it appears to be a disaster due to poor team spirit and an extreme lack of control and organisation from the TV producers themselves attempting to make something suitable for a mass audience with no understanding of their subject matter.
I heard of a meeting held with potential participants and advisers, held over a year ago, where only two of the female production managers showed up without any of their technical support crew.
Much more entertaining and educational would have been a competition between teams tackling the same terrain.... my money would have been on German or Japanese contestants.
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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by Big Jim » Mon Jan 15, 2018 11:26 am

Some of the individuals appearing on it are very watchable, the young lad who works with steam and got quite emotional when talking about his mum seems to have his head screwed on well.
One of the other team leaders with an 'elf and safety' fixation needs a little talking to about his management style. The fact is, he was probably right in what he was saying regarding hi viz and flotation aids. In the past I have been involved with the emergency services during recovery operations of vehicles and individuals and if you follow the recommendations regarding PPE and procedures it can get very daft very quickly. (I still think he was being a bit of a OTT pillock though)

I wonder if the quad bike incident was down to an individual who had not be properly trained how to operate one. I have never heard of one getting stuck in reverse before.
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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by ge_rik » Mon Jan 15, 2018 6:15 pm

Watched episode 2. Hmmmmmm..... did you notice how many times they cut the shot just before the loco was about to round a curve? I suspect derailments were a lot more frequent than is portrayed.

Interesting insights on this website - https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/factual/ ... 23.article

I can just imagine the context which prompted the producer to say

If you are in a rush, never ask a model train enthusiast what their favourite train gauge is.

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Re: 71 Mile Garden Railway anyone?? Channel 4 - 7th Jan

Post by Peter Butler » Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:58 pm

ge_rik wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2018 6:15 pm
I can just imagine the context which prompted the producer to say

If you are in a rush, never ask a model train enthusiast what their favourite train gauge is.

Rik
I suspect they wouldn't understand the question, let alone the answer!
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