QUOTE British outline layouts at exhibitions as uninteresting from someone living 10,000 miles away
Not sure who this was directed at since I have not had the inclination to measure the distance from my home in California to the UK but there is a relativly new contraption called an airplane which has allowed me to visit the UK more than a dozen times. I for one really looked forward to visiting an model railroad exhibition in the UK because, well that's where I thought trains were invented.
I was disapointed in the layouts I saw. Not the modeling or the locomotives but the layouts which i found uninspired compared to what I see in the layouts in the States. True it may have been a small sampling but I only expressed what I saw not what is available.
Even when I see layouts in your top magazines I am in awe of the modeling until I see the track plan or a photograph of the entire layout. Maybe my tastes are just different but I say what I see.
As far as timeclocks, I have seen that on many ocasions in the states. It's quite common to see layouts run by 6 - 12 people at one time, using headsets, and cab control.
In my opinion what I see is higher detail, but more fragility. Many may potentially run better but for how long. Even in some of the reports that Doug has published we hear of broken parts during normal handling or when trying to install decoders. I still get shivers when I read about the boiler cracking on his live steam locomotive. I was all set to buy one myself in Florida until I actually held one in my hands and saw how cheaply it seemed to be made. of course the other live locomotives he had were by Accucraft which didn't help any but I decided to wait another day.
I still think that Hornby can produce mush better models but they have made a business decision to meet a certain price point which sadly means I'll probably never buy their product.
