[neil_s_wood]

Having just spent a week in transit I thought I was suffering from jetlag and halucinating when I saw the initial post on this subject, I am still having difficulty beleiving it isn't a joke.

Try inserting modelbahn into a search engine and see what comes up.
Have you won your 100 bucks yet Dennis?

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (Gwent rail @ 29 Jul 2006, 18:49) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Neil, I assume by your post ( and the timing of it ) that you have now arrived in the UK.
If so, welcome back and I hope you have an enjoyable stay.
Hopefully you'll be staying in a Celtic country and not an Anglo Saxon one, so you should have a good time.
PS don't forget the distillery research!!! Best of luck.

You bet. I am succesfully reinstated back in Alba (Scotland) for the next month or so. And it's great to be back. I have a whole load of railway related things lined up to see while I'm home. Including a venture into saxon territory to see the National rail museum. However afterwards back here for some more distillery research. I am fortunate in that there's one only a mile away.

QUOTE This is not a comment on saying one side is "better" than the other but simply stating what I have seen in my travels

I agree Dennis that the markets cater for the products required by their respective clientel, however I found the whole premise upon which this thread was based to be ridiculous and completely unfounded. The net is so widely used in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for model rail and real railways that I was quite frankly gobsmacked that such a thread was ever started.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE I would rather encourage discussion than have anyone afraid to put forward their opinions regardless of how moronic they may seem.

I for one won't let that stop me.

Fair enough.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE As has been pointed out by others though the Germans are more into "Toy Type" model railways and the British more into "Prototypical" model railways.

Out of the fat and into the fire.....

Gary, many would argue the reverse. About half the Hornby range could still be regarded as toy type models. While the layouts can be more train set like they are not all and many are very detailed indeed. I think the various types of layouts are similar to the UK.

I think the main area of differentiation between the German and British layouts is that they have largely embraced new technology whereas we have not. It may be that this is because the average modeller here is older and that in Germany they are younger? Who knows it may be that the new technology attracts younger modellers?

I found the whole premise of this thread insular, flawed and a bit xenophobic. While model rail doesn't seem to be that popular in France,Spain and Italy from a German perspective they are years ahead of us.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE Rail-Rider posted the first "disproving remark" in the whole thread only recently in the last 2 days (where have you been?) and now is saying that the best reaction would be to not post remarks designed to provoke a reaction! What has this to do with model railways?

The very first post on this thread was provocative. "is Continental Europe in the Dark ages".

This insinuates backwardness, inferiority in Continental Europe and simultaneously our superiority. It was posted by you Gary, and it was based on an incorrect assumption that the UK is the worlds foremost railway modelling location. It is easily outnumbered per capita by Germany and possibly the USA too. This would already have been common knowledge to many people on this forum.

I honestly thought the whole point of this thread was to wind up and antagonize continental modellers.

Anyone who has made any effort to look into German railway modelling would fall of their chair laughing at such a statement. I actually found it hard to believe that someone could be so uninformed about the world of model railways. I wonder if the manufacturers of the Ecos digital system feel like they are in Medieval times?

I suspect not. Then once you've got people wound up by this we get a comment like this!

QUOTE Recent posts do seem to be getting a bit personal which is against the rules of this forum. If we stick to subject of model railways then we will all get along fine.

Gary, if you are going to crank people up like this you have to expect them to react to it. The reason it may seem personal is because you are the only person making these statements. How would you feel if someone posted a thread entitled "is the west midlands in the neolithic?" Not very nice is it?

 

[neil_s_wood]

I'm glad you've come along to explain it all to us with your insight.

Who's being PC though?

The above responses were people expressing their views in response to the views of others. I don't think anyone here has politically correct agenda. Some of us just think accuracy is more important than speculation. I thought with your insight you would have known that.

Where would PC come into it?

QUOTE Saying continental modelling is in the dark ages isn't offensive.
To whom? It's arguable whether it's offensive, to some it may be irritating but it is certainly a load of bo

cks.

QUOTE A while I'm on it German modelling is toylike from the hansel and gretel approach to scenery etc.

What does that mean? Have you ever seen German countryside or towns? Do you actually know what they look like? Or maybe you don't need to with "insight". Maybe with "insight" you can stay at home and read it all in books like Hansel and Gretel without having your assumptions challenged by reality.

That word again "assumptions".

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE Its up to those who have a serious interest in the international scene to educate, not to condemn.

I'll give you that one Gary.

QUOTE OK I do read "The Sun" which is a British tabloid having tabloid headlines designed to sell the newspaper

I take my hat off to you Gary, not many would have admitted to that.

QUOTE Those who are offended by a British perspective should not go around crying foul!
My perspective is completely British regardless of where I live, thank you.

I hope that in the midst of this thread some useful information has come to light. I think that unless you have good knowledge of French, Italian or Spanish it may be hard to ascertain to what degree railway modelling exists on the internet in those countries relative to this one.

I know for a fact that in Australia the web is not used nearly as much as at home by shops and I guess that the situation may be similar in France, Spain and Italy. However railway modelling is relatively popular here despite the lack of websites. Maybe thats the situation in Europe (outside Germany) too.

 

[neil_s_wood]

..and I was just about to ask you how you did your grass too

!

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (Dennis David @ 27 Sep 2006, 10:28) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Have you been to the Tirol region of Austria? The grass really is that clean because they actually mow it on the mountain fields!
Yes I have, a few times. It is a beautiful place.

My question was more about how do you make model grass look as good as that.

I see you've got yourself set up with a computer in Singapore. Good to see you back.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE a Victorian railway system either with a lack of loco cleaning facilities or operating an overstretched railway system where there is little time to clean rolling stock

I think Gary is conceeding far too much here or has a very slovernly local TOC. My local commuter franchise keeps its stock very clean externally - slightly faded or worn liveries on some stock which has been in traffic almost a decade is about the worst you see - and the major InterCity operators like GNER, Virgin and Eurostar keep their trains very well. Carriage washing plants are common and well used. Indeed my one gripe about my nice new weathered Central Turbostar is that their bodies don't normally have much grime. 21st century British railways aren't remotely as dirty as they were in thev 60s, and they aren't really a Victorian railway any more

This wasn't really relevant to the subject under discussion but anyway let me tell you Britains railways are fantastic compared with the crap they have over here. When I was home a month ago I coudn't believe how much better our trains are than the tin can cattle cars they have in Australia(well Victoria anyway). I believe Dennis made similar remarks about the trains in the States. The biggest issue I have with Rail in Britain is the deliberate high pricing to force people onto the road.

This is a bit of subject but I wanted to answer the above statements.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE To be honest my remark was more to do with which periods are modelled by respective countries.

British exhibition layouts commonly use smokey weathered subjects from the past.

I think Continental Modellers are less inclined to weather their models. This reluctance may be due to the greater cost.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (Dennis David @ 28 Sep 2006, 10:12) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I think it's more to do with just being fastidious. I cannot bare the thought of weathering my trains though I like weathering of others.

Me too. I like mine new and shiny although I like looking at other peoples weathered ones.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE By suggesting the Continental modellers are reluctant to weather their rolling stock becuase of values is it suggested that they are more inclined towards collecting than modelling?

I don't know about that. Thats just what I think about my trains. I just am concerned about dropping the value of them. It's probably a personal thing. If a loco is weathered properly it looks great and if its done badly it looks shit. Theres no way I am going to get a loco that I paid 300 quid for and cover it with mud.

QUOTE I would have said that much of Europe was rebuilt after 1945 and a cleaner dynamic, modern looking railway system was developed as a result much earlier than it was in the UK.
Thats true of much of Europe. However Germany did have to get bombed back to the stone age in order to clear the area to do this so I don't know if I'd want to see Britain pulverised just to improve it's rail system. The other thing is that the British government wont invest in the railways like they do in France and Germany and that leads to a shit system like they have here and in the States.

QUOTE This may go some way to explaining the appearance of Continental layouts, which, lets be honest, do have a different look and feel to anything else. Thats no surprise when they are made by people from a different country and outlook.

Why not try surfing the net to see some German layouts. You will have to use German words to search though like Dampflok and modelbahn. This could be why you got the results you did on Ebay. I searched using trenas de miniatura for Spanish locos and got loads of results.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE Now I am not too sure about continental models. Have weathered examples ever been offered?

Browsing through a few catalogues.....

Maerklin/Trix offer a service where they will professionaly weather your model for a 30 or 40 Euros. The results look very good. Main problem with weathering is it's an irreversible process. It wont just wipe off.

QUOTE >the deliberate high pricing to force people onto the road.
My son's way to work around this is to buy single tickets in advance. He claims this usually works out cheaper than buying a return for the same journey. His experience is based on travelling the ECML from Leuchars to London. I used to use this line every couple of weeks to go to Kirkcaldy when I lived in London. Then it was easy enough to rock up to Kings cross and buy a week or two in advance and it would cost 45 quid return. Then it all went pear shaped when you had to buy the cheap fares on the internet. The only cheapies were if you went via Penzance and Inverness.

When I have come home recently I just found it too hard to get cheap fares and have hired a car as it ended up being cheaper. I really don't like this as I love travelling by rail but they make it so expensive for a family to travel by rail.

QUOTE As I end, it suddenly hits me that it would be interesting to know what percentage of the UK magazines are sold outside the UK and how that might affect estimates . .

All the main UK magazines are available in Ozz albeit two months late. You can get them in the correct month but you will pay twice as much. They are quite popular and can be seen in most decent newsagents in Melbourne. I have seen them in Brisbane too.