The Great British Model Setback

Anthony Collyer

About 40 years ago, this was a hobby you didn’t talk about for fear of ridicule, as it was looked upon as grown men ‘playing with trains’. But the hobby has now come of age and is respected as an intelligent, recreational pastime. Manufacturers now go to great lengths and expense to produce models that cater for specialised interests. Serious modellers undertake lots of research to make their models as authentic as possible. Then along comes The Great British Model Railway Challenge. “At last,” I thought, “something that will put our hobby on the map”. How wrong was I? The series could not have done more of a disservice to us modellers if it tried, and it has set the public’s perception back to the original stereotype. After watching the first two episodes, which featured dinosaurs, Doctor Who and flying saucers, I cringed with embarrassment. As for the formula of the programme, why don’t they go the whole hog and award one of the participants with a ‘Star Baker’ prize?