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Model Forum / General / Railroads / June 20092009 British Model Railway Poll - Demographics - Discuss!
I've extracted the following from the latest issue (#7) of Hornby's "The Collector Plus" magazine which fell through our letter box this morning. I'm not suggested that these figures are a scientific representation of the railway modelling fraternity, but they do (in many respects) reinforce my own experience of interests. 2009 British Model Railway Poll - Demographics Age of Voters: The largest group of voters prepared to state their age were in their 50s, followed closely by those in their 60s - these made up more than half of those taking part, and was closely followed by those in the 40s. 75% of voters were aged between 40 & 69. Eras Modelled: BR steam (or the 'transition' period from 1958-68) is the most popular to model - around 30% of those voting favoured this period. 22% modelled the Big Four era (1923-47) 19% the early days of BR (1948-58). The BR diesel era from 1969-privatisation attracts just 13%. Only 4.6% model the 'current' scene. (My comment - add all of the three sample BR periods together and this suggests that around 62% model the nationalised railway era). Regional interest (from those modelling 1923-68) was as follows: LNER or BR (ER/NER) - 34.8% SR or BR(SR) - 23.5% GWR or BR(WR) - 22% LMS or BR(LMR) - 15.1% BR(ScR) - 4.6% Preferred scales of those modelling BRITISH prototypes: OO-scale - 82% N - 10% O - 3.4% P4 - 1.6% EM - 1.4% TT - 0.7% HO - 0.3%  SignatureMany thanks & best wishes, John Turner, 53A Models, Hull. > I've extracted the following from the latest issue (#7) of Hornby's "The > Collector Plus" magazine which fell through our letter box this morning. [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] > John Turner, > 53A Models, Hull. It is nice to know that I am normal in some respects then! Peter A > It is nice to know that I am normal in some respects then! Lucky you! My main interests, in order of priority, although my 4mm scale interest is waning: BR almost throughout its existence (mid-50s to Privatisation) in OO-scale - both steam & diesel. Slant towards BR(ScR) with some significant LMR & NER influence. BR steam/transition (mid-50s to mid-60s) in O-scale - steam & diesel. Small USA On3 layout - good fun with digital sound. I also have a modest collection of post-1990 Marklin HO, most of which has never seen the light of day, but it came my way at the right time at the right price. Oh, I'm 61, so fit in with the 40-69 majority group - if nothing else! LOL John. I thought you were a lot younger than that. Must be all that salt air! >> It is nice to know that I am normal in some respects then! > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > John. >I thought you were a lot younger than that. Must be all that salt air! LOL - my lady friend says the same! ;-) John. > The BR diesel era from 1969-privatisation attracts just 13%. > Only 4.6% model the 'current' scene. Is it just me, or is this 17.6% overly catered for with new RTR releases? I think I know why manufactureres do it, the variety and frequent change of liveries allows them to refresh their catalogues with little extra tooling costs. MBQ "Man at B&Q" responded to >> The BR diesel era from 1969-privatisation attracts just 13%. >> Only 4.6% model the 'current' scene. with:- > Is it just me, or is this 17.6% overly catered for with new RTR > releases? I wonder whether this 17.6% isn't also the most susceptible group to economic recession? They tend to be younger, have young families and big(ish) mortgages. > I think I know why manufactureres do it, the variety and frequent > change of liveries allows them to refresh their catalogues with little > extra tooling costs. It's also interesting that Bachmann haven't gone down this route to the same extent as Hornby and ViTrains. I also suspect that it costs an awful lot less to tool up for a new diesel or electric model than a steam loco. John. > "Man at B&Q" responded to > [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > diesel > or electric model than a steam loco. And a lot less to manufacture as well, as they don't have so many fiddly pipes and bits to attach. When I look at the latest models I feel sorry for the Chinese people who have to spend all day sticking all the little bits on! Fred X > And a lot less to manufacture as well, as they don't have so many > fiddly pipes and bits to attach. When I look at the latest models > I feel sorry for the Chinese people who have to spend all day sticking > all the little bits on! > > Fred X But are you applying your own situation in considering theirs. They may have a chioce between back breaking work in the paddy fields for a pittance vs assembly in reasonably pleasant conditions where they can chatter away whilst assembling components - ladies can do that you know. They can multitask quite easily - never finish any of the tasks mind. cheers, Simon > > "Man at B&Q" responded to > [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > > Fred X With modern trends, I feel sorry for the modeller who receives a large bag of little bits with their new purchase, half of which become "ping- fuckits" whilst trying to fit them :-) MBQ >> On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:19:53 +0100, John Turner <nos...@nospam.invalid> >> [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] > > MBQ You need to hire yourself a Chinese lady. And someone to fit the little bits... :) Fred X > You need to hire yourself a Chinese lady. And someone to fit the little > bits... :) I could fit the little bits on a Chinese lady myself - thank you! ;-) John. On Jun 17, 7:28 pm, "Fred X" <alexs...@himki.net> wrote: > On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:19:53 +0100, John Turner <nos...@nospam.invalid> > wrote: With modern trends, I feel sorry for the modeller who receives a large bag of little bits with their new purchase, half of which become "ping- fuckits" whilst trying to fit them :-) MBQ ------------------------- That ones easily solved. Buy 2 lots of everything then as youre about to start scatter one set around the floor. Sometimes that appeases the god of the carpet so nothing goes ping and on other occasions you can find the scattered bit when looking for the pinged one (think she gets distracted whilst hiding the new bit). Have been looking for a tiny brass step for 3 days now. Have found 4 Romford wheel nuts, 17 washers, an assortment of small screws and a book by Iain rice that couldnt find the other day. Should find the brass bit tomorrow as made replacement bit out of scrap fret. Cheers, Simon > I've extracted the following from the latest issue (#7) of Hornby's "The > Collector Plus" magazine which fell through our letter box this morning. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > 2009 British Model Railway Poll - Demographics Does it say who they polled? I guess people modelling the Listowel & Ballybunion in S scale wouldn't be reading a Hornby collector magazine(?), while a survey on an e-mail list might find everyone models 4mm scale post-privatisation? SignatureArthur Figgis (suspecting Great Patriotic War 1:72 bodies running on a 00 modern image club layout is a minority interest) >> I've extracted the following from the latest issue (#7) of Hornby's "The >> Collector Plus" magazine which fell through our letter box this morning. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > while a survey on an e-mail list might find everyone models 4mm scale > post-privatisation? Similar question, were those polled only modellers or modellers and collectors. Plus how many purchased products from multiple eras or regions - even if less volume in their secondary preference. My preference is LMS around 1930's but have purchased much of RTR LMS in early BR as well. CHeers, Simon Cheers, Simon > Similar question, were those polled only modellers or modellers and > collectors. The poll was widely announced on the net - not sure whether it was publicised on here or not. John. > I've extracted the following from the latest issue (#7) of Hornby's "The > Collector Plus" magazine which fell through our letter box this morning. [quoted text clipped - 41 lines] > TT - 0.7% > HO - 0.3% Seems we HO modellers are a significant group! Pre-grouping doesn't show very highly though. ;-) >> I've extracted the following from the latest issue (#7) of Hornby's "The >> Collector Plus" magazine which fell through our letter box this morning. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >> The BR diesel era from 1969-privatisation attracts just 13%. >> Only 4.6% model the 'current' scene. >Pre-grouping doesn't show very highly though. >;-) Adding up the eras given leaves 11% unaccounted for. I expect many are narrow-gauge rather than pre-grouping, however. Tim >>> I've extracted the following from the latest issue (#7) of Hornby's >>> "The [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > Adding up the eras given leaves 11% unaccounted for. I expect many are > narrow-gauge rather than pre-grouping, however. The 11% are those who model the railways of the future. Now there's an era that manufacturer's have neglected over the years. :) Fred X >> Adding up the eras given leaves 11% unaccounted for. I expect many are >> narrow-gauge rather than pre-grouping, however. > >The 11% are those who model the railways of the future. Now there's an >era that manufacturer's have neglected over the years. :) http://www.amazon.com/MayFair-Games-4099015-Mayfair-Lunar/dp/B0006HCVZE/ref=sr_1_1 you mean? Tim > http://www.amazon.com/MayFair-Games-4099015-Mayfair-Lunar/dp/B0006HCVZE/ref=sr_1_1 > > you mean? What's the point of the streamlining, to cut down wind resistance? Traction would be a bit of problem too with only 1/6th Earth's gravity. (kim) > Seems we HO modellers are a significant group! Was that 0.3% entirely resident in the UK or did it also include foreign Johnnies? (kim) >> Seems we HO modellers are a significant group! > > Was that 0.3% entirely resident in the UK or did it also include foreign > Johnnies? > > (kim) Am I foreign? Most of my family escaped from around Bradford, but there are still a few left there. Greg.P. NZ >>> Seems we HO modellers are a significant group! >> [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Greg.P. > NZ But lets not have any comments that Bradford probably has more foreign johnnies than NZ Anon >>>> Seems we HO modellers are a significant group! >>> [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > Anon 3.6 million? >Regional interest (from those modelling 1923-68) was as follows: >LNER or BR (ER/NER) - 34.8% >SR or BR(SR) - 23.5% >GWR or BR(WR) - 22% >LMS or BR(LMR) - 15.1% >BR(ScR) - 4.6% Odd: GWR and LMS seem to be significantly better represented in RTR, yet this is saying that NE is the most popular post-grouping region. Guy Signaturehttp://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/wiki/Railway >>Regional interest (from those modelling 1923-68) was as follows: >>LNER or BR (ER/NER) - 34.8% [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >Odd: GWR and LMS seem to be significantly better represented in RTR, >yet this is saying that NE is the most popular post-grouping region. .. and SR (well, South Western division of..) is probably the only area you could put together a reasonably representitive collection of stock for most of that period (T9 + N + M7 get closer than any other combination around for any region to being representitive: NE - well, it's hopeless without at least an R and a C1, neither of which appears to be anywhere on any horizon..) SignatureAndy Breen ~ Not speaking on behalf of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth Feng Shui: an ancient oriental art for extracting money from the gullible (Martin Sinclair) > Odd: GWR and LMS seem to be significantly better represented in RTR, > yet this is saying that NE is the most popular post-grouping region. Been saying that for years. I suspect the Southern is only so well represented because of the sheer number of RTR models released over the past few years. John. >> Odd: GWR and LMS seem to be significantly better represented in RTR, >> yet this is saying that NE is the most popular post-grouping region. > > Been saying that for years. I suspect the Southern is only so well > represented because of the sheer number of RTR models released over > the past few years. So you don't think the NE is wildly over represented by Flying Scotsmen, A4s and Deltics then? (kim) > So you don't think the NE is wildly over represented by Flying Scotsmen, > A4s and Deltics then? Hardly a reasonable cross-section of NER prototypes, all those mentioned are express passenger engines. Not much use if you want to model a typical North eastern railway. John. >> So you don't think the NE is wildly over represented by Flying >> Scotsmen, A4s and Deltics then? > > Hardly a reasonable cross-section of NER prototypes, all those > mentioned are express passenger engines. Not much use if you want to > model a typical North eastern railway. My point John is that the over-representation of these types is probably responsible for the high percentage of North East enthusiasts in the poll. (kim) > My point John is that the over-representation of these types is probably > responsible for the high percentage of North East enthusiasts in the poll. I think if you check it out Kim, you'll find that the NE has the lowest representation in RTR models. John. >> My point John is that the over-representation of these types is >> probably responsible for the high percentage of North East >> enthusiasts in the poll. > > I think if you check it out Kim, you'll find that the NE has the > lowest representation in RTR models. I'm not disagreeing John but the fact remains there have been a disproportionate number of reissues of the East Coast express types and I think this has a strong influence over which region an enthusiast chooses to model or collect. (kim) >I'm not disagreeing John but the fact remains there have been a >disproportionate number of reissues of the East Coast express types and I >think this has a strong influence over which region an enthusiast chooses to >model or collect. Here's why I model NE: * I was born in Welwyn Garden City and my first school was right by Digswell Viaduct; one of my earliest memories (aged less than 5) was seeing the Scotsman steaming over Digswell. * My wife worked for Tony Marchington and our son Michael was born the day Tony floated Oxford Molecular, which made him a big chunk of the money with which he bought the Scotsman. * I volunteered at the Mosquito Aircraft Museum at Hatfield, which is in the grounds of Salisbury Hall. The Mosquito and the Mallard were both designed at Salisbury Hall. Of course the scope for viaducts and the like is good, but these are the real, personal reasons I model NE. All are connected with the great steam passenger expresses, but you can't build a layout around just that. It makes no sense to start people modelling this region by selling them some really rather nice express passenger locos and not back it up with branch line and local freight. You can get a decent 8F, an elderly N2 which is not a great model but at least runs well, a disastrous J72, a few other odds and ends. The Hornby J94 is OK in this region I think, and a reasonable model. But there were so many interesting and good-looking locos! <http://www.lner.info/locos/locos.shtml> I guess that's half the problem, what with NE not really pursuing standardisation as hard as the Western, for example, but still it would be nice to be able to get an RTR B series or a C12. Guy Signaturehttp://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/wiki/Railway >>> My point John is that the over-representation of these types is >>> probably responsible for the high percentage of North East >>> enthusiasts in the poll. >> >> I think if you check it out Kim, you'll find that the NE has the >> lowest representation in RTR models. > I'm not disagreeing John but the fact remains there have been a > disproportionate number of reissues of the East Coast express types and I > think this has a strong influence over which region an enthusiast chooses to > model or collect. The main problem with LNER in OO RTR is that, other than the Pacifics, virtually everything else is restricted to Group-Standard Gresley designs - and they're all Bachmann split-chassis jobs. List of NER-design ready-to-run OO engines:- Mainline/Bachmann J72. End of list. Now, NER designs are very well represented in kit-form. Many of these are available from Dave Alexander, and they're damned fine kits, but kit building is not for everyone. DJH also have a good selection, although some of those kits are starting to show their age. There's a big gap in the RTR market waiting for someone to fill it. I've heard a rumour that Bachmann intend to re-tool their LNER range with new chassis but that will largely be replacing what's already available. SignatureJades' First Encounters Site - http://www.jades.org/ffe.htm The best Frontier: First Encounters site on the Web. nospam@jades.org /is/ a real email address! >Now, NER designs are very well represented in kit-form. Many of these >are available from Dave Alexander, and they're damned fine kits, but >kit building is not for everyone. DJH also have a good selection, >although some of those kits are starting to show their age. There's a >big gap in the RTR market waiting for someone to fill it. Alexander's G5 looks nice, has anyone built one? What would be the likely cost with motor, wheels and gearbox? I take it the H1 is one of DJH's older designs? The valvegear looks clumsy in the photos. Guy Signaturehttp://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/wiki/Railway >> Odd: GWR and LMS seem to be significantly better represented in RTR, >> yet this is saying that NE is the most popular post-grouping region. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > John. Coming back to period rather than region, was wondering if its to do with the number of RTR locos available. For instance if you go for BR then theres most of the grouping locos, plus the standards. This reduces as the period goes back to start of grouping. in fact if you want mid to late 20's then theres only one or 2 models in correct LMS livery and configuration. If you were a bit of a cynic then it may be suggestetd that this is in the interest of the manufacturers - model pre BR then standards of no interest, model BR then much greater range of models available to sell. cheers, Simon >Coming back to period rather than region, was wondering if its to do with >the number of RTR locos available. For instance if you go for BR then theres >most of the grouping locos, plus the standards. This reduces as the period >goes back to start of grouping. in fact if you want mid to late 20's then >theres only one or 2 models in correct LMS livery and configuration. I'm sure that is a part of it; they can make a wider range of models with paint than with mould, of course, hence the 57 varieties of Class 66 on sale. But I bet they could sell a Blue Pullman in sufficient numbers to justify it, and I also bet that with a bit of ingenuity they could produce several of the Atlantics off a single chassis and many common parts. Guy Signaturehttp://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/wiki/Railway > But I bet they could sell a Blue Pullman in sufficient numbers to > justify it I don't understand this 'Blue Pullman' thing. In 22+ years of running a model shop I've maybe been asked for 'Blue Pullman' items on a maximum of two or three occasions, and then only to query whether I'd any 'centre cars' to strengthen ageing Tri-ang models. Even when I've eBayed very nice examples of Tri-ang 'Blue Pullman' sets, I've been very disappointed with the level of interest. I'm not saying that sales of a 'Blue Pullman' model would bomb, but in my opinion what demand there is would be very quickly satisfied. It would also be interesting to know at what sort of price pitch a prospective manufacturer would go for. My guess if that if Hornby produced full 6 or 8 car sets, we'd be looking at a potential RRP of £400+ (6-car) or £500+ (8-car) if their current pricing policy is anything to go by. How many would be willing to pay anything approaching those prices? John. > "Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote > [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > John. I would wager that there are not too many who model today who have ever seen one let alone travelled on one (I have). They were before their time and subject to problems like people forgetting about anti freeze and using wrong oils for winter time. I have tried to get my hands on one of the old ones but they always sell for a high price (too high when anticipating repair costs). I agree that 400 GBPs is out of the question but such models should be sold (as they were in 1949) with a view to acquiring bits as and when finances allow. |
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