Good model rail forums?

[Derek]

I wonder if anyone can recommend any good modelling forums in addition to Templot Club, please?

I have recently returned- again- and visited 'the other place' only to find it's still a pit of despair, with excessive moderation, cliques based on perception of social hierarchy, with little in the way of encouragement or structure to help one learn and progress; that really came as no surprise. What did come as a surprise was to see one of the self-appointed 'senior gauges' turn their forum into what is looking like an ever increasingly bitchy discussion into Brexit- as if we haven't all had enough of that over the past 5 years, whichever side we were on.

To be frank, it's not surprising that the hobby is in decline as I don't think some of those forums present the hobby in a very good light.

If some of those larger forums were to adopt the Templot Club method- light moderation, information and- crucially- encouragement to improve one's abilities, then I think we'd see a much better chance of growing the hobby. I can't think of the last time I saw anything structured in 'the other place' that encouraged people to go beyond what they already do. Martin's work on printed track is a real game changer and this could bring far more people into the hobby- though you're not going to see this actively promoted by anyone in the large forums, especially those carrying Peco adverts.

Does anyone have any suggestions, please? By chance I was discussing this very same issue with someone who works for a publisher of one of our hobby magazines on a train from Leighton Buzzard last week.

Best regards
Derek

 

[Phil O]

Hi Derek,

I'm on Western Thunder https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/ it has a GW/WR bias, but other railways and regions are also catered for, plus non railway orientated modelling. There's more modelling and less drivel.

 

[Hayfield]

Derek

This forum is probably unique in that it seems clique free and seems not to need moderating

For all its warts RMweb has a very varied user base with a very wide range of subjects and some very talented modellers.

Just self moderate what you read and ignore some views, normally its the non model railway subjects (except 00SF) where things get heated sometimes. For me I have tried Western Thunder but it just fails to hold my interest

 

[Martin Wynne]

@Derek

"One man's meat, ...", Derek?

To me the solution has always been blindingly obvious -- if you don't like what you are reading, stop reading it. Some forums have many thousands of members, so a mix of good and bad is inevitable.

I don't know which other forums you are referring to, but:

RMweb has a section specifically for track-building and Templot:

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/forum/160-handbuilt-track-amp-templot/

In other sections you can find excellent and inspiring content if you look for it, such as:

That's from this layout topic:

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/52339-camden-shed/page/39

Western Thunder concentrates on practical modelmaking and scratch-building:

https://www.westernthunder.co.uk

The Scalefour Society's forum contains much historical modelling information. It's open for anyone to read (but for non-members, posting only in the Guest Book section):

https://www.scalefour.org/forum/

Your Model Railway is a friendly forum with a massive image gallery containing many thousands of modelmaking pictures going back years:

https://yourmodelrailway.net

It uses the same software as the old Templot forum, so it should be easy to find your way around.

Platform 1 is also worth a look, with some practical modelmaking and an offbeat style:

https://platform1mrc.com

ModelRailForum is long-established and has recently had a new look after being sold to VerticalScope:

https://www.modelrailforum.com/

And for something a bit different, try Free Rails:

http://freerails.com/

How else are you going to find a link such as this: https://www.vclco.com/ ?

cheers,

Martin.

 

[Derek]

Thanks all.
Phil, I've looked at Western Thunder, thanks for the suggestion. Martin, as ever thanks for the comprehensive list of suggestions. You aren't wrong about ignoring what one doesn't want to read; but it seems everything (on one forum at least) always ends up arguing about politics, or the correct shade of beige for Intercity Swallow (never try to explain colour scaling...) or 'why doesn't someone do...'

John sums it up for me. This forum is such a pleasant place; in common with some of the facebook modelling groups I'm a member of, it is comprised of people who want to be here to learn, teach, compare notes... Sometimes these groups- inc TF- might have very few posts on the basis that people post what they want/ need to, whereas on the larger forum(s) people seem to feel the need to post for the sake of it. Apologies if I'm not making it very clear; horses for courses. But rather than risk offending, I shall take the suggestions above and spend a happy evening looking through them.

Many thanks again.
Derek

 

[Justme Igor]

https://scaletrainsclub.com/board/index.php?sid=ba7a18e85a6f5e37c839691df0517c41
This one you can find a lot of detailed info, incl books pictures ect.
Downside is, it is in Russian, so if your Russian is a bit rusty: google translate is your big friend.

https://www.gscalecentral.net/forums/
Very friendly and helpful forum.

https://www.mylargescale.com/