A 'Peachy TT120' for British N gauge?

[njee20]

I'm perhaps being unkind, but the NGS doesn't seem the most forward thinking on such matters. That the 'official' forum is hosted on groups.io speaks volumes!

[Richard Taylor]

I'm perhaps being unkind, but the NGS doesn't seem the most forward thinking on such matters. That the 'official' forum is hosted on groups.io speaks volumes!

Nothing wrong with groups.io - it's just a different style of interaction.

But yes, the NGS can be a bit slow about these kind of things. Thats because it's entirely run by volunteers, and no-one is coming forward to volunteer. Anyone who wants to help the NGS get better at what it does only has to volunteer.

[njee20]

Groups.io is awful! It has no redeeming features I can think of.

I did volunteer to help with what I think is a credibility issue with the NGS. I got a perfunctory acceptance on one occasion, then nothing. Got the impression they were happy with how things were and didn't want to resolve issues. That's not an inherent issue of course, but I didn't bother renewing my membership.

Given the NGS makes/commissions their own models it begs the question about whether they would be the right organisation to 'lobby' the industry at large, although again I'm not sure how much lobbying Peachy does.

That said when I started 3D printing TT:120 he got in touch with encouragement and he offered to link to a website some centralised repository he has/had of TT:120 suppliers.

[Will_J]

I'm perhaps being unkind, but the NGS doesn't seem the most forward thinking on such matters. That the 'official' forum is hosted on groups.io speaks volumes!

That's a good point. I might talk to Robin and Arthur about perhaps setting up an NGS discord server, as especially for the younger members that would be perfect as we all already use it for gaming and hobbies.

Will.

[njee20]

It needs a strategy, rather than a piecemeal approach. It seems at the moment they're not fussed by having a meaningful digital footprint, not an inherent problem, but it does perpetuate some of the stereotypes. Creating a Discord server to appeal to 'the youth' isn't the answer IMO, unless you have a committee and a membership base pushing/supporting that. What proportion of the membership base are under 30? Single figures I'll wager. 

I know you're hugely motivated by encouraging younger members, personally I don't think that's as much of a challenge or a threat; the hobby will always attract those with disposable income and time and, as we've discussed before, whilst it's a bit 'chicken and egg' I don't want to see the market cannibalised in pursuit of the cheaper 'toy' market.

I'm also a lot more curmudgeonly than my 39 years may suggest, mind!

[Will_J]

It's free and there are lots of scale modelling servers that are very active, and have pockets of railway people. It's not any kind of an answer to a problem, just an easy place to set up a space on a platform that many people use. DCC-EX for example has a very active discord channel.

Anyway I've put it to them. I'm quite happy to sort it out, I already run my own server for the company and it's no sweat. No problem if they aren't keen.

But the central point of this thread is valid; at the moment N gauge deserves more presence and visibility on the larger platforms. Hornby has put a lot of effort into the TT120 brand in this way, and it's certainly drawing some crowds.

[njee20]

But does it? To what end? Why does a Discord server need to be for the N Gauge Society? I find Discord clumsy, not least the fact that you need servers to be catalogued elsewhere is a pain! How do you publicise it? Etc etc.

To come back to the original point, Peachy has 3K subscribers. Here are some N gauge specific channels and sub numbers:

Chandwell: 20100
Great Deltan N gauge: 4540
James Hilton: 4560
Elvenholme: 3650

They were the first 4 I landed on. The content creators are out there. Maybe they're not 'lobbying' like Peachy does, but TT is in a unique position, and again, I'm not sure he's really influencing anything, just talking about it. That can be valuable of course, but what do people think would be accomplished if he switched to N tomorrow? New N gauge models? Cheaper prices? More production runs? It's a very insular audience. How many people on the street have heard of Peachy? Virtually no one. Of those who subscribe how many are aware of the existence of N gauge? Nearly all I suspect.

Perhaps someone like Revolution have a view; I do know the Class B tanker was as a result of the campaign by a couple of people on here, but neither (to my knowledge) have YouTube channels.

[Will_J]

Well, it's free and low effort so it's for them to decide if they want to try it, even thirty active users is enough for a really enjoyable niche server. That's the only end it needs in my own view. It's never going to be a massive recruitment tool for the scale.

It's crazy that I've never heard of two of those YouTube channels. So much for the algorithm! James's channel is superb and I really enjoy it. I'll check out Chandwell and Elvenholme.

[mrobs2002]

Here are some N gauge specific channels and sub numbers:

Chandwell: 20100
Great Deltan N gauge: 4540
James Hilton: 4560
Elvenholme: 3650

The DIY & Digital Railroad has 85.6k subscribers at the time of writing.

[njee20]

Fair enough, doesn't sound like an N gauge channel? As I said, I don't enjoy watching YouTube videos, merely offering a counter to the idea that "N gauge needs someone with the reach of Peachy".

[Will_J]

It's US N scale with an emphasis on emerging model railway technology especially DIY and open source systems. Great channel.

I suppose it is hard to argue that British N *needs* something like Jimmy's channel. But it would be nice those of us who enjoy the YouTube format.

I try to support the YouTubers where I can as goodness knows I don't have the time to make videos. It's always a great privilege to see them using my own bits and pieces.

[njee20]

Yeah I always get the warm and fuzzies when I see anyone using my stuff,
YouTuber or otherwise!