1975: MODEL RAILWAYS - All You Need to Know | Model World | BBC Archive

They would be amazed with DCC

Why thinking about Gauge 1 i think of the prop and brilliant replicas of Thomas The Tank Engine

2mm to the foot. Yeah, just do metric and imperial now lol😊

Thank god.
I thought I was one of the few people left who remembers this series.
Now people can enjoy it again.
Please release the rest of the series BBC 😊

My girlfriend just texted to ask me what I'm doing.
I'm watching a 1975 BBC series on model trains.
How did I get like this? When did this happen to me?
Also, how can we cultivate that eye twinkle that Bob seems to have? Gosh, what a great looking guy.

Lovely program on model railroading! This old film covered such a variety of techniques and activities available at the time. Thank you for sharing this!

He was a Lovly Chap too. R.I.P. Bob amd thank you

I'd love to have a time machine and go back to show these modelers the model railways from 2025, 🤯 blow their minds

Fantastic programme! Brings model railways to life, But...,its Horsted kayns!

We remember "The House That Bob Built" as well.

Mixing metric and imperial is SO stupid. And of course girls just serve tea.

I put this on in the background while trying to do something else, but ended up watching the whole programme, transfixed.

I find micro dioramas immensely fascinating. The amount of detail and storytelling crammed into such a small working space. Impressive to say the least. I still choose to to model in HO, simply because I dont have the time or patience or skill in detailing, to work with anything smaller to any level of success.

I met Bob Symes in 1996 at an exhibition in Brighton. He was one of the nicest people you could ever meet.

Super nice , 50 years ago 😅

it's good, but it's no Everard Junction 🤣

Why no closed captioning? :(

A modeling legend. RIP Bob

At last, a television program about model railways which doesn't feature either Pete Waterman or James May.

I remember watching this with my grandad he was into making model boats was a great programme

What ever happened to that Horsted Keynes station layout? But it's epic to see this 3 part series as one video.

I love this show

What a man. I would have loved to meet him.

Fantastic and so wholesome a hobby from a more civilised time

Maximum geek.

Wonderful

I think the attention to small details is the most usiversal thing for men of a certain type 😁

I'm the same with my 1/6 scale figures and plastic models, and well, any project I work on. I've no particular interest in trains but I do long this sort of thing.

I went to Hamburg Germany many years ago now, and they have a place called Minatur Wonderland - I still think about it from time to time. Very impressive

What a lovely series of programmes. I don't have any interest in model railways but that doesn't mean one cant appreciate the time & effort taken to create some really elaborate setups and in particular the attention to detail of the scenery. Brilliant upload.

Even though I wasn't even born when this was made....I thoughly enjoyed it 👍

I always wanted a Hornby, but my parents were too poor. They bought me a Dinky and said it was a replacement bus service.

Thank you for listening BBC Archive please please more of BBC television Archive of railways and model railways HST InterCity 125s, APT-P Kestrel, Eurostar InterCity 225 etc.

RIP Mr Hobbs; the miller

Anyone remember a shop in Lillie Road Fulham London where you paid a penny to watch these trains?

50 years later, I guess many of these enthusiasts are gone . . . What a shame, all that experience, knowledge and wisdom.

Watched all the programs, Dad bought the series book, I/we built the semi scale Leander class frigate, the sailing boat then the free flight glider... That lead to us building and flying control line models, dad went to RC gliders, I eventually to RC boats... 🙂 I liked the trains but never had the urge to...

Must check out the model engineering course at my local college!! That 50 year old bloke building the steam engine must have been 30 when he started that course!

Bob Symes; a much missed legend.

How did they record first person on the track and side view with those kids on the ride? Cameras werent that small back in those days right?

I cannot watch this wonderful time-capsule without thinking of the joke Rod Stewart made on BBC Radio 4 when quizzed about his trains.

"What do breasts and model trains both have in common?
Both are really for kids, but Dad spends more time playing with them!"

(Cue national anthem) 🚂😂🇬🇧

Ah Robert Symes. The 70/80s model railway guru

Is that kid. Charlie Bucket from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory?

Big Bob Symes fan and love watching any program he was in. Christmas 1975 was the year I got my first train set. A Hornby GWR freight set that came with a tunnel, station and a goods yard. Still got it!

My favourite programme when I was a kid. Inspired me to get a love for aviation and our Dad liked trains. Would hate to be a kid today, but then again A.I will be creating everything and enslaving the Human Race. 😂 Hopefully we'll start again on Mars and keep to the pre-internet days and live again, instead of every waking moment trying to make new passwords!!

Märklin superior to UK train sets, and H0 is the best size in terms of detail space and available models for houses and other items.

Everyone knows that kids cats and wives are not allowed in proper railway rooms. Stepping over the railway like that is grounds for divorce, Get back in the kitchen and do your duties... Touch that train again boy and you will have a damn good thrashing. I loved the 70's.. haha

Nice locomotives

A window in to a more intelligent and civilised time.