BBC Trainspotting Live

andyb2706 · 12 Jul 2016

I noticed there was a it of TV production licence going on.

Perter Snow: "We've just got a live feed coming in of a freight train"

Which turned out to be a rake of 66's where his colleague stated it is new "66's" being delivered, quite excitedly.....only problem all 66's already here and the middle one was under taup....hmm, wasn't that earlier this year and the loco that was hiding was what has become "Evening Star"!?

Come on guys at the Beeb!! Most people watching would be rail enthusiasts and would probably have noticed, okay it fed into the theme of were trains where built but lets be honest about footage.

Also I'm not too sure about the programme, are they serious or just taking the michael out of enthusiasts? Title makes me wonder to, I agree with one of the earlier posts something like Railwatch would have been a bit more gravitas for me.

Only thing that really kept me watching was Dr Fry, although some of the mathematics she was doing seemed a bit pointless to me, but if it keeps Dr Fry on screen I say more of it....does seem a bit false to me. Just my opinion.

RailUK Forums

me123 · 12 Jul 2016

jonmorris0844 said:
I didn't see it tonight, but what's the maths stuff about exactly?

Two segments

1) How a train moves. She put up F=ma and explained it that the force generated by the train needs to exceed the resistive force to get going.
2) How fast a train can be going to allow you to spot a number using Pythagoras (yes, really!).

Assuming you stand on a perpendicular line 10m from the train track and can read a number from 20m away, this creates an isosceles triangle with sides 20, 20 and 35 (where the line of length 35 is the track and the lines of length 20 are distances from you to the track). This bit used the theorem of Pythagoras. She then assumed that you could read the number of the train in 0.1s and using speed=distance/time worked out that you can read the number of a train traveling at about 350m/s. Or 783mph.

She then points out that she hasn't accounted for motion blur, which makes the whole exercise rather pointless!

MadCommuter · 12 Jul 2016

Considering the errors that the media normally make with simple images against a story, the errors last night were minimal. However, considering its appeal to enthusiasts they really should have had someone knowledgeable checking all videos and photos.

I can't help but feel it portrayed the hobby in the exact way that non-enthusiasts see it.

Andrewlong · 12 Jul 2016

SodTheDrummer said:
Was OK. However id like to see a program about the infrastructure rather than the trains. i.e. the track, stations, OLE, signals etc and all the effort and grief involved in organising/planning maintenance of existing assets and new projects. Actually showing what a 'signal problem' means might help the masses understand the reason why this 'simple' problem causes so much chaos..

I watched it for about 10 minutes and then turned it off. It felt very amateurish to me and sending in videos of a class 66 loco as if we were talking about a rare bird was laughable. Had there been some film about how modern railways work eg the DOO matter it would have kept my attention - but when you get Dick Strawbridge standing on a platform with his notepad and pencil - it was too much.

There is a new 6 part series on the railways starting on 21 July presented by those people who did the Edwardian farm. More my cup of tea!

trainmania100 · 12 Jul 2016

I'm looking forward to tonights show
We might see some of my photos I sent in

infobleep · 12 Jul 2016

jonmorris0844 said:
I didn't see it tonight, but what's the maths stuff about exactly? Stuff like working out how to run nnn trains with only nn drivers? Did they get Govia on the programme?

The next series could be called Staff sickness live. They could look at the issues surrounding staff being sick, DOO and Govia not employing enough staff.

We could have love updates from ill staff! Haha.

Of course Govia might only appear if it only paints the picture they want.

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--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

andyb2706 said:
I noticed there was a it of TV production licence going on.

Perter Snow: "We've just got a live feed coming in of a freight train"

Which turned out to be a rake of 66's where his colleague stated it is new "66's" being delivered, quite excitedly.....only problem all 66's already here and the middle one was under taup....hmm, wasn't that earlier this year and the loco that was hiding was what has become "Evening Star"!?

Come on guys at the Beeb!! Most people watching would be rail enthusiasts and would probably have noticed, okay it fed into the theme of were trains where built but lets be honest about footage.

Also I'm not too sure about the programme, are they serious or just taking the michael out of enthusiasts? Title makes me wonder to, I agree with one of the earlier posts something like Railwatch would have been a bit more gravitas for me.

Only thing that really kept me watching was Dr Fry, although some of the mathematics she was doing seemed a bit pointless to me, but if it keeps Dr Fry on screen I say more of it....does seem a bit false to me. Just my opinion.

I don't agree with lying to the viewers with stated live footage that isn't, if that is what happened. The TV companies got stung over competitions not be correct and I don't see this as any different, other than no competition is involved.

Springwatch never dress things up as live if they are not. They do have backup video if live goes wrong too!

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43074 · 12 Jul 2016

MadCommuter said:
I can't help but feel it portrayed the hobby in the exact way that non-enthusiasts see it.

Oh yes it did, even down to the title of the programme. A good opportunity to dispel some of the stereotypes of the train enthusiast - not just spotter - community well and truly missed. I enjoyed Tim Dunn though, if nothing else just for his dress sense and sheer enthusiasm, but that aside it was a bit naff.

Looking forward to tonight's show, for the sole reason that it will feature HSTs and 37s but that's about all.

infobleep · 12 Jul 2016

Andrewlong said:
I watched it for about 10 minutes and then turned it off. It felt very amateurish to me and sending in videos of a class 66 loco as if we were talking about a rare bird was laughable. Had there been some film about how modern railways work eg the DOO matter it would have kept my attention - but when you get Dick Strawbridge standing on a platform with his notepad and pencil - it was too much.

There is a new 6 part series on the railways starting on 21 July presented by those people who did the Edwardian farm. More my cup of tea!

That sounds good. Are they recreating a year of working on the railways? I've not seen all the farm programs but everyone I saw was quality and fascinating. They really brought the time period alive.

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Searle · 12 Jul 2016

me123 said:
Two segments

1) How a train moves. She put up F=ma and explained it that the force generated by the train needs to exceed the resistive force to get going.
2) How fast a train can be going to allow you to spot a number using Pythagoras (yes, really!).

Not exactly cutting edge, is it? :lol:

me123 · 12 Jul 2016

Nope, but she is a very interesting presenter and I think would do a brilliant job with some more complex mathematics. I'd watch a proper series of this kind of stuff on BBC4.

[youtube]lCjspXB5F4A[/youtube]

Western Lord · 12 Jul 2016

I thought it was an amateurish shambles. Somebody should tell Peter Snow the difference between a train and a locomotive, and the woman talked about "train lines"! Ugh.

gazzak · 12 Jul 2016

I was out last night so recorded this and looked forward to watching it all evening. What a complete let down. I lasted less than 15 minutes and even with fast forward couldn't bring myself to watch any further. A huge disappointment.

LAX54 · 12 Jul 2016

I assume no one fell for the surprise appearance by 66779 were they ?

RPM · 12 Jul 2016

Having had the chance now to sleep on it, I'm left with a growing suspicion that the whole thing is a giant p*ss-take.

Harbornite · 12 Jul 2016

RPM said:
Having had the chance now to sleep on it, I'm left with a growing suspicion that the whole thing is a giant p*ss-take.

They should have more of the documentary style stuff (like the segment on GMT) and less live, blurry recordings from spotters. We don't want to see Terry from Barnsley or whoever flailing in a pacer.

thenorthern · 12 Jul 2016

Given though that BBC Four programmes rarely get over 500,000 viewers the fact that TrainspottingLive was trending on Twitter as the most talked about thing in the United Kingdom is probably a good sign for the BBC. BBC Four is an interesting channel as I was talking to a commissioning editor the other day and most things on BBC Four wouldn't work on commercial channels as they cost a lot to make and don't get the viewing figures that attract advertisers willing to pay large amounts.

I would think Trainspotting Live could very well come back for a second series although the producers will probably read comments like on this forum and on Twitter to see how to improve it in the future.

LAX54 · 12 Jul 2016

thenorthern said:
Given though that BBC Four programmes rarely get over 500,000 viewers the fact that TrainspottingLive was trending on Twitter as the most talked about thing in the United Kingdom is probably a good sign for the BBC. BBC Four is an interesting channel as I was talking to a commissioning editor the other day and most things on BBC Four wouldn't work on commercial channels as they cost a lot to make and don't get the viewing figures that attract advertisers willing to pay large amounts.

I would think Trainspotting Live could very well come back for a second series although the producers will probably read comments like on this forum and on Twitter to see how to improve it in the future.

Needs to be 'RAILWATCH' in its design, Broadcasting from one area, and from a Signalbox, Station, Train and Control and explain how it all dovetails together, you can still have the 'spotting' element in there too.

Harbornite · 12 Jul 2016

oldsiggie said:
Needs to be 'RAILWATCH' in its design, Broadcasting from one area, and from a Signalbox, Station, Train and Control and explain how it all dovetails together, you can still have the 'spotting' element in there too.

That sounds good. IMO the show needs to be more technical, perhaps they should show the interiors of locomotives that they are focusing on, so we can see the engine room and learn about how the "important" stuff works.

Crossover · 12 Jul 2016

me123 said:
Two segments

1) How a train moves. She put up F=ma and explained it that the force generated by the train needs to exceed the resistive force to get going.
2) How fast a train can be going to allow you to spot a number using Pythagoras (yes, really!).

Assuming you stand on a perpendicular line 10m from the train track and can read a number from 20m away, this creates an isosceles triangle with sides 20, 20 and 35 (where the line of length 35 is the track and the lines of length 20 are distances from you to the track). This bit used the theorem of Pythagoras. She then assumed that you could read the number of the train in 0.1s and using speed=distance/time worked out that you can read the number of a train traveling at about 350m/s. Or 783mph.

She then points out that she hasn't accounted for motion blur, which makes the whole exercise rather pointless!

Yes - quite a few assumptions being made which made it an exercise in futility. Motion blur is only a part of it really.

oldsiggie said:
Needs to be 'RAILWATCH' in its design, Broadcasting from one area, and from a Signalbox, Station, Train and Control and explain how it all dovetails together, you can still have the 'spotting' element in there too.

The programme that was on last year of the Indian railways, broadcast primarily from CST in Mumbai I thought was an interesting format and worked quite well (aside from going over the same thing multiple times)

richieb1971 · 12 Jul 2016

Some of the clips were of a dire quality. Even the scene in Scotland, the guy couldn't hold the camera still and he is supposed to be a professional.

So far I would still prefer to watch youtubes of train videos than watch trainspotting live.

Some things I would like to see -

Interviews with DBS staff about the class 60's.

Interviews with the East West rail consortium about the development of the new railway between Oxford and Bedford.

A walk around Brush in Loughborough.

A walk around the Hitachi plant.

To see the 92's and whatever else is stored at Crewe.

To see some scrap yards where there are actually some locos still stored.

These are the types of things train enthusiasts want to see, the stuff you don't normally see. There was nothing in the TV show that anyone who has any interest in trains couldn't see without watching the show.

In other words, the show needs to take a new direction.

Harbornite · 12 Jul 2016

richieb1971 said:
Some things I would like to see -

Interviews with DBS staff about the class 60's.

Interviews with the East West rail consortium about the development of the new railway between Oxford and Bedford.

A walk around Brush in Loughborough.

A walk around the Hitachi plant.

To see the 92's and whatever else is stored at Crewe.

To see some scrap yards where there are actually some locos still stored.

These are the types of things train enthusiasts want to see, the stuff you don't normally see. There was nothing in the TV show that anyone who has any interest in trains couldn't see without watching the show.

In other words, the show needs to take a new direction.

Some good ideas there.

Heinz57 · 12 Jul 2016

The idea of the programe was to make train spotting look more exciting and appealing to 'outsiders', when infact all it managed to do was make us look like bigger saddos than we actualy are.

I thought it was pretty dire to be honest. I felt it was rushed and didn't provide any interesting facts.

In truth Hannah Fry was the only decent bit about it :lol:

richieb1971 · 12 Jul 2016

Harbornite said:
Some good ideas there.

Thanks. That argument that you could see a train number at 700+mph from 10 metres away is a far stretch of the imagination. A Pendolino at 125mph at Nuneaton is hard to get from 10 metres away. At 700mph you'd be lucky not to end up on the next platform by the time it past let alone read the number :lol:

TheEdge · 12 Jul 2016

Heinz57 said:
In truth Hannah Fry was the only decent bit about it

I'm sure I have no idea what you mean...

richieb1971 · 12 Jul 2016

Heinz57 said:
The idea of the programe was to make train spotting look more exciting and appealing to 'outsiders', when infact all it managed to do was make us look like bigger saddos than we actualy are.

I thought it was pretty dire to be honest. I felt it was rushed and didn't provide any interesting facts.

In truth Hannah Fry was the only decent bit about it

Yes your right. Not to mention they have no idea on how to film a train. The guy at Fort William was so close to the track you could never get a good shot of it. Pretty much just got the wheels. Didn't even get it going in the direction that it would be frontward facing and the camera man couldn't stop moving the camera.

Was hoping for more of the youtubers footage to get in there. As an enthusiast myself i'd give it 3/10. As usual, the idea of the show is GREAT! But the execution and direction of the show is totally lacking in most departments.

theblackwatch · 12 Jul 2016

me123 said:
Nope, but she is a very interesting presenter and I think would do a brilliant job with some more complex mathematics. I'd watch a proper series of this kind of stuff on BBC4.

She can't read numbers herself though, even using her 'formula'!

bicbasher · 12 Jul 2016

I'll watch again tonight, mainly for Hannah Fry. :oops:

Flying Phil · 12 Jul 2016

It would appear that there will be another TV program of interest - this clip was on the GCR News page
"Just a quick reminder to keep 21st July at 8 pm on BBC2 in your diaries for a new series ‘Full Steam Ahead’; there should be plenty of footage of TPO drops from both the lineside and from within the mail coaches."

fowler9 · 12 Jul 2016

I think the chap in Scotland was possibly ****ed, as was his camera crew. That isn't me knocking the Scots as he wasn't one, I genuinely think he was ****ed.

Looking back it was a bit scrappy and I doubt it will make the general public think that rail enthusiasts are not weird. It could have been done better. Still glad it was made though.

Tracked · 12 Jul 2016

I've seen the Evening Star today twice, once coming through Doncaster around 6:40 this morning, and this evening at Roberts Road

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