Quote:
Originally Posted by M4tty69
Obviously I speak for a small percentage here but having been one of the public attending shows and now having purchased my engine I've been looking at exhibiting once it's done I have these things to say...
From a public point of view I have found that very few owners, both full size or miniature, seem willing to chat about their engines, most people I tried to talk to about their engine and the show and the scene in general just seemd annoyed at the fact I was bothering them and gave very blunt answers and tried to shut the conversation down ASAP and get on with sitting in their chair staring into space. Don't get me wrong, there were a select few that welcomed a nice conversation and loved telling me all about their pride and joy and the rallies ect. But the general feeling I got was that if you weren't an owner then you weren't worth talking to, if this is how all of the young people are treated then I can see why my friends all laugh at my love for steam and say 'it's for grumpy old men' I don't agree with my friends atall but I'm now seeing where they are coming from. That said, everyone on this forum seems to be very nice and I can't wait to meet a lot of you at the rallies I attend!
Now for the engine owner side of things...
Having been looking into next years shows and rallies and deciding which ones to attend I have noticed a pattern. A lot of rallies seem to put a cap on minimum size of engine that are allowed to move on site, a lot I have looked at say no smaller than 3" scale. Which in my eyes is stupid, the amount of 2" engines I see in old rally videos on the internet that I can't seat show snow is unbelievable, if anything I feel the organisers should be encouraging the miniature engine owners to attend instead of pushing them away and saying they can't use them for their intended purpose. That said there may be something that I'm unaware of that is making them do this? If anything the smaller engines are what the public can relate to more and it's more likely what they will be getting if they are considering an engine.
Anyways, that's my 2pence worth, being new to the forum I hope no one takes what I've said the wrong way!
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Hi, you have made some interesting comments. I was not personally aware that some rally organisers had a minimum engine size policy. In my opinion this is ludicrous, a live steam engine is a live steam engine irrespective of it's size. I must admit, I admire the smaller scales due to the engineering excellence which they embody and the fact that someone with a hell of a lot more skill than I will ever possess has built and operated a masterpiece of engineering. You may not be able to ride behind it especially if you are built as I am like a brick built outhouse! but it is still a pleasure to see these marvels of engineering in steam.