Dear Fellow Modeller,
This message is to let you know that the 2012 Sixth Model Railway Wish List poll is now open for voting.
Please use the following links to the poll:
2mm Scale Poll:This year the poll is again being run on the MROL website just as it has for the last five years. However, this year the poll is being run independently of MREMag.
The poll will be open for voting throughout the month of February.
In case of any confusion may we clarify that this is the original wish list poll. At the present time this is the only British outline on- line wish list poll which has ever been run.
Why now?
We expect that you are wondering why we are running the poll now rather than wait until after Bachmann announce their programme of new models in March. It may seem nonsensical to waste votes on a model, which might be announced by Bachmann in March.
However, the simple answer is that it doesn=92t make any difference to the manufacturers=92 programme and might actually disadvantage Bachmann.
Simon Kohler of Hornby has informed us that he lays plans down for a new loco or indeed a new piece of rolling stock three years before it will appear in the shops. So we could very well have been wasting votes in 2010 and 2011 on models, which were already in the manufacturers=92 2012 programmes. Simon tells us that Hornby use the poll to confirm that they are going in the right direction. So if we take Bachmann=92s latest models out of the poll then we are disadvantaging them by denying them the opportunity to make this confirmation.
The full text of Simon Kohler=92s response can be found on the website of the British Railway Modellers of Australia at
A very interesting year!
Each year we invite you to provide additional information about your modelling interests. The information, which you have provided over the last few years, has shown that the period of most interest to modellers is gradually moving forward. The most popular period is now the BR transition period between steam and diesel. There is a very real possibility that this years=92 poll will reveal that the most popular period has moved forward to the BR Corporate era (the Blue/ Grey period). If this happens then it will be the first year in which interest in diesel and electric traction has overtaken interest in steam.
This year could be a significant date in the history of our hobby marking the start of declining interest in steam.
Please contribute to our poll so that we can determine whether this change is really happening.
O Gauge:
There is growing interest in O Gauge with R-T-R rolling stock becoming available for the BR Diesel period at reasonable prices. If you are considering changing to O Gauge please place your votes in this section. If you are voting for diesel locos or modern coaches (Mk1 included) there is a very real chance that the manufacturers will take notice.
We intend to continue to support the growing interest in O Gauge in future MROL polls.
Results:
Computer collated data from the poll will be published in the Model Rail Forum at
Our analysis of the results will be published as soon as possible thereafter.
Should you not wish to receive further communications from us we have provided a tick box on the first page of the poll for this purpose.
Please forward this message to as many of your fellow modellers as possible. The more people who vote in the poll the more the manufacturers will take notice of our wishes.
Kind regards
Graham Plowman (MROL Website Administrator) Paul Plowman (MROL Editor) Colin Watts (Historical Advisor)