The BBC news website has just posted this. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-48326572
I cannot comprehend what could posess these idiots to do such a thing.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Hard to comprehend. I can understand someone being desperate enough to steal something to try to sell it, but just to destroy something for no reason? I don't know. We had something like that here in the Twin Cities, there was a nice guy who had a moderately large HO layout dispayed in it's own building at the Minnesota State Fair, and used to charge a nominal fee (I think $1) for entrance. In the 1980's vandals broke in during the winter and smashed it up. He decided to not try to rebuild, and the building sat vacant for many years.
Very sad.
.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Happens a lot over there. A lot of people use sheds for thier layout space. Even a well known youtube how too layout got hit
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
Heartbreaking!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I can’t understand the reasoning one could have for this?
Completely irrational!
The owners of effected collections must be devastated!
I fear the authorities and vandals themselves just won’t understand the value of model trains, both in actua money spent and in time. Even an infinitive sum of funds can’t replace such a collection.
Regards, Isaac
I model my railroad and you model yours! I model my way and you model yours!
I've never understood vandalism from the time I first witnessed the destruction of the rest rooms of our village park in the late 1940s. They were in a nicely built structure, with running water, including flush toilets, used during the midsummer carnaval and Labor Day celebrations and during muni baseball games. The Neanderthals destroyed them every other year, forcing the village (less than a thousand population) to repair them. In this case, while it's heartening to see how fast the donations added up to a phenominal sum, it can never be brought back to original. Members may recall my question about the sabotage done to the New York Society of Model Engineers layouts, back in the '50s. I don't think the psychologists of today know much more about the minds of these creatures than did Freud and Jung in their day. We're all poorer for this loss.
Deano
If ya need to destroy something, build something your self to destroy! If this happened to our club, I don't know if we could make a comeback, as a good portion of the modules were build by folks not in the club anymore.
Harrison
Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.
Modeling the D&H in 1978.
Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"
My YouTube
I saw the story last night while reading the news on my phone and showed it to my wife, who was born and raised in England. I found the news and scenes very disturbing and to think about all the people who put countless hours into their passion only to have it mindlessly and wantonly trampled on and destroyed.
Having watched how the British justice system handles crime and ciminals over the past 10 years, I have drawn the conclusion that they are definitely part of the problem, because they have a pervasive tendency to be very soft on punishment of crime. So much so that I half-jokingly refer to their penal system as "the soft pillow".
That is when criminals actually get punished as many are given suspended sentences, which means they are only threatened with punishment and acutally walk free. In many cases, people have to prove over and over to the British justice system that they are a serious menace to society to get locked up behind bars.
The sad thing to me is that victims are not protected as perpetrators are allowed to repeat crimes over and over before they are removed from the public and restrained. I've read story after story of women being beaten and abused over and over and often killed because some scum of the earth is not restrained sooner by the justice system. The judges tend to say, don't be naughty and let them walk free and hope that they will be good. The jerks often smirk and even say something to the judge and out out and keep at it. They "know" by the system they will get off lightly. Eve the real bad guys tend to get a fraction of the time behind bars as they do here in the US.
Anyway, I know this sad vandalism case is not as simple as locking up the scum, because there are root causes that let a bunch of young men think this was ok or even fun to do - fun in a sadistic sort of way. They gotta be morally bankrupt and twisted, but sadly will probably be given a slap on the wrist and off they go. SMH
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I read earlier this morning that arrests have been made.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Medina1128 I read earlier this morning that arrests have been made.
That was on the BBC last night. But don't expect much more than a slap on the wrist.
I am amazed at how many of my friends have forwarded this story to me.
They mostly comment that they cannot imagine how a tragedy like this would effect me. Interesting. I did not think I talked about my hobby that much, but everyone I know seems to know that I am a model railroader.
M-R alumnus Sir Rod Stewart has donated to the cause:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-48332649
Money, of course, can not replace the hours of painstaking labor, care and "sweat equity" of the builders of these models but I hope it eases the sense of loss for these fellow modelers.
Cheers, Ed
If you told me that this was a thing before this happened, I wouldn't have believed you, the same way as if you told me you had laser eyes, were invincable, and could fly.
I simply cannot wrap my mind around this. Surely the vandals were not mentally stable? Who in their right mind would even CONSIDER such a thing?
Honestly, whatever replacements that can be bought should be bought by the vandals. I am so sorry to see something like this happen to innocent, hard work.
I'm beginning to realize that Windows 10 and sound decoders have a lot in common. There are so many things you have to change in order to get them to work the way you want.
I am amazed at how many of my friends have forwarded this story to me. They mostly comment that they cannot imagine how a tragedy like this would effect me. Interesting. I did not think I talked about my hobby that much, but everyone I know seems to know that I am a model railroader. -Kevin
Not one person forwarded the story to me. Hm...
I have to say, as bad as that wanton distruction was, calling it a tragedy is silly. A tragedy is when a human being is killed or badly mamed or a group of people. Lets keep things in perspective here.
BNSF UP and others modeler Surely the vandals were not mentally stable? Who in their right mind would even CONSIDER such a thing?
Surely the vandals were not mentally stable? Who in their right mind would even CONSIDER such a thing?
Mentally stable - they probably were but just nasty hateful and board young men. It was not mindless as the title of the topic suggested, it was mindful, intentional and just plain mean.
Honestly, whatever replacements that can be bought should be bought by the vandals.
Should happen and what will happen are probably two different things. The vandals probably have little money so don't expect them to replace things, especially things that were labors of love. We can only pray they receive justice but my impression of the British legal system is we will be disappointed.