Welcome to Western Thunder
This Forum was started several years ago by Cynric Williams who was keen to see a relaxed forum where modellers could share photos and notes on construction of models and layouts, particularly focusing on the larger scales, from 'S' & 'O' upwards. The emphasis is on people “doing stuff”, in part a reaction against the wish lists and "box modellers" on other forums.
The original nucleus of modellers had a fairly common interest in Western Region Diesel Hydraulics, hence the theme of the forum was set.
There is really only one rule and that is "to play nicely".
There are a few other guidelines that Cynric used to apply but nothing too serious. It was simple things like no politics, sex, religion, no frothing and definitely no wish-listing; other forums are available for that kind of discussion.
Fortunately moderation is kept to a minimum with the occasional reminder to play nicely. We like to think we are a tolerant group of modellers and all that we ask is that people respect that we all have different modelling ambitions.
Like any forum that has evolved over the years there are a few traditions and in-jokes that may on first inspection seem obscure. New members are more than welcome and so a couple of explanations may help demystify it.
When Cynric set up the forum he used Jack Reagan as an avatar so was frequently referred to as the Guv'nor, which is why the admin team got tagged as the Flying Squad.
The origin of the frequent reference to "blue" seems to have been lost in time. Apparently it started from a discussion about running rights over a garden railway and as a joke they would only allow blue engines running rights. Various jovial comments were made about painting at least one loco in green. This led to certain members forming the Blue Brigade to retain their cultural heritage and repelling other desirable colours. So the frequent mention of the colour blue is a not so subtle ploy to recruit new members to their Brigade. Just humour them, they're mostly harmless.
We fully recognize that there are other Model Railway forums and have no qualms about mentioning them directly particularly if you have a link to some good modelling. However this is not the place to bring any grievances or politics from those forums, we're here for the modelling not for having a moan about other forums.
New members may also see the occasional reference to SBB or spam, banter and bo***cks. This basically translates to respect the wishes of the original poster of a thread. We like, for the main part, to keep the threads on track and focused on the modelling. However some threads may be prone to drift which is fine as long it's ok with the original poster, although truth be told it's usually the original poster that goes off at a tangent anyway! For information this is discussed in this S_B_B thread.
The SBB thread also refers to the classroom comment. Once again this started from the most innocuous of comments on a thread that was getting technical. One member, despite evidence to the contrary, claimed to be confused and had decided to retire to the back of the classroom, leaving the front rows for the swots. The classroom has slowly expanded to include stages and side rooms.
So if you'd like to join in the fun we like lots of photos and modelling content, just remember to play nicely and don't take it too seriously.
The original nucleus of modellers had a fairly common interest in Western Region Diesel Hydraulics, hence the theme of the forum was set.
There is really only one rule and that is "to play nicely".
There are a few other guidelines that Cynric used to apply but nothing too serious. It was simple things like no politics, sex, religion, no frothing and definitely no wish-listing; other forums are available for that kind of discussion.
Fortunately moderation is kept to a minimum with the occasional reminder to play nicely. We like to think we are a tolerant group of modellers and all that we ask is that people respect that we all have different modelling ambitions.
Like any forum that has evolved over the years there are a few traditions and in-jokes that may on first inspection seem obscure. New members are more than welcome and so a couple of explanations may help demystify it.
When Cynric set up the forum he used Jack Reagan as an avatar so was frequently referred to as the Guv'nor, which is why the admin team got tagged as the Flying Squad.
The origin of the frequent reference to "blue" seems to have been lost in time. Apparently it started from a discussion about running rights over a garden railway and as a joke they would only allow blue engines running rights. Various jovial comments were made about painting at least one loco in green. This led to certain members forming the Blue Brigade to retain their cultural heritage and repelling other desirable colours. So the frequent mention of the colour blue is a not so subtle ploy to recruit new members to their Brigade. Just humour them, they're mostly harmless.
We fully recognize that there are other Model Railway forums and have no qualms about mentioning them directly particularly if you have a link to some good modelling. However this is not the place to bring any grievances or politics from those forums, we're here for the modelling not for having a moan about other forums.
New members may also see the occasional reference to SBB or spam, banter and bo***cks. This basically translates to respect the wishes of the original poster of a thread. We like, for the main part, to keep the threads on track and focused on the modelling. However some threads may be prone to drift which is fine as long it's ok with the original poster, although truth be told it's usually the original poster that goes off at a tangent anyway! For information this is discussed in this S_B_B thread.
The SBB thread also refers to the classroom comment. Once again this started from the most innocuous of comments on a thread that was getting technical. One member, despite evidence to the contrary, claimed to be confused and had decided to retire to the back of the classroom, leaving the front rows for the swots. The classroom has slowly expanded to include stages and side rooms.
So if you'd like to join in the fun we like lots of photos and modelling content, just remember to play nicely and don't take it too seriously.