Christmas 2013
When your families' ask you this year what you would like for Christmas, there is always a temptation ask for another wagon or if they're rich, then a new locomotive maybe a possibility. I thought that maybe you might like to ask for what I was given last year and found to be one of the most useful things I've had for the train shed.
This year saw me join that famous club, I turned 60 and became an 'old git'. Rising costs to heat the train shed meant that some prudence in this area had to be exercised. Nothing can be worse than that feeling of anticipation of an operating session tempered by a cold room when you are in the house with the heating on or the fire blazing up the chimney.
My wife bought me some thermal underwear, long sleeved vest and leggings. You can get really thin ones these days and the difference is significant, costing around twenty quid they really did make a big difference and I've got them on again. They don't stop the dew drop on the end of your nose if its really cold but the overall comfort is well worth it.
If the grandchildren ask you what you want, then bear in mind you can't have too many track rubbers.
New Year 2014
The New Year will see a bitter sweet time for Trenholme Junction. History tells us that at the time the layout was set, the axe swung after the Beeching report and Trenholme Junction is about to be one of the lines to to closed. The layout is going to be dismantled.
There has been over 150 videos made on the layout which have all been published on the YouTube channel (link below) so a very comprehensive record of the layout has been made (and you don't need thermal underwear to view them).
The layout was built to be filmed and to this end has fulfilled its original aim. It was built in the traditional manner ignoring some of the established rules of traditional methods in order to accommodate the filming.
Already the new layout is in the planning.
The next one won't be a full blown layout in a room but a series of film sets which can be bolted together in different combinations to create an ever changing layout. The 'sets' will built in modules, some small and some large which will in fact be a series of diorama's.
The current layout was built in the traditional way, viewed from the time honoured angle, but with filming in mind. A hybrid in fact.
There will be no consideration to the new sets being viewed other than from the inside. The camera eye view. This principle opens new possibilities, for example, on a traditional layout it's not possible to model a cutting and see what's going on other from the helicopter position. To do this successfully, camera placements will have to built into the scenery in such a way as to be able to capture the track side view and at the same time hidden from view when the filming is taking place on board the moving trains. Some new planning thoughts must be exercised here.
Another thing I'm going to experiment with is to combine model and the real world, using real life backdrops instead of the unrealistic painted back scenes which spoil many a good layout.
Filming has taught me one thing I never considered, is the amount of detail these fabulous new high definition cameras pick up. The modern locomotives and rolling stock look incredibly good, so you have to match their surroundings will equally good scenery to get the best overall effect. Merging the real world with the model will probably achieve this.
I intend to film the building of the newlayout 'sets' and publish the project on the channel.
I made a film on the layout a couple of years ago and tells the story of the job of a Goods Guard in 1962. 'The Man at the Back' (nickname for the guard) is a journey on a Pick up Goods Train, recreating the view few people (except goods guards) would have seen.
The entire film utilises the camera in the guards van and is narrated by me, as a nine year old, telling of life and times of a boy, fascinated by the place he grew up in. The film is to released at 08:30 on Christmas Day and will be only available to view for one week only. Running time 54 minutes.
I would like to thank all the people who watched the channel and especially those of you who have constantly encouraged and sent me suggestions and for the constructive criticism.
I have tried to answer every bodies comments and will continue to do so. If there is any particular view or train you would like to see then let me know and I'll try to produce a video.
For those of you like figures, the channel has had well over a third of a million views, currently nearly thirty thousand views a month and growing month on month.
Finally, may you have a Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
Already the new layout is in the planning.
The next one won't be a full blown layout in a room but a series of film sets which can be bolted together in different combinations to create an ever changing layout. The 'sets' will built in modules, some small and some large which will in fact be a series of diorama's.
The current layout was built in the traditional way, viewed from the time honoured angle, but with filming in mind. A hybrid in fact.
There will be no consideration to the new sets being viewed other than from the inside. The camera eye view. This principle opens new possibilities, for example, on a traditional layout it's not possible to model a cutting and see what's going on other from the helicopter position. To do this successfully, camera placements will have to built into the scenery in such a way as to be able to capture the track side view and at the same time hidden from view when the filming is taking place on board the moving trains. Some new planning thoughts must be exercised here.
Another thing I'm going to experiment with is to combine model and the real world, using real life backdrops instead of the unrealistic painted back scenes which spoil many a good layout.
Filming has taught me one thing I never considered, is the amount of detail these fabulous new high definition cameras pick up. The modern locomotives and rolling stock look incredibly good, so you have to match their surroundings will equally good scenery to get the best overall effect. Merging the real world with the model will probably achieve this.
I intend to film the building of the new
I made a film on the layout a couple of years ago and tells the story of the job of a Goods Guard in 1962. 'The Man at the Back' (nickname for the guard) is a journey on a Pick up Goods Train, recreating the view few people (except goods guards) would have seen.
The entire film utilises the camera in the guards van and is narrated by me, as a nine year old, telling of life and times of a boy, fascinated by the place he grew up in. The film is to released at 08:30 on Christmas Day and will be only available to view for one week only. Running time 54 minutes.
I would like to thank all the people who watched the channel and especially those of you who have constantly encouraged and sent me suggestions and for the constructive criticism.
I have tried to answer every bodies comments and will continue to do so. If there is any particular view or train you would like to see then let me know and I'll try to produce a video.
For those of you like figures, the channel has had well over a third of a million views, currently nearly thirty thousand views a month and growing month on month.
Finally, may you have a Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
To view the channel, follow the link below
