Filming Trenholme Junction

This blog is to explain some of the questions asked about the filming of the layout and takes the subjects raised from the YouTube channel comments.

Observations

Before I go into specific issues, there are a few thing worth noting. 

Have you ever watched a film on YouTube where there is a fantastic looking layout which has obviously had many hours of hard work lavished on it, only to find for the next twenty minutes the same couple of trains appear and disappear every twenty seconds or so? 

The same thing can be said of model railway exhibitions, although to a lesser degree. Exhibition layouts usually have the opposite effect of the appearing/disappearing phenomena with large 'realistic' pauses of non-activity. I attended an exhibition recently in the hope that this situation may have changed in the few years since I last attended one but, alas, it hasn't. 
One layout, superb, was an operational disaster. Within a few minutes of my arrival a train held in a loop set off and ended in the scrap yard, an express pulled into the station loop and then inched forward very slowly until it collided with the next main line train. Amazingly, this was going on while a healthy discussion was going on with the cast of thousands operating the layout. 
A second layout of similar high quality, had timetable working - on a quiet branch!!!!!!

You can argue that the exhibitors are amateur but there are a few things to bear in mind here.

First, I paid good money to see these exhibits and I expect to be entertained and inspired.

Second, These exhibitions are showcases for the clubs and should serve to attract new people to the hobby and to the clubs. 

Third, If somebody like me who has a passion for the hobby is bored, then the future is bleak.    

Filming Factors

In the films I produce on the layout, there are a few self imposed rules I follow:-

There is a story.

No train will appear more than once in each film (except the subject matter)

No gaps in operations of more than 3 seconds.

There are no helicopter shots.  

Where practical, continuity between the films is maintained in each of the series. This means for example, film 2 will follow from film 1, many times the films will follow each other so they can be watched like a soap.

Filming Subjects

If you've read the rest of this blog, you'll know that the layout was built to record railway operation. In order to do that, the railway has to go from place to place, the same purpose as the real thing. 

There are five stations on the layout and passenger trains can pass through all of them in a continuous run. As in real life, most of the passenger stock is in assembled rakes and in my films they quite often take a background role in passing trains.

Many people ask why don't you have lots of expresses all running together?

There is a very good reason why I don't this.   

I refer you to my opening paragraph, although on this layout it takes more than twenty seconds to appear/disappear the effect would be just the same, but with boring long gaps.

When trains are running fast, its difficult for the camera to make a good image and you simply end up with a blurry image where you can't see anything at all. It's an easy experiment to replicate, try it with your phone camera and see the result. You could argue a better camera would do the job, probably, but where would you get one small enough to film in the places I do? 

Another point to consider is this. There are eight continuous ovals on the junction all capable of express operation simultaneously. If you run these in one film with say a ten coach train on each then that's eighty coaches required. You would probably get a one minute blurred film and use up about 70% of the coaching stock in one go. What do you put in the next film?  

The junction has many parcels vans which are spread all over the layout and these are popular in films giving some variety and interest to what are some pretty boring and monotonous passenger stock movements.

Most people from my age group would have been introduced to railways by travelling in DMU's (Diesel Multiple Units) and the best way to see the railway was to be standing up behind the driver. The series depicting this position is very popular and is my favourite of all the films I've made. At the risk of boring a few, I intend to do some more journeys from this position, I'm sure there are some unexplored routes left.

By far and away the greatest amount of handling on the railways at the time portrayed was the goods traffic. When the layout was designed I was careful to make sure there was enough rail served industry in order to have vibrant and busy goods traffic, hence the leaning towards this subject. Most of the industry around where I grew up was rail served, shunting went on day and night. This part of the re-creation of this time was to show the complicated movements required to achieve relatively simple tasks. There are dozens of films in existence of all the crack expresses, but very little in the detail of the goods operations which after all were the reason why the railways existed at all.

Comments

I am never more amused with any of the comments than the pre-occupation there is for questions about filming in the tunnels. It is amazing how many times I'm asked about this subject. 
A tunnel is a black hole, probably the most boring monotonous piece of film you can imagine. 
The tunnels on Trenholme Junction are very long, taking some time to traverse. If you film them, all you can see is the bracing for the layout board above. Nothing makes me switch of a film more quickly than a view of the underside of someone's baseboard and therefore I don't want the same thing on my films. 

Speed is another subject which comes up frequently. Going back to the Exhibition comments earlier in this article, this is another area where the image of a brilliantly visual layout can be destroyed in seconds. There's nothing worse than seeing an 0-4-0 shunter taking off at the speed of a Ferrari and smashing into a line of wagons and then taking again faster than the express next to it. I can't understand why this area is the most neglected of the presentation package. On saying this, I not saying that, I'm not perfect, I have to have a cringe when I see some of my earlier attempts. The point here is this detail is as important as any other part the model. On filming operations, its easy to film it again and edit out any mistakes, but a little practice in this area does make a big difference.

Another area which attracts a lot of questions, is about how the films are made. The aim of this channel is to produce a record of a working railway viewed from the same perspective I viewed it from as a child.
I watched all the Harry Potter films and was very impressed by all the special effects and how well the thing was put together, but then I watched the film of how it was made and although it was fascinating, I'm not sure  knowing what went on in the background enhanced my enjoyment of the films 'seen as is'. After many requests, I have toyed with the idea of produced a film about the making of the films, but I'm torn between destroying the images I set out to achieve.    

Equipment

Since December 2012 :-

Track side shots:- Samsung HMX-M20P 1080p Camcorder

On board shots:- Sony HDR-AS10 1080p Camcorder

Editing Suite:- Sony Movie Studio HD Production Suite

Prior to December 2012

On board shots:- Dogcam 720p camcorder 

For more details of the above - Google them. 

Facts

Generally, it takes around an hour to make each minute of film and the channel gets around 25,000 to 30,000 hits per month. 

One of the things I wanted to do when I set out on this project was to inspire and engage the younger generation in this hobby and when I started out the YouTube channel, almost all the views were from the generation which grew up in the time frame the layout was set (55-65+).
As time has gone on age of the viewers has started to even out, 4.5% in 13 -17 age range, 9.4 % 18-24 age range, 25% 24 -34 age range, 23 % 35-44 age range. 
The 55-65+ now form only 29% of the total views. 
This is a massive shift in a couple of years and hopefully this is indicating younger people are interested and will join the hobby. 
Another fact which fascinates me, is that around 16% of all viewers are females in the 25-44 age range.

Conclusion

I realise that when you put something on public display then you should be prepared for criticism and I'm always receptive to constructive criticism, (there's some been some rude ones as well). In highlighting some of the things here, I'm not been rude to anybody, but I'm making an observation of what I see wrong elsewhere and how I've tried to address these issues in my efforts and highlighting these issues is for the common good.    

The building of the layout and the films I produce are a very personal re-creation of the world I grew up in. I know what the gaps in books/films are, because in searching for the information during the building of the layout, I couldn't find any........ 

To view the channel, click the link below:-

https://www.youtube.com/user/dougattrenholmebar