Monday, May 10, 2010

4206 arrives at Bylong

In case you were wondering if the Trainorama 42s have arrived, the answer is:

A Video of the Bylong Main Line

Here is No 83 conditional empty wheat train as it traverses almost the full length of the main line on my Bylong layout. The first 20' of line through Kerrabee wasn't good enough to post (in and out of focus, I got too close).

This gadget seems to only be 4 x 3 format so here it is on YouTube:
16 x 9 video.
The video was taken in one go as the train climbed from the lower staging yard at Muswellbrook to the upper staging at Gulgong.
Some sections have been cut out due to too much camera movement as I tried to keep up with the train. Almost all of the main line is shown except for the Cox's Gap loop and signal box, way too much movement.
If I ever build another layout then I will be aiming to have a lot more vertical space between the decks as it is difficult to take photos and videos in the current 10" or so (250mm).
One thing I have learnt is that using a video camera is an interesting challenge and good lighting is essential. To this end, I added four more low wattage flourescent lights to the lower deck under Wollar on the climb up into Bylong.
After installing the lights my HD digital video camera decided it didn't want to turn on last weekend and is in being repaired at the moment, well I am waiting for a quote anyway. It will have to be repaired as it is only 26 months old and it cost about $1400, of course it is out of warranty.
This video was taken with a small hand held Sanyo HD digital video camera shaped like a pistol so I couldn't put it down on the layout. This camera is my daughters and I did this video to try out the camera and the lighting.