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North East Model Railway (Trenholme Junction)


dougattrenholmebar
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This week didn't turn out as I planned.

I was expecting a new camera to arrive and it didn't. I was to spend the time getting to know it and to see how it was to edit the new footage.

The new lockdown has kicked in, and the weather has turned very wintry and with temperatures down to minus eight, its not very warm in the Train Shed.

This is the third video I have produced this week which reflects the weather outside. All three have used previously issued footage and shows how using special effects can substantially change the look of what is, the same model.

The process has two elements, the snow on the ground and the falling snow.

The snow on the ground is relatively straight forward to achieve but the falling snow is a bit more tricky. In the first two videos I opted for the very little wind option and it works really well, I had the chance of watching it first hand out of the window on the first day of snowfall. Snow rarely falls straight down its affected by wind, air currents and heat from machines, houses, industry etc. so in this video the snow has a more natural fall pattern and I hope this is noticeable.

For those of you wanting a video on how to do this, forget it, the amount of computer power you need to do this is huge, making videos isn't an option.

 

 

 

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Its still snowing at Trenholme Junction and today we are simply watching the trains pass by the Lower East Station.

Those of you following the channel this last couple of weeks will know I've been experimenting with producing this snowy effect. Getting the right light, balancing the icy look and the amount of snowfall is a bit tricky, but in this one I'm satisfied that its what I'm looking for.

 

 

 

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There's been a lot of interest with the 'snow weathered' videos I have been posting recently so I've added the effect to some more videos I have produced in the past.

Replacing a summer scene makes a change from every other layout (including mine) which always seem to take place on an ideal summer's day.

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

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This video is the first to be produced using a new camera. The previous one a Gopro Session 5, the new one is the Gopro Hero 9. For the technically curious, both are 4k cameras the 5, video'd in 25 fps (frames per second) the 9 is 50 fps.

The main difference you should notice is the smoothness on the later videos compared with the older (although still good). I'm keeping the 5 for shots where the later, 9, won't fit, eg inside cabs etc.

In this video we see a Standard Class amble in to the Main Station and take its place at the head of its train and readies for departure, followed by a Brittania rushing through with an express.

A Class 20 gently drifts through the bay platform with a hanful of tankers followed by the 08 shunter ushering some coches into the same bay platform awaiting the rest for the train to be made complete.

The snow keeps falling, reflecting the weather outside.

 

 

 

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During the last couple of weeks or so I've been breaking in my new camera, getting used to the settings and the software interface etc., so I've added the snow effects to some stock footages in order to give some output during the lockdown. This video is a favourite of mine with a few of the eight forty fives, resident at Trenholme Junction, just getting on with the job, despite the weather.

 

 

 

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The aim of this project is to show the railways in Britain as they were in the 1960's.

Difficult to represent real world distances in model form when trying to get away from the round and round train set on a table effect.

This video is an attempt to push the boundaries further than my usual single shot and single train subject.

Using two cameras together, one facing NW and the other SW at the southern end of the Main Station and using multi-camera software to synchronise the cameras, its possible to run multiple trains and get a perfect overlap between the two views.

All captured in the shadow of the Cleveland Hills and a under beautiful blue sky complete with fluffy clouds.

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

Further to the last video in this series Main Station Operation 10 (MSO 10), this is an extension of the methodology.

This video is a partial continuation of MSO 10, the two cameras are moved to the north end of the Main Station at Trenholme Junction and some of the trains featured in MSO10 continue their journeys'.

As in MSO10, one camera (the main view) is facing NW and the other (secondary view) is facing SW. In addition to these camera positions, two further positions are included looking NW and SW situated in the North Carriage sidings to view the trains passing on the mainly out of sight goods lines which skirt the station passing by the Engine Shed.

Four camera positions, synchronised with software.

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

We are at the North Bay at the Main Station at Trenholme Junction on a bright sunny and occasionally cloudy day watching the passenger operations back in the 1960's.

Class 25 D7672 arrives with coach stock and runs round the train.

08 D3963 arrives with an ex-LMS parcel van and places it at the rear of the coaches. The 25 gently reverses onto the van, before leaving.

5658 then pulls the suburban stock from the Carriage Siding and reverses into the platform road to collect its passengers, before departing also.

An excercise in camera tuning with the editing software and blending real and model world.

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

The southern end of the upper level of Trenholme Junction is the subject of this weeks video.

This area has not been the subject of many videos in the past, it was difficult to get good camera positions although this is quite an interesting and complicated part of the layout.

Alterations to the baseboard edges and the purchase of a couple of tripods for the camera have greatly improved the access and here is the result.

Just sitting beside the railway and watching the trains roll by......

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

This short video moves the camera further south at Trenholme Junction than lasts weeks video at the throat of the Lower Marshalling Yard to the station and the southern junction.

The trains are a continuation of last weeks' (Marshalling Yard 11), the emphasis here is experimenting with further tuning of the blending of the model and the real world.

The weather is a breezy spring day with the clouds moving by, the trees swaying and birds flying accross the sky.

Produced in 4k and best viewed in that format.

 

 

 

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In my previous, recent videos, I have produced them using a background video, replacing the walls and ceiling of the footage shot indoors on the model railway, Trenholme Junction.

The technique of removing the unwanted background areas of the video is relatively straight forward Adding a background video, which is shot outdoors, adds a realistic dimension to the end result with moving clouds, trees waving in the breeze, birds flying etc.

I have also used a similar technique (to the background thing) to add foreground features in some places on other videos and it works quite well, but has a slightly 'flat' unconvincing outcome. In this short video, I have attempted to address the 'flat' issue by superimposing a foreground video (the tree) over both the layout and background videos so that the trains are passing within the scene.

It's not perfect, but proof of concept achieved.

 

 

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In last weeks' video I showed how merging foregrounds as well as backgrounds into the modelled section of the layout by using a tree as the foreground subject.

In this video, using the same principle, this video uses a bridge as the foreground.

This is not the first time I have done this with this particular bridge, the last effort used photographic stills for the foreground and background, this version uses high definition video for all the elements, foreground, background and model videos, which adds movement in the trees and the sky.

The last scene of this video shows the current actual view (April '21).

The following is a quote from the original production:-

Built in the mid 1850's this bridge is a survivor from Picton to Battersby line. Double track, the bridge is on the first section between the stations of Picton Junction and Trenholmebar.

The line closed in 1958 but this piece of superb engineering is remarkably intact complete with its Yorkshire Stone coping stones and iron handrails. Repairs were made a few years ago to the brickwork, I think probably cheaper than demolishing it.

The track bed is almost intact, amongst lots of undergrowth.

The modern A19 trunk road passes nearby, with Trenholmebar station largely buried underneath it, but I often drive this way home through this quiet country lane and admire the bridge..... you can almost hear a train coming, so for just one minute only......

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Throughout this 'experimental' thread the merging the model railway with the real world has culminated with this effort which uses the model in the minimum and the real world as the predominant feature.

There's a point to this apparent madness.

I have been considering a branch extension to Trenholme Junction and I have a notion to attempt to build a 'skeleton' layout, without any scenery at all and use special effects to create the scenery, backgrounds, seasons and weather.

Madness - maybe, feasible, definitely.

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

There is a growing interest in the idea of 'shelf' layouts. This idea is particularly popular in the USA. A layout is is built on a shelf around the edges of the room.

Trenholme Junction was not built on this concept, but has accidentally fallen into this category when you look at the upper level of the layout. The upper level is actually a 'shelf' layout built not around edges of the room but around the edges of the lower level.

Originally, the layout design specification was to have two levels capable of fulfilling the brief as independent layouts.

Videoing the layout on either the upper or lower levels was always difficult to seperate the two and to make it look like the two were unconnected.

When videoing on the lower level the first stage was to have the sky background replacing the walls and lights of the train shed and then to have the camera angles such as to hide the upper level, a satisfactory outcome.

The videoing of the upper level when the lower level was unwanted is much more difficult. The sky and the background uses the same technique as for the upper level but 'seating' the layout into the foreground is a bit more tricky.

In this video, taken in the place I live, is of the trunk road which passes close by. The village was never served by a railway, so I decided to give it one by using the model of the station on Trenholme Junction and set in the 1960's.

Its another in the experimental series of videos which merge the model with the real world.

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

Crathorne never had a railway, but it does have this relaxing view over a corn field with the A19 trunk road behind the hedge.

This, another experimental video, puts a railway into places that never had one in the first place. Makes a change from videos of those who had one and now don't.

I use different techniques to 'plant' the model in the real world and this one uses a different method to isolate the foreground and the hedge, to what I used for the previous experiments.

This method is more effective than previous ones and can be achieved in a shorter space of time, raising the quality just a bit more.

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

In the previous videos in this series the model trains have been planted into real world either by placing them in front of, or behind the view.

In order to produce a convincing collage, the models must be inside the view, passing in front of and behind objects. This short video attempts to do just that. In the first scene the trains are in front of the hedge and disappear behind the fence and nettle bed. In the second scene the trains appear behind the pub wall, continue in front of the hedge and disappear at the back of the cricket pavilion and behind the hedge beyond.

The real world is videod at Ingleby Cross, near to where I live.

I am grateful to the landlord, Chris Lill, of the Blue Bell public house in the village, for kindly let me make the video of the village cricket pitch from the pub grounds. A superb location!

 

 

 

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These experimental series of videos concentrate on achieving a specific effect.

Its mainly my learning how to exploit the software used to for the productions. Using software to change the shot video is called Post Production. I use Vegas Pro Post to achieve this.

Almost all the videos I produce start off with at least two videos running together and then they are merged together.

I use a Gopro Black 9 camera to shoot the video(s). I use this camera because of its small size, giving a child's eye view of the model. Its not possible, for example, when using a camera this size to zoom the shot.

In this video the experiment is to zoom in and out.

Zooming in and out is relatively simple with one video but is much more challenging.

Scene 1 has a bit of fun attached, how good is it to sit on your own station watching the trains pass by. Scene 2 is me standing on the station with the video camera zooming in and out the shot.

Not perfect, but a proof of concept.

 

 

 

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The idea behind this video is to move things around the layout, without actually moving them.

What??? I hear you say. Well, in this video I have photographed the Goods Shed at the Upper East Station, the cluster of Houses at the southern end of the Main Station, and, a signal.

The aim is to produce a new scene from what already exists, without physically moving the actual models on the layout.

Signals are a long standing omission on Trenholme Junction and were never installed because the project ran out of money. I have about twenty but decided not to put any on the layout rather than a few.

Using the techniques I have developed I can now photograph one signal any use it any number of times, hence the layout can be fully signalled in the future. One such application is seen in this video. I can even make the lights work.

The principle of photographing an accessory and using it many times can apply to any accessory. You can even photograph real 'accessories' such as a real farm gate and put it into your model hedge (or vice versa).

The possibilities are endless!

For the technically curious, there are three videos and three photographs used to make up this scene.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

In this video I have concentrated a lot of time in raising the quality of the trains part of the production.

There has been some fair comments on previous experimental videos about the the trains having some transparency. Separating the trains from the background is very difficult. My previous attempts were less than convincing because the lighting was unsuitable. Fluorescent lighting flickers and causes poor keying.

I have recently invested in LED lighting and using state of the art software have improved the overall appearance.

You can see the field behind the coaches and the brake vans through the windows.......

Fine tuning the already proven concepts.

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

One of the main aims of building this model railway was to achieve convincing 'distance' and although the layout is 57 feet long its still difficult to emulate that elusive fading away effect.

In this experiment I have attempted to refine my skills to try to achieve this. Pretty pleased with the results. Also in this video, I have used yet another technique in special effects to increase the quality of the separation of the trains from their model surroundings.

This is the last in the experimental series for the time being, I'm going to use the results of this series to incorporate what I've learned into my future videos.

In order to build a model railway there are many skills which need to be mastered in order to have a satisfactory outcome of your endeavours and recent video developments means there is a whole new world of possibilities in the hobby.

Another aspect of this fascinating subject.

Video footage from Gopro 9 and edited in Vegas Pro Post Suite.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

After running through the summer with the 'experimental' series, I've now switched back to my usual videos, incorporating the features which I've learned in the process.

The videos, from now on, are produced using Vegas Pro 19 Post edition software.

In this video, the cameras are facing North West looking towards the Diesel Motive Power Depot. Those of you who have been watching earlier videos may have seen this view angle on occasions with a model rockface to the left. Using the new software and the 'experimental' techniques, I have removed the rockface and now can have any background I like in place of it.

Although not intended, it does look like a garden railway now......

 

 

 

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