Peterborough North

[great northern]

Sun Stream seems a little low on coal?

Heavy handed fireman Jeff, and he's pulled what's left forward, so we can't see it. Still, only 76 miles to go. I'll put it on my list of things to do.

[Mallard60022]

I thought it was an oil burner?

P

[manna]

G'Day Gents

 

I had a talk with one of Bill Hooles firemen, ( by then a driver) who told me that he used to carry a 'dust pan and brush' as they quite often ran out of coal by Hitchin, then Bill had to slow down a bit,,,,,,,,,,,they always made it to the 'Cross'

 

manna

[Alister_G]

I also decided to try to get some even darker skies, so I dodged the raindrops the other day in order to get  a few shots to play with. It doesn't help when it comes to photoshopping I can tell you.

 

 

 

Hi Gilbert,

 

Having now had a go myself at photoshopping some photos of my layout, I have come to a greater realisation of the time it takes, and the skill involved!

 

Going by my new found experience, it's obvious you must put an awful lot of work into preparing your photos for posting on this thread (unless, that is, I'm doing it wrong!)

 

Thank you for taking the time, and thank you for your continued inspiration to the rest of us.

 

Al.

[great northern]

Hi Gilbert,

 

Having now had a go myself at photoshopping some photos of my layout, I have come to a greater realisation of the time it takes, and the skill involved!

 

Going by my new found experience, it's obvious you must put an awful lot of work into preparing your photos for posting on this thread (unless, that is, I'm doing it wrong!)

 

Thank you for taking the time, and thank you for your continued inspiration to the rest of us.

 

Al.

Many thanks Al. Your post got me thinking - how long does it actually take to prepare photos? I already knew that some were much less time consuming, but how much?  This morning therefore I have taken a selection of shots and noted how long the shopping process took. I should make it clear though that I don't do this properly. I know from talking to Andy Y and Tony Wright that they can take literally hours to do one image. They are professionals though, and I neither profess or aspire to that level, so mine get done only to the point where I get bored. For that reason I hope no-one looks at them too closely, and in particular not at too high a level of magnification.

 

Anyway, here are a couple of this morning's workings, starting with the Up West Riding behind Copley Hill A1 Abbotsford. The train is still lacking an Articulated twin, though hopefully that will be put right before too long.

 

I like this angle anyway, but even more so for the simplicity of shopping. This took no more than eight minutes in total. I'm trying out a neutral sky which I took the other day. Any views?

 

 

This one though is a real pig to do. It took half an hour to get to this point, and it is still not up to much. It is very fiddly, and there is far too much sky, even though I've cropped it, and put in a background with a bit of texture to it.

 

 

The fiddly bit of this one, and the next, was the taking of the shot, and I'm still not really happy with them. No shopping needed at all though, save for the conversion to black and white.

 

 

More people needed on the platforms, but they aren't quite finished yet.

 

The express having passed through, a station pilot brings in the stock for the 1033 Parlaimentary to Kings Cross.

 

Another easy shopping task, just eight minutes, and made even shorter as the neutral sky meant that I didn't have to shop Crescent Bridge.

 

 

This one takes longer though, because of doors and ****** bookcases in the background. Twelve minutes to get this far, at which point boredom set in. I did though as you can see try another black and white shot, and increased the contrast a bit to try to make it more atmospheric. More work needed, I think.

[artizen]

Gordon - twelve minutes is OK by me. I would make one suggestion though - can you use backgrounds that incorporate some sign of life such as buildings low on the horizon instead of sky right down to the model each time? It would help place the location better? Not trying to give you more work at all!

[jwealleans]

N5, C12 and an artic twin in one shot. Lovely.

[Alister_G]

Many thanks Al. Your post got me thinking - how long does it actually take to prepare photos? I already knew that some were much less time consuming, but how much?  This morning therefore I have taken a selection of shots and noted how long the shopping process took. I should make it clear though that I don't do this properly. I know from talking to Andy Y and Tony Wright that they can take literally hours to do one image. They are professionals though, and I neither profess or aspire to that level, so mine get done only to the point where I get bored. For that reason I hope no-one looks at them too closely, and in particular not at too high a level of magnification.

 

Anyway, here are a couple of this morning's workings, starting with the Up West Riding behind Copley Hill A1 Abbotsford. The train is still lacking an Articulated twin, though hopefully that will be put right before too long.141 1.jpg

 

I like this angle anyway, but even more so for the simplicity of shopping. This took no more than eight minutes in total. I'm trying out a neutral sky which I took the other day. Any views?

 

141 2.jpg

 

This one though is a real pig to do. It took half an hour to get to this point, and it is still not up to much. It is very fiddly, and there is far too much sky, even though I've cropped it, and put in a background with a bit of texture to it.

 

141 4.jpg

 

The fiddly bit of this one, and the next, was the taking of the shot, and I'm still not really happy with them. No shopping needed at all though, save for the conversion to black and white.

 

141 3.jpg

 

More people needed on the platforms, but they aren't quite finished yet.

 

The express having passed through, a station pilot brings in the stock for the 1033 Parlaimentary to Kings Cross.

N5 1.jpg

 

Another easy shopping task, just eight minutes, and made even shorter as the neutral sky meant that I didn't have to shop Crescent Bridge.

 

N5 2.jpg

 

This one takes longer though, because of doors and ****** bookcases in the background. Twelve minutes to get this far, at which point boredom set in. I did though as you can see try another black and white shot, and increased the contrast a bit to try to make it more atmospheric. More work needed, I think.

 

Thanks Gilbert, Lovely photos as always.

 

8 to 12 minutes on average seems blooming quick to me, so maybe I'm doing it wrong!

 

If you look at my layout thread on page 20 post 497 I've done a quick run through of how I go about it, I would be interested to know if there is something obvious I'm missing, or you can suggest a better way.

 

Cheers,

 

Al

[Mallard60022]

Slightly OT but I saw a pic yesterday (Sunday) of an Artic Twin in the Forest of Dean in 1961. FHS, what was that doing there? Yes it was for an excursion, but is was a local excursion to Blackpool (I think) and the Pannier was shunting the empty stock, including the 'Twin' ready for the departure. 

Funnily I had been joking the day before that what Albion Yard needed for a bit of fun, was a Gresley coach on some sort of 'enthusiast's' special.

So, synchronisity exists and there is a prototype for everything. However I doubt if we could find an excuse for a WR Pannier Tank at PN

P

Edited September 25, 2013 by Mallard60022

[great northern]

Gordon - twelve minutes is OK by me. I would make one suggestion though - can you use backgrounds that incorporate some sign of life such as buildings low on the horizon instead of sky right down to the model each time? It would help place the location better? Not trying to give you more work at all!

The problem is Ian that there weren't many buildings on the horizon, particularly to the North. There was the huge Baker Perkins factory, though that really would be off scene left for me, but otherwise just New England yards which went on for nearly a mile. The only other possibility is to extend Spital Bridge to the right, but that would then restrict access to track and points at that end, which could itself cause problems. All part of the fun of modelling a prototype - I can't just shop in some Welsh mountains, though come to think of it Coachmann did exactly that a while ago.

[great northern]

Thanks Gilbert, Lovely photos as always.

 

8 to 12 minutes on average seems blooming quick to me, so maybe I'm doing it wrong!

 

If you look at my layout thread on page 20 post 497 I've done a quick run through of how I go about it, I would be interested to know if there is something obvious I'm missing, or you can suggest a better way.

 

Cheers,

 

Al

Hi Al,

 

You have a better programme than mine! Having said that, we are basically doing exactly the same thing. I use the eraser tool on Paint.Net to get rid of large tracts of unwanted stuff first, and then the Magic Wand to try to tidy up the edges. It is a basic programme, so I'm often left with halos round the edge of trains and buildings, which are very difficult to get rid of entirely, so I usually get bored and give up. It is lattice post signals and girder bridges that really take a long time I find. The reason you take longer than I do is probably just because you are more prepared to spend the time needed to do the job properly.

[great northern]

Slightly OT but I saw a pic yesterday (Sunday) of an Artic Twin in the Forest of Dean in 1961. FHS, what was that doing there? Yes it was for an excursion, but is was a local excursion to Blackpool (I think) and the Pannier was shunting the empty stock, including the Twin' ready for the departure. 

Funnily I had been joking the day before that what Albion Yard needed for a bit of fun, was a Gresley coach on some sort of 'enthusiast's' special.

So, synchronisity exists and there is a prototype for everything. However I doubt if we could find an excuse for a WR Pannier Tank at PN

P

We are not looking for any such excuse thank you Phil.

[Richard E]

Apparently a Castle can be justified but sadly that didn't happen, so I understand, until 1963.

[Grafarman]

Apparently a Castle can be justified but sadly that didn't happen, so I understand, until 1963.

 

There was one around a good bit before then: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterborough_Castle 

[stewartingram]

Apparently a Castle can be justified but sadly that didn't happen, so I understand, until 1963.

Apologies for quality, scanned from old Instamatic slides, but relevant?

Not sure of the date, but 7029 arrived at Peterborough North from the South. I also took pictures on shed, and going up Stoke bank, but there may have been 2 different dates involved?

 

 

 

 

Stewart

[Mallard60022]

Pannier in disguise!

P

[JeffP]

Gilbert, when you photoshop, are you also using the stitching process that gives the greater depth of field?

[Richard E]

There was one around a good bit before then: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterborough_Castle 

Careful - we might have to call in the Pidley Mountain Rescue team or even the Fenland Mountain Rescue Team (aka Fenland Mountaineers).

Edited September 24, 2013 by Richard E

[great northern]

Gilbert, when you photoshop, are you also using the stitching process that gives the greater depth of field?

 Not at the moment Jeff. I tried it some time ago, but managed to get it all wrong somehow, and I haven't tried again since. That is partly because I'm aware that if I'm not careful I spend far more time staring at the computer screen than I do either working on or running the railway, and that is something I really do not want to get out of control. The Laird came over yesterday, and kindly gave me a video tutorial, the result of which you may see later if he has time to put it on here. What struck me though was the time it took to process a very short clip. I accept that as one gets used to things they can be done more quickly, but even so there is  a finite time which can't be reduced in the end.

 

When I start doing such things I always want to do them better, as happened with photography, so no doubt I'd go through the same with anything else I tried. As always it is a trade off. I'm conscious that the railway only really gets operated when I have visitors, and that wasn't the original intention at all, so I need to change my ways somewhat.

[Mallard60022]

Hate to say this G but you need to make the railway your priority and maybe just give us out here a 'taster' every month or so. I'm sure nobody will mind and it will at least stop me from making silly suggestions.

Go on mate, get on and enjoy yourself and stuff photoshop.

Quack.

[Grafarman]

Completely agree with your learned feathered friend GB; your railway is for you, not us - if you grant us a glimpse of operations now and again that'll be fine, and if the pictures include bookshelves/fiddle yard/window light etc. we won't mind at all.  We've all shared in your layout's development thus far and wait with baited breath for the next update, but we're not going to highjack your operating time by demanding better and better pictures and/or video, that just wouldn't be fair...so just get on and enjoy it! 

 

Thank you for sharing

 

David

[coachmann]

Gilbert, you may have noticed in my coach thread your Thompson D246 Brake Third now has a twin in blood & custard. The late John F also built one so I suspect there are only three of these North Eastern Design coaches in existence and will only ever be unless I build more for Greenfield.

 

'Sun Stream' in the rain would have brightened anybodies day if they were Thompson fans. It actually looks pleasantly workaday in that guise. Much better than the current fad for late 1960s rust

[Brass0four]

Hate to say this G but you need to make the railway your priority and maybe just give us out here a 'taster' every month or so. I'm sure nobody will mind and it will at least stop me from making silly suggestions.

Go on mate, get on and enjoy yourself and stuff photoshop.

Quack.

Given all that wonderful stock ready and waiting in the fiddle-yard and all the work you've done, you deserve to enjoy it quietly, alone, enjoying your layout and your memories.

 

Tony.

[TheLaird]

Having spent another enjoyable day at Peterborough North, here is the results of Gilberts video tutorial. Not only did he manage to produce a video sequence, what is more remarkable he managed to stop talking for over two minutes whilst it was recorded!!!!

 

 

 

I will let Gilbert describe what is happening on the video. Regards John E.

[artizen]

Now you have opened a can of worms with video. It makes the layout look spectacular. You really do need to go and enjoy your layout of a lifetime.