Gelert goes to Beddgelert

Despite the gale force wind and the torrential rain, fourteen hour power cut and so on I hauled my carcas out of bed and made my way to Port this morning. The first thing I did was to fit the camera's rain coat and then mine. With Andrew Thomas I drove to Gelert's Farm just in time to see Lyd with some bogie wagons and a couple of vans rattle over Cae Pawb crossing. I just got the camera set up and got a rather dark bit of video of it. It didn't make the final edit but here it is, just for you.

After that we boarded a WHHR train headed by Gelert and set off for Pont Croesor once we had the token. There was a brief pause at Pen-y-Mount junction while the points were unclamped and re clamped behind us and then we were off to Pont Croesor. The heavy rain continued to fall making shooting difficult as I spent more time cleaning the lens than videoing through it.

The token was exchanged and we set off for Beddgelert. We had a brief pause at Nantmor for a crew briefing on what to do in the long tunnel if the train slipped to a halt and then we were off. Gelert started the train away on the wet 1 in 40 with no bother and rattled through the tunnel with only a brief wheel slip mid way.

We had to wait in the pass for a short while as Jon Whalley the F&WHR chief engineer was joining us by road at Bryn y Felin. The tests concerned the couplings and the tight curves on the WHR. You can see that the footpath beside the line was completely underwater at this point.

Once the tests were completed succesfully we moved off and steamed into Beddgelert station in fine style. This was the furthest that a WHHR train had been on the rebuilt line and hopefully it will mark the beginning of more trains run in better weather. Here is the full trip.

Season's Greetings

Just a quick post to say that I hope you have a merry Christmas and that Father Christmas brings you something nice.

I'll be back in the new year with lots of exciting video projects which you will be the first to hear about.

Ho Ho Ho



Festshopman

Ho Ho Ho

Yesterday I spent the day on the Welsh Highland photographing the Santa Trains. Starting at Dinas first thing I then went down to Caernarfon by car to see the train arrive and then went off to Waunfawr to get the arrival.

Once the train arrived I got some nice Santa with people on the platform shots. Next I borded the train and went down to Caernarfon once more shooting the action towards the end of the trip, unfortunately the temperature difference between carriages meant that while I videod Santa and his gang at work the lens steamed up thus rendering the footage un usable which was a shame as it was good otherwise.

I stayed on the train for the up trip and got all I needed to off Santa giving gifts etc and some nice out the window shots.

Once back at Waufawr I tok a few more on the platform shots and then shot the departure from the footbridge. Then I jumped in the car and shot back down to Dinas where the train was just arriving as I pulled into the yard. I boarded the train and re shot the steamed up shot from before.

I rode back up to Dinas on the third train of the day and left the party there as the light was starting to go by then.

This morning I've edited a package together which you can see here. I had about 45 mins of footage which has chopped down to about 7 on screen. HO HO HO....

Up the hill

I took a trip up the FR this week in the lovely winter sunshine. Sometimes it's worth just waving the camera about when the light is as beautiful as it was. I did it the right day as the rest of the week has been foul.

This is what I did with it, very quick edit but you get the idea.

I've also been working on 'Fred - The moovie' as it's still called at the moment. I've put out a request for pictures and film to add into the project and had some success already including some very nice pics of Fred as a child and as lad train spotting.

Once upon a time...

I was just having a clear up on my PC and came accross a video I made in 2004. It is of the WHR from the train, I shot it on my digital compact camera which only had 128mg of memory so I had to do it bit by bit. I was the trolley Dolly on the WHR for a couple of years and so I was travelling on the train every day.

It's the first video I made and have set the pictures to 'Steam' by Peter Gabriel. Apart from the camera and software improving a bit it show how things have changed on the WHR too.

Little trains, big room

I spent the weekend in Birmingham at the Warley Model Railway Exhibition which is held over 2 days in the NEC every November. As these things go it was enormous and the standard of modelling was very high. PECO announced that they will be selling ready to run 009 models from the new year which caused quite a bit of excitement including from me.

I trailed along with the F&WHR sales stand which did very well but I also had the trusty Sony with me and took a few shots. I'm going to follow our locos about on their tour next year so this will be some footage for that package but I've put a short programme together which you can see here.

 

A Year is a long time

Finally, I've finished the 'Year in Snowdonia' DVD and there are copies on the shelves to buy. What a relief to finally get it finished. Three years it has taken me to get the footage together, I only hope that the weather next year is half as good as I've made it look on the DVD.

I'm off to Birmingham at 5am tomorrow to get some footage of Lyd at the NEC for the Warley model railway exhibition. The show is on Saturday and Sunday but the set up starts early on Friday and Lyd needs to be first through the door on the low loader. If you see me there come and point and laugh.
 

Going Underground

Up with the lark this morning... well it was still dark. Arrived in Port about 7am in plenty of time to catch the Metropolitan Railway coach being transported over the cob and lifted onto a lorry in Wilco's car park.

This was to be the last part of a package about the restoration of carriage 353 for the 150th anniversary of the Underground next year. I have been following the work in Boston Lodge since it arrived.

 

Princess leaves 'The Spoon'

An early start in the pub today today, is it too early to be sat at the bar at 7.30am? Well, I was drinking coffee and videoing the removal of the glass doors and windows in the end of Spooner's. Spooner's, of course, used to be the goods shed and these glass doors are the replacement for the wooden doors. The reason the doors were coming off? So that captive England 0-4-0 Princess could be released. Next year is the 15oth anniversary of steam on the FR and Princess was the one of the first four locos on the line. She will be cosmetically restored and go travelling as an ambassador for the railway including a six week stay at Paddington from St David's day.

I didn't just have a cup of coffee in front of me, the trusty Sony was there too as you can see.

Progress was steady rather than swift, here you can see the metal slides used to move the loco in line with the doorway.

Once Princess was back on the rails she was towed back to Boston Lodge by Kerr Stuart, Stanhope which has stayed on since Quarrypower.

As soon as the Fire engine which is standing in for Princess was in place and on video I beetled back up stairs and uploaded the days footage and then edited it down from about and hour to just over eight minutes. A bit of a rough cut but I wanted to get it rendered and uploaded before the afternoon was over, it took just under an hour to render to a wmv file and then slightly longer than this to upload to Youtube. Anyway here it is...

 

Semi tropical paradise - Snowdonia

Having been working on the Year in Snowdonia project it was relatively easy to make a short video highlighting the area when I was asked to tart up the short package I made for the Best of Britain and Ireland exhibition which took place in 2010. That project was sprung on me out of the blue so I had next to no footage of the surrounding area but as it was a railway focused video that wasn't too bad, the latest piece needed to be more general.

This was the original BoBi video.

I started with the Bobi video and swapped out the music for a track made for the Year in Snowdonia and also changed most of the pictures too.

This is the new video.

I think the improvement in camera quality, if nothing else, shows and there are more varied locations. As I type this the sun is out and the sky is blue so, for once, the tele isn't lying.

A star is born

My entry for the 13th of September was all about taking a couple of journalists along the WHR so they could make a short video feature for the telegraph web site and Visit Wales. This has finally emerged and looks pretty good.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/travel/wales-holiday/9633814/visit-wales-heritage-sites.html

This was what they made of the trip. If you surf back to the 13th there is a picture of them taking the shot just before Castell Cidwm. Makes it all worth while. Think I might visit... oh no, no need, I live there.

Year in the Life 2012 released

I've ben so busy in the last couple of weeks that I haven't had time to add anything to the blog so here is an update.

The biggest news is that I finished off the Year in the Life of the F&WHR 2012 and got that on sale. This involved creating an introduction complete with catchy music... doing a final tart up of the menu screens; making sure everything makes sense, adding a sound file to the menu on each disk. One is 138 passing by and the other is Merddin Emrys. I always make sure one disk has an FR image and the the other a WHR.

This is the introduction.

 



Apart from finishing the artwork and then manufacturing plenty of sets I've been busy trying to get the other projects moved on.

I've finished a very rough edit of the 'Fred' footage and I have high hopes that this will make an interesting programme. My next job with this is to go through and make a list of stills and if possible moving images to illustrate what is being discussed, I've found a certain amount from previous projects but I need loads more.

The second radio mic which I wanted for this turned up last week too, only a month too late. It will be very useful for future projects in this vein.

Here are both recievers mounted on the camera with the belt packs in front.

 

The other main project I've been getting on with is the Year in Snowdonia which now only needs the music finishing before it can be released too. The music is a slow process as it has to be fitted to the pictures both in terms of length and of appropriateness. I've now finished the track for Snowdon which is based on the Welsh national anthem and I've nearly done the winter finale section which is about five minutes, this just needs a couple of musical changes and a final mix to be finished which should take about half a day. Then the final section of music is for a chapter about the menai strait and its bridges... I have no idea what to do for this at the moment so this will slow things down.

 

A slightly blurry picture of the studio mid session.

 

 

 

Classic Ffestiniog and all that

Crikey, I've been busy in the last couple of weeks. Since I did the shooting for Fred we've had the FR autumn gala known this year as Classic Ffestiniog. This basically meant three days of intensive service on the FR including half a dozen gravity trains and freight workings and all sorts.

Once the weekend was over I had managed to get about 3 hours of video again but I really didn't feel it would justify a stand alone DVD this time and I was right. Once I got a chance to edit it down I got it to just over half an hour.

Waiting for a train to cross the bridge at TYB, a classic FR view if ever there was.

A gravity train rattles past Minffordd yard.

On Sunday the longest ever slate train in the preservation era was run with 52 waggons, this is just about as many as will fit in the station loops and makes an impressive sight. I haven't done a You tube edit of the whole weekend yet but I did do a quick and dirty Friday package.

On the Monday after the classic FR weekend a special slate train to Blaenau was run in conjunction with the rebuilding of the centre of town. The 2 slate waggons and small Hudson Hunslet which have been plinthed in the car park have been renovated and repainted in Blodge and have been reinstalled this week. Notwithstanding any of that it was a good excuse to take Merddin and a small slate train complete with brake van all the way to the top of the line. Unfortunately the weekend's good weather had changed to vile dampness so the camera spent the day in its raincoat.

Waiting at Groby Junction

Waiting at Glan y Pwyll

While the service train came and went the slate train took shelter in the sidings at Glan y Pwll. The train crew were happy to do some run pasts while I shot some video and Chris Parry took some cracking stills. The grey weather and the historic surroundings really suited the slate train.

Today I finished editing Classic weekend and Andrew Thomas helped add subtitles we then drove up to Blaenau to shoot the loco and waggons being craned back onto their new ground level plinth. Having stood around for and hour in the freezing cold it finally turned up and very slowly got plinthed. 

Back in Port and I finished the cover and the first version of the finished Year in the Life 2012. I now need to check the whole thing for any hiccoughs and spellink moshtiks and then we can start duplicating it and put it on sale. Nice purple cover this year... watch this space. 

Back in the studio tomorrow to finish the music for the introduction to Year and probably start the next piece for the Year in Snowdonia project. I also brought the camera home in case the weather is nice and I can pop out and get the finishing shots of Autumn colours in the sunshine.

Right said Fred

After all the mayhem of getting the Quarrypower DVD onto the shelves I've had a bit of catching up to do with paperwork and so on and to honest I'm still not quite there... nearly though.

On Thursday the weather was good enough to go out shooting with Fred Howes on the first leg of the 'Fred Says' (working title) DVD shoot. We started off at TYB with Sophie asking questions, she is an apprentice at Network Rail and so her experiences are an interesting counterpoint to the way Fred began his 48 year (so far) with the FR.

We walked onto Creau Bank and down onto the road bridge which was interesting as these are not publicly accessible and we could only use these locations with Fred being track safe and in communication with control at all times.

In the afternoon we walked up the line to investigate Garnedd Tunnel which was smaller and damper than you might imagine. Seeing trains squeeze in and out of it up close it is obvious why they slow down for it.

After lunch we went down to Minffordd yard and heard some more stories, by the end of the day I had a couple of hours of video and most of it was Fred talking. We only started to scratch the surface of his memories and didn't even mention the deviation and getting back to Blaenau so if this comes out well I suspect that there may well be a volume 2 and 3 and ho knows how many more.

On Saturday the weather was about the same so I spent the morning retracing some of my steps and getting another half an hour of cutaway shots and background sound wildtracks. During the main shooting the camera was recording Fred's radio mic on one chanel and a mono mic on the other. This means that to generate a stereo sound track I need to record a few minutes of 'silence' at each location. Obviously silence in this context consists of natural sounds etc. It is surprising what a difference it makes to the realism of the finished package.

 

Quarrypower and all that

It has been a while since my last post which is because I've been too busy to get round to it. Quarrypower has been and gone and the DVD is already on sale but to get it shot, edited and in the box on the shelf has kept me occupied. I also have edited the footage to provide the Youtube package and also the chapter for the year in the life DVD.

Boston Lodge on Friday morning

I used two cameras for the Friday shoot, the main camera which I used and then the older Sony with the clamp which travelled on the footplate of Leary from Pont Croesor to Beddgelert and then on the handrail of Hugh Napier from Beddgelert to Rhyd Ddu. I wasn't sure that it would be able to carry on working for the whole trip but apart from a few drop outs it performed very well. The angle and location of the camera made the shots only any good on sharp curves but I've used a few bits in the finished edit.

Waunfawr later on Friday

Over the three days I clocked up about 250 miles in the car, chasing backwards and forwards attempting to catch a shot of everything and as a result ended up with about 4 hours of pictures. The weather on the Friday and the Saturday was not too bad with only a slight splattering of rain a couple of times but the Sunday was a wipe-out with rain and wind being the featured weather. I spent the day at the PC down loading the previous days footage and starting to edit.

Waiting for Linda and Blanche on Saturday morning

On the Saturday I was lucky enough to get to ride on the footplate of Stanhope while it took part in the Bron Hebog cavalcade, thanks to the footplate crew of John and Dave for their forbearance. Narrow gauge locos don't have huge footplates and I do take up quite a bit of space.

Thanks to  Terry K Scott for the picture

On the Monday I finished a rough DVD edit and then set about doing a shortened version for Youtube. It started out at about 1hour and 15 mins which I needed to chop down to about 10 mins so quite a bit got chopped.

The Youtube edit

I then had a couple of days off which I spent asleep and trying to catch up with real life, Thursday I spent in the music studio writing and recording the first draught of the music for the introduction for the year in the life DVD. Friday I was back in Port and the final edit and captioning of the Quarrypower DVD was on my radar, however when I got in we got a call from Paul Lewin to come to Pont Croesor with cameras to get some shots of Stanhope and the WHHR's Gelert taking part in a photo charter. They both had demonstration freight trains behind them and both looked cracking. Along with the photographers we climbed aboard a couple of FR coaches hauled by Moelwyn and were taken to the Ynysferlas area near the two river bridges. Both steam locos then did multiple run pasts while the mosquitos took lumps out of my head, still itching.

We got back to harbour about 2 o'clock and promptly downloaded and edited a Youtube package of Gelert. With this uploading I set about trying to finish the Quarrypower DVD edit which now had a new section featuring the morning's jolities.

Gelert runs past

With Saturday came the final work on the DVD and eventually burning a master disk. I then needed to design a cover and on disk artwork, I used mainly photographs taken by Chris and Andrew for the cover. Once I was happy with these I went ahead and started to copy disks and print covers so just before home time on Saturday we had DVDs of the previous weekends gala on sale. Even though I say it myself it isn't too bad either.

And some video...

Finished editing the long version at about 1pm today and then cut it back to this 10 minute version. The DVD one looks to be about 1 hour and 5 mins at the moment but I've only done a rough edit so it may vary by a bit either way.

A couple of days off to recuperate now. Got the camera in the boot though just in case autumn comes on all of a sudden and looks pretty.

The power of quarry

It's over! Phew. Blimey. 5 hours of video, just short of 300 miles in the car and lots of hot steamy action. Now all I have to do is make sense of it all. The weather today has been horrible so I didn't get any footage of the shuttle trains between Pont Croesor and Minffordd but there has been so much else to see over the weekend that I don't think they will be too missed. Instead of running about like a loony I sat in the office and uploaded all the footage from Friday and Saturday onto the computer and this afternoon I started to edit.

Just before the off on Friday

I used two cameras this weekend, the main one and the smaller Sony which I clamped onto Leary between Pont Croesor and Beddgelert and then Hugh Napier from there to Rhyd Ddu. I wasn't entirely sure that it would be very happy about the vibration but in actual fact there was very little drop out. I will be able to use a few bits to add variety.

At Waunfawr

Cae'r Cors

In the Aberglaslyn Pass

Hopefully there will be something to upload to YouTube tomorrow but no promises.

Quarry Power and Journalists

This morning I went over to Boston Lodge to get some shots of the preparations for Quarry Power. There were plenty of little engines being shunted about and lit up in readiness for the trip to Dinas in the morning. I also popped into the carriage shop to see how the |Metropolitan carriage refit is getting on, which turns out to be very well. It now has virtually complete interiors and the outside is starting get varnished.

Once I'd got all I wanted from Quarry Power it was back to Harbour station to meet up with a video crew from the Telegraph who were making a short piece on the WHR. They were going to shoot some scenes on the train and some from the line side so Andrew Thomas travelled on the train with the and I played the chase the train game to show them where to go and where to get some nice pictures.

Rhyd Ddu in the rain

Unfortunately the weather didn't really co operate and low cloud and drizzle featured, however we got a decent shot in the Pass and just before Castell Cidwm.

Action shot of journalists

They wanted to interview Alistair Stewart in front of Caernarfon Castle, the building not the loco, so they wandered off into Caernarfon when the train arrived but unfortunately they missed the departure so I had to drive Alistair back to Waunfawr so he could rejoin the train bound for Port and his car.

Busy, busy, rain again

Over the last week or so I've been out and about with the trusty Sony. The weather has been pretty good if not gorgeous and so I've got some really nice pictures... for the most part.

Summer is definitely at it's end though and there is a real autumnal feel today. Yesterday I finally got to the summit of Snowdon and just in the nick of time as the cloud came down as we left the summit. The shots I got from the train and from the actual summit have edited nicely into all the footage that I've been building up this and last year, it will fill the gap in the middle of the 'Year in Snowdonia' program. All I need to get now is   a few nice autumn colour shots and the pictures will all be in the bag.

Hafod Eryri

Rhyd Ddu from the summit

A couple more bits of music and a final tidy up here and there, some caption checking and it will be ready for Christmas, should make a nice present.

I've also been getting to grips with the 'Fred Says' project which is due to be shot in the last week of September. The idea of this is to make a record of Fred Howes, Ex FR P way supremo and historical artifact, talking about his history on the FR which goes back to being trained by Will Jones the last old company track man. Also, news just in, we've had some excellent video and cine film found from the 1960s through to the mid 80's which will be handy to cut into the video of Fred talking. I'm quite excited about this and hope that I can do Fred justice and make a program which is interesting and entertaining to watch. I have so much to think about while shooting being a one man band. Not only does the picture have to be right but the sound is important so I will have 2 radio mics recording to the camera but I will also need to record a stereo background 'wildtrack' for each location, not to mention sound to cover the silent cine film.

Winifred and Eigiau

Preparations for Quarry Power are also in full swing and I was on hand to record Winifred and Eigiau being delivered to Minffordd yard on a lovely sunny evening. Already waiting in a siding were Lilla and Hugh Napier. Mike Hart's Simplex was also there and did sterling service helping with the unloading.

Along with all of this I've also been grabbing any chance I get to top up the shots of the WHR that I want for the postcard. We won't produce the cards themselves until next season but it will be good to get it all in the can so I can do the new music and have it ready to go.

143 at Plas Dinas bridge

Finally I should mention that the Dancing Gnomes have been sighted again, this time at Minffordd. See them dance.

Silly

Sunshine... at first

Back to work yesterday and a mountain of paperwork but today the sun was doing warm and blue things so I collected the camera from Harbour Station and set out to capture that bright yellow stuff on tape.

As the first train on the WHR was the 11:00 I had time to go to Beddgelert to get some shots of flowers in full bloom to add to the Year in Snowdonia package, I also went up to Rhyd Ddu to get some footage of the peak of Snowdon as it was without cloud... just. I hung around there for a while as cloud cover came and went. Then it was off to Bryn y Felin to catch the ex Port 11:00 train. The light was perfect, the sky blue and the happy holiday makers on the 'beach' waved on cue.

87 just round the corner, hard to work 2 cameras at once.

Back to the car and off to Pitt's Head. I wanted to replace a shot I did on a grey day of the train popping out underneath the bridge and then a long shot of the train going over summit. I got there in time to get the ex port train coming towards the camera and then the shot I went for of the ex Caernarfon train.

143 not making much exhaust

After this train disappeared from view I followed the Caernarfon bound train and overtook it at Salem. Got a shot at Cedric's straight and then shot off to Dinas. Beat the train by 5 mins and got a shot but the cloud had started to come in and so abandoned any further shooting in favour of other less outdoor work.

Back of the train and the Stuffed DeWinton

The FR in Yorkshire

I've been on a family holiday this last week, we went to Yorkshire which was very relaxing. The scenery was pretty and the food and beer were excellent, however you don't care about that.

Are these sheep following me?

While we were there I went to have a look round the NRM as I'd never been before, I was very impressed and enjoyed my trip. I just happened to have a video camera with me (but no tripod so it is shot in wobblyvision). Lots of big shiny engines which were nice but the highlight for me was re acquainting myself with Livingston Thompson the only remaining double Fairlie in original condition. I thought he looked rather forlorn sat in the corner all on his own.

Another narrow gauge highlight had to be seeing the Lynton and Barnstaple carriage in unrestorred condition. I don't know whether restoring it would be a good thing or not, do you loose more than you gain? Probably better to just build some replicas and keep the historical artifact where it can be looked after.

Nice shed

 

Renaissance man

Gordon Rushton was in Porthmadog yesterday to promote the launch of his new epic book on the rebuilding of the Welsh Highland. At 450 pages and 2.2 KG it is not to be sniffed at and is full of exciting stuff. He spent the day signing copies and having his picture taken with the great and the good and Merddin Emrys and 87. A special headboard had been made and later in the day it was carried by Merddin Emrys up the WHR as far as Rhyd Ddu.

Gordon Rushton on Garratt 87

I chased the train up the line and got a nice shot at Bryn y Felin and then as the train pulled into Rhyd Ddu. The sun shone on and off and the rain kept away so I was happy, Hypno sheep was waiting for the train too, it knew Andrew Thomas was aboard.

Who are you looking at?

Waiting for a train again.

Stereo recorder that I use to make back up audio recordings and a B wagon brake wheel.