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