Snow Business

[ge_rik]

Too good an opportunity to miss .........


Rik

[Peter Butler]

A masterpiece Rik... that looks so real and sounds so convincing. I love it!

[steamer68]

Fantastic Rik so magical and definitely a perfect opportunity to get the loco out and film.

[LNR]

Something I'll probably never get to do on my railway, so can only watch with envy. I like the drifting sounds of the engines. The snow transforms your railway. Thanks for posting Rik.
Grant.

[Soar Valley Light]

Fanntstic Rik.

I think this has to one of the best Winter weather videos I've seen for ages. Even the snow has been well modelled! I could swear the wagons were shivering!

All the best,

Andrew

[mymodeltrain]

It looks very realistic; I would wear very warm and stay there watching the train for hours. I usually lived in Boston, but now in Nashville; it is difficult to have such a nice winter snow train.

[James from Devon]

I knew we could count on Rik for a epic snow video!

Your line looks realistic and perfect in every season Rik and you do make a really good video!

Thanks for sharing this - made my evening!

All best

Jim

[ge_rik]

Thanks folks. This was actually the first time in the line's 10 year existence that we've had a decent fall of snow which has lasted long enough to get some footage. The snow was powdery and so just right for ploughing (with a long thin piece of plywood). In some places I had to take the tops off the snowdrifts so the camera could 'see' along the line. In a few places ( eg beneath the bushes) I had to shake snow on to the line and then clear it to give a more continuous covering - cheating, i know, but some of those shots are my favourites.

Rik

[mymodeltrain]

Thanks folks. This was actually the first time in the line's 10 year existence that we've had a decent fall of snow which has lasted long enough to get some footage. The snow was powdery and so just right for ploughing (with a long thin piece of plywood). In some places I had to take the tops off the snowdrifts so the camera could 'see' along the line. In a few places ( eg beneath the bushes) I had to shake snow on to the line and then clear it to give a more continuous covering - cheating, i know, but some of those shots are my favourites.

Rik

Rik, it's a perfect type of snow for the railway-soft and dry. Nashville rarely has snow, but if there is, along with freezing rain, so the tracks were covered with frozen ice, every slippery and rough run for the trains.

[ge_rik]

Rik, it's a perfect type of snow for the railway-soft and dry. Nashville rarely has snow, but if there is, along with freezing rain, so the tracks were covered with frozen ice, every slippery and rough run for the trains.

On the raised timber sections the underlying snow had turned to ice and was really difficult to clear which is why there are no shots on the raised section (apart from a low shot under the bridge). A pity as a couple of sections would have been quite photogenic, but the big chunks of iced snow just didn't look realistic.

Rik

[steamer68]

Rik just like the real thing our garden railways have problems with the elements.

[ge_rik]

Rik just like the real thing our garden railways have problems with the elements.

The wrong kind of snow again!

Rik

[FWLR]

Just watched your video Rik and was memorised by it. I found myself imagining i was a part of the scene watching from the sidelines. All of the shots were beautifully made and it showed your dedication to the hobby. Can I ask how did you get the snow only off the rails, also the snow that was on the loco and coaches is brilliant.

[ge_rik]

Can I ask how did you get the snow only off the rails

Hi Rod. Nothing more sophisticated than an offcut of plywood wiped along the tops of the rails snowplough fashion.

Rik

[steamer68]

Simple but affective Rik.

[mymodeltrain]

Rik, may you share some experience for taking movies? I usually have a small Nikon mounted on a tiny tripod, it is perfect but I have to make multiple movies for each scenes. And I have to link them into one piece later on. While another simpler approach is to use a cell phone camera, I can pause after changing the scenes, at the end I have a whole movie ready for view, albeit the disadvantage of cell phone camera is that we can't mount on a tripod and thus some sort of vibration is apparent from the movies.

[ge_rik]

Rik, may you share some experience for taking movies?

Hi
I usually use my Panasonic HD video camera. I sometimes use my Canon digital stills camera but that outputs .mov files which aren't as easy to edit as the files from the camera. I have a gorilla pod which I generally use for taking lineside shots but didn't bother with it this time - instead, I just rested the camera on a block of wood as it could be rested on top of various snow drifts which I carved out to make a camera mount.

I acclimatised the camera by putting it in the unheated conservatory for about half an hour before taking it outside, in case condensation formed in the camera. Similarly I re-acclimatised it when bringing it (and the locos) back indoors.

I then stitch everything together in an editing package (Corel VideStudio). I generally shoot twice as much footage as I actually use. Sometimes I have to retake a shot because the camera gets hit by rolling stock or the framing is wrong. At other times I completely reject a scene because it doesn't look very good or doesn't fit into the narrative. On the snow film, I only rejected two shots; one because it looked so similar to the others I felt they didn't add anything and the other because there was too much of the house in the background. I would have taken more footage but it was beginning to get dark and the temperature was dropping an ice was forming on the rail-tops.

Rik

[FWLR]

That was a brilliant explanation Rik for taking videos thank you.

Also the rail clearing is simple thanks, but what about the points, did you just run your trains has is, or did you free them up. I found my points wouldn’t move at all.

[ge_rik]

...... what about the points, did you just run your trains as is, or did you free them up. I found my points wouldn’t move at all.

Hi Rod
Fortunately most of my points were already switched to the right direction. A couple needed to be cleared of loose snow to ensure the blades properly bedded against the stock rails. However, the point which was on the raised section was completely iced up (and frozen in the wrong direction - Sod's Law). That took a fair bit of fettling and persuasion to free it up.

Rik

[mymodeltrain]

Rik, may you share some experience for taking movies?

Hi
I usually use my Panasonic HD video camera. I sometimes use my Canon digital stills camera but that outputs .mov files which aren't as easy to edit as the files from the camera. I have a gorilla pod which I generally use for taking lineside shots but didn't bother with it this time - instead, I just rested the camera on a block of wood as it could be rested on top of various snow drifts which I carved out to make a camera mount.

I acclimatised the camera by putting it in the unheated conservatory for about half an hour before taking it outside, in case condensation formed in the camera. Similarly I re-acclimatised it when bringing it (and the locos) back indoors.

I then stitch everything together in an editing package (Corel VideStudio). I generally shoot twice as much footage as I actually use. Sometimes I have to retake a shot because the camera gets hit by rolling stock or the framing is wrong. At other times I completely reject a scene because it doesn't look very good or doesn't fit into the narrative. On the snow film, I only rejected two shots; one because it looked so similar to the others I felt they didn't add anything and the other because there was too much of the house in the background. I would have taken more footage but it was beginning to get dark and the temperature was dropping an ice was forming on the rail-tops.

Rik

Thanks for the experience; really "no pain no gain"; that also explains why your movies are always good.