15,000,000 Views for a Garden Railway Video

[Rhinochugger]

Great Central?

I suspect that large bits of the trackbed have gone.

 

[playmofire]

I suspect that large bits of the trackbed have gone.

And that would, I imagine, mean demolishing properties built on the old trackbed. Oh, HS2 involves that too.

 

[Rhinochugger]

The figures here:

House of Lords - The Economics of High Speed 2 - Economic Affairs Committee

although dating back to 2012 and 2013 show that there is little overcrowding on trains on the West Coast line (paras 146 to 154) or elsewhere. Paras 146 to 188 make interesting reading both as regards overcrowding and fare policies.

On the Scarborough-Manchester-Liverpool line, passengers standing is common, especially at rush hours as it is a commuter line as well as an "intercity" line.

In the report linked to above, mention is made of longer trains and this seems a solution to overcrowding which isn't much considered in England and Wales. Even on York race days, the trains from Scarborough are still only 2 or 3 units.

Scotrail seems to have a different approach. Pitlochry has a population of 2,776 and is on the Perth-Inverness line. When we were here last November, the three coach platform was being extended to take nine coach trains.

So there was not an overcrowding issue in 2013, but what about now, and 10, 15, 20 years' time?

The big problems in SE commuter land are because nobody had any foresight 20 years ago

 

[playmofire]

So there was not an overcrowding issue in 2013, but what about now, and 10, 15, 20 years' time?

The big problems in SE commuter land are because nobody had any foresight 20 years ago

But HS2 isn't going to help travellers coming in from Kent to London and may make things worse for those coming in from other areas. Leeds has already seen property prices rise on its southern edge in anticipation of people moving further out from London while still working there.

 

[Rhinochugger]

But HS2 isn't going to help travellers coming in from Kent to London and may make things worse for those coming in from other areas. Leeds has already seen property prices rise on its southern edge in anticipation of people moving further out from London while still working there.

No - I didn't mean that it would. I was trying to point out the need for a bit of long term planning. The problems with overcrowding on SE commuter lines spread from Southampton, Reading, Oxford, Cambridge, Ipswich Chelmsford, Southend - roughly that sort of circle, not just Kent

As to the property prices - you can't have your cake and eat it. If you want connectivity and closeness to London, then London's going to come out to you.

If the various initiatives to bring more employment to 'the north' as well as HS2 have any effect, then property prices will go up - welcome to our world. When we married in 1975, we couldn't afford to live in the London suburbs where our parents lived, and had to move out to the Hampshire / Sussex border in order to be able to buy. Everybody talks as if the recent surge in London prices is a new phenomenon; it isn't so much - yes the price differential has widened but it was always there.

 

[Rhinochugger]

We have rather commandeered a good thread, however, don't get me wrong. I don't think HS2 is the panacea of all ills - I just think it's a necessary evil.

 

[dunnyrail]

But HS2 isn't going to help travellers coming in from Kent to London and may make things worse for those coming in from other areas. Leeds has already seen property prices rise on its southern edge in anticipation of people moving further out from London while still working there.

Ah but you have already had your HS2 equivalent of service upgrades with Javelins to St.Pancras and just look how that has had an effect on Kent Commuting. However for as long as Road Building continues the effect of introducing new Railways is always going to be a long slow process. Sad but true, there is only so much that the Department of Roads will let be spent on Railways. I imagine it will be a decade or two before the Oxford Cambridge Re-Opening sees Trains rolling into Cambridge. By then we will probably be saying ‘Beam me over Scotty’.

 

[playmofire]

No - I didn't mean that it would. I was trying to point out the need for a bit of long term planning. The problems with overcrowding on SE commuter lines spread from Southampton, Reading, Oxford, Cambridge, Ipswich Chelmsford, Southend - roughly that sort of circle, not just Kent

As to the property prices - you can't have your cake and eat it. If you want connectivity and closeness to London, then London's going to come out to you.

If the various initiatives to bring more employment to 'the north' as well as HS2 have any effect, then property prices will go up - welcome to our world. When we married in 1975, we couldn't afford to live in the London suburbs where our parents lived, and had to move out to the Hampshire / Sussex border in order to be able to buy. Everybody talks as if the recent surge in London prices is a new phenomenon; it isn't so much - yes the price differential has widened but it was always there.

Yes, but these prices have gone up before there is any economic benefits of HS2 purely because they put the area concerned within 1.5 to 2 hours from London, so you can sell your London flat for £750,000 and buy a whopping big house and garden in or near the countryside in Yorkshire.

This phenomenon of high speed train links from a capital to a "poorer" area causing a shift of population away from the capital and an increase in commuting to it rather than the rail link drawing economic activity to the "poorer" area isn't new; it happened in Spain when a high speed link from Madrid an economically deprived area had just that effect.

 

[playmofire]

We have rather commandeered a good thread, however, don't get me wrong. I don't think HS2 is the panacea of all ills - I just think it's a necessary evil.

I was thinking the same myself. Maybe a moderator can separate the HS2 stuff out into a new thread.

 

[playmofire]

Ah but you have already had your HS2 equivalent of service upgrades with Javelins to St.Pancras and just look how that has had an effect on Kent Commuting. However for as long as Road Building continues the effect of introducing new Railways is always going to be a long slow process. Sad but true, there is only so much that the Department of Roads will let be spent on Railways. I imagine it will be a decade or two before the Oxford Cambridge Re-Opening sees Trains rolling into Cambridge. By then we will probably be saying ‘Beam me over Scotty’.

Ah yes, the Cambridge to Oxford rail link, no doubt running parallel to the Cambridge to Oxford motorway - the latter possibly designated the M200 to refect the IQ of the people using it.

 

[kedwards]

Thanks everyone for all of the great comments. Dan has asked how I add real people to my garden railway videos. It's a technique called green screening. The people are filmed against a chroma green background and then in the video editing software anything green becomes transparent. The clip with the transparent background is then layered on top of the garden railway clip. The garden railway clip shows through the transparent layer and the people appear as if they were in the scene. Obviously the video editing software is also used to scale down the people and to make it look as realistic as possible it is important to film from the correct angle. My video 'The Making of Thomas to the Rescue' explains how it is done.

 

[Rhinochugger]

Thanks everyone for all of the great comments. Dan has asked how I add real people to my garden railway videos. It's a technique called green screening. The people are filmed against a chroma green background and then in the video editing software anything green becomes transparent. The clip with the transparent background is then layered on top of the garden railway clip. The garden railway clip shows through the transparent layer and the people appear as if they were in the scene. Obviously the video editing software is also used to scale down the people and to make it look as realistic as possible it is important to film from the correct angle. My video 'The Making of Thomas to the Rescue' explains how it is done.

I never understood how green screening worked.

Sorry for hi-jacking the thread - well we'll blame you for starting it with the high speed train

 

[Bill Barnwell]

Thanks everyone for all of the great comments. Dan has asked how I add real people to my garden railway videos. It's a technique called green screening. The people are filmed against a chroma green background and then in the video editing software anything green becomes transparent. The clip with the transparent background is then layered on top of the garden railway clip. The garden railway clip shows through the transparent layer and the people appear as if they were in the scene. Obviously the video editing software is also used to scale down the people and to make it look as realistic as possible it is important to film from the correct angle. My video 'The Making of Thomas to the Rescue' explains how it is done.

Make that 15,000,001, very good

 

[gck49er]

I made this video in May 2014 when I used to have a garden railway. A few days ago it clocked up its 15 millionth view on YouTube! I'm completely amazed. I like to think it's success isn't just to do with the fact that it stars a famous blue locomotive, but has more to do with the story which in the spirit of the original stories written by the Rev. Wilbert and Christopher Awdry and its watchability due to the story, the quality of the filming and the tight editing.

What program was used for making your video???

Gerry

 

[PhilP]

What program was used for making your video???

Gerry,
Check out post #31.. Keith linked to a "How I made.." video there..
Though I think there is more to it than 'just' software..

 

[mrcheddar]

That's hillarious! Very well done!

 

[adverse camber]

Watched, enjoyed and forwarded to my Granddaughter. What more can I say

 

[dunnyrail]

I forward links to Kedwards Vids to a friend of mine, his Grandson just loves them all. I can imagine his views will be a few 10’s of those Millions.