Cameron sent this video in. Not only does it really show off his layout – I smiled all the way through it.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
“Dear Al,
I have finally got my act together and made a short video for the readers. My daughter was kind enough to lend me her digital camera, so a big thank you to her. The movie is titled “Buster and the Brake Van”.
Cheers
Cameron”
Best
Al
Absolutely brilliant and on an 8 x 4 layout as well. I could just about manage that size. Thank you for posting that Cameron.
From Perth
Western Australia
🙂
And good music too!
Great work and great soundtrack! Almost makes me want to give up; but not quite. My only gripe is: what’s a GWR Diesel Railcar doing on SR? But then it’s such a fantastic thing, I can enjoy that anywhere (I’ve got No 34 the Parcel version). Loved the fire-engine too, I’d forgotten about them. Respect to you & the Daughter,
Roberto
If only my layout was as great Camerons.
But I keep working on it .
Very good vid the best I have seen.
Graham
Well done Cameron, like the moving bus , under the power of ?? nice all round scenes with plenty of action
Nice video! Glad to see Buster loves railfanning as much as I do.
Jerry
Cameron,
I love your layout and it was a terrific video as well.
It gives me heart to see such good modeling in Australia, I’m just about to start mine (also in Aus) and if I get it to be half as good as yours I’ll be tickled pink.
Well done.
Gary O’Connor.
That’s fantastic and a funny little story. It’s also the second layout I’ve seen where traffic moves on roads without slots. How do they do it? It would be good to get a couple methods Ali.
Regards
Roy
Wow! All that on an 8×4! Well done! I especially liked the way you show how much switching adds to the experience. Thanks!
Cameron,
A very impressive layout in a small (4X8) space and a beautiful job of putting the video together with such appropiate and beautiful music. Hope wew get to see more videos from you.
Roger
Cameron, Well done as all the others saying love the soundtrack, keep the good work up
Chris (somewhere in Australia)
This layout with all the animation is outstanding, I truly love how you made the bus and trucks move through the streets. And the music you choose was just right for the atmosphere you had created. I enjoyed it and plan on passing on to a bunch of friends there are trains buffs also. Again great job and I too can not believe how got all that on a 4×8 layout looks much bigger. Again thank you for sharing this with everyone.
Nick
Loved the eye for detail and the music was absolutely perfect. 5stars!!!!
Brilliant. Just goes to show what can be done in a restricted space. I can but dream !
Okay, just a couple of comments for Cameron. You forgot to have Buster listed in your closing credits. Boy, that dog surely got around on that layout. I hope that Buster doesn’t get caught by the local dog catcher. It would be a real shame if he was.
People asked how the vehicles were moved without slots in the roadways. One way would be to use what are called super magnets. A small one secured to the underside of the model vehicle’s front front wheels and another attached to a long rod that is moved under the roadbed. You need to make sure that after you mount the magnet on the rod that you also attach the other magnet to the vehicle model so that it is attracted by the magnet on the rod. I believe that this is the method that he used in his film. the other method maybe done by using very thin transparent thread but there are too many things in the way for that method to be used.
Excellent work. Nice detail. On a 4X8 —wow.
Keep it going.
Matt
BC, Canada
What a fantastic layout. Your skills as a modeller are top notch. I am clearing some space in what will become the spare room for a model railway layout and I was impressed with what you produced on an 8×4 layout. What scale were you working with?
Cameron, super job! Great layout and all that you have done is great. Have fun playing train!
That was the Captain Kangaroo theme in America!
Thanks AL and to all who read this-a great clip this is, as much fun as i ever have seen on a 8 by 4 sheet and great moving music
to sip my tea too-thanks to you all in 00 land
keep emm coming=one day i shall show mine
but i am ashamed of it, its ten foot long and backwards
and forwards-great stuff chaps and thank you all
Well done liked it very much.
Well done. Surprised to see an SR layout in antipodean climes! Brilliant piece of filming and editing and super soundtrack. Thank you very much for this!
(somewhere in Scotland) D/
a fantastic video Cameron
Very enjoyable to see what can be accomplished on an 8×4. Any chance of including a layout diagram or aerial view in the next newsletter? – it would be great to see!
Why do muppets like roberto always have to critise, bloody perfectionists. Personally It was a good video clip of the layout nice music too Cameron and thank you for sharing it with those of us who don’t snipe.
I LOVE THE LAYOUT AND VIDEO, IT IS GREAT, THANKS
I live in the far northwest USA,so good to see layouts from around the globe, Thanks Al.
Extraordinary– certainly something for us amateurs to shoot for. Thank you!
Cameron,
Absolutely fantastic model railroading! (Also, brilliant film making!) I have a question @ the bus moving through the city street: where you utilizing magnetic devices under the roadbed?
Let me know, and thank you for your (obvious) passion in two areas that I love: model railroading and film making!
Wow great layout nice film work – Buster is one lucky “Dog”
Really cool and even more so when you got it all on a 4 x 8 platform. I really liked the uncoupling and switching section. Very nice!
Excellent video.
My 5 year old daughter and i enjoyed it very much. Thanks for the entertainment.
As for moving vehicles. Faller do a motorised system with a metal strip under the road surface that the cars follow. Cars are rechargable and as the strip is unseen it looks very realistic. They also include traffic lights etc. Its a good but expensive system.
Thanks again.
Tom And Tamzyn
Outstanding video and layout. I would never of guessed it was 4×8. I was impressed with the moving bus and firetruck. How did you get the dog in so many scenes? Very impressive. Great selection of music. I think I could watch this little movie over and over. 5 stars.
Absolutely wonderful.
AWESOME!!! incredibly AWESOME mate! I normally don’t write – just enjoy- but this i had to give my compliments! Superb. and yea don’t let the dawg get caught by the irrationals!
Nice film, great layout. How did you get the cars on the road to move?
I want to thank you for sharring your layout with us fellow modelers, as it was very enjoyable to whatch, plus it shows you don’t need a large room or layout, to enjoy this hobby. As there is plenty to do on your 8’x4′
layout as you showed in the video so again thank you and enjoy your layout.
what a great video, showing the trains doing something adds great interest to me, i keep going back to it some great ideas to use, the night stuff good. that dog really gets around. keep it up thanks from Caloundra Australia.
REAL NICE LAYOUT.
Very nice. Thanks for sharing your artistic talents!
Hello Cameron
great layout, I have a 4 year old Lab/Golden Retriever called Buster, he just lies under my layout and chews anything that drops off.
Good work.
Peter Jacobs
Loved it Cameron now all I got to do is get the latest realplayer and then save it to watch it again. Great videoing buddy. Music is terrific
Dear All,
Thankyou for your kind feedback and support for the video. It has left me feeling extremelly motivated to put the finishing tuches on the layout and film another one.
As for the bus and fire engine moving, it is not as impressive as the video makes out. Just some black thread and a 1:1 scale man pulling it along. I got the inspiration from Dave who used this technique in a video he submitted some time ago. Ahhh the magic of cinema.
That was absolutly brilliant. what a wonderful model, the amount of work gone into that must have been awsome. Well done, it’s so good to see work like that. Thanks for that
Wow! Great video and very nice layout. Everything was well presented.
This should be an inspiration to all of us.
Just one word–EXCELLENT!
Brilliant production and it looks a great layout. Which brings me to a general comment. I, like others I suspect would love to see the overall track layout details. Perhaps an outline plan at the very least. Lacking this overall view it is often difficult to [lace the individual clips onto a broad picture.
This isn’t a gripe, I think most of the videos are great and an inspiration, but I believe it would enhance them.
Keep it up.
Great job Cameron. So nice to see someone from Australia finally putting such a professional clip on this site. Thanks from a newbie, in Australia.
Great production and great layout.
I agree with Ken. It would be nice if we could see a track layout drawing.
Nice, really nice!
Very nice video. It amazes me what can be done in such a small space.
A FANTASTIC LAYOUT, WELL DONE, LOVELY STORY TOO, LOVED THE CLIP OF THE CAMERA UP FRONT,
REGARDS
Paul
Cameron:
What a production!! Great music – wish I knew what it was. The only negative I have is that it was too short. Either you have a lot of “Busters”
or you were very busy. The moving bus was startling at first, then as it progressed was really neat. You’re quite remarkable. Got to have my 5 year old great granddaughter see this. Many thanks.
Richard Meyer
Iberia, Missouri
Cameron:
I’m intrigued (had to look up the spelling) with the Captain Kangaroo
music. The internet mentioned more than one theme. What sound track did you use?
Richard H. Meyer
Iberia, MO
Cameron – What a wonderful layout all nicely spaced in a 4′ X 8′ space. Nice proportions with buildings and scenery. Lovely story to go along with your video.
I wish I could achieve such detail. Was that a Crosville bus? Shouldn’t the halt sign be the old black and white “T” with “stop”? Notwithstanding it was beautiful.
Martin
Utterly brilliant. 4×8??? I would have though 40 x 80! Where did you get those bridges? Simply superb!
Simply beautiful and amazing to watch. All on a 4×8 even more amazing. Nice job mate!
Craig
Sacramento, California
USA
At the pedestrian crossing bridge, the little kid in the red shirt and blue shorts didn’t wave to the engineer …. he just stood there ??? Just pulling your leg, Cam ! Great looking layout. Terrific night shots, very realistic.
Fantastic display. Different than usual, especially playing in time with the action. I open up every email you send and almost always print out the Tips for future reference. Thanks John
Fantastic display. Loved the music. Different way to show your layout. always enjoy receiving your mail and always print out most of your readers tips. John
Absolutely brilliant, I wish I could do something like this. Liked the way Buster met his owner coming off the train, very touching. You’ve given inspiration to a long-standing modeller who doesn’t have half the imagination you have. Well done,
Gordon Taylor (from Scotland)
This is amazing 🙂 really nice 🙂
Only one word for this “STUNNING”
Even though it’s not AMERICAN layout I really like the layout and really enjoyed the switching. Love the musical nostalgia. Reminds me of my boyhood CHILDRENS show here in the states in the sixties. This was the theme song from ” Capt. Kangaroo” clean starring Mr. Green Jeans. Love it.
Wonderful…actually first European layout I really enjoyed. Not big fan of European railroading style but this was fantastic music reminded me of my childhood too..great job!!!
Brilliant use of a very moderate space!
An excellent video with a cute story.
Tale told well!
I rarely if ever leave or make a comment on these types of things, but even though I am usually impressed by the work and effort that people put into the layouts that they build, I have never been so blown away like I was at seeing this EXTREMELY well made video! VERY nice job Cameron! Was more inspirational then I can put into words as now I want to attempt something similar … Thank you for sharing a wonderful idea, not to mention a beautiful (4X8) layout!
Fantastic, one of the best layouts i have seen. Very professional. Comparet to the train layout at the Carnegie Science Center in pttsburgh only on a smaller scale.
Super job!!!!!!!!
Great job, excellent presentation. Look forward to many more. Wish someone would do one in O gauge. Just a thought, as that is is what I own and want to model. Thanks
Mike
Great layout!
Dogs seem to roam free with impunity!!!
My favorite vid yet!… out of all of them I’ve seen everywhere! Mostly because of Buster 🙂 No really the entire layout, everything about it is absolutely stunning. And then there’s the soundtrack. Great!
Peace ~ Curtis
Actually, one more thing! I’d love to see a complete panorama of the layout, should you ever get around to it.
🙂 Curtis
Al, Cameron got it going on, Great Layout, 8 x4 lay out, are the switches electric or manual. What scale are the trains, were do you get some of that materials, Homes, vehicle, people, animals etc. You guys never make it boring, Great Job. How long in the making??? 7-28-2014.
Fantastic, Cameron. My grandson Finnlay (8) is asking me to re-do our 8x 4 layout from scratch. It is just a jumble of tracks at the moment Any chance of an aerial view and a layout plan to give me some idea of what a proper layout should attempt to achieve albeit within our limited abilities and ideas? We live in the West Country and base our trains on GWR and SR which were close to us. I’m afraid to let him see this at the moment !! Hope you could help. Good Luck.
Bernard
Beautiful layout and a wonderful video. I had a smile all through it and a good chuckle too. Cheers.
Great stuff! Iwas waiting for the captain to give Bunny Rabbit a bunch of carrots and then go talk to Grandfather Clock. Great filming! I love Buster, getting around.my husband and I are still putting in our “infrastructure”.so it is so good to see a finished lay out—if there really is such a thing as “finished”!! We live in central Pa. USA.thanks for sharing!
Wish Hollywood could produce such an enjoyable and pleasant movie. I’m
going to make the grandkids watch this. Thanks for sharing.
“Dam” Good Cameron. Took me back in space anf time to a much loved age and place.. Some nice video work and fantastic sound. Loved the lady appearing on the station as she got off the railmotor.
Paul
Brisbane
Fantastic layout wish I had this but have not got the space loved the music and the story line love to see a panorama of the layout
Malcolm
Sydney Australia
One more reason to love Australia. The model railroad and the video are both the obvious work of a skilled professional.
Very well done layout and video.
i really enjoyed the labrador retriever dog that seemed to follow the action. It is truly an ardent rail fan
A super job and i will save it and watch over again down the road.
Thanks, Richard Sappelli
USA
This is excellent with the music (typically English Eric Coates) giving the whole presentation a genuine English Springtime Bucolic Feel. Thanks for sharing.
Great how did you get the bus to move ?
Great layout and your theme was really neat. Loved it from Ohio USA Paul PS Make sure you feed the dog. He put a lot of miles on !!!!!!
great video. Need to start on my route to see if I can get it to work.
There’s nothing I can say that hasn’t already been said!!!! Except,. WOW!,WOW!,WOW REALLY FANTASTIC WORK BOTH IN THE MODELING AND THE PRODUCTION!!! ( OH, wait, that’s already been said too)! Thanks ever so much! THROUGHLY ENJOYED ALL OF IT!!!
I would like to know how you produced such a long clip and were able to transmit it through email?