Brian’s been in touch with his model train tunnel entrance:

“Hi Al,

Back in March I sent you a description of my model railway. I thought it may be interesting to send you a small update resulting from a recent visit to the UK.

In May, I had a couple of weeks in London and my 2 children and their spouses joined me. We decided to go for a hike on the South Downs, aiming for the Devils Dyke in Sussex and so we caught the train down to Hassocks station.

The first mile of our walk took us parallel to the railway track and at the end of this path we had the most wonderful view of the entrance to the Clayton Tunnel, on the London to Brighton line.

If only British Rail would build tunnel entrances like this nowadays, maybe we should suggest it for HS2!

The tunnel was built in 1839 under the South Downs when they built the line from London to Brighton, and the house was built for the tunnel keeper and his family.

However, in 1861, there was a major crash in the tunnel resulting in the deaths of 23 passengers and it is said that the house is now haunted by some of the victims.

On my model railway, I have not tried to emulate anywhere in particular, but once I saw this, I knew I had to create a tunnel entrance to match it, and here is the result-

It was a lot of fun in the making, although I am still trying to work out how to include a ghost!

Thanks, once again, Al for all you do for this wonderful hobby, I look forward to your emails every morning.

Brian

(The Brit living just outside of New York)”

A huge big thank you to Brian – I think he has done an excellent job!

If you’d like to see his last post, it’s here.

And now on to another Brian:

“Hi Alastair,

I continue to have fun with the hobby and mixing in my other hobby of video.

I worked in television news as a News Director and Executive Producer for many years. Big, bulky and heavy gear that over the years became lighter and well, today we all have television studios in our pockets, aka Smart Phones. In my case it’s an iPhone 14 Plus.

This video demonstrates a couple of tips modelers can try. In this case we have three scenes:

1. N Scale UP 844 Train seen from a distance arriving.

2. Train passing by station in Saddlestring WY

3. Rear shot as the train continues out of frame.

OK, how did that News Helicopter get there? And that American Flag, it’s waving in the wind! More in a moment.

OK, the three scenes are something called “Video Sequencing.” The same scene shot from three different angles.

No, you don’t need three cameras. Just one to shoot the scene three different times from three different views. Then you edit together.

In this case I’m using a video editing software called Videoleap. It allows me to trim the video as needed to make the overall production flow.

It also has sound effects including train sounds. I added in audio from a video I did of UP’s Big Boy. My feeling is if you’re going to see a steam engine, you should hear one!

As for the helicopter and flag, those are “stickers” also concluded with the editing software. Ditto for the Saddlestring Sign on the rail station.

The call letters of the helicopter are from the first station I worked at early in my career, KGWN-TV in Cheyenne. It’s “their video” of the last scene in the video.

I can see all this sounding a bit geeky to folks, but give it a try! Another way of adding life to our layouts. Or at least videos of our layouts!

Brian”

A big thanks to the two Brians – hope you’ve enjoyed today’s bonus post.

And if today is the day you get started on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Just so we’re all clear – this silly sale is only for a day or so.

PPS Also, any purchase on the blog comes with a no quibble, money back guarantee, no questions asked – I really do want you to be delighted with your purchase.