All Tickets, Please!

Ever since I discovered the Nene Valley Railway last summer, I’ve kept on being drawn back there like a moth to flame, or a disaster to Gordon Brown. I particularly enjoyed working on board the Christmas Santa Specials with some of the volunteers who run the line, and earlier this year I bit the dust and joined up as a working member myself. Thus it was that I found myself reporting for my first duty today, in a new role as Travelling Ticket Inspector (TTI). Why TTI? Well, my employment as an automotive logistics facilitator (car-transporter driver to the uninitiated) means that I come into contact with few people during the working week, and those I do talk to either sell cars, buy cars, repair cars, race cars, rally cars, scrap cars, tweak cars and generally talk cars until I either fall asleep or hit myself over the head with a spare half-shaft (don’t try this at home: it hurts).

Consequently, I favoured doing something totally different and the role of TTI seems perfect. The NVR caters primarily for tourists and visitors to Ferry Meadows Country Park, so the role involves ticket sales and checks along with answering questions and acting as an informal tourist guide to the line and facilities. As an enthusiastic regular user of Ferry Meadows I’m well qualified in this respect, and being able to offer advice and answer queries makes the trips up and down the line more interesting.

I began the day by meeting David who runs the ticket sales side of things, and after an introduction to the job we joined the first of the three trains that run during the off-peak timetable period. Loco was 73050 City of Peterborough on the 5 car MK1 rake, off at 10:30 for the first trip to Yarwell. The train was lightly loaded because of the appalling weather and time of year, so there was plenty of time to get to grips with the job and have a chat to the mainly family groups who were taking the trip.

A cold and damp Wansford at the end of my first trip as TTI.

After the first return trip was complete David let me get on with it as the trains were very quiet, and I had a fair idea of what to do. We met up at intervals during the day to compare notes; otherwise I walked up and down the train generally chatting with the passengers on board. It was an enjoyable experience, and all that walking helps offset all the sitting I do in a lorry cab for the rest of the week!

As I enjoyed the day, I’ve planned to join the staff roster for more duties in the coming months, starting with next weekend’s Diesel Gala when every train will packed – nothing like a baptism of fire. The Diesel Galas bring in a lot of revenue to the railway, but a great many problems come with them - I've witnessed the antics of these so-called enthusiasts at many places over the years, so can understand the need to have as many staff available as possible to keep an eye on things. Previous military experience is preferred, and a couple of tours of Belfast or Basra are extremely useful. Apparently the class 66 brings out the worst in this crowd as they'll do anything to get a bit of haulage or photograph of one in unfamiliar surroundings ... watch this space!

One or two people turned up when a GBRF 66 was rostered for the diesel gala last year.

I’ll also be getting inducted to the Booking Office at the end of March; this will then enable me to switch roles and cover any position if required, as well as provide more variety to the role.

City of Peterborough runs round at her namesake city.

During some quiet spells throughout the day I was able to try out a spontaneous gift to myself that I purchased yesterday – a new Panasonic TZ6 camera. I got it primarily to replace the Samsung that I use for video shooting, as it offers good quality widescreen WVGA filming capabilities with an impressive smooth and quiet 12x zoom and 25mm wide angle lens – all in a pocket sized compact. I’d been looking for a video camera for some time, and got bogged down in reviews and specs and prices and ever more conflicting information until my overtaxed brain hurt. I spotted the TZ6 quite by chance in e-mailshot that Argos sent out, and after seeing some cracking film on YouTube made with the model I went out and bought it. The photos here were taken on it - well, 2 of the 3 were. Can you guess which is the odd one out? - and my initial handheld test video shots were also impressive; I may load one up as a demo later on. As it fits comfortably into a pocket, it is an ideal camera to take around to most places – so could be very useful in my new weekend job.

You've Been (Window) Framed

Last weekend was the Doncaster Model Railway Exhibition, or the Festival of Model Railways as the organisers grandly entitle it. For the previous couple of years the show was held at Harrogate while the venue at Doncaster Racecourse, modelled on 1940’s style POW camps, was refurbished. And boy, did it need refurbishing. It was dark, gloomy, freezing cold and access was a nightmare. Conditions were far worse than prison, made worse by the fact that whereas prisoners are allowed out whenever Gordon Brown needs to reduce inmate statistics, at the show you were obliged to stay put for your entire sentence.

Thankfully, during the last two years, Doncaster Racecourse has been rebuilt from the foundations up, and the end result is a spacious, well-lit and welcoming environment (obviously I’m only regarding the venue as welcoming; Doncaster itself is as welcoming as a dose of the clap).

Once again I was demonstrating on the Ten Commandments stand, and building on the success of our debut at Peterborough. I had prepared many new interesting models and techniques to work on, plus tools and products from other manufacturers that could easily be demonstrated to visitors. This time round I introduced an interactive element, so that the public could really get hands-on and involved. This might sound elementary, but I consider that demonstrating at a show should be demonstrating, and not an opportunity to blag your way into a show for free, then sit round chatting to your mates all weekend. Given that the public pay around a tenner to get in, I believe that they should get something in return. If I want to watch people sitting around doing nothing but chat to each other, I’d watch Big Brother. And then I’d disembowel myself with a Stanley knife and some clothes pegs.

Mainstay of the demonstration was the extensive, and growing, range of Ten Commandments factory buildings and various modular extensions. The window glazing sessions attracted big crowds (covered in my previous post here) and to make the job of glazing even easier, I was pleased to find that Dave had got his hands on some fantastic gel pens that allow the modeller to simply ‘draw’ the frames in. Here’s an example:

The outhouse building to the left had all the window frames drawn in by customers at the show – it really is as easy as picking up a pen and writing with it (rules out the under 16’s, then. Somebody will have to invent a mobile phone application to paint window frames innit).

I soon found several other useful applications for the pen that will be extremely useful for anyone modelling almost any era. The pen will write on any surface – wood, plastic, metal, clothes (that was an accident) and on gloss or matt finishes. An obvious use for rolling stock is shown below:

As well as ‘condemned’ – a common sight in the BR blue era – the pen also proved suitable for chalked notices and destinations on parcels vans – remember those? Then of course, we come to:

Graffiti. Up until now, the simple white slogan style graffiti has been next to impossible to reproduce. With this pen, you can vandalise as many walls, items of rolling stock and public toilets as you wish. For an inner city layout set in the 70’s to present day, this is an essential, if unwelcome, scenic finishing touch.

Other uses include pub blackboards and temporary signs often seen while travelling – Pick Your Own Strawberries; Overflow Carpark; Model Railway Exhibition Here Today; Truculent Teenager Daughter For Sale and numerous others. If you model the present day, then you could model some of the apostrophe catastrophe signs that are the visible proof of the Government's successful (?) Education, Education, Education mantra. Let your imagination run wild!

Don't it just!

As well as being available in white, the pen also comes in gold, which is actually a shade of yellow that is ideal for road markings. Other colours are available, but are opaque in finish and don’t work too well on dark surfaces. The white one, however, is unbeatable. Everybody who used one at the show immediately handed over the £2.50 to take one home, and we hope to have some new stock shortly. It will be available as a Show Special, and is also presumably retailed through good office supply stationers.

I was also demonstrating the Modelmates weathering dyes that I mentioned here. They use a spray on / wipe off technique that takes a bit of practise, but I got some quite pleasing results when weathering this JCB:

Overall the demonstrations were received very well by both the public and exhibition organisers – the latter commented that they had received favourable comments from the public about the stand and being able to get involved. For my part, demonstrating something that people are actually interested in made the time pass more pleasantly and quickly, so the only downside was that I didn’t get to see the show!

Round The Quorn

Following on from my previous post, here is the completed film from the Great Central Railway’s Steam Gala last weekend. Essentially, it’s a procession of varied steam workings shot at Kinchley Lane and Woodthorpe, and tries to recapture the feel of the intensive timetable and the fascinating variety of trains that operated over the weekend. It has the advantage of enabling the viewer to watch all the trains without freezing their nadgers off, but if you’d really like to recreate the complete atmosphere of the day then turn off the heating, open all the windows and get 50 photographers into the living room while you play the video.

I’ve managed to edit out almost all of the annoying and intrusive hi-viz orange jackets that some people insist on wearing – I already know what kind of person you are, so you don’t need to advertise the fact! Hopefully what is left is reminiscent of linesiding in the Midland Region in the early 1960’s.

The score for this film is by Gilbert & Sullivan, so viewers will either love it or hate it - I can see the complaints rolling in already. But then again, I feel that the soundtrack is as much a part of a video as the visuals, and to my mind the various clips compliment the resonant brass while adding atmosphere to the end product.

All Steamed Up With Stan & Ollie

Faced with another dull weekend of ‘sitting’, I was idly flicking through various websites on Friday night when I happened upon the Great Central Railway’s pages, and discovered that they were holding a Steam Gala over the weekend. My interest heightened when I read that no fewer than eight locos would be in traffic on a mixture of trains operating to an intensive timetable. This was more like it! The motive power line up was impressive, but the clincher was LMS 5690 Leander – a loco that I’ve not seen before. The theme was LMS / BR Midland orientated, so all the trains would be pretty much running in period, and over an appropriate length of line between Loughborough and Leicester. Although the railway is only about 40 miles away I’d not visited it since 1995 – my interest in railways has been pretty dormant until last summer when I discovered that steam locos make excellent filming subjects, and so now was a good time to get reacquainted.

First job after packing the Grumpy Git camera-and-butty bag was to walk 5 miles to Marston in order to retrieve my car from a layby. Why? Well, good old Gordon Brown is in full ‘save the planet’ mode with the election coming, and has been ordering all of us to drive 5 miles less every week, which, by default, means that you have to abandon your car on the Friday evening homeward bound commute long before you actually finish your journey. Hmmm. This apparently saves a polar bear’s life, but adds an hour and a half to the journey. I really don’t think Gordy thought this through – now there’s a surprise.

Once I was reunited with my vehicle, I braved the early morning frost and set off for the Great Central Railway. I’d Google-Earthed the area online the night before and studied various photo albums to seek out some good vantage points. There appears to be only two good photographic locations, Woodthorpe which lies just outside of Loughborough, and Kinchley Lane near to Swithland Reservoir. Trees and vegetation hem in the vast majority of the line, although driving my car another five miles a week will presumably sort this out.

I set off initially for Kinchley Lane, and soon discovered that it was a favourite spot due to the amount of other photographers already on location, despite the early hour. It felt quite strange being in such vast crowds – when I film on the Nene Valley Railway I have the run of the entire line and only ever meet dog walkers and bird watchers!

Now I should say that I don’t generally follow the herd instinct, and after a few trains had passed by I started walking around to find some alternative photo spots. This was partly because being stood in one spot was boring, and would make the film I was shooting rather bland – plus I was freezing my nadgers off. I soon found several different vantage points within the general area, and was able to shoot from some more interesting perspectives. There was also much more freedom of movement than being in the large crowd up the embankment.

The day’s menu was exciting; starting with local branch line trains with a main course of express passenger services. This was followed by a dessert of freight trains and garnished with a TPO set. In between various courses, there was a medley of light loco movements – no shortage of interest or variety.

After several hours at Kinchley lane, I headed down to Woodthorpe. Another large congregation of photographers proved that I had the right spot. The field at this location offers some good panning shots, and it is also possible to get trackside for some close ups. There are two overbridges in the area offering more potential, and for the suicidal there is also the bridge that carries the A6006 across the line. Most photographers crowd round the signal and get in each other’s faces …..

….. or they do the same thing on the overbridge. That’s not my idea of fun. By moving around the area between shots, it was possible to create some variety in the film clips, so I was quite pleased with the end results. However, I’d like to return on a quieter day and really explore the line, as there must be other locations off the beaten track just waiting to be discovered. I also fancy taking a trip along the railway as well; a fair chunk of it is double-tracked and has the atmosphere of a real mainline.

I enjoyed Saturday so much that I returned on Sunday for some more shots – in particular the overbridges at Woodthorpe that I hadn’t tried the previous day. The weather wasn’t as good as Saturday, but otherwise it was pleasant enough, apart from the cold. I called it a day around lunchtime after exhausting all three sets of batteries in one morning – I’d accidentally purchased alkaline instead of my usual lithium, and they kept giving up. I lost three excellent clips this way – not impressive, given the price of batteries. The lithiums can usually give me a couple of days of intensive filming; the alkalines lasted about as long as a thought in a Cheeky Girl’s head.

The film is now in production at The Grumpy Git Productions Studio (my back bedroom) and I’ll upload the photos in due course. Given the number of photographers who were present at the event, the ‘net and YouTube should be packed full of photos and film from the weekend! There really were hundreds of enthusiasts present, and we all drove out there … so here’s a thought for five-miles-less Gordon: if you politicians hadn’t closed down these railways, then we wouldn’t all be driving hundreds of miles every weekend to photograph them in preservation! Think about it.

Stan and Ollie? Oh yes. Well, Stan is Stanier, and Ollie is Oliver Cromwell (70013 BR Pacific). But you knew that already…

Anyone interested in the Great Central Railway should visit this exceptional photographic website by Paul Biggs

Winter Warmer

I'm pleased to release the first Grumpy Git Productions film of 2010, featuring Fowler 4F 44422 hauling the ‘Winter Warmer’ trains early in January. With beautifully clear winter skies and bright, low sunlight the loco and four Mk1 coaches are filmed to advantage along various parts of the Nene Valley Railway. Three return trips along the line were edited together to create a single journey; outward with loco leading and ending with some tender-first running. The small loco has to work much harder than the usual loco on this line, Standard 5 73050, so the smoke effects are much more impressive.

Choosing a soundtrack was quite difficult for this film, but I eventually settled on some Yorkshire brass, as I'm rather partial to traditional brass band music anyway - by ‘eck, lad! The Black Dyke Mills Band hail from Queensbury near Bradford, an area that I’m reasonably sure will have been familiar to the Fowler locos. The band is much older than the train, as it was formed in 1816 by John Foster, owner of the Black Dyke Mill – like so many Yorkshire mills of the day, it dealt with textiles. After a faltering start, the band was fully established in 1855 and all members were outfitted in uniforms made from the mill’s own cloth. The band has remained active ever since, and still rehearses in the original rooms. However, they probably get their uniforms from Primark these days.

The selected piece of music is Cornet Carillon, a piece that brought back many memories as soon as I heard the opening bars. When I was at school (in those days it wasn’t a nice weather option, you just went regardless) we had a fantastic music department that would put on theatrical performances and concerts during the year. The Senior Brass Band would always play this piece, with a battle to be the soloist on the cornet. Nowadays the rest of the pupils would just text in to vote for whoever sold them drugs at playtime, but back then it was all down to ability, and the lucky person would be handpicked by Miss Northorpe, a diminutive teacher of around 5’2, but she could command the respect and obedience of the meanest thug with her withering gaze. Nobody every answered her back twice. Miss Northorpe ran our music department with discipline and determination that wouldn’t be out of place in the SAS, and produced extravagant concerts that were the envy of the other schools in the borough.

Although I personally prefer music in films, it can be highly subjective as to whether it enhances or detracts from the end result. So in this film I decided to have a go at pleasing both sides. The YouTube version has been made with a soundtrack, but I made a slightly different version without any score at all and that can be viewed here. Because the weather conditions were so good, I was able to video the train with barely any intrusive wind noise – the Samsung’s mike isn’t up to much – so unusually, I have an entire film with just the sound of the Fowler working fairly hard. Viewers have a choice of film, depending on personal preference. Perhaps I should run a competition to vote for your favourite version; tune in to see which locos are in the steam-off!

Dyeing to Get Dirty

Way back (or so it seems) in December I attended the model railway exhibition at Wigan. Having become jaded by the quality of almost all shows these days I rarely bother to travel around to see the same inevitable line up that I’ve seen everywhere else. However, a large and urgent stock delivery meant that the three-hour cross-country trek was a necessity – but am I glad I went! Wigan was a model railway exhibition – doing exactly what it said on the tin. High quality, fully operational and interesting layouts covering a broad arena of gauges, periods and nationalities were backed up with relevant trade specialists. Such a pleasant change from the usual rows and rows of second-hand Hornby and Bachmann box shifters that make most shows look like a carboot sale with a few token layouts.

Difficult to choose a favourite layout because the quality was so high, but the scenery on the 'N' Gauge Bassenthwaite Lake really stood out, simply because the water has been reproduced to an extrordinarily realistic level:

This view epitomises the natural splendour of the Lake District.

To make a change from photographing a BR Standard 5, I photographed this .... oh, not again!

A quiet moment on Sodam Hall. The captions underneath the JCB apparently refers to certain writers at Rail Express, a magazine that prides itself on removing every last vestige of fun from the hobby of modelling. Everything but everything must meet their exacting standards - although they've never explained that a model of a diesel loco powered by an electric motor can hardly be described as prototypical. How does that work, then?


However, the show itself is not the main point of this post (oh, so there’s a point? That’s a new one …) Our neighbour on the Ten Commandments stand were Alan & Claudy from a new enterprise known as Modelmates Weathering Spray Dye. Weathering is a tricky area; you’re either good at it or you’re not. I fall into the latter category, so I’m always interested in any new materials or tools that will help me out in this department.

Modelmates use aerosol cans (there goes another polar bear*) filled with a coloured dye, not paint. This means it can be sprayed on in the usual manner, but the biggest difference is that it can be worked in and wiped off with a moist tissue. This sounded interesting, so I spent a significant part of the day trying out varying techniques.



The company was actually set up to provide film and TV producers with suitable materials for temporary weathering and scenic effects, where real life weathering and distressing would be impractical. You need a spotless train to appear old and dirty in a period film? No problem; get down and dirty within a couple of hours, then in the morning wash it off and it’s as if it had never happened. Bit like being an MP, but morally acceptable.

This technique was used back in November on The Nene Valley Railway, when film producers set about recreating snow scenes for the upcoming remake of Murder on The Orient Express. (Full story here). This will be an ITV adaptation of the original story in a Poirot investigation format, rather than a like-for-like remake. Several tons of fake snow arrived by truck in order to recreate the snow covered railway tracks that blocked in the train during the critical murder scenes when the frustrated passengers pooled their resources to stab the Train Manager after 7 hours of non-communication. Sorry, I’m getting my stories mixed up – I’m thinking of Murder on The Eurostar Express. This must have cost thousands of pounds – bet they’re kicking their accountants through the door now.

“I told you we should have waited another month; now

there’s half a million tons of the real thing out there!”

If I may digress from the point here as is customary, then the new film should be well worth watching. The NVR was able to provide the original Wagon Lits coaches without problems, as regular readers of this column will be aware. Unfortunately they don’t have any serviceable foreign locos, which resulted in Standard Type 5 73050 City of Peterborough being given the role. In order to make a Standard Type 5 look more at home in Belgrade (where else would you get a statement like that?), the film makers whacked a huge headlight on the smokebox door and removed the BR numbers to leave just 305. Clearly this is a big budget production.

"They'll never see through this disguise. Just don't tell Rail Express!"

(Photos from filming by Ben Davis at Peterborough Evening Telegraph)

More photos from filming may be seen on the NVR Gallery pages, whilst photos of 73050 steaming away in acres and acres of real snow may be seen in my photo gallery or in the Winter Wonderland video. If ITV would like any of this footage, please get in touch with an envelope full of used tenners, and we’ll talk.

But back to the point - the range of colours by Modelmates covers a pale sandy brown up to sooty black, with, appropriately enough, the most recent addition being snow – because none of us can get enough of that at the moment.

Now I have to say I was a little sceptical when I saw the dyes, as so many instant weathering materials have popped up over the years, and generally, they’re not up to much. So, Alan handed me some tins, I took a load of stock off our stand and began playing. And it’s impressive stuff, it really is. Whilst rolling stock is an obvious target, my main interest is in weathering buildings. The new old-style brick factories that Ten Commandments have produced look great, but I wanted something that could age them and provide a timeworn, rundown appearance. These dyes are ideal, because there are two main ways of applying them.

For a light dusting of background weathering, the can is held about a foot away and passed over the required area quickly until the required amount of dye is on the model. For detail areas, such as protruding stanchions, doors and underframes etc, the can should be held a couple of inches away and sprayed quite heavily so that the area is swimming in the stuff. Then, with judicious dabbing with a slightly dampened tissue, the dirt can be worked in to the required areas to create a build up of muck. The dye dries to a powdery matt finish, thus recreating a dusty look that is remarkably effective. For greater effect, the area can be resprayed and re-wiped several times, and the layers will build up, just like the real thing. I plan to try different dyes out on various old models from the bits box, and here is my motley collection:


In the meantime, more information can be gleaned from the Modelmates website. I’ll be working with the dyes on the demonstration stand with Ten Commandments at the Doncaster Model Railway Show on 13/14 February, so come along and take a look. Modelmates will also be trading at this show, so you can even have a go and get some yourself. Right, I’m off to go and get down and dirty.


* Not really.

Fowler and Foul Play

It’s always the way, isn’t it?  12 days off work in grotty, dull weather and finally on the last day it decides to be nice.  Sunday in Grantham was extremely cold and the snow we’ve had of late had frozen solid, but when I woke to cloudless blue skies and a bright winter sun, I knew that this was a photography day.  I had a choice of trying again for the Fowler 4F running days at the Nene Valley, or heading west to The Great Central that runs between Loughborough and Leicester.  Whilst the intensive timetable offered by the GCR appealed, the route to reach it involved many miles of traversing the icy back country roads in order to (hopefully) reach it.   Hmmm.  Maybe not.  Plan ‘B’ meant that I could take the A52 and A46 to Loughborough, but these roads are pure hell at the best of times, and on a New Year Bank Holiday would be chock full of Citroen Picassos and Renault Scenics packed full of screaming kids and overloaded with Christmas presents from the holiday with Granny in Ingoldmells.  Anything that wasn’t a people carrier would be a Vectra on it’s way back from the Ikea sale, easily identifiable by the 3 piece suite strapped onto the roof rack with a piece of garden twine.

By contrast, the NVR is reached from the dual carriageway A1, meaning that all the people carriers could be overtaken, except for those dodging armchairs that had come adrift from the aforementioned Vectras.  The weather was cold and there was a sprinkling of snow on the ground, so all the 4x4’s and Audis would be tucked up on their drives in case they got dirty.  The NVR it was, then.  The snow petered out a few miles south of Colsterworth, with only icy patches remaining as a result of the chilly, cloudless evening.  Well, I was now in the Deep South, after all.

Mindful of my previous wasted journey to the NVR on (whatever day it was – with these holidays I lose track) I drove past Wansford Station to see a satisfactory plume of steam billowing above the station building.  At least something was active, so I continued on to Ferry Meadows to park up and start walking.  Well, I say ‘parked’ – the surface was pure black ice and the moment I cornered and dabbed the brakes, the car did a graceful twirl with a pirouette before ending on a plié in between the café and the coach park.  I got a nasty shock, an unexpected arrival in my underwear and a sev-errrn! from Len.  Oh well, near enough.

With such great weather, all the favourite locations were up for grabs.  I wanted to try a couple of different angles and techniques, and kicked off with an into-the-sun shot at Lynch Bridge:

I was videoing and shooting stills together, which basically meant setting up the Samsung to film video and then concentrate on getting one decent photograph from that location as well.  I didn’t plan to do much panning by video, and that meant that I could concentrate on not making silly mistakes, like letting my 50-foot shadow occupy the foreground as in Winter Wonderland.

After Lynch Bridge it was off to the meadow, which was a great location for my favourite shot of the day, and some good film to match:

I’d planned to walk along to Castor Crossing for the next set, but when I was climbing the stile at the end of the meadow, I thought this area itself would make a nice panorama given that the wooden fence and overhanging trees made a natural frame.  Location sorted, I now had a chilly hour to kill, but ate my pack up and read my book (I’m still on Peter Kay, in case you were wondering.  And if you were wondering – boy have you had an exciting New Year).

Next up would be new location I’ve never used before, Sutton Cross.  The line is dead straight, has a working signal and provides a good head on view of trains working out of Castor Crossing.  This place makes for wonderful video, but for the photographer there is one tiny, almost insignificant drawback.  If you look closely, perhaps you’ll spot it:

Got it yet?  Okay, I’ll tell you – it’s the pylon.  Oh yes, I can see it now.  I still like this photograph, and if you look at it with your eyes closed, then the pylon disappears.

With two return workings covered, 44422 had one more round trip to perform.  As it was warmer to walk than stand in a field, I decided to head all the way into Wansford and get a couple of station shots.  The plan was to film the departure, and then while the train went to Yarwell to run round I’d nip across the bridge and film the eastbound run as it crossed the Nene.  I could then walk down to Lynch Bridge to capture the final westbound run of the day, which would be at around sunset.  Great!

Wansford Station was eerily quiet after the hubbub of the Santa Specials.  I wanted some shots of the 4F steaming away, but these were difficult due to the presence of a real bobblehat out on day-release.  He stood talking to the driver about all sorts of rubbish – tales of his mother taking the Evening Star over the Somerset & Dorset; an issue about a leaking steam pipe on the loco and were cheese and pickle sandwiches more tasty than cheese and beetroot?  All very interesting – the poor driver needed CPR before taking the train out – but he was stood right next to the cab, ruining any chance of a good photo.  Thank you.

The icing on the cake came at departure time.  I knew this idiot would take over the station, so I decided to film the train from behind the loco and watch it recede into the distance – I could frame it with the Wansford station nameboard, and the lighting would make it work.  When I got the camera home and ran the film clips, I couldn’t believe what I saw.  This selfish idiot had hogged everybody’s photo for over 20 minutes; yet as the train prepared to leave, he set up his own shot and had the effrontery to shoo a small group of other photographers and visitors away from the end of the platform as they were getting in the way of his pictures!  This kind of selfish arrogance needs naming and shaming, or in this case, photographing and shaming:

I detest this type of photographer intensely, and it seems to be a particular brand of railway photographer that is the worst offender from what I’ve witnessed recently.  When you consider that during the Santa Specials there were literally hundreds of people thronging Wansford Station, I never had a single problem with taking a picture.  Good old-fashioned courtesy dictates that you get your shot, and then discreetly move away so that other people can get theirs.  If you’re shooting video when people are around then you simply take your chance and hope for the best – and make good use of editing facilities later.  You do not block other people’s photos for 20 minutes and then demand that they clear a path so you can get yours.  Is it me?  Now you know why I prefer to spend so much time linesiding.  Which was where I was heading now, as I needed to get back into a frosty field to capture the final trip as it returned through Wansford, heading for Peterborough.

The next shot would be the last run of the day, loco running boiler first, so I chose a point near Ailsworth where there is a small embankment just above the river.  The trees here were very autumnal, and the setting sun would really highlight the oranges and reds in a blaze of glory as the lingering hues of sunset reflected off the passing locomotive and coaches as they trundled by into the creeping tendrils of the encroaching dusk.  Sorry, I have a friend who’s started writing fiction lately, and thought I’d have a bash myself at some descriptive prose.  I fancied doing a modern Railway Children – The Railtrack Children; a group of ASBO teenagers who set off a landslide to derail a train.  No?  Okay, back to the drawing board then.

Where was I?  Oh yes – Ailsworth.  The setting was perfect and the lighting made-to-order.  With the train due at 15:50 and sunset at just after 16:00, it would look fantastic.  Well, it would have been, if the train didn’t manage to lose 20 minutes for no discernible reason.  Sunset waits for no man or 4F, and I watched with great disappointment as the sun settled over the horizon bit by bit.  No amount of 4F-ing and blinding would encourage 44422 to arrive, although it kept goading me by whistling several miles away down the line.  All I could do was watch the bright oranges and reds turn grey until eventually, it turned up.  The film came out rather better than expected, but the photo I took was rather flat and lifeless.

I tried to be a bit adventurous here and move the train to one side of the picture so that it wasn’t the main focus – as you can see it didn’t work at all, and the rather scrubby grass dominates the picture.  The train certainly isn’t the main focus of this picture, given that it can barely be seen, so in that respect it could be deemed a success.  This scene might have worked better during the day when the sunlight brought out the vivid array of colours and detail.  With dusk falling and the sun all but gone, a straightforward three quarter shot would have been preferable.  Still, if you don’t try something, how else can you determine what does and doesn’t work?

Despite this disappointment, I felt that the day was a success, and it more than made up for my previous attempt to capture the 4F in action.  It also rounded off the interminable Christmas holiday period on a positive note, and on the way home I didn’t hit a single sofa.  That’s what I call a good day out.

The photos from this set will be uploaded to my Picasaweb Album shortly, and Grumpy Git Productions are working on the  film.

Bernie Cartwright, A Sad Loss

Sadly, I was informed today that Bernie Cartwright of the Whitewebbs Model Railway Club died this morning from a heart attack.

I’ve known Bernie well since 2002, as he was the exhibition manager of the Enfield Whitewebbs show, held every September near London. He was an ex-pat Northerner from Darlington who'd ended up down south, and I met him when was I making and selling clocks at model railway shows. We had a chat in Leicester, of all places, and he invited me to try out his show. I accepted, but Corail Images was struggling a bit and unfortunately I decided to close the business down a few months later. I rang Bernie and told him I had to cancel, and in his typically forthright manner, he said, “So what are you doing instead?”

I explained that I was experimenting with creating a range of ‘OO’ gauge signs and advertising billboards that I’d recently tried out at the annual DEMU Exhibition, but it was too early to say if it would work. Bernie said, “Okay, bring down whatever you’ve got on the day and I’ll give you a table. If you make any money then you can give a donation to the club; if you don’t – well, you’ll have a day out and we’ll feed you.”

That pretty much summed Bernie up really. No nonsense, tell it like it is and always a solution to hand. I attended Whitewebbs that year with much success, and indeed from that, Signs of The Times was born. I traded at his show until SoTT folded in 2007, at which point Bernie said, “So why not bring your layout down instead?” My final appearance would be in 2008 with a demonstration stand; Bernie regularly rang round his mates on the circuit to find out what they were up to and would offer you the chance of involvement at the show. He’d ring several times a year, just for a chat – imagine any other exhibition manager doing that!

Bernie was far more of a mate than an exhibition manager. Whether you exhibited, traded or demonstrated, to Bernie you were a person as opposed to a means of generating money. You’d be fed and watered, with bacon butties for breakfast and a lunch in the railway carriage – but if you were on your own, then lunch was brought to your stand. That’s what made the difference, and that’s why I supported the Whitewebbs Show until he stood down due to ill health in 2009.

Bernie’s wife Jan was always involved in the exhibition catering, and so I got to know her well too over the years. They made a great team and shared a wicked sense of humour that permeated the rather stuffy world of many railway clubs. Going to the show was always a day out and a bit of a jolly, with an exhibition and some trading thrown in. Bernie’s straightforward and no nonsense style will be greatly missed on the circuit; I’m raising a glass in his memory tonight and I hope that anyone who knew him will do the same in his honour. I'm sure that he wouldn't have it any other way.

Bernie Cartwright – One of a kind and greatly missed.

Heading For a Breakthrough ... or Breakdown?

New Year is here; at last a return to normality – such as it is. New Year’s morning was the ideal opportunity to shake off the stodginess and lethargy of the whole festive trial-by-turkey season and get some fresh air, a good walk and some photographs.

Naturally I headed down to the Nene Valley, as they were running some ‘winter warmers’ consisting of the LMS Fowler 4F that is visiting the line until October. Three return trips were booked to run, and as it was a fairly clear and crisp (i.e. icy and freezing cold) morning, presented ideal conditions for some good pictures. Four of these locos are preserved, although I can’t say how many are operational. Small tender engines such as these tend to be overlooked on preserved lines because of their more glamorous big sisters, so it’s great that 44422 was being given an outing.

44422 approaching Lynch Bridge back in October.

For the opening shot I chose Castor, which has a shallow embankment. When trains head east on the NVR the loco travels tender first, and to my mind, that’s when smaller locos such as the 4F look much more natural than the mainline passenger locos in a similar position.

At the appointed time, nothing happened. 15 minutes later, I heard a diesel engine approaching – I wondered if the NVR was top and tailing again, or perhaps there’d been a failure and a class 14 was deputising. This is the sight that I was greeted with:

This was quite unexpected, a London Transport Sentinel diesel shunter with three men in the cab. (More can be read about this interesting loco here). I wondered if perhaps the Winter Warmers were somewhat under-subscribed, and to cut costs and the need for running round etc, the railway had decided to make life a little easier for themselves. I stayed put, getting increasingly colder as time pretty much stood still. Normally I’d just read a book that I always take with me on photoshoots when I know there’ll be long gaps to fill (currently Saturday Night Peter: Memoirs of a Stand-Up Comedian by Peter Kay if you’re interested). But after turning three pages and losing three fingers through frostbite, I gave up on this method of passing the time. The age-old photographers adage that ‘move and you’ll miss it’ was uppermost in my mind, but moving steadily down the priority list as the cold worked upwards. After another 45 minutes of chilly boredom, and watching more fingers drop off as I replied to various New Year texts, I decided to call it a day. Back at the car I heard the rumble of a diesel engine approaching, and legged it back to the track to find that the Sentinel was heading back, still with 3 people in the cab and no coaches or wagons in sight. Fortunately my shutter finger hadn’t yet fallen off, so I nabbed this shot as it rumbled past to Wansford:

Therefore my theory must be correct – this was the Winter Warmer special, or maybe the NVR station staff had sent the lads down to Peterborough to buy McBreakfast. Why would you send a Sentinel loco down to McDonalds? Well, you’d never get a 4F and four Mk1’s into a Drive-thru, now would you? Keep up.

Seeing as I missed out on another chance to film steam at the NVR, I found this excellent video that was filmed at the Nene Valley in the early 1990’s. It’s certainly very different to every other railway video, and has everything you could possibly want in a film. Queen (as in We Will Rock You as opposed to We Will Rule You); a great rock song; steam locos and a sexy model - nice to have all my hobbies in a single film – it is, of course, Breakthru (or Breakthrough if you’re over 40) by the incomparable Queen.

Most of this film was shot between Castor and Lynch Bride, with Mill Lane overbridge appearing several times – all familiar locations to eagle eyed Grumpy Git Productions viewers. The rest of it was shot at Wansford tunnel. I took a friend down to the NVR to recreate the fantastic opening scene, but it didn’t work. Firstly, the British Transport Police Anti-Fun Department of Pointless Rules & Regulations politely and firmly moved me on. They didn’t object to her lying in between the tracks and walking down the permanent way; no, it was because she didn’t have a hi-viz jacket on while doing so. Then my ‘model’ moaned that the ballast had made her little black dress get dirty after 17 takes. That wasn’t my fault – in Breakthru (or Breakthrough) – the model lies still, and gracefully rises to walk down the tracks. Whereas Chloe kept twisting round “because I can hear a bloody train coming.” I tried to assure her that a train wasn’t coming, and even if it was, then if she would lie still it would pass right over her anyway. “Just lie there completely motionless. Like you do every other night of the week.” Actually, I didn’t say that, I just thought it. Even I’m not that stupid – and I don’t want spherical earrings, thank you. I decided that tact and diplomacy were the order of the day instead, and sought to reassure her with, “You don’t get many to the pound down there anyway, so a train won’t hit them.’

Once I’d regained consciousness, I began to wonder if I’d said the wrong thing. Filming continued in an atmosphere best described as ‘frosty.’ Finally, when she did get up and walk (totter) down the track, a heel broke on the ballast; she slipped on to a rail, laddered her stockings and split her knee open. And of course, it was all my fault. It wasn’t the happiest of photoshoots I’ve ever been on, I can tell you. Even buying a Burger King on the way home didn’t improve the chill in the air. There’s just no pleasing some people. Next time I’m working with Kate Moss.

Having realised that she'd forgotten her petticoat, Bobbie wondered if waving
her red G-string at the driver of the 09:15 Green Dragon would have any effect.

(If you haven't read or seen The Railway Children, then this gag won't work. In that case, just admire the pretty picture because I'm not even going to attempt an explanation).

Health & Safety Warning: Grumpy Git Productions do not recommend walking / lying / posing on railway tracks. It's fairly dangerous, except at weekends when you have to lie in front of the replacement bus service, and the end result looks similar to the time your Granny slipped on the kitchen floor with a hot redcurrant and blueberry pie. GGP supports the Government's Safety Awareness programme: Be an idiot responsibly.

Bottom Gear

My ambitious plans for various projects over the Christmas holidays have proved, perhaps inevitably, to have succumbed to the inevitable lethargy that comes with the season – family visits, nights out with friends, over indulgence of food, drink and TV have all prompted a feeling of ‘can’t be bothered,' which is a pity because I just know that I’ll wish I’d made better use of time once back at work. But c’est la vie – it’s another right Royle Christmas holiday for me.

Therefore I present some of the projects that I would have done, if only I could have torn myself away from the box set of the original St Trinians DVD’s that I received as a very welcome gift.

Firstly, the cars to go along with my Iveco car transporter project. At the excellent Wigan Show back in December 2009 BC (before Christmas) I purchased these four lovely specimens that are typical of the trade-in quality-previously-loved rust buckets with flat batteries.  If you watch Top Gear then you'll be used to seeing top end supercars that can powerslide in 5th gear at around 185 mph.  If that's your scene, then stop reading now.  These are cars from the real world. Well, Rochdale.

We have a Mitsubishi Colt (6 owners from new, full of dog hairs, collapsed rear suspension, low miles as it only goes to Lidl and back on Tuesdays). Then we have a burgundy Mk 2 Astra 1.4 with overflowing ashtrays, footwells littered with discarded McBoxes that carbon dating will put circa 1994 onwards, crumpled up copies of The Star and a big hole where the Sonypanasharp dikka dikka boombox used to reside. No spare wheel, because that’s where the 18 additional speakers used to be housed. The sump is missing after being ripped off when taking speedhumps at 46 mph, which is flat out when fully loaded with 12 teenagers smashed out of their skulls on Special Brew and Ecstasy.

Next up we have a BMW Compact. These tend to be lower-end company cars, thrashed for the first 55000 miles before being sold on every six months to people who want a BMW but can’t afford a proper one. Every warning light on the dash flashes away merrily, but fixing the problem will cost three times the cars’ value. So sell it on. It will be bought by a dealer for a snip, who will fix all the problems by simply removing the bulbs of the warning lights, quick polish and there you go.

Finally, the ubiquitous Ford Fiesta. This particular example is a German Company car for Deutsche Post, so that will have to go – probably a respray here. I’ll retain the yellow body colour, thus declaring this to be a 20-something’s girlie-mobile. Lots of cute stickers and teddy bears on swings hanging off the rear windows, glove box full of leftover cosmetics, small change everywhere that will amount to around £2.57, half a dozen biros that don’t work, the original Ford Fiesta manual that’s never been opened and is in mint condition (goes on Ebay), and around a dozen long-expired air freshener trees dangling off the make-up and beauty mirror (formerly known as rear view mirror).  You know the sort of thing I mean:

 Also, on one notable occasion, a pack of photographs clearly taken at some sort of party involving lots of alcopops and scenes of – ahem – an adult nature that brought tears to my eyes. Clearly romance isn’t dead in Humberside. Let’s just say that she was lucky that I collected this car from the dealer, and whilst trawling through the vehicle for my £2.57 tip, came across said pack of pictures. Now I may be a Grumpy Old Git, but still retain old-fashioned moral standards to a degree, so I resisted the temptation to sell them to Hello! or OK! or Celebrity Bollocks!!! magazines and shredded the lot.*   Had they stayed in the car and gone through an auction, no doubt they’d be all over Facebook by now. See, I can do nice. So here’s a warning – when you trade a car in, clean it out first. Because you never know where it will end up.

A Renault Laguna would have joined these four cars, but obviously it wouldn’t start so I left it in Wigan to collect another time when I can be bothered. Clearly I’m starting to let my work influence my hobby a little too much.

Next along is a weathering project that is currently in the concept stage of development.  But all this creative writing has worn me out, so I'm going to watch another DVD first ... back later.

* Okay, they didn't offer me enough.  You know me too well.

Redemption & Atonement

Having created and posted my Thomas The Tank Engine video in a moment of seasonal madness, I realised after sobering up (following the Works’ Christmas Do) that that in order to redeem myself, and the reputation of Grumpy Git Productions (such as it isn’t) a pretty good film would need to be created if there was to be any atonement whatsoever.  Fortunately, a weekend of snow and exceptionally bright and clear days over the weekend had provided me with everything, and more, that I could ask for when making a film.  I was wondering how the weather would affect the running of the Santa Specials, especially given that the shiny and expensive Eurostars were grinding to a halt underneath the English Channel due to – wait for it - snow.  But the 55 year old BR Standard 5 soldiered on, along with the rake of post-war Wagon-Lits coaches.  That’s progress.

My visit to the Nene Valley is documented in the post below, and Sunday proved to be even better in many ways – although the snow was starting to melt in more exposed places as it was, apparently, warmer than Saturday.  Try telling that to the contents of my boxer shorts after standing in a snowy field for over an hour to get a particular shot.

Despite a couple of mistakes, I had sufficient film in the can to create my Winter Wonderland video – something I never dreamed I’d have the opportunity to make.  I wanted to make a seasonal, rather than Christmassy, film on this occasion.  Christmas is adequately covered in the light hearted Turkey on the Orient Express; for Winter Wonderland I was after quality shots of the train in the fantastic natural surroundings.  Mostly these succeeded, but in one unmistakable scene, the shadow of the photographer (that would be me) is clearly visible in the foreground.  Yes, I committed the cardinal and unforgivable sin of getting in my own photo, as I misjudged the angle of the sun and the effect that it would have on shadows when setting up the shot.  The low angle of sun made me about 50 feet tall (although on the bright side, you should see what it did for the aforementioned contents of my boxer shorts.  Let’s just say there were no complaints at the Work’s Do, and put a lid on that one).  I have to be honest here, and say that considering I had nigh on an hour to set this scene up, it’s something that should have been avoided.  In future there’ll be less concentration on the benefits of winter shadows, and a bit more on photography.  Although you have to make your own entertainment in the middle of a field covered in snow in temperatures of around zero.  My first thought was to delete the scene, but it’s a great pan of the train at that point, so I kept it in.  Bear with me on that one.

The music was an easy choice; seasonal but not festive was again the remit here.  Sleigh Ride has long been a favourite piece of mine, particularly the instrumental version performed by a full orchestra – although the annoying neighing of the horses had to be edited out, so that the whistle of the iron horse could be heard – infinitely better!  The music perfectly matches the motion of a train to my mind and was a natural choice.  The second half of the film needed to keep the same pace and rhythm in order to maintain continuity, but with a big ending to suit the arrival of the train back at Wansford.  Ironically it would be Sleigh Ride again, but this time the Troika by Prokofiev. 

Perhaps Grumpy Git Productions have now redeemed themselves following Apocalypse Thomas.  Maybe it was all a clever ploy to make viewers appreciate this latest film even more – or proof that consuming entire bottles of Christmas Sherry isn’t clever or funny.  The NVR are running Santa Specials on Christmas Eve, so I hope to get down there for the final fling.  Well, there’s more chance of filming these trains in motion than a Eurostar at present – but mind you, choosing a musical score wouldn’t be difficult - Simon & Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence, what else?

Ice Cold in Ailsworth

Good king Grumpy last looked out
On the feast of Gordon
When the snow lay round about
So this is global warming.

It’s ironic that in the same week that our Gordy flew to Copenhagen to tell the world that everybody (except politicians, presumably) should stop flying in order save polar bears, that I awake to find the ice cap has actually moved into my back garden.  Even more ironically, I’d only just got the Grumpy Git Christmas Special wrapped up (did you see what I did there) when I find out that the most perfect Christmas weather conditions were outside my door ready for the taking.  Not one to miss an opportunity, I decided to jump into the car and once again head down to the Nene Valley Railway for a spot of seasonal photography. 

Unlike previous visits, I didn’t have a plan as such – just grab as much film and photos at favourite spots as possible, as there is no way of knowing how long these conditions will last.  The weather was a dream – clear skies, a low winter sun and in the countryside there was a covering of snow several inches deep.  It was real Christmas card stuff, and the only downside was that it was cold.  Actually, it was bloody freezing and you need to be soft in the head to go hiking off down the Nene Walk for a day, but this was far too good a chance to miss.

Things went awry for the Santa Specials before they even started, as the snow, which was nice to look at, had frozen up several points and the level crossing gates mechanism at Wansford.  Consequently the first train out was 40 minutes late, and this had a knock on effect during the day.

My walk took me through the real countryside of the Nene Walk, which resulted in the thick snow coming over the top of my boots, melting into my trousers and as a result, filling my boots with water.  I hadn’t seen that one coming, but too late now.  Anyway, you’re supposed to suffer for your art, so I squelched onwards.  In the end I got to Ferry Meadows Station, some 5 miles trek away, and gradually worked back through the stunning vista of the winter wonderland.  Although the sun was out, the temperature hovered around zero all day.  Great for my pictures as the scenes weren’t melting before my eyes, but not so good for my feet.  Now I know how Captain Oates felt when he said, “I’m popping out to photograph a Standard Four lads; I may be some time.”

Although five trains ran during the day I only managed to photograph and film four of them, as the very late last run would take place after dark.  As it was also the final of Strictly, I filmed the fourth train and headed back for home.  Some pictures of the day are below, but the rest need to go into an online album.  Iain Robinson suggested I set up a Flickr account a while back – an excellent idea, and one I plan to get to stuck into during the Christmas holidays.  In the meantime:

Class 14 heads the first train out of Wansford - 40 minutes late, but well worth the wait for this shot.

 

 73050 on the return to Wansford, nice reflections in the river.

 

 Clear blue skies and crisp snow at Lynch Bridge.

 

 A nice festive touch at Ferry Meadows Station.

 

I was most impressed to find that Mill Lane Bridge came with cupholders for my lunch.  Unfortunately, this meant that my coffee was cold after 3 minutes.  You can see from this picture that I really know how to live when I'm out on a photoshoot.

I'm back home and part of me is almost thawed out - who knows, maybe I'll do it all again tomorrow.  I was going to stay in, put my feet up and watch tele.  But with Gordon jetting off to here, there and everywhere, I'd best photograph the snow before it all disappears .....

What a Christmas Cracker

Yes, Christmas is upon us, and ‘tis the season to be jolly, or so they tell me. Wiith that in mind I’ve been working towards the Grumpy Git Productions Christmas Special lately, as various previous blog posts have related.   I decided to use the Nene Valley Railway Santa Specials as the basis of a film, which has ended up going off in a completely different direction to the original idea.

Having spent a couple of cold and mud encrusted weekends getting lineside shots, I decided to use last Sunday for the close up station area scenes that I was after – the weather was dull and overcast, with promise of heavy rain on and off (mostly on).  Definitely not a day for trudging along the Nene Walk.

I arrived good and early to work out where I would need to be and when, which was when I bumped into one of the NVR volunteers, Barbara, whom I met at the Peterborough Model Railway Exhibition recently.  Barbara is aware of my frequent visits to the line for filming, and invited me aboard the first Santa Special of the day in case I’d like some interior shots to add into the film.  What an excellent idea – this would add a whole new dimension to the film.  Barbara introduced me to Jayne who runs the Wagon-Lits first class coaches, as these vehicles would provide my ideal backdrop to the interior scenes.  Plus I’ve always wanted to travel on the Orient Express, and this was an excellent way of doing so without selling a kidney.

Jayne asked for volunteers who would like to be in the film, as not everyone these days is willing to appear in front of a camera, despite what you may think from audition time at X-Factor.  All the Wagon Lits passengers were more than happy to be filmed and star in the video – as children would be some of the main performers I made sure that everyone concerned was aware that the video would be submitted to the NVR for possible use on their website, as well as on the Grumpy Git YouTube page.  It’s a sad reflection on British society these days that this has to be mentioned, but with the Government and The Daily Mail trying to make everyone believe that there is a paedophile hiding behind every tree, I had to cover some bases.  Remember when you were allowed to just enjoy yourself?  Thanks, Gordon.

Anyway, with groundwork covered and the train loaded up to capacity, off we went with cameras rolling.  On arrival back at Wansford, Jayne asked if I’d undertake a second trip as on the later trains the passengers have a lunch service that would look good on film.  Hmmm, let me see – cold and wet Wansford Station, or another trip in a nice warm first class train with coffee and mince pies coming my way.  I’ll think about it.  Thinking done, I set up for another session.  As well as the catering, I also filmed Santa himself, who meets and greets all the passengers on each train.

First-Class Wagon Lits place setting.

On the return journey, Jayne requested a group photo of her team, which was an excellent idea.  I also had one of my rare flashes of inspiration and, suggested they shout out a ‘Happy Christmas’ message on camera, as this would round off the film nicely.

Jayne's Team, with Jayne, middle row, centre.

With three return trips left to run, I sadly alighted from the lovely warm train onto the very cold and wet Wansford Station for the arrival and departure shots.  I wanted to give the impression that the train is steam hauled throughout, but in reality, the steam loco runs top and tail with a class 14 diesel loco.  Departure from Wansford therefore sees the steam engine dragged along in reverse, so I couldn’t use this at all.  I could use the coaches leaving, however, and the loco departure was filmed at Ferry Meadows instead.  Filming at Peterborough NV was also out of the question – the train overhangs the platform by around 4 coach lengths, so a classic station departure shot would not be possible.  Therefore Ferry Meadows and Wansford stood in here, with a departure of Peterborough taken from inside the train.  It sort of works once it’s all edited together, especially if you watch it with your eyes closed.  I’ve seen far worse continuity on some BBC dramas involving railways, believe me.

73050 arrives at Wansford ... or departs from Peterborough .. 

or passing Ferry Meadows ... depending on the situation at the time!

In between Santa Specials, I filmed Thomas shunting the mail coach that contains the presents for Santa’s Grotto – be warned, a Thomas video is under construction!  It’s Christmas, I can do what I like.

With plenty of footage available to work with, I set about creating a family orientated piece about the Santa Specials, with the idea of submitting it to the NVR for consideration for use on their website.  For this reason, the music had to be royalty free and licensed for commercial use.  This ruled out all my chosen tracks due to copyright reasons – see my bit earlier about the country banning enjoyment these days – and discovered Kevin McLeod who arranges and performs music for unrestricted website use – great!  I set about recreating the train journey, from preparations in the morning through to a return trip along the line and ending back at Wansford with a message from the NVR volunteers.

It’s worth pointing out that each Santa Special requires around 50 volunteers who have a journey of an hour in which to serve drinks, food, clean up, introduce Santa, dispense more drinks and clean up again.  Back at Wansford, the whole train must be serviced in 25 minutes ready for the next set of 300 passengers.  They work extremely hard and create a genuinely warm and welcoming atmosphere on the train; something you don’t appreciate until you’re behind the scenes watching it all.  I was most impressed with the organisation and enjoyment of my time on board the train.  Filming it is a lot easier than doing it, that’s for sure.

Grabbing a quick 5 minute break on the return trip to Wansford.

So loosen your tie, pull a cracker and pour yourself a Scotch - it's time for the Grumpy Git Christmas Special.