Last week i caught the movie People Will Talk playing on the local PBS station starring Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain.
This clip shows Cary Grant and his buddies trying to sort out the dispatching problem after they crash their trains into each other.
Uyuni, Bolivia was once an important transport hub, but plans to turn the town into a railway hub evidently failed. Construction on the network was started in the late 19th Century but abandoned before work was completed, leaving the train lines to fall into disrepair. The salty wind from the nearby salt flats has rusted away these mechanical beasts. Visitors now come from all over to pay their respects by etching a note or two.
If you want to move around your property build yourself a personal railroad.
The Modelrailcast podcast is going strong and still has fresh content to deliver every week. I just finished listening to Ryan’s #64 podcast where he chats with Doug Foscale of FosLimited.com. In this show, Ryan talks with Doug about his new DVD, Model Railroading Details and Scenery.
I have trusted Ryan’s reviews in the past and have gone ahead with the products he endorsed and I’m sure this time too his recommendation of Doug’s DVD is reliable. In a previous show, he chatted with Scott Mason, and his DVD’s were also recommended.
I’m sure lot of great tips and hard work has gone into producing the DVD’s but the price of $29.95 is at the “maybe-later” point for me as would be for others. Our hobby benefits greatly on disposable income and during these times, its difficult to justify spending this much on the DVD.
I am not trying to trash Doug’s and Scott’ s DVD but here are a few things they can do to convince us to purchase their products.
Short Preview
I want to see a short video preview of the DVD. I want to be able to judge for myself the quality of the DVD. Just an image of the DVD cover does not help if you are trying to sell a DVD. I know Scott has a small preview of the Hoosac Valley lines that looks interesting. None of the other DVDs have any preview. I know it costs bandwidth but as a business that would be part of your advertising cost. They could put it on YouTube for free and then link back to their stores.
Downloadable Videos
Break up the DVD into chapters and offer the video clips for sale for a cheaper / per chapter price. It would be easier for us to fork out a few dollars than pay for the DVD. This way we get our tips and they get our business.
None of these tips are new. In fact, Joe Fugate follows this model perfectly. Joe sells each chapter in various formats from 1.99 to 2.99 and they all have a video preview.
I did not buy Joe’s DVD that are priced at 25$ but over the months i gradually got all his scenery iPod format at $1.99. I hope both Scott and Doug revisit their pricing strategy and give us various purchasing options.
Photographer Anton Lange captures the images of Russia as seen through the camera lens of a rail traveller. Photographs were taken at the Southern Urals, Lake Baikal, the Black Sea coast, Northwest Russia, Siberia, the Far East, Sakhalin Island, the Golden Ring and the central part of Russia.
You can watch the photos and the video reel (in Russian) at the official web-site of the project “1/9. Objective Reality”
NPR is reporting that Marklin which pioneered quality model trains, is now in bankruptcy protection and looking for new investors to save it from closing forever. I grew up spending hours upon hours on the Marklin catalogs and do hope that they are able to withstand this global economic downturn.
These are one of the best steam locomotive recordings i have come across in a long time. The 5 recordings are in FLAC format (you can use the VLC player to play them) and range from 4 to 10 minutes each. These noise-free recordings are exceptional and has the clanking and squealing of metal on metal, birds, dogs, insects, and other ambient sounds.
Scott Miller and Lauren Richey who met on the commuter rail and are getting married on the inbound P556 MBTA commuter rail today.
The theme of the wedding is all train-related, from the invitations to the cake.
Their invitation looks like a commuter rail ticket, the wedding program like a train schedule. Custom-made postage stamps bear an image of the silver and purple commuter train with their names on the side. The 4-year-old ring bearer will carry the rings tied with a ribbon onto a Charlie Card pass – and will be dressed like a conductor, hat and all.
[via Universal Hub]
Train Master, directed by Phil Bransom, was released on Tuesday. This family film is dedicated to Bransom’s son, Douglas, an avid train enthusiast who died in an accident a year before filming started.
The plot: Jeremiah works for the Western Railroad in the Pacific Northwest. He lives, breathes and eats railroad. After Brett Banner — the heir to New York Eastern — purchases the Western Railroad, he fires Jeremiah. But, when Brett’s 9-year-old son, Justin, Jeremiah’s grandchildren, Thomas and Sarah, and two other children end up on an old, runaway train engine together, the two men must join forces to save the kids.
This movie is available for purchase via Amazon or Target. If you have a Netflix account, you can watch instantly for free.
Chanel N°5 new advert featuring a night train journey, Audrey Tataou and Travis Davenport, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Note: If you have trouble viewing the ad, try this youtube link.
