Over the past couple of months I’ve been watching a lot of Youtube videos on modelrailroads.
What I can’t beleive is the sheer amount of modelrailroaders on Youtube! I had no idea, I mean in the past I would watch how-to videos and such on youtube, but only when I was looking for tips, etc. I’m watching all these on my tv btw.
Its just hard for me to believe that you retired folks (Im 50) have youtube channels. Not only here but a lot in England also!
Some things I have noticed:
Everybody has huge 50x50 ft basement filling railroads. But thats not big enough so they have 2 or 3 levels. I know most of these are built for having operating sessions with lots of other people. But that is just too much for me to fathem and enjoy.
Way too many trains. Every staging track and yard is just packed with trains. Again how do you enjoy and operate these.
Benchwork required and amount of time. I can’t think about the amount of work it must take to complete benchwork. Either they have lots of friends that are general contractors, or you hire general contractors to do benchwork.
Over use of the bell and horns. Ok every modeler must think keeping the bell on for 10min at a time while in a yard swiching. And blowing the d*** horns every 5 seconds. That is really annoying and I have to mute the speakers.
What are your guys thoughts on youtube, do you have a channel. How do you have the time or knowledge to produce/edit videos for youtube.
I worked in I.T. for the past 20 years, and I don’t even upload videos to youtube, too much work. lol
[Michael - Please refrain from using explicatives (e.g. d***) in your posts. Thank you for your cooperation. ~MR Moderator]
My early videos used a camera and the video had to be prepared in laptop or PC software before uploading.
I now use an i phone and this allows you to take high definition still photos and 4K videos. The phone software makes the images into a video and the press of one icon uploads the video to Youtube.
I keep a visual record of the development of my layout in a blog so that friends and colleagues can keep track of my progress, uploading to Youtube just adds a few seconds to the time it takes to create the blog
It’s a “to each his own” thing. I spent my entire working career in two-way radio communications and I haven’t even listened to a two-way radio since I retired (12yrs), but I have a radio repeater site on my layout.
If you enjoy doing something do it to it. I never thought I would get into having a Blog but I enjoy that almost as much as model railroading. I enjoy letting others view my model railroad hobby with me.
It turned out to be a whole lot easier than I thought to edit a raw video from my phone and upload it to YouTube. No, it wasn;t as polished as the ‘professional’ YouTubers, but I was able to cut out the unwanted junk, flip the whole thing (bewcause it was filmed using the iCar which films through a mirror. And add captions to point out what you were looking at. Of course I never did another one…
As for benchwork - it doesn’t take me that long to put together some wood. It also goes faster for NONE flat construction - open grid and/or l-girder with risers, because the base does not need to be carefully measured to be level, and even the risers aren’t super critical because you can clamp them and adjust so the track is level or at the desired grade before screwing them on.
I have a video channel that I started when someone asked me for a track plan of my layout years ago, I didn’t have one and just did a video of the layout from afar. I now have many videos and they are all crap but they were fun to make and I at least will have a record of my layout with moving pictures no less. I enjoy seeing pics of my layouts from when I was a wee lad and I am sure the kids will get a kick out of the videos 20 years after I am torched.
Why anyone watches them is beyond me but I have 44 subscribers whatever that means. At Bat Productions we only use the latest technology.[(-D]
Here is my latest offering, I won’t be offended if you don’t stick it out to the end.[(-D]
While I have my own YouTube channel (Chatanugadotorg) with lots of videos of my layout (among other topics), I wish I had a 50x50-foot basement. In some cases like the video of my layout below, you shoot video to hide the true size of the layout, making it seem larger than it really is.
The issue of too many trains on the layout does happen from time to time for me. When trains get to the staging yards, I try to pull them off as soon as possible to make room for the cars getting cycled back onto the layout.
As far as benchwork goes, I got mine through Seivers. Everything was pre-cut with all of the screws, bolts, etc. needed to put it all together. It not only saved time, but living in a two-bedroom townhouse, I doubt my neighbors would have enjoyed hearing power tools on the other side of their walls.
As far as over use of the bell and horns, I run DC so the only sounds are the ones in my head or the ones I dub in on the videos.
In my original videos on my channel, I was doing simple runbys of the trains. Lately, I try to do videos like the one below where I show an actual activity such as trains meeting or doing switching or something along those lines. Making the videos isn’t a whole lot of work since I now have a fast computer that can process my HD videos pretty quickly.
I made a couple of short videos of various layouts I built in the past, which I uploaded to my channel on Youtube, just to be able to share them with my friends. I don´t maintain a Vlog, though.
Just a few examples:
The rather bad quality is owed to the camera I used for the video - a still camera and not a camcorder. The video shows a scene on my Japanese N scale mini-modular shelf layout.
A short sequence on my Swiss narrow gauge micro-layout, this time with a better camera.
Finally, an experiment with 50 year old Marklin HO tinplate trains.
I have a little used channel (search: Paul Ahrens trains) where I posted some videos of various DCC with sound conversions I had done. I’m not doing much of that recently as I have largely rounded out my loco roster with many of the UP loco types I like. At this point, I would have to check which video software I last used for editing.
As far as some of the large or complex layouts you note, whatever fits someone’s pistol is great as far as I’m concerned. I have limited space, so not sure what I would do if I had large, unlimited space. I do not do operations, just mostly like to build, tinker, and sometimes run a train for myself (as often as not, for kiddies visiting). If I had a large space, I would probably build a layout with a fairly long run, dual mainlines and a service yard with turntable and roundhouse. If we contemplate moving…
I will add there is a lot of switching layouts in HO and N scales on YT… I have a channel as well but,due to health issues I haven’t added anything new in years.
My plan was to share my railfan trips and some videos on switching Slate Creek but,those plans never fully materialized.
For those that would like a peep at what was hope to be look for
I mainly use my channel for various train projects, with a few other things thrown in here and there. I don’t have the space for a really large layout, so I don’t put much focus into the details of the layout in my videos.
Some interesting replies. Another thing I didnt mention was there is also a lot of club layouts, which are crazy huge and usually in large buldings.
And another cool thing I thought is the professional channels like “whats neat this week in modelrailroading”. And lots of locomotive reviews channels.
Walthers, Trainworld, Scaletrains, and a bunch of other companies have their own channels also.
There’s just a lot of modelrailroading on youtube now, I just had no idea of the amount until recently.
It doesn’t feature me, it features my layout (far too many layout videos do just the opposite).
You’ll find primarily construction updates and very short videos about layout details, like checking for track irregularities. There are one or two other railroad-related things in there, too.
I a very small channel which has a couple uploads that mostly I share with family I think the video of my son eating a live octopus in Korea is there.
As there is no barrier to entry, there are a lot of poor quality videos out there.
I agree there is a too much horn blowing and bell ringing out there.
That said, there is money to be made if you go full professional. Luke Towan has some videos with a million views each. If you can get a sponsor, that’e even more income and free or discounted test items.
I thought I was the only one who hated sound. I have searched high and low for the rule that says that EVERY time a switcher changes direction, it must blow two or three short blasts of the horn and, keep the bell ringing the whole time. The local law enforcement would show up to (a) issue a ticket for creating a public nuisance, and (b) find out which member of the crew clocked that fool engineer with pipe wrench. Annoying, annoying, annoying! If I select a youtube video and it starts off with hornblowing, I quickly move on to something else and, I do not and, never will I own a tiny plastic locomotive with a tiny, little speaker playing locomotive sounds.
