Henry the Red(?) Engine

Well this week we saw the release of my favorite story in the Henry and the Express saga, Henry Sees Red. I've got quite a bit to say about this one, so let's dive in!

I'm really proud of this episode! It was easy filming, plus making the red Henry was an easy, but fun project for me! By the way, you'll be seeing several more custom models come Very Old Engines! That's something to look forward too! 

In case anyone was wondering (and I know people are from the comments on the video) this is a totally different Henry model from the one I normally use! It would be really stupid to paint my only Henry model red. You can easily tell it's another Henry because of the funnel too. My green Henry has a wooden one, and Red Henry has a plastic one. Red Henry also has raised coal on his tender, whereas Green Henry has painted coal. What I did was I bought a second Henry from the internet (for like $3 too!) and first (ironically) gave him an undercoat of primer. The gray primer ended up showing a little on the wheels if you look closely. After this I taped off his cab roof and windows I painted him over with a redish/orange paint that ended up fitting the dialogue description of looking like tomato sauce! I'm very happy with how he turned out, and proud to have such a unique custom model!

 Interestingly enough, I'm the only person on YouTube (bar a few Trainz remakes) to attempt to recreate this story!! That's really something special I think!  Check out Henry the Red engine in action now!!! 

Keep your eyes peeled for Mind that Bike soon!

Sliding Scales released (an announcement too)!

Another Monday treat with the Wooden Railway Series came yesterday with Sliding Scales!

Talk about a short story! I was worried when I typed the script that this would end up running around three minutes in length! When I'd finished I thought about further adapting (I'd already switched out the forklifts for lorries) the story to feature more dialogue in the sheds, at the harbor, etc, but I decided against it because whatever I wrote didn't seem to fit. Well regardless, I'm really pleased with the outcome! I got to use the Horrid Lorries as well as Butch! You can't go wrong with Butch! There is one new trick I tried which really really really didn't work! You'll see that in an outtakes video before too long. In case you were wondering, the 'fish scales' was Kosher Salt. I think everything worked in this episode, but don't just take my word for it! Check it out! 

Boy are you in for a fun treat next week! I've got Henry Sees Red ready and waiting to be shot! I think you'll all love it! I know I'm super excited to film it! Till then! 

Also I should make a quick announcement, I'm switching the order of the episodes up a bit at the last minute. I know, I know, I should have done this long ago, but this makes way more sense in my head. Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree will now follow Mind That Bike! and the Season 4 finale will be Paint Pots and Queens. I hope this doesn't offend anyone greatly, but I think it makes more sense to have TATMCT closer to Christmas than Easter. Call me crazy. 

An Overhaul is it?

Why yes it is! And this blog post is on time!

Today, we continue the Henry and the Express saga with Overhaul. This was an easy one to film, not requiring many tricky sets. Although Gordon's Hill is always a pain in the rear to make... One little Easter Egg I threw in was the Peel Godred Branch and one of its engines, just like Clive Spong did! See if you can spot them! The only real struggle I had filming this was that stupid brick! It took me several tries to get the brick to hit James in just the right place. I don't even know what causes a brick to fly threw the air...anyhoo... Some of the lighting is really off too, and I couldn't figure out why. The world may never know! 

Stay tuned for some changes to the episode lineup as well as Sliding Scales next week! Also HQ episodes are returning soon! Until next time! 

Bowled Out and Out of Puff!

I know this is seriously late, but better late than never! First off was Bowled Out!

Sorry, no picture! :( I can't find them!

Anyway this episode isn't my finest. I don't know what it is I don't like, but I really feel like I could have done better. It's not that it's bad... just not what I'd like to be putting out at this stage of my series. Ah well! Here's Bowled Out!

Next up was Out of Puff!

What can I say, it's Henry and the Express! I love this book and all the stories in it! I'm also very pleased with the final product! I used real ashes for ash and real newspaper for the paper mache! Fancy that! Everything seemed to go right with this one and I really enjoyed making it! Check it out for yourself! 

Also check out my Bachmann James review, A Second Look at Bachmann James on my channel! Keep an eye out for Overhaul this coming weekend! 

Train Stops Play and Super Rescue are out now!

After much chaos, I finally got around to making Train Stops Play!

A fairly easy episode to film, Train Stops Play has to be my favorite story in Stepney the Bluebell Engine! I loved the episode as a kid, and I think I did both the original story and the TV Series episode justice in my recreation. No big effects, just fun story telling! Also (to toot my own horn [no pun intended]), I think my Caroline voice was pretty darn good! Make sure you check it out! 

Now on to the big one, I know this one's really gonna rake in the views and subscribers. I am of course talking about my adaptation of Super Rescue!

I wanted to do this episode back when I did the rest of Enterprising Engines back in Season 2, but I didn't have either version of 199. That's when I decided to wait until I recreated Stepney the Bluebell Engine to make this story. Mostly because I needed a visiting engine. :P Anyhoo, this wasn't too hard to film either, although I did end up cutting a lot of footage when the episode ran over nine minutes long! Wait until you see the behind the scenes video for this one! The countryside Main Line set was the longest I've ever built! Make sure to watch it! 

Keep an eye out for Bowled Out next weekend! 

Something Different....

My first commentary!

Anyone remember my Interview with the Engines when I was just starting out? If not check it out! I might not hold up as well as my other stuff, but it's worth a watch! Just FYI, I look nothing like that now! I've had my braces off, and my hair hasn't been that long since!

Anyhoo, I made this when my cousin (with whom I made the original) came to town and asked to do another video! He also assisted me in creating Mavis. So a big thanks to him! I think we both had some fun!

Do you think I should do more commentaries? Please leave a comment here on or on the video if you think so!

The Bluebells are coming!

Sorry this is so late, but I've been incredibly busy! Anyhoo here's my thoughts on Bluebells of England and Stepney's Special!  Let's start at the beginning shall we?

If you couldn't tell, I took a lot of inspiration for this episode from Rusty to the Rescue. I was fortunate enough to find a decent instrumental of Stepeny's escape theme. I'm also really proud of my Other Railway scenes! I love the way the fog and diesels turned out! Did anyone notice that the station on the Bluebell Railway was Sheffield Park? That's my little Easter Egg! If you haven't already, check it out!

Now two weeks later comes the next chapter, Stepney's Special.

Once again, absolutely loving how this episode came! Once again, the scrapyard scenes turned out really well! Once again lots of inspiration coming from Rusty to the Rescue! The one thing I did have to change in this episode was I had to edit the original text to avoid using names of other Bluebells that I couldn't make appear. Also this episode has cameos galore! Oliver, Gordon, James, Percy, and Toby (not to mention Flying Scotsman, Wilbert, and Fergus as Bluebell engines, and 199, The Diesel, Spatter, and Derek as Other Railway Diesels, and Bertram as a scraped engine). So all and all, I'm super please with it! Watch it below!

Now I don't think I'll be able to get Train Stops Play out this weekend. I know, I know, I've been really behind lately, but I've had school, Cross Country meets, and now it's my church's annual carnival and I'm working all weekend. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to film Sunday. Thanks so much for all of your patience! I really appreciated no one demanding new episodes!

Another late post

I know this is really late, but here's the wrap up to Tramway Engines!

We'll appropritoly start with Mavis. This was fairly easy to film (for the most part) and feature the return of two locations that once again, hadn't been seen since Season 2 during Branchline Engines. These of course being Anaphona Quarry and the Quarry Tramroad. The place where Mavis gets stuck proved very tricky to film on because of the slope. More than once I had to completely rebuild the set because the supports below the snow fell out. You'll also notice a lot of footage in this episode is sneakily reversed. A big thanks to my cousin who helped me with this episode! Watch the episode here: 

Now time for Toby's Tightrope! 

I was surprised at how easy this was to film! The bridge scenes worked out in one or two takes almost every time! This was really really nice! But I did get a little peeved when the Runaway Theme wasn't long enough to span the whole runaway. Ah well! I did get a lot of deleted scenes out of this episode too! Watch out for them in music videos in the future! But get watching!

The Wooden Railway Series will return by Saturday with Bluebells of England!

Tramway Engines underway!

Sorry this took so long to publish! I'm having issues with uploading pictures!

I kicked Tramway Engines off with Ghost Train almost two weeks ago!

You probably noticed that I used a lot of steam effects in this episode. More so than I usually do! This was completely intentional to give it a similar look to that seen back in Season 2 of the television series. While I wanted the look to be similar to that of the TV series,  I wanted the overall atmosphere to be darker separating me from the TV Series version. To achieve this I used music mostly from Season 5's Haunted Henry  and Duncan Gets Spooked. I think that the music combined with the excessive steam effects gave the episode a darker feel despite it only being a prank. Imagine if I did a really dark story... Anyway the lyme was of course flour stuck on by soaking Percy in water (Poor Percy's had a rough couple of weeks!). We also got to see a location we hadn't seen since Season 2! This being Ffarquhar Yards. This last being seen in Percy's Predicament.  All and all, I think this is one of my best episodes to date! Watch it below!

Next up in Tramway Engines is Woolly Bear!

What a stick mess this was! Not in a bad way mind! The treacle was really maple syrup and the hay dead grass. The syrup turned put to be much clearer than I anticipated but it was sticky enough! The grass was stuck to Percy with nothing but the syrup! This also marks the return of Knapford Harbor, a location that has had very few appearances, the most recent being in Percy and Harold, but has been mentioned several times since then. This was easier to film than Ghost Train and less extravagent, but I'm incredibly pleased with the result none the less! Watch it now!

Now I'm going to be away for a week and a half starting tomorrow so you can expect Mavis around the 28th of this month. As the Thin Controller said, "Patience is a virtue!" I'm doing that story next Season! 

Bad Lookout Released

Here's the end of my Mountain Engines adaptation! Please enjoy Bad Lookout!

This episode was just as tricky as Mountain Engine before it! The hills are as hard to film as ever and Godred's crash was hard to get right. But I won't bore you with the same stuff from the last blog!

Next week we go back to the Ffarquhar Branch (trust me, you'll be seeing a lot of them this season!) to kick off Tramway Engines! Until then!

Mountain Engine

Here's the second episode of Season 4, Mountain Engine!

This was by no means an easy episode to film! The Culdee Fell sets were difficult to assemble and very delicate to work on. Also because they were raised the camera could not meet the track the way I would have liked. If your wondering why there are trees inconsistently, it's because trees would only have enough air to grow near the bottom of Culdee Fell. I hope you enjoy the episode and keep a good lookout for Bad Lookout next week!

Here's a Howdy Do...

Well here's a howdy do... I can't release Mountain Engine his weekend because I don't have a second Culdee yet. I've bought it, but it's not here yet. Bear with me, I'll get it out soon!

Thomas and the Hurricane Storms In!

Here we are again! Time to kick off Season 4 with Thomas and the Hurricane!

This episode took a really long time to film, but that's not why it aired one day late. I was having complications uploading to YouTube, but now these have been resolved and I can give you the (if I do say so) amazing Season 4 pilot!

I should probably get around to vacuuming up all those pesky leaves now... Stay tuned for Mountain Engine next week! I hope I can find another Culdee in time!

Season 4 Trailer`

Season 4 is just four days away! With that in mind, here's the trailer! Enjoy!

Season 3 Wrap-up, Season 4 updates, and some not so happy news...

What do you want first? The Season 3 recap or the not so happy news? Well I'm giving you the bad first.

I've decided that The Wooden Railway Series will end after Season 6. I know that sounds a long way off, but in my reality it's winding down. The whole series is halfway over and this thought makes me a little sad. The reason for this being that I only have three summers left in my house before I go off to college, and I really want to bring the series to a definitive close before then. That doesn't mean I'll be gone for good, it just means I won't be making frequent remakes. I do plan to do some free-lance episodes during the summers when I return. Most likely early Railway Series stories which I did not do in Season 1 (I.E. Thomas the Tank Engine, James the Red Engine, ect.) and some Christopher Awdry specials written for Annuals.

Now back to Season 3! Wow. What can I say? For me Season 3 was amazing! This season took me the longest to film, taking over half a year to film! There were really high highs, and some pretty low lows. One great choice I made was the addition of a full score! Boy, did that improve the whole atmosphere of the episode! This does make the episodes take longer to crank out, but it's well worth the wait I think! Also about half way through I harnessed the power of steam! Literally! We got new humidifiers that spat out think clouds of steam. That really improved the look of the series by a lot! If there's one thing I regret about Season 3 it's  when I started it. I started the Season at a time when I was too busy to release new episodes frequently, as I accidentally timed it right before I went on a two week vacation and right before I restarted school. Hopefully that won't be the case in Season 4. I really enjoyed making Season 3 for you guys! I really love this!

Now for some Season 4 updates. Well one actually. I will be airing the first episode of Season 4, Thomas and the Hurricane, on June 3rd or 4th depending on my schedule. Another thing that may happen in Season 4 is a populated Sodor! While I'm building my HO/00 scale layout I'm going to buy some people for it that can easily inhabit my Wooden Railway world! As for obtaining new characters for Season 4, I still need another Take Along and Wooden Skarloey as well as another Culdee and a Catherine with The Truck. I might get a new Henry too, but I don't know yet.

To Season 4! 

More changes to Season 4 episode line up

While listening to Henry and the Express I realized that they reference Super Rescue several times. Therefore I've done some rearranging in the episode lineup. Here's what I'm thinking now: 

1. Thomas and the Hurricane
2. Mountain Engine
3. Bad Look Out
4. Ghost Train
5. Woolly Bear
6. Mavis
7. Toby's Tightrope
8. Bluebells of England
9. Stepney's Special
10. Train Stops Play
11. Super Rescue
12. Bowled Out
13. Out of Puff
14. Overhaul
15. Sliding Scales
16. Henry Sees Red
17. Mind That Bike!
18. Crosspatch
19. Bucking Bronco
20. Stick in the Mud
21. Duck and Dukes
22. Thomas and Trevor
23. Paint Pots and Queens
24. Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree

Project Restoration Underway!

Well before Season 4 begins, I'll be doing a quick little project. Restoring the first three (maybe five) episodes of Season 1 to match the quality of the newer episodes. This includes: correcting the color, cropping out end of sets, music, re-recorded narration, and more! So without further ado, here's Off the Rails restored in 1080P HD!

Changes to Season 4 episode list

I've decided to replace Gordon the High Speed Engine with  Henry and the Express.

I swapped these out because I need to buy a lot of new engines and stock for Season 4 as it is, (namely another Culdee, a Take Along Culdee, and a new style 199, not to mention a second Wooden and Take Along Skarloey and Rheneas for cab removal...) and to buy the Brio Intercity 125 to make Pip and Emma would have been too much. On the plus side, I scored a Sodor Mail Car from ebay in MINT condition! This mean I will finally finish Really Useful Engines with Mind That Bike, likely replacing Twins Passing Problem.

Who knows, I might do it as a stand-alone episode before I air Season 4... only time will tell!

The Whistle Song

The final music video of Season 3 is here!

By no means is this the end of me until Season 4! Stay tuned!

First two music videos of Season 3!

Here are the first two music videos of Season 3!

Let's Have a Race

Toby

You can expect Whistle Song at the end of the week! Till then!

Season 4 episode list MKI

Here's what I'm thinking for Season 4 so far. What do you think?

1. Thomas and the Hurricane
2. High Speed Gordon
3. Smokescreen
4. Fire Escape
5. Gordon Proves his Point
6. Ghost Train
7. Woolly Bear
8. Mavis
9. Toby's Tightrope
10. Mountain Engine
11. Bad Look Out
12. Bluebells of England
13. Stepney's Special
14. Train Stops Play
15. Super Rescue
16. Bowled Out
17. Twin's Passing Problem
18. Crosspatch
19. Bucking Bronco
20. Stick in the Mud
21. Duck and Dukes
22. Thomas and Trevor
23. Paint Pots and Queens
24. Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree

Thomas' Christmas Party

This blog post is a bit late but oh well! The Season 3 finally has been released at last! On my sixteenth birthday no less!!

I really loved filming this episode! My multi-colored lights went missing at the last minute so I had to use solid green ones. I'm very pleased with how the party scene turned out never the less! I used about a gallon of flour making this episode! I was white for a week! Thomas needs a new snowplow. Toby's was really sturdy, but Thomas' was just pathetic. It was made all the way back in Season 1 for Thomas, Terence and the Snow and I used it for nostalgic purposes. Any hoo it'll be gone next season. It never stayed on right and was very flimsy. Donald and Douglas will also get new snowplows. Anyone notice the Vicar of Ffarquhar cameo? Be sure to give the Season 3 finally a watch (in HD too!) and stay tuned for a Season 3 wrap-up post! Maybe another Q&A too!

Percy to the Rescue released!

An episode I'm very proud of! Adapted from the 1989 annual and the penultimate episode of Season 3!!

Some background on the story: It was first published in the 1989 annual and penned by Christopher Awdry. The story however was very short, so I added material from the TV Series adaptation of A Scarf for Percy, Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure and Snow. Some material was written by me of course. ;) See if you can pick out what bits are from where.  On a behind the scenes note, the snow was all flour.  

Don't forget to comment! 

Drip Tank

I should have posted this yesterday but better late than never! (Haha! More About Thomas the Tank Engine humor...)

Nothing too hard about this episode really. Quick, easy, fun! I really like the story and am sorry that it never got to shine in Season 2 of the Television Series like the rest of the book. Enjoy! 

BTW: This is the second time the video still and my behind the scenes image have been exactly the same! :P

Better Late Than Never out late (better late than never! :P )

Only one day late!

Another easy but great episode! I was surprised how short the Railway Series story is! Like I said, fairly easy to film and quick too! I only filmed for about an hour (the average episode taking an hour and a half to two and a half hours)! Bertie is usually hard to make move properly but this time I hardly had to move him at all! I think the steam looks great too! I recreated my viaduct set to now incorporate two lines and let me just say the new one looks a lot better! But what are you reading this for? Watch the episode for yourself! 

Please drop a comment here or there!

The Runaway, up and running!

The Runaway is now up for your viewing pleasure!

A pretty easy episode to film, but I did have some trouble with Harold... All and all, great shoot, great episode! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Be sure to keep an eye out for some more HQ episodes from the television series this week too! 

And feel free to leave comments!

Outtakes and behind the scenes!

Another Behind the Scenes and Outtakes video are out! Check them out!

Thomas, Percy and the Coal released!

I present the nineteenth episode of Season 3, Thomas, Percy and the Coal!

This is probably the hardest I've worked on an episode in a long time. A long time! First of all the coal was real charcoal. To get it into a rough power I smashed it with a hammer for about fourty-five minutes. In case you didn't know charcoal is really really hard (much harder than I anticipated anyway...). Despite the time consuming process needed to make the coal look to scale, I am incredibly glad I did it! The coal looks amazing and I can't imagine it looking this good had I done it any other way! I hope you all enjoy the episode!

Don't be shy! Leave a comment! :P 

More About Thomas the Tank Engine kick off coming soon!

This weekend I'll be releasing Thomas, Percy and the Coal to kick of my reenactments of the Railway Series book More About Thomas the Tank Engine.

I planned to remake these stories in Season 2, but my 24 episode season was too full for four more episodes. I look forward to giving you all four stories (Drip Tank included!) in the next few weeks! I hope you enjoy them! 

Percy, James and the Fruitful Day Released!

All worries aside I think this turned out great!

The fruit was real fruit! The lighter stuff was banana and the darker fruit was mango. While not the messiest adventure for either Percy or James it was the messiest of the season. I look forward to more messes in Season 4! Also that crash was HARD. It was perhaps one of the most difficult I've had to do so far and I'm still not 100% satisfied with the results! Also getting Percy to go over the broken points was a challenge in it of itself! Be sure to watch out for an outtakes video soon!


Also be sure to watch the episode below!

 

Percy, James and the Fruitful Day thoughts

I'm going to begin filming my second TV series only episode today, and to be honest I'm a bit nervous. This will be pretty messy and I have no idea what the fruit will be made of!

All and all though I'm pretty excited! This should be lots of fun!  Anyway with luck the episode will be out today or tomorrow! :)

Duncan's Whistle released!

This episode is adapted from the Small Railway Engine story Faulty Whistles. I think the adaptation worked well.  I had a great time filming this (minus a panic-enduing iMovie error) and am very pleased with the final project! Next up is Percy, James and the Fruitful Day! Stay tuned!

Blog Started!!

Welcome to the official blog of the Wooden Railway Series! Here I'll post news updates, behind the scenes info and more!