The Return of the Wooden Railway Series

It's been a while! It's been a long, cold lonely winter for the Wooden Railway engines as my basement underwent major renovations. I'm pleased to announce now that the Wooden Railway Series will be returning very soon!

However there will be some changes. First of all, I've decided to just end Season 5 where it is right now with Toby Takes the Road being the final episode of the Season. This isn't ideal, but I'd really like to get moving with Season 6 so I don't have to cut that off once I go off to college this fall. Expect a full episode list for Season 6 coming later this week or next week!

Now what about what was left of Season 5? Well I plan to have those episodes be the first six episodes of Season 6 so that I don't have to cancel them all together. Like I said, not ideal, but it's the best solution I could come up with since I'm on a time crunch.

So has your patience paid off? Well we'll see when the Wooden Railway Series returns with Patience is a Virtue this March!

Dry rails and good running!

Where is the Wooden Railway Series?

Well, it's on hiatus. An indefinite one at that. My basement (where I film) is being completely redone, and while this is cool and exciting, it means I won't be able to film for around a month or more. My parents say their goal is to be finished by Christmas, but we can't know for sure when we'll be done. I'm a little frustrated because I was only six episodes away from finishing up Season 5! But alas, time waits for no one! To wrap up, the series will be gone for a month or so. I that time you can expect more Engine Inspector reviews and HQ episodes. The Engine Inspector will become my priority while my series is on hiatus.

The Wooden Railway Series will return with Patience is a Virtue sometime in December! Thanks for your ahem... patience. ;)

A Big Few Weeks for SkarloeyRailway01!

Yeah, I've neglected the poor blog again, but I've been busy! Just look at all the stuff I've cranked out in the last few weeks! Oh wait, that's what this blog is for... well let's get going! First off is Fire Escape!

A fairly straightforward and simple episode to shoot. I got some kind of neat new angles when trying to depict what was going on inside Gordon's cab without showing just the driver and fireman. This worked pretty well, but I wish I had access to a more detailed cab interior than I did. This isn't my favorite episode I've done, but I think it's probably the best I could do with this story. On another note I always love the way Gordon's Hill looks! It's a pain to make that set, but I always feel it's worth it! Check it out now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaUIbh-g7U0

Next up was Gordon Proves His Point! 

Now this is one I'm really proud of! I've already gotten tons for positive feedback on it! Once again, I'm the first to attempt a Railway Series story like this one in Wooden Railway form. Tracking down two Brio Intercity 125s was kind of a struggle, but I can tell you it was well worth the effort! I gave the Intercities new coats of paint which really improved the look of the engines and made them into much more aesthetically pleasing models. The faces were simply paper with my own little faces drawn on, as usual with models like these. One thing that was a problem was how long the trains were in this episode, mainly James, Pip and Emma's triple header. It was so hard to keep all those darn wheels on the track and you can probably see in one or two shots that they're not quite all on track. Not having front couplings also made this a huge pain in the tender... All and all though, I think this is one of my favorite episodes of the season! I hope you enjoy it too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka1lQFZFeYQ

Onward and upward to my third ever TV Series remake, Oliver's Find! 

This episode is special for several reasons. Firstly it marks Oliver's first speaking role since Season 3! The poor little engine really didn't get a whole lot of screen (or page?) time in the Railway Series, so I had to pull an episode from the fifth season of the TV Series. This is also the first TV Series remake of mine since Season 3! I think I might do a few more in Season 6, but only time will tell! When I was making the episode list for Season 5, I wanted to do at least one TV Series episode. The ones I considered were: Gordon and the Gremlins, Double Teething Troubles, Bye George! and of course, Oliver's Find. I ultimately settled on this episode because I really wanted to give Oliver and Toad speaking roles again in a (mostly) realistic episode. I did, however, change up a handful of lines so that the story made a little more sense in the setting of my series (for example: "Oliver and Toad liked working on the Little Western" instead of "the yard") as well as combining the US and UK narrations of the episode (which are noticeably different) to make a more complete version of the episode. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n85R3nvAp8c

Oh, I also did another Engine Inspector review! :D That's also up on my channel! 

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!

Yeah... I've kind of neglected this blog... But that's all about to change! I won't cover the episodes I've done since my last post (as there are too many!) but I'll start off with Smokescreen!

I'm quite pleased with how this episode turned out! I got some new and interesting angels in as well as being able to give BoCo a speaking role for the first time since Season 3! I missed him...We also got to see Vicarstown Station for the first time EVER in my series! Caroline and Bulgy got little cameos too! Easy to film, easy to edit, and a really enjoyable story! I'm also pleased with how the score turned out as well. And yes, just like in Out of Puff the ash was real ash. ;) So if you haven't already, check it out! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xadm4K5GHc

Double Mid-Sodor Trouble!

Here's a blog post about the last two episodes of my series, Bulldog and You Can't Win. Let's get going!

Heeeeeey Bulldog! Haha, if you want to get that obscure Beatles reference look here. I really enjoyed making this episode! I think it turned out really well and it wasn't all that hard. Believe it or not, the crash only took two tries, but I did end up cropping it to get my hand out of the shots... grrrr... Anyhoo, all and all, it turned out great! If you haven't, check it out! 

Now we move on to You Can't Win!. 

This ended up getting pushed back to Monday because of some weekend chaos. Thank goodness for Memorial Day! Again, I'm very proud of this one as well! I experimented with puffing sound effects in this episode and I think it turned out well! I'm not sure I'm going to keep it, but what do you lot think? Not too much was really hard here, but it did take a long time. Lots of hills...lots and lots of hills... Well check it out! 

Stay tuned next week for Sleeping Beauty! That should be out this weekend. Farewell!

The Wooden Railway Series Returns

Another season is upon us! We're kicking off with the stories of Duke the Lost Engine.

Ah, Granpuff! This story has always been a favorite of mine, and I think I've done it justice. It wasn't super hard to create as it was all filmed on the set of the Mid Sodor engine sheds. That set is fast becoming one of my personal favorites! I also love how the derelict MSR turned out! I think it looks really unique compared to a lot of my other sets (the functioning and run-down versions). Stuart and Falcon's nameplates were just paper and pen. Simple, but sweet! Well I hope you enjoy the episode as much as I do! Here's to Season 5! 

Keep an eye out for Bulldog next weekend! 

Something Rather Devious!

My latest creation:

Muahahahahaahhaahhahahaha!!! Take that Neil Ben! Sharron Miller, you're next! Prepare to face the wrath of The Engine Inspector!