Hogster
12-15-2007, 06:48 PM
Hey guys :)
There's a train-related AP contest over on RCGroups where I posted the following, but I thought it deserved its own thread here too :)
Enjoy!
David
__________________________________________________ (start of post)
Hey guys!
I made a special trip down to the chap who helped me build the mast-mount for my car today because there were two 'Santa Special' steam locomotives shuttling passengers between two stations on the famous 'Watercress line'. More information here:
https://www.watercressonline.co.uk/section.php?xSec=3
The station we were based at is called 'Medstead and Four Marks' and it's absolutely charming! It has been maintained in a traditional theme, from metal signage to decorative iron railings to cheerful paintwork throughout the station - one can easily see how much care and time has been put into keeping this wonderful station operational.
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/medstead_and_four_marks_station.jpg
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/buckets.jpg
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/platform.jpg
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/signal_box_from_outside.jpg
The two locomotives that were running were a 'British Rail Standard class 5 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BR_standard_class_5)':
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/standard_five_engine.jpg
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/standard_five_pulling_into_station.jpg
and a West Country Class (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR_West_Country_and_Battle_of_Britain_Classes) 'spam-can' (so called because of the similarity between the shape of the engine's bodywork and the popular pre-cooked meat can (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(food))) engine called 'Wadebridge' (named after a village in Cornwall, UK), pictured below.
So, onto the AP photos! I soley used the mast, which remained fixed to the back of the car at all times (and I never moved the car - all the AP photos below were taken from the same spot):
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/mast_on_smart_car.jpg
Here is a close up of my backpack with the video downlink displayed on the screen:
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/downlink_in_action.jpg
So, here are my 'AP' entries for this contest :) Click to enlarge.
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/5_small.jpg (http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/5_large.jpg)
The Wadebridge coming into the station (notice the engine is running backwards or 'tender first')
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/6_small.jpg (http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/6_large.jpg)
The Wadebridge now with its engine in standard orientation
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/1_small.jpg (http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/1_large.jpg)
The Standard 5 arriving
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/2_small.jpg (http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/2_large.jpg)
Further up the line the engine was then decoupled from the coaches, switched onto a parallel length of track next to the coaches ....
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/3_small.jpg (http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/3_large.jpg)
... and, after passing the coaches, switched back to the original track ....
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/4_small.jpg (http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/4_large.jpg)
... so it could recouple to the back end of the coaches and pull them back down the line in the other direction.
The beauty of having the camera gimble completely wireless is that it can be operated from anywhere. It was very cold today (with a slight wind, and sleet at times! So much for the forecast of very little cloud and bright sunshine!!), and standing around waiting for trains to come didn't help keep us warm! So, we eventually retired to the restroom for the station workers and had a cuppa!
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/operating_from_inside.jpg
The mast was still fully controllable and the downlink signal had no problem reaching the backpack's video-link antenna.
As well as taking these PAP shots, I was also allowed into the signal box and was given a lengthy description of how everything works – it was truly eye-opening!
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/signal_box.jpg
So, all in all, a great day out! Thanks for starting this themed contest - I never would have thought of trying to take some AP shots of trains before!
Cheers,
David :cool:
__________________________________________________ (end of post)
There's a train-related AP contest over on RCGroups where I posted the following, but I thought it deserved its own thread here too :)
Enjoy!
David
__________________________________________________ (start of post)
Hey guys!
I made a special trip down to the chap who helped me build the mast-mount for my car today because there were two 'Santa Special' steam locomotives shuttling passengers between two stations on the famous 'Watercress line'. More information here:
https://www.watercressonline.co.uk/section.php?xSec=3
The station we were based at is called 'Medstead and Four Marks' and it's absolutely charming! It has been maintained in a traditional theme, from metal signage to decorative iron railings to cheerful paintwork throughout the station - one can easily see how much care and time has been put into keeping this wonderful station operational.
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/medstead_and_four_marks_station.jpg
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/buckets.jpg
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/platform.jpg
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/signal_box_from_outside.jpg
The two locomotives that were running were a 'British Rail Standard class 5 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BR_standard_class_5)':
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/standard_five_engine.jpg
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/standard_five_pulling_into_station.jpg
and a West Country Class (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR_West_Country_and_Battle_of_Britain_Classes) 'spam-can' (so called because of the similarity between the shape of the engine's bodywork and the popular pre-cooked meat can (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(food))) engine called 'Wadebridge' (named after a village in Cornwall, UK), pictured below.
So, onto the AP photos! I soley used the mast, which remained fixed to the back of the car at all times (and I never moved the car - all the AP photos below were taken from the same spot):
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/mast_on_smart_car.jpg
Here is a close up of my backpack with the video downlink displayed on the screen:
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/downlink_in_action.jpg
So, here are my 'AP' entries for this contest :) Click to enlarge.
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/5_small.jpg (http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/5_large.jpg)
The Wadebridge coming into the station (notice the engine is running backwards or 'tender first')
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/6_small.jpg (http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/6_large.jpg)
The Wadebridge now with its engine in standard orientation
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/1_small.jpg (http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/1_large.jpg)
The Standard 5 arriving
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/2_small.jpg (http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/2_large.jpg)
Further up the line the engine was then decoupled from the coaches, switched onto a parallel length of track next to the coaches ....
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/3_small.jpg (http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/3_large.jpg)
... and, after passing the coaches, switched back to the original track ....
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/4_small.jpg (http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/4_large.jpg)
... so it could recouple to the back end of the coaches and pull them back down the line in the other direction.
The beauty of having the camera gimble completely wireless is that it can be operated from anywhere. It was very cold today (with a slight wind, and sleet at times! So much for the forecast of very little cloud and bright sunshine!!), and standing around waiting for trains to come didn't help keep us warm! So, we eventually retired to the restroom for the station workers and had a cuppa!
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/operating_from_inside.jpg
The mast was still fully controllable and the downlink signal had no problem reaching the backpack's video-link antenna.
As well as taking these PAP shots, I was also allowed into the signal box and was given a lengthy description of how everything works – it was truly eye-opening!
http://hogster.rchomepage.com/aerial_photos/medstead_station_15-12-07/signal_box.jpg
So, all in all, a great day out! Thanks for starting this themed contest - I never would have thought of trying to take some AP shots of trains before!
Cheers,
David :cool:
__________________________________________________ (end of post)