BFOR: Bathurst Volume Two - XPTs And A QUBE (27-28/03/20)

Having now come home from Bathurst (COVID-19 precaution), here's a short film I recorded on my last day in the city and then on my way back to Sydney.

This will be the last newly made railway film for some time and the last Bathurst Volume until at least July (the earliest I can return to university).

Hope you all stay safe and healthy.

-Duck

THUNDERBIRDS: Fall Of The Routemaster - A Reflection

Funny the things you do when you have nothing scheduled – some people I know spend the time asleep, some drink things (sometimes alcoholic, but not necessarily), some eat, some talk to people – all perfectly valid ways to spend time. You then have the sort of dedicated (or nerdy) people who decide they have nothing better to do than spend four hours making a forty-eight-second video with some much-loved models they own – case in point me.

That film was the short Thunderbirds teaser Fall Of The Routemaster, which was half teaser-trailer and half credits. It came as a response to one of my university lecturers saying “The best way to learn is to go out and make stuff” *. I’m not sure if this was what he was expecting, as it’s rather a niche thing and certainly isn’t up to professional standards, but as a bit of fun, Fall Of The Routemaster certainly qualifies. This post is basically a behind-the-scenes article on how I spent four hours (not including an-hour long break for lunch) making a video which lasts only forty-eight seconds and enjoyed most of it.

THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!

If you haven’t watched the video, you can do so here. It’ll only take up forty-eight seconds of your time.

*For those not in the know (which by this point I don’t think is many of you considering how many times I've said this on Blogger, my Facebook page and in Youtube video descriptions), I’m now at University in Bathurst working towards a Bachelor of Communications degree.

In this article, I’ll be going through the shots as they appear in the video and giving a little bit of insight into how I did them (and how you can too), as well as a few comments on each one. First though, some background.

I’ve been a fan of Thunderbirds since I was six. It’s one show I can never get bored of watching, a testament to the work of Gerry Anderson, his then-wife Sylvia and the A.P. Films team, who produced many TV series and films using Supermarionation ® (a very sophisticated and high-end form of puppet entertainment), model work and some live-action, but are best known for their sixties Supermarionation ® TV shows such as Stingray, Captain Scarlet and most famously of all,  Thunderbirds. 

As a result of this love for the show, which is still spectacular fifty-five years since it was made (Thunderbirds first hit the UK's television screens in 1965, yes it is that old!), I own models of all five of the titular Thunderbird craft, accumulated as a result of eBay purchases, presents from family members and charity shop visits. 

Having now grown up with Thunderbirds, the original episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends and then later, TUGS (which you’ll be forgiven for not knowing about), I nowadays view model filming as a medium which is very rewarding and good-looking when done right.

Being the owner of Thunderbirds models, I’d been wanting to make a film with them for some time, and have – this is the third one I’ve filmed, but the first one I’ve actually finished. The reasons for this one were that I actually planned this one, it didn’t require any sound dubbing (and being the sad nerd that I am, I’d want to use actual sounds from the show, which are reasonably easy but time-consuming to acquire) and I made this one in four hours - the others took at least a day to film and even more time to edit, and I could never muster up the motivation to do the sound dubbing I never finished them.

So, this is the third amateur Thunderbirds model short I’ve filmed, but the first one to make it to a public viewing platform. How did it go? Let’s see.

I’ll talk about the music first and foremost as that’s what makes this video, and thankfully saved me from that time-consuming sound dubbing which was the main reason I’d never finished any of the others.

In a break from me composing my own music from my videos, the music you hear is the original Thunderbirds opening, which was played over a montage of the episode to come ala to what you see in this video. Like all Thunderbirds music, it was written by Barry Gray and is f.a.b.ulous, as it really gets you hyped up for the episode that follows. A similar episode montage was attempted by the team behind Thunderbirds Are Go, the 2015 reboot of the series, and whilst perhaps not as powerful, is still good.

The second* shot you see in the video sees the eponymous Routemaster bus making its way down a road, except it’s not a road. There’s no getting around the fact that all the models used are a bit small for their 1:1 scale settings, but I’ve tried my best to avoid this looking too jarring, mainly through avoiding having 1:1 scale things like buildings as anything other than background things.

The bus itself is a London Souvenir Pencil Sharpener that I bought from a stall in Oxford Street during my recent UK trip – the fact that the wheels actually turn definitely made it easy to film with. You’ll also see it’s being pulled along with tea-bag string, something which will definitely crop up later…

*I’ve not included the first shot as it’s just a bus-stop sign and it’s not all that interesting really.

The landslide. This was achieved simply by setting my phone camera up at the bottom of a step and then pushing a pile of dust, small pebbles and soil off the top, which gives a reasonable depiction of a landslide.

This shot is one of my favourites in the film, but it wasn’t originally going to appear at all – the original plan for the bus was for it to just randomly crash, then show some threatening-looking clouds suggesting a storm rolling in. The shot of the clouds itself was cut, but still crops up during the end credits and as the backdrop for the THUNDERBIRDS name spins.

The Fall of the Routemaster! I deploy the teabag trick again here to simply drag the bus off the side of the step onto the ground about 15cm below it. This take, like many others, took a few attempts because I kept dragging the bus too far over before actually crashing it – a result of me trying to at least keep the teabag itself (which was still attached and acted as a handle for the string) out of view. I didn’t quite manage it throughout the entire film, as we’ll see.

A quick note: Normally I film my videos in 4K at 30 frames per second. For the most part in this video, it was changed to 1080p in 60fps, which meant I could slow clips down without it looking too jerky if I needed to. Originally, the crash took place at 80% speed to make it more dramatic, but in the end, I restored it to normal speed. 60fps is also a bit smoother, even if it means the quality is reduced a touch.

The bus lies fallen in a canal (at least it’s meant to be a canal – it’s actually a bit wide and looks more like the sea), although it looks suspiciously like a blue towel sitting at the bottom of a brick wall – in fact, it's the same step where you saw the landslide a second ago!

The towel itself is, I think, a reasonable depiction of water, especially seeing as using real water would cause damage to the models and wouldn’t really by that convincing anyway (as it’d be obviously in a container). Plus, filming in water is difficult with models, hence why whenever the A.P. Films crew filmed any underwater scenes, they filmed it on a dry set in the same manner as they would any other scenes, only with a thin aquarium between the camera and the set (which they could shine light through and ripple the water to give the impression of being in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean or wherever). I didn’t have that here as this film had a budget of “whatever you can find in your room”, which obviously didn’t include mega-thin aquariums.

You may be tempted to think I reused this shot again later, and indeed I did, sort of. The shot which appears later is another piece of footage from the same clip. It does look very similar though so I’m not including it here.

First appearance of a Thunderbird! Thunderbird 1 flies up into shot on its way to the accident zone. Or Mount Panorama as that’s what you’re looking at.

Far from the complications of the other shot which features Thunderbird 1 on its own, this shot was simply me raising the rocket plane in front of the camera whilst slowly moving forwards. A shot which had me walking forwards with the T-bird in front of the camera proved very unconvincing (as I couldn’t hold it still) so it was replaced with this one.

The Thunderbird 1 model is a “Soundtech” TB1 produced by Vivid Imaginations at the time when Carlton International owned the rights to Thunderbirds. This range featured phrases from the pilot of each craft – hence the button on TB1’s reactor casing here (mine has this, but I took the batteries out a long time ago as they’re old clock-style batteries which have a tendency to leak if left unused for long periods of time). The Vivid Imaginations toys are lovely, don’t get me wrong, but for some shots, particularly flying, I could have done with something a bit weightier, as we’re about to see…

Here’s the very out-of-focus shot of Thunderbird 1 coming into land on a beer-bottle cap, suspended from a pair of very visible teabag string with a small stick blu-tacked to its front belly.

This is easily my least-favourite shot from the video as it took ages to get it right (even then it's not fantastic). The issue, apart from flying with teabag string when something a bit longer and inconspicuous (such as fishing line, which would have been my first choice had I had any) would have been better, was that my TB1, being made of plastic and being hollow to accommodate its sound chip, is incredibly light. Hence, it wobbles around quite easily on its rather flimsy puppeteering strings and tended to overbalance if the string wasn’t held just right, which made it a right pain to film with. I recall I spent an hour on this shot, which lasts all of two seconds in the finished product because I don’t like it that much.

The rather obvious stick blu-tacked onto the lower belly is a result of the failure of my first plan, which saw me blu-tacking (I used a lot of blu-tack – glue would have been better but none of these attachments could be permanent) small sticks onto Thunderbird 1’s wings to act as landing legs, just as the real Thunderbird 1 has when it lands horizontally. Unfortunately, these tended to go crooked whenever I brought her into land a bit too quickly (which was often), so I replaced them with the arrangement you see here.

Here’s a shot of Thunderbird 1 with the landing stilt sticks, taken prior to me realising how useless they were.

The iconic one! Thunderbird 2! And a much better filming partner than TB1.

Being made of metal, Thunderbird 2 was much heavier than Thunderbird 1 and this made it easier to fly. It also has its pod door where I could shut the teabag labels (more secure than blu-tack, although I did use that on the back). Had I finished my two previous Thunderbirds shorts, Thunderbird 2 (and indeed Thunderbird 4) would have appeared in both, and so I have a bit of experience in flying the iconic craft on teabag strings. If going fast enough and if the lighting is right, it is possible to fly TB2 without making the strings visible, though I didn’t manage that here. But then again, sometimes the wires the craft were being flown from in the original series were visible too, so I suppose it’s not too much of a minus point.

Here’s a still from my first Thunderbirds short. At a glance, the teabag string on TB2 isn’t visible and definitely wasn’t on the video version (which sadly no longer exists). I have to say, seeing it now makes the string stand out more.

This Thunderbird 2 model is a die-cast Matchbox model produced in 1992, during which time Thunderbirds was being repeated on the BBC and was proving ever-popular. The model also included Thunderbird 4.

 I actually own two 1992 Matchbox Thunderbird 2s (and Thunderbird 4s along with them) – this one was a present, this one I bought at a yard sale for all of $2.00, which is appropriate I suppose, though in 1992 these models were changing hands for £10.00 each, which is around $20.00 (without adjusting for inflation) – that’s how sought after they were.

My favourite shot from the film which includes Thunderbird 1, mainly because it’s doing nothing and not being a right arse to film with.

Thunderbird 2 comes into land. Being much bigger and easier to fly, this landing is much better than that of Thunderbird 1 earlier. My only real gripe here is that I couldn’t include the landing thrusters, as Thunderbird 2 always looked magnificent coming into land with those billowing away.

Suddenly, the towel *ahem* water appears in front of Thunderbird 2!

This was the last shot I recorded and was one of the easiest, mainly because there aren’t any teabags involved. It simply shows TB2 lifting off Pod 4. As the Matchbox Thunderbird 2’s landing legs are flip-out (instead of hydraulic as they are in the show and on some larger models), TB2 does rise up a little bit jerkily, however, I liked this shot more than one where I lifted TB2 off the pod without bothering with the legs at all.

Deploying Thunderbird 4! As my favourite Thunderbird, it’s no wonder that TB4 appeared in both my previous shorts. Here, I simply drag it across the towel, I mean water, with the final teabag string (I used a total of three in the filming) on its way to rescue the stricken bus.

Thunderbird 4 has a hollow inside, which meant I could stuff the teabag label inside it rather easily. Unlike Thunderbird 1, this isn’t a problem here as Thunderbird 4 doesn’t actually have to fly or come into land.

Barring the credits, this is the only instance where you can see all three of the star Thunderbirds together. For obvious reasons, none of them appears alongside Thunderbird 5 (wait, TB5?).

Finally, rescuing the bus, and Thunderbird 4 seems to be moving on its own!

In a break from teabag-based movement, for this final scene, I used stop-motion to move Thunderbird 4 to the bus. The three seconds of video this scene takes are made up of a total of thirty-eight pictures which took a total of three minutes and forty-two seconds to take (so it took seventy-four times the length of the scene to record it), with each lasting about 0.38 seconds. It was a bit time-consuming but did free me from having to drag Thunderbird 4 in a straight line with a teabag string, or from piloting TB4 with a pencil (which would have been jarringly visible).

To give a sense of scale (or lack thereof), Thunderbird 4 is generally accepted to be thirty feet in length, whilst the length of an AEC Routemaster is about twenty-seven feet. So really, the yellow mini-sub should be about the same size as the bus it’s rescuing.

So, there we are. The shots of Fall Of The Routemaster, a sometimes frustrating but fun little video to film and edit, and one which is hopefully enjoyable for you to watch. But we’re not quite done yet…

The credit sequence (which ironically takes up about half of the video's runtime) features the three Thunderbirds which have (so far) featured in the video, as well as the shot of the stormy sky. All three T-bird shots are cropped screenshots from the video, apart from Thunderbird 1 which is the shot of it with its ill-fated landing stilts.

The music over this credit sequence is a rendition of the famous Thunderbirds March by Hans Zimmer, who did the music for the Thunderbirds 2004 film. Although the story of that film is a bit crap, Zimmer’s score for the film is absolutely fantastic, and it shows here.

As you can see, I dedicated the film to Alan Pattillo, who died on January 16^th this year at the age of ninety-one. He worked on several of A.P. Films’ early series as a writer and a director, including on some of Thunderbirds’ most-loved episodes (he directed Trapped In The Sky and wrote Attack Of The Alligators!, the latter being in my Top 3). I was as saddened by his passing as I was about Gerry Anderson’s in 2012, and though it right to dedicate this video to the man who had a profound influence on my six-year-old self.

You may notice if you read the credits that a model of Thunderbird 5 is credited, even though Thunderbird 5 didn’t appear in the video. To explain that, we move to the final shot, the one which formed the film’s end screen.

I took this photograph of Thunderbird 5 orbiting Earth for a completely different purpose, but included it here because it is, perhaps, the most believable shot in the finished production. It was done simply by placing my globe in the middle of a set of four black A4 folders to simulate it hanging in space and then holding Thunderbird 5, blu-tacked (again) to a pencil, out above it. I then did a few edits to the image, which included digitally painting the pencil out, so it looked as if TB5 was just hanging in space.

So, there we have it. The first product of my time at university.

Fall Of The Routemaster is by no means professional – it includes visible flying string, visible teabags and none of the models are really up to professional filming standards either, having been made as toys or in the case of the bus, a souvenir pencil sharpener. That said, if you put the teabag-movement mechanisms aside and consider the film as a bit of fun to pay homage to a television series which I have enjoyed from a very young age, I believe it is quite enjoyable and is very good as a starting point. There is obviously lots to improve on, but that’s the reason people come to university – to gain new skills and experience which helps them do things better in later years. At the end of the day, despite its flaws, I was very happy with Fall Of The Routemaster, and am hoping my lecturer will be pleased that I went out and made something.

Duck Wilson – TheBritFromOz

MMXX

158F: Wingecarribee Trains - feat 3801's Moss Vale trial

On 06/02/2020, 3801 was load & speed trialled on a run from Picton to Moss Vale, towing four carriages and 4201. Seizing an opportunity to see 3801 for the first time since 2008, the world-famous locomotive is seen charging across the Wingecarribee River Bridge in Burradoo (one of my favourite filming locations) on its way south, looking good and going well!

A number of other trains, fairly typical of what can be seen on the Short South on a weekday morning, are also featured at this much-loved location. There is also some history, of the bridge, the river and of course, 3801.

Enjoy!

158 Films - The Cutback

“Cutback” has always been a very dirty word, usually associated with the cessation or downgrading of a particular action or thing to cut costs. It’s not a word I particularly like either, having been a victim of a cutback myself. However, in this case, what I’m doing with my Youtube channel is cutting back, and I’m making no attempt to hide that.

SOV1: Sydney Trains 15/4/14 - The first film I uploaded to Youtube (barring my first channel trailer). I've certainly come along a bit since I put this one up.

Since 2016, I have been uploading railway videos to Youtube, taking in the history, locations and trains which work the Sydney & NSW railway systems. Starting as SydneyOverground1191T5, then becoming TheBritFromOz Rail and now 158 Films, making railway videos for Youtube is something I have hugely enjoyed doing for the most part. I’ve captured some rare things, had an excuse to visit some beautiful locations and developed a respect for those who get up incredibly early to do their work with all those 3am wakeups to go filming.

Compare my first upload to Wingello: The Return, filmed & uploaded April this year.

So if I’m enjoying it so much, why am I cutting back I hear you ask?

I’ve been uploading a film weekly (sometimes even more frequently than that) since July 2019 (apart from a couple of hiatuses whilst I was on holiday and so I could do the HSC), however on September 21^st this year, that will come to a close. I should stress that I will NOT be ceasing uploads completely, however, they will become much more infrequent. My reasons for this are as follows.

1.     Cost

No surprises for guessing this one considering I used the word “cutback” earlier. However, this is the first and foremost reason for my cessation of weekly uploads: It’s getting unsustainably pricey. The cost of making these films, almost all of which is in petrol for driving to my locations (as many have very little, if any, public transport or are long distances away, e.g. Carrick) was getting to be more than I could sustainably afford on my income (which whilst a fair amount, isn't enough to sustain both this and saving for the holiday I'm about to mention), especially seeing as I’m trying to save for a holiday at the same time. Although cost is by no means the only reason for me ceasing to upload weekly, it’s one of the biggest.

2.     Green Day - American Idiot Track 3 (Holiday)

I will be going on an extended holiday to Scotland, Wales and England from early October until early January 2019, which will mean I cannot do any filming or much uploading whilst away (obviously). Once home, I will be off to university in March, which also reduces my chances of being able to film a weekly release. This unavailability is another reason for the end of weekly uploads, and alongside cost, is one of the biggest two.

For those wondering, I will be doing some filming whilst in The UK, as I will be spending a lot of my time travelling on trains and volunteering on heritage railways, plus the trains in the United Kingdom are varied and interesting. I have plans to edit these together in a video blog style of film similar to what Geoff Marshall does and what I have attempted with the Behind The Rails vlogs on my second channel.

Image by Hugh Llewelyn on Flickr

The reason I'm going to Scotland (or one of them) - to see 828, the last of the Caledonian Railways 812 Class locomotives. If it looks similar to Donald & Douglas from Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends and The Railway Series, it is because they are, in the Sodor universe, members of this class.

3.     I no longer have access to a vehicle

I will not discuss the circumstances which lead to my loss of access to a set of wheels, however, it has happened and as a result, I’ve lost my means of transport which is necessary to film at locations such as Carrick, Wingello and others which have limited/no public transport and are long distances away. Plus, a car has flexibility, which public transport sometimes lacks (particularly where all my favourite locations are, or ones I want to try out). On its own, this would not be enough to make me scale back 158 Films, however combined with the next point, it is.

4.     Doing Quality AND Quantity is taking its toll on my wellbeing

I’ve been doing a lot of filming in recent months and editing along with it, and as a result of this and trying to keep to my standard of production, I’m starting to feel burned out. Whilst up until now I’ve ignored this, the time has come for me to take a step back and focus mainly on the quality rather than the quantity of what I produce. Doing both, as I’ve said, was starting to become financially unsustainable as to keep my fairly consistent formula interesting, I had to spice it up with far-away locations and rare trains. As a result of having to put so much time and money into the productions to the point where it was becoming unsustainable, I was beginning to less and less happy with what I was producing, even if there weren’t any overtly bad films produced in that time. So to stop myself from burning out and becoming totally unhappy with what I’m doing, the best way forward is to scale back the amount of films being produced and only make one every now and then, thus maintaining my standard of quality but not burning me out as I pour time and money into consistent shooting.

5.     My relationships have taken a backseat

I may be introverted (nothing wrong with that at all), but I’m still a human, and humans are social creatures who value their relationships highly. I have many great friends, both in and out of the railway community, but as a result of me putting 158 Films at the top of my agenda, I feel as if I’ve let these connections with people whom I hold dear wither through my constant desire to be out filming or planning the next shoot. This is perhaps on-par with the cost as to the biggest reasons why I’m stopping my weekly uploads: My constant prioritising of film production over people has really taken its toll on my mental wellbeing, which I really should not have let happen.

6.     The hobby’s community

*Commence Rant - You have been warned*

I’m the first to say that this hobby is full of lovely people who always encourage you and want to help you along in your enjoyment and understanding of the railway hobby. However for every one of those brilliant people for whom I am incredibly grateful, there is an egotistical sod who wants the hobby for themselves, and about those he doesn’t like will do nothing but complain and berate for the slightest thing. What’s more, these people often band together to make an “in-group” and an “out-group” to maintain exclusivity for a hobby they want for themselves, to the point where the hobby becomes more about impressing those who put themselves on top rather than actually doing the activity. Every hobby suffers from this, but it’s rather prevalent in the railfan community and it’s definitely not something I see myself coming to terms with. It’s one of the smaller reasons for me ceasing my regular uploading, but it definitely contributed. 

*End Rant*

That was a bit cathartic actually... 

7.     I’m missing the point

And on that point of missing the point, I am too. I’ve admitted several times that I don’t make my films from the point of view of a railway enthusiast, but from that of a film producer. Now this may help to keep my standards up, but if I’m more interested in making a top-notch film (something not helped by that fact that I’m a bit of a perfectionist) than I am in my subject, then that’s missing the point of being a railway enthusiast, which is (as per the name) someone who is enthusiastic about railways. Strive to make a good film sure, but don’t let that get in the way of enjoying your hobby of enjoying trains and railways for what they are. That’s where I went wrong, and as a result, became unsatisfied with what I was doing.

So those are my reasons for cutting back on my uploads for 158 Films. However, it’s not the end of the channel, not by a long shot.

The Future

1.     158 Films will be renamed to TheBritFromOz – 158 Films, combining my two internet pseudonyms into one. My original intention was to rename the channel back to TheBritFromOz, but I do like the 158 Films name and it’s a good brand for railway uploads, so it’s staying.

2.     There will be my aforementioned UK trip videos. I’m not sure what form these will take at the moment, but I’m looking forward to making them.

3.     Following a final Saturday 11:00 upload on 21/09/19, I will continue to release railway films, but at a much slower rate than previously, down to one/two per month instead of one/two weekly. I may sometimes be unable to upload anything, it’s dependent on my university schedule.

4.     My little-used second channel TheBritFromOz Extra  (or TheBritFromOz Two as it was originally christened) will more or less cease uploads. This channel has not been getting many views or many uploads at all, and with the scaling back of my main channel, will essentially become redundant. The channel will remain, and *very occasionally* it might get another video, although for the most part TheBritFromOz Extra will not see much more action.

5.     There may be some things other than railway films being uploaded. I don’t know what may emerge from my Communications course at university, though occasionally I may upload projects I make. Also, some other stuff too. I’m not sure what but we’ll see where time takes us.

6.     And of course, all the films I’ve produced until now will remain viewable.

And that brings me to the conclusion of this article. I do hope you now understand my reasons for my sudden drop in productivity on 158 Films, and that you’ve enjoyed the films I’ve produced up until now, and will continue to enjoy those that I upload in future.

Thank you for reading and see you soon!

-TheBritFromOz

Creative Commons License for 828 Image

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

BFOX: The Kurranulla Kangaroo (Model Rail)

Another model railway film from the AMRA Stoney Creek layout. This time, the Kurranulla Branch is in focus as KN23 "Kurranulla Kangaroo" is seen travelling on it, from Fayenton Central to Kurranulla.

All this set to some lovely music by SilverDragonTV.

158F: Wingello: The Return (03/04/19)

This week's film may just be one of the best of the year.

Featuring the rare sight of the FIE Class on the Main South, plenty of other trains (including a diverted Indian Pacific) and an in-depth history class,

Wingello: The Return is certainly a film to enjoy!

Shoutout to Wingello Village Store​ for making really good coffee!

Newcastle Light Rail: The Opinions (Surprisingly Positive)

This article contains references to the 158 Films production Newcastle Light Rail There And Back Again, which you can watch here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOIHGFVQKSw&feature=youtu.be

Newcastle’s new 2.7km of Light Rail have, and probably will, continue to divide both the city and transport “enthusiasts” alike. Some will happily embrace it, others still lament the Christmas 2014 axing of the “heavy” rail service (the normal trains), which I do to a degree, but we’ve got to move on.

On 17/02/19, the Newcastle Light Rail took its first passengers. The line to get a ride from Newcastle Interchange, as you can see in this photo, was rather long.

Evidently, the city was, at least for the most part, ready to embrace its new system.

Anyway, as per the title, this article merely contains the opinions which I (for the most part) suppressed in the film I recently produced: Newcastle Light Rail There And Back Again. Most of what you read in that was facts and showcasing, as I try and keep the opinions out of my films for the sake of presenting things as they are.

One opinion did make it into the video, that on The Flyer artwork at Newcastle. We’ll get to that later.

Here’s one of the Spanish-built URBOS 100 trams used to work the Newcastle Light Rail. They look very similar to the URBOS 3s that work on the Inner West Light Rail (Central – Dulwich Hill via The Star and Lilyfield), both inside and out.

I don’t really have an opinion on these trams. They look nice and they do their job. Admittedly they have had a few teething troubles (two broke down in the space of two days, one on 19/02 & another on 20/02), but aside from that, they’re good. They’re reasonably capacious and will be able to cope with the traffic on the NLR quite well, as the high levels of usage on 17/02/19 were almost definitely an exception.

There is actually only one thing about these trams I find a bit bizarre, and to be fair it’s not entirely the trams’ fault: It’s a design choice that I find a bit, odd.

You will notice if you’ve watched the film or looked at photographs that the trams have no overhead wires. Instead, they have charging points at each stop, which power a battery to run the tram.

The decision to use charging stations and batteries rather than conventional overhead wires (as is indeed employed on the Inner West Light Rail) does have its advantages: It definitely looks aesthetically better (though not notably) and does remove any clearance issues with road vehicles on the roads the NLR crosses. It may well also be more energy efficient, but it does also have some problems, as we’ve seen.

The two trams that suffered from malfunctions in the NLR’s first week of operations both had charging problems which resulted in the batteries going flat. This is not an issue that would have arisen if a conventional overheard wiring system had been used, and it’s potentially an issue I see happening again. For the record I don’t think there’s anything overtly wrong with the system that’s in place; I do however find it bizarre that the tried and tested overhead system wasn’t used here in favour of something new and potentially unreliable. However really, it’s too early to write the system off: It’s had two faults, both of which can be attributed to teething problems.

Now, the Light Rail itself.

The Light Rail has got potential. It really does. It is perfectly able to revitalise Newcastle, just as the glamourous (I use that word very loosely) adverts from Newcastle Transport will tell you. It’s a good system: Clean, efficient and environmentally friendly.

I was about to write a paragraph here which would echo the same “Save Our Rail” opinion which most of Newcastle has been milking (and quite rightly) since the railway was closed on Christmas Day 2014. It would have gone something along the lines of: “The Heavy Rail Line should not have been closed. That decision has killed Newcastle. It’s an act of treason”. I in no way agreed with the decision to close a piece of expensive, functioning and (despite what they’ll tell you) well-used infrastructure that did not actually cut Newcastle off from its foreshore: That argument which almost single-handedly justified the closure of the line is actually complete crap. Even today I still don’t, especially seeing as the often-cited opinion that the land will now be sold to developers may well turn out to be true. That is something which really will cut Newcastle off its foreshore: Putting a load of high-rise apartments in the place of the railway.

However, now that the Light Rail has opened, that argument is dampened slightly. The NLR now fulfils the function that the heavy rail line once did. You can say that there’d be no need for the NLR if the heavy rail was left open, and you’d be right, but after over four years of no transport between Hamilton and Newcastle Beach (which is really what killed Newcastle), the NLR can indeed revitalise Newcastle by fulfilling the purpose of the heavy rail.

So that’s all for the Light Rail. However, there are a couple more things that perhaps I want to cover in this article before I close it up.

This is Civic Station as it stands today. The platforms are fenced, the tracks are gone, and it stands forlorn and alone whilst the modern equivalent less than 100m away is thriving.

The station has been unused since it closed. That should be changed. It’s a piece of perfectly good infrastructure that you could potentially turn into something else, like a café or even a museum of rail in Newcastle. I’d be all for that second idea, seeing as Newcastle Station has been turned into a café and multi-purpose complex. Hell, just use it for something other than a discarded piece of history from the olden-days. Anything please.

Unlike at Civic, it’s good to see that Newcastle Station has been reused as a café and entertainment (I think) precinct. It could have done with an actual train in the precinct, however. I say actual because nowadays, The Station has to settle with this…

The Flyer. Oh dear Lord…

Points for trying is all I can say when it comes to this thing. I do understand and approve of the logic behind this piece of artwork: To honour the Newcastle Flyer. However, it’s been executed incredibly poorly, so much that I think this thing may well be DIShonouring the Flyer more than it actually does what it was intended to do.

Obviously, it’s meant to look like a C38 class. It “vaguely resembles” one, and that’s as far as it goes. One chum I have has described it as “an insult to the taxpayers that funded it”, and unfortunately, he’s probably right. This thing has missed the marks of both honouring the Newcastle Flyer and representing a C38 class by a distance as great as the distance the real Flyer travelled.

I suppose if you look at it from this angle, it looks a marginally more like a C38…

So, to conclude,

The NLR can be great. It really can. It’s got all it needs to revitalise Newcastle and fulfil the purpose of the heavy rail, the lack of which has strangled Newcastle for the past four years. The decision to use the charging points, rather than a conventional overhead wire system, is interesting to say the least and has created a couple of problems, but those will be solved in time probably.

So, there we are. Through writing this article, I’ve actually reformed my own opinion of the NLR and am quite a bit less negative about it.

That said, I still dislike The Flyer.

TheBritFromOz

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