Taking the Port Kelsey Ry. on the road

Railfair, 1994

Continuing with my latest obsession of video, I dug up a real oldie.

My last go-around with video was around 1993 when we bought our first video camera. Like everyone, everything we did was recorded for about 2 years until the thrill wore off. I got tired of trying to edit the video using 2 VCR’s, which inevitably took a whole day end left me with 3rd generation low quality video. Even with those limitations, I did make quite a few little documentary’s, usually having to do with building my former layout, the Port Kelsey.

The video above was one of those little documentary’s. I dug out the VCR and tapes yesterday and recorded them onto DVD’s so I could import and edit them on the computer. That sounds simple enough, but like everything related to video it had to be a 28 step ritual. Eventually I was able to get the video into a format that allowed me to edit the original video down from 45 minutes to a more reasonable 6 minutes. I am convinced that YouTube’s 10 minute video limitation will go a long way to getting people (like me) to edit videos down to a length that is watchable. One of the big issues with home movies is that they were always mind-numbingly too long! Really, just how much video of grandma’s parakeet can someone really take?

This video shows us (Vita and I) preparing my old Port Kelsey portable (HA!) layout to take to a train show in Ottawa. This was the first time I had ever done a train show. I was invited up to Ottawa by the show organizers and they had agreed to pay for me to rent a van to drive the layout there, which came to over $600!

A few years before this I had cut the layout in two to move it, and could never get it to line back up correctly, so in the weeks before this show I completely re-built the bottom of the layout to securely join it together into a single piece again. This added about 75 pounds of plywood to the layout. The video starts with a bit of me finishing off the rebuild with some paint.

Watch as we do a nail-biting balancing act to haul this 200lb behemoth out of our basement and maneuver it into the back of the van. Somehow, between my brother-in-law Anthony and myself we manage to get it out without any damage. After a 6 hour trip each way, and a two day show, it is returned home safely.

Hard to believe this was over 14 years ago, about 3 years before the layout appeared in Model Railroader.

-T.

About the Author:

I'm your host, Tim Warris, a product developer in Port Dover, Ontario. Since March of 2007 I have been documenting the construction of the former CNJ Bronx Terminal in HO scale. For my day job, I design track building tools for Fast Tracks, a small company I own and operate. Fast Tracks makes it fast and easy to hand lay your own trackwork. Stop by our website to learn more!

Posted by: Tim | 03-16-2009 | 09:03 AM
Posted in: Latest Posts | Video