A channel update!

Hi everyone, it's been a little while since I've done a general update on what I'm working on, so.. here we are!

First of all, a big welcome to all the people who signed up around the release of the Upfield line video - this was by far the biggest spike in new members I've had so far, and it was really good to see the excitement building around that video!

On that topic, the response to the Upfield line video has been very good, it's had nearly 40,000 views already, and it's very encouraging to see that there's a lot of interest in this long-form series. I have just started writing the next one - I was initially thinking of doing Craigieburn, but then decided I should spread out more geographically and maybe aim to do one from each group first. (Yes, the above picture is a clue, if you don't know where that is I'll get there in a second!) I've had literally hundreds of requests to do certain lines, and while it's interesting to see what people ask for (Frankston, Pakenham and Belgrave as the most requested), I'm not letting that add to much weight to the decision. Partly because ultimately I'd like to do all of them anyway, but also because it's a lot more efficient for me to do lines I already know well and have already photographed a lot. In addition to that, almost nobody requested Upfield - I think it was only 1 or 2 people over a whole year. Yet there is clearly a lot of interest in it! So anyway, I've decided to go with what is probably the 4th most requested line, Werribee. I think this line will be really well suited to the format, there's loads of interesting stuff, an unusually high density of closed/former stations, the interest of the Altona loop, the parallel standard gauge, lots of complicated trackwork etc. Also lots of interesting details to point out, like.. the shop made out of a Comeng body in the underpass at Werribee! (the picture) This is really weird - it's a piece of Comeng car 388M, which was mostly demolished in a rear-end accident on the Pakenham line in 1987. And now you can buy iced coffee out of it! Anyway.. the Hurstbridge line video took me 7 months, and the Upfield line took 10 months, however, both of those timeframes included lengthy periods where I just left it and worked on other stuff. Now that I know people are definitely interested in this style of video, I will try to make more steady progress on this one, inbetween my other projects. You may also be wondering where this leaves the Williamstown line, (if you're not familiar, it's a short three station branch off the Werribee line). I will probably include it in this video - it's got some interest, but it's very short. Also if there's one common comment I've had on these videos, it's 'I wish this was even longer!' And that will very likely be the case for this one.

Other videos - As you may have noticed, I've uploaded 3 videos in the last 4 weeks - this was partly because the map video didn't take very long graphically speaking. The next gap will be a bit longer, as I have nothing beyond script stage at the moment, and I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to finish off next. I have one more NSW video to come which is like 95% written, so that won't be too far away.

Thankyou all so much for your support!

~Martin