Well this ended up being pretty much the same length as last year! I tried something a bit different for the accompanying footage this time, which turned out to be a lot more challenging to shoot than I expected. Hope you enjoy it!
2024-11-23 07:41:47 +0000 UTC View Post
[Edit: I'm going to record this on Friday 15/11, so if you haven't put in a question yet, make sure you get it to me by Thursday!] Hi everyone! It's exactly a year today since I released my last Q&A video, and as some of you may have noticed, the channel recently ticked over 40,000 subscribers (twice the number this time last year), so I thought it's probably time to do another one! I expect I'll probably get more questions than I can answer this time on the public post, but I will certai...
2024-11-06 04:23:58 +0000 UTC View Post
Here it is! A tour of Parkville, plus a ride through the tunnel to Anzac and back. Enjoy!
2024-10-28 09:03:28 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello everyone, just a quick couple of pictures from this afternoon.. I got invited with a small group of people to ride one of the test trains through the Metro Tunnel between Parkville and Anzac. I think it goes without saying.. this was pretty remarkable - very few 'civilians' like myself have ridden a train in the tunnel so far. 1st picture is HCMT set 63 at Parkville heading west, second picture is heading south under the CBD between State Library and Town Hall. Video comin...
2024-10-25 10:27:55 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone! I wouldn't normally upload two videos so close together, but this one has a bit of a 'breaking news' exception. I was invited on a guided tour of Anzac station on the Metro Tunnel last weekend, which is very close to completion. This was actually a pretty big open day event, but wasn't open to the general public - I believe it was mostly for workers on the project and their families, and possibly some local residents. But I was asked to come along, as were a handful of other 'peo...
2024-10-17 03:32:50 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone, this is one that's been on my mind to make for a while - in the end I wrote the script in a single day, and it all came together pretty quickly after that. There's also another brief cameo from another Australian rail youtuber (also a member here), but not the same one as last time. :) Hope you enjoy it!
2024-10-13 11:09:28 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone, just a quick update on how things are going, and a link to an appearance of mine on another channel down below!
Annoyingly video production has been pretty much on pause for the last fortnight, as I've had to work on a couple of not-youtube creative jobs - however both of those should be done this week, then I'll be able to jump back into the Werribee line video. It's getting very close to completion, but being a very long video that still could take a while - so I might m...
Hello everyone! This video really started out as just a few observations from my recent family trip to Sydney, and then.. it snowballed into 23 minutes, and here we are! Hope you enjoy it.
2024-09-04 05:31:44 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone, I've had quite a few requests for a downloadable copy of my 1949 Victorian Railways map scan, so I've attached it to this post! Just a few notes:
I'd appreciate it if this file is just used for personal use, and not shared or uploaded elsewhere. Obviously the actual design of the map is a VR thing and not mine, but scanning and reassembling the map into this file was a very large job, and the map it's self has some personal significance, as it was giv...
Hi everyone! This video has been a very long time coming, ever since I did the City Loop/Richmond Junction/North Melbourne+Southern Cross videos, I knew this one would be next - it took me a long time to get started on it, but I'm quite happy with the result. I learned a lot making this, much of the information about the viaduct's structure is stuff I didn't know before I started paying attention for this production. This video features a small guest appearance by Maikha from the channel Rhei...
2024-08-20 10:53:22 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone, it's been a while since I've done one of these real-time exploring videos. This is a bike ride along the former Inner Circle line, showing what remains of the railway and how the alignment is used today. I quite enjoy making this type of video, partly because they don't take very long to edit - this was only filmed two days ago.
Hope you enjoy it!
Hi everyone, it's a very cold wet week here in Melbourne! Here's a random photo I took a couple of weeks ago in similar conditions, of K153 climbing out of Upper Ferntree Gully hauling the 4 car Tait on a Ringwood-Belgrave shuttle. I spent most of the day out in the weather and had to do some systematic drying out of camera gear later on!
I'm expecting a bit of a gap before the next video - I haven't got much done over the past fortnight due to one of my kids having some surgery (tonsi...
Hi everyone, as promised - here is my third NSW video for the year, this time looking at the tiny request stop of Wondabyne! As alluded to in the video, this is a location that has been covered by many, many youtubers before - including myself (this one will replace my older video with no narration). However I suspect it will still be a new topic to much of my very Melbourne-heavy audience. I've visited Wondabyne something like 8ish times since I first went there in 2010, with most of those t...
2024-07-08 05:02:14 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone! This video is a bit of a dive into the different types of carriage used within Melbourne suburban trains, and how we ended up with the standard sets of cars we use today. A lot of this is stuff that enthusiasts will already know, but I've tried to make it a bit more aimed at explaining the basic concepts of multiple unit operation to a more general audience. Simultaneously, it's also extremely nerdy and detailed. I think I was inspired towards making this a couple of years ago wh...
2024-06-23 09:10:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone, this is a video I had absolutely no plans on making until about 10 days ago, when I looked at the track plan for the new East Pakenham station and realised.. it was actually pretty interesting. As usual I was like 'this will be easy, I'll make a quick 5 min video pointing out the main stuff.' It seems I can't actually make videos that short though, so here you go! I'm fairly pleased that this will (just) be making it live to the public under a week from the new station actually o...
2024-06-08 03:11:58 +0000 UTC View Post
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 ...
That's right, it's a ferry video! This is something I've wanted to do for ages - my trips to Sydney have always involved at least one ferry ride, and this video tells the story of the biggest ferries on the busiest route. Hope you enjoy it!
2024-05-15 11:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone, this is a bit of a random video, which I thought I'd make really quickly and would be like 5 mins max - anyway I got a bit carried away and here it is! I made a really high res scan of my late grandma's 1949 VR map, and this is a video exploring it. Hope you enjoy it!
2024-05-07 13:17:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone, very pleased to be finally making this one live. I started writing the script for this just a few days after the Hurstbridge line video went live about 10 months ago - obviously I've made a lot of other videos in that time too, but this one has been bubbling around in the background for a very long time. I'm really pleased with how this came together, and sort of surprised myself at how much I managed to get out of this wonderful line, which is often largely overlooked by enthusi...
2024-04-22 10:50:42 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone, it's been a while, but here's a video about a not-Melbourne place! This one covers the interesting line leading down to the North Sydney Car Sidings at Lavender Bay on the north side of Sydney Harbour. This will be the first of (I think) 3 Sydney videos which will come out over the next few months.
Enjoy!
2024-03-25 23:44:54 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello! Here is my video on the Swanston St/St Kilda Rd tram corridor. This was very much one of those ones I expected to come together quickly, but then ended up being a bit more complicated than I planned, and was delayed several times. There are several timelapses involved shot over two separate days, adding up to over an hour of real-time filming. This video also features the return of my brother's music - this time a little something he put together especially for this video.
Hope ...
Hi everyone,
A bit of a milestone this month - this Patreon page has now been up for an entire year! When I started this 12 months ago, I really had no idea how much interest it would attract, but so far we're up to 120 members, and I'm really thrilled at how many people have been willing to support the channel directly here. As I touched on in the last update, the channel has started to become a substantial part of how I make my income, and this has really helped just...
Hi everyone, here it is! This video was a heap of fun to put together, and was largely set in motion by the DVR president, Tyler Howie, who appears in the video. As a sort of appendix to this video, I've also uploaded a cab ride featuring two runs on the railway: first a full lap of the normal circuit on a steam loco, then a second special run taking unusual routes to demonstrate the flexibility of the signalling. I didn't want to make two separate posts on Patreon, so you can access the cab ...
2024-02-23 03:55:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello everyone, next video is coming very soon, and it's going to be a bit different to anything I've done before. I was invited to make a video about the Diamond Valley Railway, which is an amazing 7 1/4' gauge (184mm) passenger carrying miniature railway near where I grew up in Eltham. It has really intensive operations, and is fully signaled using Victorian Railways signalling practices - pictured above is an 80 lever frame, inside one of their two signal boxes. What makes this video diffe...
2024-02-19 23:59:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone! This is probably my most requested video of all time, and one I had previously said I wouldn't make - well here it is! It's mostly a look at the wider network changes associated with the Metro Tunnel, as well as a brief overview of the project its self. I think this is the fastest I've ever made a video with this level of complexity - I only started writing it 7 days ago. The scene walking through the Caulfield underpass was filmed this morning. This was also a fun opportunity to...
2024-02-16 06:19:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone, a bit of a surprise video this week, taking a look at the three significant Infrastructure Evaluation Vehicles used on the Victorian rail network since the 1980s. Enjoy!
2024-02-06 03:17:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Here it is, the 'other' Broadmeadows runaway from 1960! This one posed a few interesting challenges being an event that happened entirely before my time, and uses a mixture of historic photos and my own 21st century photos edited to look the part.
Hope you enjoy it!
2024-01-24 08:33:14 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone! First of all, welcome to all the new members, quite a few people have come on board around the release of the V/line video, which is great to see!
I'm not sure if anyone noticed this, but over the past 3 weeks, I uploaded 3 videos, all going public exactly one week apart. This is a pretty big increase in production speed, with the average in 2023 being just 0.4 videos per week! I almost managed to get 4 for 4, with the next video 99.9999% c...
2024-01-19 03:04:28 +0000 UTC View Post
Here it is, probably my second most requested topic - it's a video about V/line! This is pretty much a fleet explainer, I plan on making some videos on other aspects in the future. Enjoy!
2024-01-11 06:31:53 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello! This morning I was out very early taking my first rail photos for 2024 (I know, took me 9 whole days). I was specifically after a few shots I need for my next video, which will be a general look at the V/line fleet, which I'm hoping to get done by this weekend (they're coming a bit faster now hey?).
This shot shows N465 'City of Ballaarat' racing past West Footscray with the down Swan Hill pass. It was running a bit late, as 465's head end power unit failed (I assume) not long ...