Adventures in Video

Videos can come about in some unusual ways.  The videos I have on my web site of the UP Big Boys show them double-headed.  I got an email asking about the pulling power of a single locomotive.  I don't have a gauge to measure the pull in pounds but I do have lots and lots of freight cars.  So, why not shoot a video showing the Big Boy hauling all the freight cars it can?  Good idea!  Load up track 1 with reefers, put on the Big Boy, its tender, and auxiliary tender, fire it up and shoot a video.  Capture the video and eek!  Breaking up video, scratchy noise, what in the world is going on?  Haul out the trusty manual and lo! and behold! it shows this exact problem.  The solution — go get a head cleaning cartridge!  D'oh!  With that out of the way, I shot the video of the single Big Boy, #4012, pretty much chasing its own caboose.  If the layout were bigger and I had the room to do it, I'm pretty confident that it could easily haul a hundred cars.  Toward the end of the video, you can hear the oh so appropriate freight yard sound set that I installed in this locomotive.  The video is posted on the Multimedia page of the web site and will be on YouTube once it finishes its processing.