A Reveiw Of The Video Of: Mobile Society of Model Engineers presents its annual model trains display at the Mobile Museum of Art
Reviewed By John V. Smith
Another year has come and gone for the Society of Model Engineers.
On display this year one can observe the amazing layouts that these experts have created.
This excellent four-minute video gives viewers an insight of the Mobile Museum of Art and highlights the skills of the Society of Model Engineers.
A variety of trains are represented at the annual meeting.
Passers-by a the museum are treated to good ol' number 268, a coal-powered engine pulling freight. Modern diesel engines pulling passenger cars can be seen as well. Adding even more excitement is a model of a high-speed passenger train, with it's sleek pinch-nose design.
The video of these wonderful model trains allows us to see the masterly crafted realistic landscapes of the layouts. Obviously the modelers have spent many happy hours on their constructions! And we are blessed that they had the generosity to go to the trouble to transport their model railway layouts all the way to the museum to display them.
Among the landscapes represented the viewer can see thick forest, mountains, flat plains, valleys (traversed by ironwork supported bridges), and rocky landscapes. I spotted a very brief glimpse of what could even be desert in the video, but I wouldn't be able to say for certain.
All of these landscapes are excellently recreated with such a sense of authenticity that if I were not aware this was a video of a model train layout, I would perhaps think we were looking at the real thing!
Not only can we see a variety of landscapes, methinks I spotted a representation of a couple of different seasons as well, specifically winter. In one segment of the video, the train passes through a densely forested area and it looked like the model railroader had put artificial snow on the trees and rocks.
One thing missing from the trains of the layout, at least in this video, were the special effects that are available to all of us these days with modern model railroads: sounds and smoke effects! It would have been nice to see them on this video if in fact the trains here are capable of that.
The room in which the layout was housed at the museum contained a large projection screen that, at one point in the video, we were able to see a dual representation of the layout: one in front of the camera videoing the layout as the good ol' 268 rolls by, as well as the projection from another video source.
The above shot gave us a bit of insight on the videographer who demonstrated some skill at making videos of model trains. He shot the video from several perspectives including a semi-bird's eye view and the POV of what would be a person standing near the train as it passes - which gave the viewer the feeling of seeing a full scale train. In addition, the videographer showed skill in panning, as well as tracking of the trains as they rolled by.
Some exciting highlights of the model railroad layout were showcased. These highlights included a working train yard with 7 or 8 trains at rest, moving through, pulling in, and pulling out of the yard. In this shot we had a very brief look at the rolling stock and again we could see the skill of the model railroaders represented. These model trains weren't just slapped together!
Another highlight was an over / under pass set up where the old 268 coal-fired cargo train traversed a valley and the super-express passenger train shot through the valley along the under pass.
Finally we were able to see a deep dark mountain tunnel come to life with the lights of the 268 as it roared up out of the dark depths of this deep recessed tunnel, and emerge along side the parallel tracks.
Unfortunately, the video ended rather lack-lusterly: it simply stopped.
A video otherwise so nicely done and a model train layout as nice as the one represented certainly was worthy of at least a few credits at the end!!
