If you like the big American steam locomotives, you will enjoy this model railroad video very much. This video was made not only for entertainment, but it is also a memorial to the superb 3-rail O gauge railroad that was built by Norm Charbonneau more than 20 years ago. After Pilentum Television had already published a video of this legendary miniature world a few weeks ago, good video footage in 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio could be used at that time.
But this video consists of very old video footage originally shot in 4:3 aspect ratio with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels only. The image quality of the old cameras was not high-resolution. Therefore, the old video footage is noisy and blurry. But they were such beautiful moving pictures of steam locomotives and model trains that it would be a shame if this footage remained unseen. Therefore, Pilentum Television has extensively restored the old video files transferred by Norm Charbonneau and tried to produce a video presentation in the best possible quality. A whole army of video tools, plug-ins and color correction filters was needed to optimize the video footage. Let’s hope that this video presentation is still entertaining although the video has a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels only.
Often Norm Charbonneau’s model railroad layout “Greenbrook” has been featured in American magazines for rail transport modeling. The model train layout has attained iconic status in the world of 3-rail O gauge model railroading. Unfortunately, this amazing big steamers’ paradise no longer exists because Norm Charbonneau decided to build a new o scale layout.
It is the attention to detail and the passion to weather locomotives, trains and buildings that makes this model railroad layout so impressive. Everything – from the rails to the rooftops – has weathering effects ranging from a dusting of soot to a heavy cloak of grime. In addition, the combination of sound effects and steam generators integrated into the locomotives makes us forget that we are watching a toy train layout. Motive power, rolling stock and train sets consist of Lionel, 3rd Rail, Weaver, MTH and Atlas. The layout’s scenery, approximately 22 x 19 feet, was influenced by the major railroad junctions and marshalling yards in New England, Pittsburgh and Detroit. Finally, let yourself be enchanted by the magical clouds of smoke blown out by the steam locomotives.
*Norm Charbonneau on YouTube*
u
*Pictures worth seeing on Pilentum Television*
m