I attached a GoPro on to the top of one of my model trains as it ran on a layout through the great room of my friend’s house. The GoPro gave a pretty good POV video from the viewpoint of the caboose at the back of the train!
I recorded this just after Christmas, which explains why you see Christmas decorations all over the house, but no presents under the tree!
I laughed when I saw the reaction of the family’s cat to the trains running through the house. If that cat had been inside, I’m sure it would have pounced on the train like it was a mouse!
Notice that the train is going in one direction for the first minute and a half of the video, then it goes through a reversing loop in the kitchen and runs in the opposite direction on the layout after that.
The primary focus of the video is the “North Pole Express” steam train, manufactured and sold by Piko. But there were actually two other G-scale model trains running on the layout all at the same time: a MTH brand diesel locomotive with Santa Fe markings, and a Coca Cola train produced by LGB. The Piko and MTH trains were running with a DCC control system and the LGB Coca Cola train was running on a separate set of tracks with an analog control system.
The Coca Cola train is long since out of production and is now a collector’s item… but the North Pole Express Christmas train should still be available for sale at Trainworld.com Each piece is sold separately. Look for Piko item 38246 and you’ll find the locomotive.
Regarding availability of the MTH Santa Fe diesel locomotive…
MTH G-scale trains are made in very limited quantities. At the time I posted this video to YouTube (January 2019) you could still buy these MTH #70-2117-1 locomotives at Trainworld.com However, this item will surely sell out and become no longer available as the year goes on.
This video was shot with a GoPro Hero 7 Black, and the built-in HyperSmooth image stabilization is handy in a situation like this where the camera is mounted on a train which is shaking a lot as it goes down the tracks. Also, note the decent quality of the sound recorded by the GoPro’s microphone. If you listen with a pair of headphones, you will even hear a decent stereo effect at certain parts of the video as other trains go by!
Since Christmas had come and gone by the time I shot this video, my original plan was to just sit on this video for 11 months and release it next December. But as I watched it, I thought it was a really fun POV video that people might be interested in all year long, in spite of the Christmas theme.