My Movies
This page contains links to all of the Sumida Crossing movies on You Tube.
Train Operations
These videos show the model trains in operation.
Early Days - January 2010
Before the first run, but after I’d cut the lowest layer of insulation board to shape, I mocked up the subway track plan to ensure that the trains would run reliably on the sharp curve at the river crossing and that there were no other problems. I made a number of test runs, and this was also when I first bought the video camera and shot some rather shaky video of those tests. I’d not used that at the time, because it wasn’t good video and that was clear even to me. But I recently turned it up and decided that it did show the earliest days of the layout and the subway line, before scenery obscured the structure. So I edited it into this video.
First Run - June 2010
The first train run on the Subway line after the track was wired to block feeders (still on DC, not yet wired with DCC block detectors or circuit breakers). This video shows my JR East E491 “East-i E” track inspection train inspecting the line, followed by my Tōkyō Metro 10000 series subway train doing its first run.
Busy Day
It was a busy day in the village overlooking the Sumida River. A steady parade of trains rolled by on the embankment: commuter trains bringing workers to the city, resort trains taking vacationers away, and freights carrying commodities to and from the ports on Tōkyō Bay. But then, all days are busy on the railroads of Tōkyō.
Layout Tour
I wanted some “engineer’s-eye” video of the layout, so I bought a small video Standard Definition video camera. Dissatisfied with the results, I bought a High-Definition one. The HD camera is a bit too large, but works well other than for some clearance issues. The two videos are included here, HD first, so you can see the results for yourself.
This first video (above) is the HD one.
This is a low-resolution (SD) video tour of the outer express track. As a first experiment with a new camera, I filmed a loop around the outside track of my n-scale Tokyo-themed layout as a tour. The camera is a cylindrical one made for sports video, simply set atop a flatcar, and I didn't have "up" quite right (the camera mark appears misplaced), and I can't seem to remove the timestamp. The sound isn't sync'd with the video all that well either. But it does provide a nice "engineer's eye view" of the layout, and for that I think it's worthwhile for those with an interest. I have some ideas for how to do a better job, but those will take some time and almost certainly involve a better camera.
Tests and Demos
These videos were shot to compare various approaches or to test things out.
Car Lighting
This video contrasts the appearance of an unlit commuter train with one that has had the Kato lighting kits installed, and further with the same train after the interior was lightly painted and had figured installed. See the Detailing an EMU page for more information.
This video is a simple demo of the lighting flicker-control circuit I built. I still haven’t built a full train of these, and now that Kato’s new “Version 2” interior LED kits seem to be less prone to flicker, I have less reason to do so. But the circuit does work, so I’m keeping the description online.
This video shows some testing I did with an Arduino driving LEDs by strobing them (“charlieplexing”), and how the rate of that cycle interacted with the shutter speed of my camera. See the Arduino LEDs page for more detail.
Bus System
I bought two of Tomytec’s Moving Bus System Basic Set A sets, so I can have moving buses in my Urban Station. Here’s a video showing how they work, and how they’re controlled by magnets under the roadway.
