Funny you should mention James May...a little over an hour ago I watched the last episode of _The Grand Tour_ ,with a group of acquaintances from a small Discord server, and managed to capture a rather poignant screenshot toward the end that captured the "gets you right here" sentiment in the chat. I have also watched May's train-themed programmes, and have probably saved one or two of them over time. My own activities in that regard include collecting and operating (as you can see by my channel :D ), and participating in the _O Gauge Railroading_ forum (same name) with posts and photos going all the way back to year 2000. While time constraints have led to a hiatus in posting videos (as detailed in my second Community post), I've continued to accumulate equipment to operate, and hope to eventually return to shooting and posting videos of some rather unique trains, hopefully also accompanied by improved editing. For real-train videos I like to recommend the channel of _Jaw Tooth_ . He's got a _lot_ of material, including information about the places he travels to for shooting his videos.

Yes. Only thing I don't have is enough time to run trains for videos

@@RailRide okay thank

None for sale, sorry.

I also have one of the classic "growlers", i.e. a 2343 Santa Fe A-A with the horizontal motors, an estate-sale find that needed a fair bit of cleanup and parts (like replacing damaged shells and trim pieces, plus finding a B-unit for it). I haven't filmed it yet, what with the large backlog of stuff I've acquired, and precious little unstructured time to run and shoot video in-between work and everything else, but I hope to eventually get to it.

I also did one with the Lionel traditional GP38's. Not Pullmor motors in that one, but the 33 autoracks sure made those little truck-mounted can motors growl on start-up: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r6vRdmZniNmsjposi=IMUBAOsFMmKpyYJI

Thanks! All in all, I believe I have more than 100 tank cars now, including a "photo freight" comprised of almost 40 chrome-plated tank-on-frame tankers. I joke that I have enough 'sinister-looking black tank cars' to give certain people PTSD :D There are many more consists ranging from "traditional" to scale-proportioned, from transition-era to modern (even a sub-collection of 1970's 2-rail Atlas and AHM cars), waiting to run for the camera. All it takes is wrangling free time to bring 'em out and run them :)

The air conditioner blower. One of the vents was directly overhead.

I designed my "test track" to accommodate the biggest piece I had at the time, a DDA40X, which measures almost 24 inches long. By way of doing this, I also gained the ability to run scale-sized passenger cars (21") like those of the Acela as well as my Viewliners (which I haven't run yet). An around-the-room setup was the choice precisely because it afforded the most running room, not to mention that I could thread it behind furniture without blocking anything other than the entrance (which was solved by a lift-out bridge). The MTH Superliners are 18", a little short of scale so that more people can run them (I think their minimum is 042). Much of my equipment I bought when first cataloged, so I came into most of my "rare" pieces that way (like the Coors Light tail car), since I had no way of knowing they'd become rare when I first pre-ordered them.

I believe so. There will be one at the end of the train should I make another video of it (although current controversies over JKR may make such a post draw unwanted attention, so making another HWE video is not a priority considering all the other stuff I have yet to run). Since I have two brake vans now, I'll probably have one at both ends of the train.

@@RailRide okay then

Vintage K-Line, especially their Bombardier single-level coaches, would be a substantial challenge. I don't even know if they show up on Ebay. Probably specialty auction houses that specialize in liquidating private collections, like Cabin Fever, Ambrose Bauer or Stout, among others --assuming any current owners are eyeing those places to unload a collection before they pass on. I haven't seen any for sale for a good decade or more now (one of their Golden State aluminum dome cars I've been looking for for 20 years without a lead) You'd have better luck finding the Atlas O versions (that is, if you can handle 21" cars). At least those _are_ likely to be produced again.

'Allo from the depths of Picarto :D

Indeed. And if I had a reliable ride there, I'd be a member.

JPorretto had a good layout that would make for a nice collaboration

I agree. I just purchased the HO Acela. O version looks and sounds awesome.

And that train is now 40 cars with three of those Plymouth switchers.

Thanks much! Yes, those Superliners are imposing. And heavy...at least in O gauge. I actually have more of these--MTH, K-Line and Lionel. But I haven't upgraded the lighting in those yet (so much to do, so little time to do it) Be sure to hook up with the OGR forum to get tips on fixing your stuff. It's immensely helpful to know the item numbers, or at least be in a position to take and post photos to aid in identifying them. There are people there who fix these things for a living and will be glad to offer pointers.

East Haven, Connecticut.