Mister No's Pics & Vids

Thanks, Muddy!

She really is a beautiful engine... that emerald green with yellow lining and brass fittings! Those oversized (8ft 1in!) driving wheels! Also, Emily is based on a Great Northern Railway G3 Stirling Single 4-2-2, designed by Patrick Stirling in 1870, so could she be one of the oldest Sodor engines?

Anyone heard of any engine praised by the Fat Controller as Emily was praised?
My, who wouldn't love Emily?? 

Yes, she's a tender driven engine, and I do not like tender driven engines... but I bought her & Murdoch many years ago when I didn't know that I don't like tender driven engines!

On the other hand, she really doesn't look like a tender driven engine in that video, does she? She runs so straight (without that weird tender driven angle); she's not like many other tender driven engines I saw... Thumbs up for Emily! 

I take photos and videos with my phone (Xiaomi Mi 9T), format the pictures to 16:9, and then, if the picture needs titling, I download it to my computer, and add titles (and make the cover) in IrfanView 64. I use mostly the Bahnschrift font, because it's clear and readable, has many condensing and bolding options... and it also has the word Railroad (Ger. Bahn=Railroad) in it!

Ich liebe du Bahn und Bahnhoff! I see what you did. Nice font!

I am also a big fan of IrfanView. It's great for quick edits and did you know it has a lot of keyboard shortcuts so you can do almost anything without touching the mouse. It's an amazing freeware. I also use Gimp, an OpenSource graphics editor for more complex stuff.

[Super]

I never realized you had so many Thomas and Friends trains Mr-No.

Oh, there are even more old friends (UK Tomy Motor Road & Rail and Tomica World Road & Rail System) in my "box from the past", Super...

For the latest video on Emily I thought I can replace her with her "Trackmaster" counterpart, since she is a tender driven engine (and I don't care much for tender driven engines), but my old UK Tomy Emily did a great job, even being a tender driven engine!

I bought new "Trackmaster" Emily (they are selling a whole range of cheap Trackmaster / Fisher-Price engines and sets in local grocery stores over here), and just look what they did to Emily!! Her distinguishing big wheel is fake! 



Her overall look is too caricatural and of course, she can't run on Tomy tracks (except on simple straight and curved tracks) without modifications, but my, it's shocking what they did to her appearance! 
 
What a difference:



Emily is based on the Great Northern Railway (GNR) No. 1 class Stirling Single, which is a class of steam locomotive designed for express passenger work. Designed by Patrick Stirling, they are characterised by a single pair of large (8' 1") driving wheels which led to the nickname "eight-footer". These big wheels are driving wheels, so Trackmaster, in my opinion, completely missed the point. 



I sincerely apologized to my old Tomy Road & Rail Emily for even thinking of replacing her!

And here is another tender driven engine!

[Super]

Wow...wouldn't the Plarail Emily look fantastic with those real spoked wheels like on the real engine?

Yes, but I think Tomy did a great job with Emily's big wheel. The wheel looks realistic, it looks like it really moves the engine (although it does not), and the spokes are clearly visible (although they are not real spokes, of course):



Trackmaster's model lacks on all of that: the wheel is obviously fake, spokes are blurred, and side rod is attached to a wrong wheel! On top of that, the fake big wheel is slightly different colour then other wheels! 

Tomy's Emily, although she's a tender driven engine, is running very well. Tomy Murdoch is a quite different story. He does look like the engine he's based on, the BR Standard Class 9F...





... but being such a long engine with those 10 rolling wheels - he has problems with the radius of the U-turn (he stops in the loop), and he can't climb the slopes... I don't know if that's just mine Murdoch (he's rather old), or the design is causing him that troubles. He should be the strongest engine on Sodor, and... he's not.
No such issues with Emily.

[Super]

I think you hit the nail on the head with your thoughts on Murdochs troubles. His length along with the 10 small diameter wheels being pushed by the tender definitely is asking for trouble. That being said I love the way Murdoch looks with his long fat boilers and the 10 wheels makes it looks real compared to the normal Plarail models.

[Super]

I am really impressed with how well your trains are preserved Mr-No. They all look new.