Toy train photography gallery (post your awesome shots here)

Took part in Sodorgust again and finished entries for twenty three prompts, compared to only eight last year. These seven were made with TOMY, HiT/FP, Take Along and custom/third party props, while the other sixteen - including my current avatar - don't belong here. This time, all but the final one were edited in slightly unusual ways apart from expressions and effects.



Day 9 - "Arrogance". A minor twist on the crash from "Thomas and the Special Letter", in that it's shown at the angle used for the "boy on the bridge" (episode title) shot in the S1-7 intros. I used a Take Along Thomas to give the illusion it's taken from the top of the wall, which wasn't a very good idea because it's nowhere near as high as implied. There's a "Deluxe Play Scene" based on the episode that includes a surprised variant (which I misremembered as wincing), but I never had it and just edited the face how I usually would. The tracks (not rails) he would've left in the grass were added behind him, as well as motion blur. The slope looks steeper than it really is, so he didn't roll down and just stayed in position.



Day 10 - "Roads". In a kind of misguided way, this one tried to highlight one major reason why railways are still widely used when, on the surface, they may appear to be old-fashioned and cumbersome compared to roads: their ability to transport goods or passengers in incredibly large quantities while keeping them away from roads that are prone to traffic jams. This train was coupled to Emily, but it was too long and I couldn't show her without making it seem too short. All the vehicles behind Butch and Bertie are my cardboard ones from 2022. The road was on the wrong side because I thought of "left hand traffic" as "right from the viewer's perspective".



Day 11 - "Crash". There are too many accidents in the franchise I thought were equally iconic, so I just set up a collision that hasn't already happened. That's where I got an idea to enhance details I wouldn't usually edit: removing the on/off switches and drive units, adding cab windows and even Percy's backhead from his close-up model. His crew from "Toby and the Flood" were used as the drivers or firemen of both engines. Unlike the LED signal I made in a bigger scale, the red light was edited since I only have two of these semaphores.



Day 12 - "Tunnel". Being the earliest and most in/famous chapter and episode involving a tunnel, "The Sad Story of Henry" came to mind before any later ones. The two firefighters I used for scaling my own models came from an old fire station playset that had interlocking "brick" walls, and they happen to be wide enough for the mouths of the large TOMY tunnels. Although it had to be propped against Henry (and projected a strong red light at his face), it looks more effective than a quarter riser. Edward's cab was digitally hollowed out by drawing the footplate and front wall. The only thing I got wrong was the direction of the buffer stop and the redundant stretch of track under the wall.



Day 15 - "Secret". I found an opportunity to use my liberated ex-Talking Salty earlier than I initially planned. The name and plot of his debut episode utilise another meaning of the word "secret" that often tends to be more positive. One mod I've never seen before is a pre-AEG Salty with a full cab, so I digitally extended it to see how he could've looked. I only have four rock load pieces (enough for two trucks), so the trucks were loaded with... dried-up clementine peels. Ben's angle, position and distance hide the fact he's actually dismantled for parts, and mild colour manipulation was used to make the hopper and road grey. Since the three trucks behind Salty face away from him like in the OG shot, they aren't really coupled to him. Had I filmed him running, I could've swapped out his coupling with the hook from Emily's tender.



Day 23 - "Tired". No, this isn't the giant RC Cranky and I've never been to a Thomas Land park either. It's just my repainted one from the OG Brendam Docks piece, but held high enough to make him appear "life sized". All the spaces in his mast, ladder and jib were recoloured blue, and depth was added by copying the side of the jib and adding more lines for beams. His actual face is too faded, so I superimposed his tired one from "No Sleep for Cranky" over it. S.S. Roxstar's funnels from the same shot were added as an afterthought.



Day 31 - "Home". The only one of these entries without any edits. It recreates the cover and end illustration of Thomas Comes Home (...from his trip to the National Railway Museum in the previous book). It's also the first use of my cardboard Daisy in a proper scene; already used Henrietta for one shot in my Good Old Days tribute earlier in this thread. In hindsight, I could've achieved the curved platforms by laying quarter risers right next to the tracks. The other siding with the buffer stop is missing because I forgot another set of points, but the track plan is identical. Henrietta's roof was also dented in storage, so it may eventually be replaced.