4 DEC 09 : To celebrate Saint Barbara's Day, I've come up with a compilation disc called USA Rails 4. This DVD features the best of medium to high speed shots taken from the original USA Rails 3 disc series. I originally put this one together just for me and my tastes, but am now happy to share it with everyone. It's now listed on the Videos page.

8 JAN 10 : Good grief, the wind has been diabolical, with only a few good days for filming either side of Xmas day. This has foiled my plans to get a lot of filming done while I'm on holiday. It pains me to hear the trains go through Feilding and not being able to get any footage due to the weather. Maybe things will calm down a bit in February.

I've uploaded a new batch of photos to keep you all happy - all taken in December. The photo of the DXB exiting Fordell Tunnel has to be credited to Shaun Anderson of Marton. He was using my SLR while I was filming. Nice shot, Shaun.

27 JAN 10 : I've been spending a bit of time at the Marton junction and making use of the excellent lighting conditions from the floodlights - and not getting home until after midnight as a result. Train E24 from New Plymouth is providing me with quite a bit of variety with the changeover of locos at Marton, combined with the milk trains and the usual late night freights, I can see up to five trains here within a three hour period. The night shots I've got from here are absolutely superb. The arcing of the pantographs is one heck of a light and sound show. Check out the new video on Youtube.

20 FEB 10 - Two productions at once released today. I've been working furiously for the last two weeks tidying up these two and I'm pleased with the end result. Filmed in glorious widescreen Hi definition, both are available in DVD and AVCHD Hi-Def Blu-ray compatible disc. Both programs feature some wicked pacing shots and night shots from Marton - filmed under their new floodlights that really do turn night into day. 

22 FEB 10 - Out of pure frustration and necessity, I've resorted to importing a quantity of Blu-ray Disc cases. These things have been impossible to find in New Zealand. So now I'm offering what I have up for sale. A new link on the Links page takes you to these items.

28 MAR 10 - Yet another release. Night Movers - This one was purely unintentional and was never in the big scheme of things. Upon discovering that new floodlights had been installed at the Marton Junction, I soon realised that this place had more potential than originally thought. A few shots were obtained and were included in the Diesels and Electrics programs as samplers. The feedback was good, so a full length production of just night shots was put into motion. The good thing was that I didn't have to spend all night there just to get a couple of shots - there's action a plenty between 8:30 and 11:30 pm. I did get up early one morning to do some filming - 3:00 am - but after filming just one train, the lights fizzed out and I was left looking at stars. Train E24 is covered in great detail, with 6 separate sequences filmed to document the juggling of locos that goes on with this train that runs from New Plymouth to Auckland. The locals partaking of a few ales in the Summerhouse Lodge looked on in amusement as my always keen assistant, Shaun Anderson, and I sat around on the platform most nights in February and March filming. The nights were warm and the weather always seemed to be on its best behaviour. I had a lot of different names for this one, but as always, they were either already in use, or copyrighted.

21 MAY 10 - Not much happening and I'm currently taking a break from filming. I've been gearing up for my trade stand at this years Model-X in Auckland and have been burning off dozens of discs - only to find one of my burners had an epic fail and I didn't notice until I'd done over 40 discs on it. Thankfully this was brought to my attention before I went to Auckland - by a very patient and forgiving customer. These things happen to challenge us.

 I'm now happy that I can reliably produce an NTSC format DVD - several were sent to various people across the USA for testing and all came back positive. The conversion process makes a couple of the scenes appear a little bit jerky, but apparently it's tolerable. So I'm now happy to take orders from North America. Only a few selected titles will be available in NTSC.

I'm one step closer to creating Blu-rays. The software has been purchased and installed, a reliable supplier of blank media and cases has been found - all I need is the burner and we're off. That shouldn't be too far away. As for the price... they will be somewhere between 15-20 dollars each, which isn't too over the top. This also means that I will no longer be releasing any more productions in AVCHD, and the three current one's will be discontinued when the Blu-ray production line kicks in.

9 JUN 10 - More news on the Blu-ray front - I should be in full production by July - watch this space.

15 JUN 10 - Blu-ray is finally here - and guess what - they're only $15.00. The biggest expense is the shipping charge from Australia of the disks and covers. If I can find a New Zealand supplier that sells the disks and cases at a similar price, then I'll be happy to drop the price accordingly. At the moment, only three titles are available in HD, however as new titles are released, they'll be in HD as well. If you've seen HD side by side with normal DVD, then you'll already know about the difference in clarity and sharpness. The same applies to my Blu-rays - you'll love the difference. At the recent Model - X where I had a trade stand, many people commented on the clarity of the Blu-rays I was playing on a 50 inch screen. I think I could have sold just as many TV's as I did DVD's !

I wish to give a big shout out to the many people who support me and what I do and made an effort to come and see me at Model - X in Auckland. It was really great putting faces to so many names, and even better taking more money off you !! Thanks to you all for your support. No, I won't be putting up the prices any time soon. This is my hobby, and hobbies cost - it's just the way it is.

24 JUL 10 - Last weekend saw me attending Rail-X in Palmerston North. This was a well attended event with good crowds and good sales. By the end of the first day I'd run out of 5 titles and I spent most of the night making up more DVD's for the Sunday crowd. The turnout totally blew me away and the level of support I received from both the public and other exhibitors was overwhelming. More faces were put to names (Steve Smith, Alan O'Brien) and a new business contact was made as well as some great advice received from a Tararua Television camera operator. As a result, a new tripod has been ordered and should be here in time for the next Steam Sunday Overlander trip.

Yesterday I took the day off work and explored the Palmy - Napier line chasing train 628 in the process. This was the first time I'd driven in this area and apart from the windy roads off the main track, it was a good trip - although I only got as far as Ormondville. The potential for some great scenic shots is way up there.