225 Studios

[MidnightFlyer]

Anyone else brought DVDs from this company?

They are brilliant; full cab-ride DVDs (including tunnels in their entirety), and plenty of routes too, I would guess about 100-175 routes all readily available, got Liverpool St-Norwich, Wrexham G-Marylebone (WSMR ) and Nottingham-Liverpool Lime St. They are awesome, well worth the initailly off-putting £21 retailing price.

Should be pointed out there isn't much for ScotRail, Virgin or CrossCountry etc, but plenty for Southern, SWT, FGW/Wessex Trains, and tons for freight companies.

Anyone else?

 

[GB]

I think they are good also. I have probably 9 or 10 myself.

 

[kentuckytony]

I have many 225S videos.
They are not my favorite company but it is a matter of taste.

They are more route training - so no commentary to speak of.
They are also not so particular about the weather during filming or about whether the sun is causing glare (but not as bad as some other cab rides I have seen).
Sometimes they will film and hold a route and the publish date is not the real date of the filming.

Lately their web site is being redone and has lots of bits missing. Seems to be a work in progress but it is taking a lo-o-ong time.

There have been a number of routes I couldn't get elsewhere so for full, uninterrupted rides without commentary it is nice to have 225S.

 

[The 158 Man]

Do they do any in a 158?

 

[heart-of-wessex]

There is a Hull - York in a 158, and the Exeter - Meldon Quarry and return is also a 158. I have this DVD, and it is rather good, looks strange on a preserved line!

 

[the sniper]

Do they do any in a 158?

In addition to ones heart-of-wessex mentioned, there's also Carlisle to Leeds (in snow), Hull to Scarborough via Bridlington, Nottingham to Matlock then Derby, Derby to Crewe and Stansted Airport to Birmingham New Street (though it's only a 158 from Ely to New Street, according to the blurb on their site.

I'm seriously considering getting some DVDs from this site, but I'm a bit put off by them not putting the year in which they were filmed in the blurb...

Just out of curiosity, is it difficult/expensive for these companies like Video 125 and 225 studios to organise the filming of these videos? I only ask as neither of them have got a massive selection, and most videos seem to be from 4, 5 or 6+ years ago. You'd have thought it wouldn't be too hard in theory to film almost every route, so I presume it's TOC policies/access charges that limit opportunities?

 

[heart-of-wessex]

I can't imagine 225 studios have too much of a cost problem, they probably make more profit than ever. I would assume TOC's pay to hire them in to film a route and then we pay for the DVD on top.

Remember these are ex-training videos with the speech/images taken off, so that's why I'd assume it wouldn't be expensive nor difficult...

 

[starrymarkb]

I found some rather interesting vids on the Pirate Bay, mostly ripped from German TV. One set is the full Glacier Express from Zermatt to St Moritz

There was also a Paddington to Bristol vid from 1990 with the conversation between the driver and camera man left in!

 

[kentuckytony]

I know from being on the V125 forum that they film a few new ones every year. But they have been filming for 25 years now, so some go back that long. Lately they have some non-UK releases - Eurostar, Lisbon Trams, Paris Metro.
This year The Isle of Wight, and soon Ireland's western corridor route - Waterford - Limerick -Ennis - Galway.

Peter Middleton, the V125 owner, has gone into many of the trials of filming via the forum there. Getting TOCs to allow filming is getting harder and more restrictive.

They are now also filming and producing BluRay disks.

 

[Broken Viking]

I had a look at the 225 Studios site last night, and - If the demo YouTube video they've got is anything to go on - Then these are definitely good material! My only misgivings are the high costs of the DVDs themselves - £19.00 does seem pretty steep given that most movies and feature films retail at about half that! hock:

That, and they don't appear to have any footage of the complete ECML or WCML taken from the cab of an APT-P, APT-U (IC 225), or Pendolino either... ad::cry:

Addendum: I was interested when I saw they had some fGW videos on there, but all they've actually got is a couple of cabbed 166s along the North Downs. If they've managed to film with fGW, why is there no high-speed HST footage from Paddington to either Penzance or Abertawe?

 

[GB]

The DVDs are for a niche market so prices will be higher due to this.

 

[Flying Snail]

I found some rather interesting vids on the Pirate Bay, mostly ripped from German TV. One set is the full Glacier Express from Zermatt to St Moritz

I used to regularly catch these late at night on the German satellite channels which were available in the clear alongside the encrypted analogue SKY service. I seem to recall I was flicking in the hope of catching some soft porn which the german channels also showed but the DB cab views were more entertaining anyway.

There was also a Paddington to Bristol vid from 1990 with the conversation between the driver and camera man left in!

For most of the early cab vids from BR days a real effort was made and a knowledgeable driver-manager was present giving a running comentary on the lines and associated facts with some good anecdotes as well, I had a few on VHS although by todays standards the picture and sound quality was very ropey.

 

[Zoe]

Addendum: I was interested when I saw they had some fGW videos on there, but all they've actually got is a couple of cabbed 166s along the North Downs. If they've managed to film with fGW, why is there no high-speed HST footage from Paddington to either Penzance or Abertawe?

FGW no longer allow filming from the cab.

 

[Broken Viking]

FGW no longer allow filming from the cab.

Whyever's that then? I'm sure there are at least a few of us who'd like to see/record some up to date and high definition footage of the GWR lines. Is this due to several new kilometers of E.U. red tape gumming up the works, or are FGW just trying to clear a market for their own side-line in cab view videos? :roll:
(In the latter case, wouldn't that be a breach of fair trade/fair competition laws?)

That said, modern technology could easily remove the need to have a cameraman anywhere near the front power car. I wonder whether they'd consider wireless cameras mounted on the front/sides of the train and - Providing they've been tested and cleared as posing no risk of interference to the trains radio equipment - Transmitting output to a PC/laptop carried in one of the passenger cars?

 

[Zoe]

Whyever's that then? I'm sure there are at least a few of us who'd like to see/record some up to date and high definition footage of the GWR lines.

As I understand it, FGW consider the risk of having another person in the cab to be too high. This is understandable as two of their drivers have been killed in rail accidents.

 

[blackfive460]

As I understand it, FGW consider the risk of having another person in the cab to be too high.

In Germany they've covered some of their high speed lines from the rear cab.