REVIEW: The Black Diamond Railway DVD
In September of ‘06 I posted about a cool website, www.ToyTrainsOnTracks.com, featuring photos and videos of the Black Diamond Railway. The Black Diamond Railway is the creation of Rich Battista and was featured as the cover story
of the October/November 2006 issue (Run 217) of O Gauge Railroading
magazine. The quality of the site and the photos and videos it contained was very impressive so it was no surprise when Mr. Battista announced he was going to make a DVD featuring The Black Diamond Railway.
Back on 9/26/07, I received a tip from an OGaugeWatch reader that the
new DVD was
available for purchase. I’ve had the opportunity to watch the DVD and here are my thoughts.
Click on the link below to read on
First, those of you with a wide screen TV will be happy to know that the DVD was shot in wide screen format. I was excited to fire up my 42" flat panel and surround sound system to watch this DVD because all my other model or prototype train related DVDs are not in wide screen format. I was even more pleased once the DVD started because the video and sound quality were great. The DVD looked great on my standard TV too.
The Black Diamond Railway video contains an interesting mix of how-to segments, information about the train room, the layout design and construction and, of course, plenty of trains in action on the Black Diamond Railway. Mr. Battista does a fine job walking the audience through the design and construction of the bench work, the track plan and the 3 levels that make up the railway. The how-to segments are clear and concise, packed with useful information and are just the right length.
How-to segments include bench work construction, wiring the layout for MTH’s DCS, building mountains (my favorite), building roads, laying track, landscaping and ballasting. If you’re in the beginning stages of building anything approaching a Hi-Rail layout (or just dreaming of building one) you will find the how-to segments very interesting.
The video techniques employed by Mr. Battista, like the track level view of locomotives traveling around the various levels of the railway, are great. During the mountain building segment, a cool technique is used showing scenes of real trains running through the mountains of Virginia immediately followed by model trains running through the mountains of the Black Diamond Railway. It’s amazing how realistic the mountains look compared to the real thing.
I watched the DVD with my 4-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter to gauge their reaction. The DVD is not geared toward children like the "I Love Toy Train" series but I was curious to get their reaction nonetheless. My son loves anything to do with trains (like father like son) so his reaction was predictable. He loved it. He even kept interest during the how-to segments. To my surprise, my daughter also found it interesting even though she rolls her eyes every time my son or I mention trains.
The bottom line is that this is a well produced DVD that should be part of anyone’s collection of model railroad videos. You get 73 minutes of trains in action on a beautiful layout and lots of useful information for $19.95 plus shipping. Mr. Battista will have a table set up at the TCA York meet so anyone attending can save the shipping costs by purchasing the DVD at the meet.
Visit www.toytrainsontrack.com for information on how to order your copy of The Black Diamond Railway and to view previews of the DVD.
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2 Responses to “REVIEW: The Black Diamond Railway DVD”
I have also seen this video and am of the same opinion that this video is going to be a hard act to follow. As my son says it’s off the charts. Also my grandson lives by it.
Posted by: bubba | Mar 13, 2009 at 11:31 PM
love all your work looking to buy your dvd the 1 I watch is friends and loved it thank you the dvd was a lot of help
Posted by: Bob Martel | Mar 28, 2009 at 4:12 PM