MULTI-TRACK DRIFTING!!

December 4, 2017 4:42 PM

Thomas the Tank Engine Train Stunts. The first couple stunts are a little ho-hum, but then it...*sunglasses*...goes off the rails.
posted by cortex (19 comments total)

Sick train stunts!!
posted by Secretariat at 4:49 PM on December 4, 2017

I thought Bangarang was the traditional music track for these kinds of videos?
posted by GuyZero at 4:55 PM on December 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'm torn here. On the one hand it'd be awesome for the kids to see this, but then they would probably want to recreate the magic and I can imagine the frustrating hours of work (for me, mostly) that are likely to follow.
posted by cubby at 4:57 PM on December 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

Mini McGee and I were suitably impressed. (Mini McGee: "That was a cool video! Tell him to post more similar ones! Awesome stunts, and he barely made it! It's just -- just -- just awesome!")

Also I just bought that specific suspension bridge for my nephew for Christmas.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:27 PM on December 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

dang that was way better than it had any right to be.
posted by Old Kentucky Shark at 5:36 PM on December 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

I think this is where I renew my endorsement of Tracks (now on Steam, albeit Early Access). Downside, no Thomas branding. Upside, no Thomas branding.
posted by sysinfo at 5:42 PM on December 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

I am confused, where are Spiderman and Elsa?
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:19 PM on December 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

This is inspiring.
posted by LobsterMitten at 6:31 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Awwww I love the trains tucking themselves in at the end. Just like the SF cable cars do!
posted by grumpybear69 at 6:40 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

I am confused, where are Spiderman and Elsa?

Shut yer Tidmouth before I take you to the Brendam Docks and get Cranky on yer Clarabel!
posted by Admiral Haddock at 7:14 PM on December 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

The trick that starts at 1:21 just sort of made my night in ways I can't explain. Thanks for posting this.
posted by gauche at 7:31 PM on December 4, 2017

Awwww I love the trains tucking themselves in at the end. Just like the SF cable cars do!

IIRC each episode of Thomas ends with the trains tucking themselves into the roundhouse.
posted by JauntyFedora at 7:41 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

That was great.

This seems like the best demonstration I've seen of what a good cameraperson and editor can do. I mean, if I saw this in real life I'd be like, "huh, that's cool." but with the angles, edits, adjustments to speed, it is just superb.
posted by latkes at 8:05 PM on December 4, 2017

Inordinately happy. That is how that video makes me.
posted by RolandOfEld at 8:07 PM on December 4, 2017

Electrifying. Through a fat conductor.
posted by pracowity at 10:33 PM on December 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

Very cool! Excited to show this to my nephew.
posted by SarahElizaP at 11:18 PM on December 4, 2017

I'm torn here. On the one hand it'd be awesome for the kids to see this, but then they would probably want to recreate the magic and I can imagine the frustrating hours of work (for me, mostly) that are likely to follow.

Yay! I'm not alone. My immediate thought was OH GOD I SHOULD SHOW THESE TO THE KI- wait, that's madness, I got too much going on rn.
posted by middleclasstool at 5:20 AM on December 5, 2017

I used to make things sorta like this with a golf ball going down chutes and tracks made of Construx, an old building set Mattel made. Construx was great for that sort of thing, with long plastic girders, although it took a lot of Construx to make a track of more than middling length.
posted by JHarris at 10:50 AM on December 5, 2017

I showed this to my Thomas/Brio-obsessed three-year-old and he loved it, predictably. He didn’t ask how Thomas did all those stunts or if we could recreate them at home, thank goodness. He DID ask who all the characters were that Thomas jumped over, which I don’t know either (though I’m pretty sure I see that Diesel asshole with the claw). Having a dozen Thomas engines is almost certainly something he wants to recreate at home.
posted by Metroid Baby at 3:56 AM on December 6, 2017