The Half Mile Train

Freight trains can sometimes be very long; and this one measures around half a mile in length – 2,526 feet, or 770 metres – with some 46 (count 'em) wagons and a Class 66 diesel locomotive at each end. These are highly-reputed locos by the way, and can operate in France as well as the UK.

The wagons are interesting, with an end-to-end-slanted design to most of them and a few custom vehicles also in the mix.

Here it all is pausing at, and presumably well beyond, York station for a change of the train crew, and then it sets off again with a fair amount of 'thrash' to get that huge mass moving. It takes quite a lot of effort, even for two Class 66s which have a combined traction of more than four and a half Megawatts.

The video creator poses the question: Is this the UK's longest train? The answer is no – there are longer MRL stone trains, and the 'Octopus' that passes through Leicester is around the same length, for a couple of examples – but it is certainly among the longest...

Singalong-a-Miku

Not quite like those old Max Bygraves record albums, but another example of the same Lat-style Miku model we saw yesterday (version 2·3, which seems to be the favourite of all her models for amateur Augmented Reality experimenters), this time singing and moving to match the piano playing.

How it is done is shown and explained, and it a good example of how the Vocaloid technology can operate in either direction. At a concert the band have to synchronise with the performer, but in this case it's the other way round. Of course, the pianist has to keep proper timing otherwise it's going to come out rather strangely, but apart from that it seems to be a logical development.

It certainly works well here, even if Miku gets a little nonplussed if certain actions are made too repetitive...

All The Doctors

In this (edited, I notice) twenty-minute BBC programme An Evening With Steven Moffat, the man and his host, Boyd Hilton of Heat magazine, run through the Doctors from William Hartnell to Matt Smith. Some clips are included in the programme, though these don't always feature (or even include!) the Doctor of the moment. It's a bit weird.

Still, it's a nice little one-off, and otherwise works quite well, with a (non-participating) audience as well. I suggest switching to full screen viewing for this: I am not allowed to modify the player size (hence its smallness) under the BBC's rather extensive Terms and Conditions...

Starduster, from Kansai

I was surprised to find I hadn't featured this heartachingly beautiful song for more than five months. It is ideal for this time of the evening, especially with the darker nights we now have in this part of the world. One can look up and see the stars from ten thousand light-years away...

This time, it's from the Kansai concert, again with English subtitles, also featuring an a capella section added onto the original version. Listen carefully and you can hear the audience joining in with that – a little bit of magic, it seems to me.

The song was composed by JimmyThumbP, and is performed by Miku, as always...

Dancing on the Table

Now, I've heard of table dancing, but I have a feeling it does not conventionally refer to what Miku is doing in Augmented Reality (AR) on this table.

This is a relatively early application of AR to Miku, and features the really nice Lat-style model of her. Apart from (minimal) 'sliding feet syndrome', it is very good indeed. The motion is from a performance by a 'Yumiko', apparently: I hadn't heard of that name in this context before.

At this time (earlier this decade) there were at least two popular AR programs/systems around:OpenCV and ARToolKit. From viewing several of each, I do gain the impression that the latter was the better quality, though no doubt everything has moved on a fair amount in the intervening two to three years.

The song here is Tell Me!! The Magical Lyrics...