Most children's railway content races by with constant noise and flashing colour, and the makers of this series have gone the other way entirely. TRAiN TOWN builds short stop motion stories around wooden toy trains, with no narration at all, so viewers of any age can follow along. The calm pacing is the point: the maker has said the goal is something simple and short that never turns bright or irritating, a deliberate answer to the overstimulating material that fills the genre.
The episodes are assembled frame by frame with a bank of sound effects, and the music and effects come from zapsplat. The rolling stock is a mix of engines and wagons from several well-known wooden railway makers, plus pieces from the husband's family set dating back to the 1980s and 1990s. Scenes run through junctions, bridges and tunnels, and derailments spill cargo onto the tracks, with freight carrying rocks, hay and sand. The little engine wearing a winged badge with the number 18 is a favourite touch of mine.
One detail stands out: every story ends with the final scene left open for viewers to imagine what happens next. That choice caused a wrinkle, since an end-screen ad covered the crash ending for one viewer, and the maker admits the hidden ending looked accidental this time rather than deliberate. It had not occurred to them that the ending would read differently depending on the device.
There are open questions too. The makers are asking where best to buy model railway items that fit wooden track, whether to repaint the poorer quality figures themselves, and what to do about backdrops. They like the sound of cut-out hills and clouds, and they believe there is enough room for a forced perspective trick.
Project by TRAiN TOWN. Watch it on their YouTube channel: