My Channel Turns 9!

Time flies!

I "eat" a McTolga's (friend-proclaimed) quarter pounder with cheese. As a YouTuber and LEGO hobbyist the Brand Ribbon was one of the highlights of my time with the site (even though the videos haven't gotten much exposure)

Nine years ago on this day, August 7, 2007, I decided it was the day to finally begin networking on YouTube with fellow LEGO buffs. I had been following the site for a while, and was somewhat blown away by the just-released videos of National Model Railroader's Association National Train Show 2005 (Yes - two years late but I think it was when the Detroit show was abuzz, and those videos followed) here and here (the second video appears to have been deleted and reposted). Add to that fellow fans who were active on those videos. There was a full fledged discussion forum between fans of different ages. 

brickbuilder711, a handle that I already reserved for the LEGO Message Boards, LEGO Factory, and Brickshelf, was finally extended to YouTube. The account was created during a muggy Tuesday afternoon at my mother's old office. Yep, I remember that too. 

The channel had a modest start -  it was treated like a Facebook with videos. I started posting slideshows (removed to either avoid or oblige foul copyright claims, because perhaps I didn't know better) and videos with a very old school HP digital camera. That was the same camera that sourced my earliest Brickshelf and Flickr images. Mistakes were made, on many ends, but overall I began to quickly grow from every last experience on the site.

Part of my early days included starting to network with fellow GFLUG members, as well as other AFOLs, model railroaders, and a couple of railfans here and there. Back then, we were talking events such as Great Train Expo, Festival of the Masters, and if one wanted a throwback, GATS. The LEGO hobby hit one of its highs, with the Hobby Train out, as well as the short lived Pick a Brick tub. I had a 4' x 7' layout booming downstairs too, which was to act as a backdrop for a fictional LEGO webshow, which never happened.

My new camcorder came in October as a birthday present, finally getting me into legit video recording. However, I didn't obtain a fire-wire until later on. (Yes, a fire wire!)

I started doing railfanning videos in early 2008 at one very interesting grade crossing in Hollywood, FL. There was a favorite restaurant down the street; they moved to Harrison St and 19th Avenue in 2014 which is further but still you could see the trains from outside. At first videos were grade crossing focused, thanks to Mike's Railroad Crossing site (RIP Mike H.), but slowly I started aiming for different scenic shots. Every train had to be documented back then. Whenever there was a CSX train, drop everything, saca la cámara y grábalo. 

By 2009 railfanning (trainwatching videos) really began to dominate. Maybe this was the first push towards the so called and dreaded LEGO Dark Ages, but I never really succumbed. I started collecting my first serious HO Scale (1:87) model trains by that time too, being hell bent on a model layout (which too, still has yet to happen). I had met locals Tim S, Ted M, and Mike M all in this time period all of whom started to influence my railfanning and model railroading course. Unfortunately, the golden days for my local railroad, CSX, had really finished too at this time and things started to decline on the rail lines which got me into it all from the get go. Meanwhile, I started publishing slideshows videos from Trainz Simulator under the still standing TrainzWatching series.

The LEGO hobby started to take its more proto-freelance turn in 2009-2010. By then I pledged to start modeling Central Florida items to incorporate to GFLUG displays. Unfortunately I did away with the layout downstairs, hoping to pick up upstairs, but never really did anything of its caliber except for Christmas Trees, until recently where I started to display at Gold Coast Railroad Museum. 

In 2010 I met Paul "the Legend" and Rudy R, starting to railfan with them more as the 'South Florida Railfan Mafia' formed in 2012. Also in 2010, my switch to HD, and in 2011, my new computer, which led to 'TrainzWatching' joining full HD. 

2011 saw a big re-surge for the LEGO portion of the channel, with the Plant City depot finished in July (St. Pete Times covered it as well) and a test car of the Juice Train was built. A real highlight was my volunteer undertaking doing the Brand Ribbon build project for the Sawgrass Mills LEGO Store. It's a good thing I documented it, even though the videos are shabby they tell what would be a fairly unbelievable story quite well.

2011 also saw me starting to do plane spotting videos. I am very happy that several such videos achieved popularity, namely the inaugural Lufthansa A380 which started it all. It was also my one and done shot of the Space shuttle program in its last run.

2012 saw me picking up a more railfanning and Trainz prose on my channel, with hints of LEGO here and there. 2013 was more of the same except that I met Cesar, and our railfanning yielded some good stuff (here and here). 

2014 was a banner year for LEGO as, one, a serious LUGBULK haul from 2013 fueled a whole new round of MOCs, two, the Power Functions system started on my end, and three, the Element was completed, my first Micro-fig scale skyscraper for GFLUG. (Unfortunately, it only made one show but will be scheduled for NMRA 2017 in Orlando). It also had one of my favorite SFRM trips, combining real trains with HO Trains. (This would lead to a whole new round of HO videos)

2015 was another banner year with my first steam train chase. I would go back and ride behind this one this year, but the video's in the works :). However, with school becoming a bigger priority, I did slow things down on my channel, especially as my main video editing computer had a hard disk failure and had to be replaced with a clean Windows setup. Thus, YouTubing became tricker as I was only able to do it on a shared computer.

And before we hit the 9th anniversary, we have now a huge involvement with the Gold Coast Railroad Museum as that's where I share my HO and LEGO hobbies now. (that's where my new LEGO layout is, too) Also, a new generation of railfans (and alongside with SFRM members as well), and a resurgence of the TrainzWatching series after a two year stall. Lastly - a new PC, and a renewed channel. Things are finally happening again and the channel, once dormant over the last year, is on a comeback. 

We arrive at today, with the following stats:

• 3,702,431 views 
• 5,305 subscribers
• 651 videos
• Most popular video to date: This one
• Video documentation from 4 states and 3 countries (that will grow!)
• A ton of new friendships and contacts made

So, what's next? Time will tell. But there's plenty to come and it's going to be exciting. And it's going to ultimately go beyond just railfanning and model railroading

All of these memories documented with some kind of video camera.

And everything - thanks to the power of social media. 

It's so cheesy telling this story, but why not? I've never done it up until this point in full like this, and in one way, I've hit the 10 year milestone with my LEGO profile having turned 10 back in May, but I've sort of overlooked it. But I do have a way of commemorating that too. Stay tuned.