All 7 of my Thomas & Friends trains appear in today's video.
I'm going to do a series of races...
To determine once and for all...
Which one of these G-scale Thomas & Friends locomotives is the fastest.
And you might be surprised at the winner!
So stick around, this is going to be a fun video...
With all the Thomas & Friends trains racing...
On a speed track, on the patio in my backyard...
On a beautiful day!
Before we start racing, let me show you the layout...
And the best way to do that is from my drone!
Notice in the center, there's two sets of tracks side by side.
That's designed for a short, fast drag race.
Along my patio, and down to the finish sign...
Just before the track curves around...
To get the trains back to where they started from.
Maybe a better way to see it...
Is from the point of view of Sir Topham Hat, the track inspector...
Riding in Winston.
And we're coming up here to the place where the two tracks split...
To get around these posts in the patio...
And when we reach the third post, that's the finish line!
So, these races will be quick...
Whoever gets to that finish line first, will be the winner.
By the way, Winston, who you're seeing on the course now...
Will not be racing.
He's the slowest train in my entire collection...
So, there's no point in having him actually race against anyone.
Now you might remember a video I made about two years ago, called...
"The Great Model Train Race With 19 Trains".
I made that in our old house in California...
Just a few months before we moved up here to our new house in Washington state.
At that point, I had 19 locomotives in my collection...
And I raced them all against the clock to determine...
How each of them ranked on a list of fastest to slowest.
And the results surprised me!
The five fastest trains in my collection were all Thomas & Friends locomotives!
In the two years since I made that video...
I've added six new locomotives to my model train collection...
Including two new Thomas & Friends locomotives...
Paxton...
And Devious Diesel.
So, I think it's time for a new race...
But this time just the Thomas & Friends trains will be in the race.
And the burning question that I really want to answer today...
Since Toby turned out to be the fastest locomotive in my collection two years ago...
Is whether either Paxton or Diesel might possibly be any faster than Toby...
Our previous speed champion.
So, let's get racing!
In our first race today....
I'm going to put up Emily against James.
In that race two years ago...
Emily was the second fastest locomotive out of the 19 in my collection...
And James was right behind her at #3.
So, we'll do a rematch and see if we get the same results as last time.
And they're off!
Oh, here comes Carli!
What a time for her to show up!
At the split, it looks to me like James is in the lead!
That would be a huge upset, if it turns out to be true.
Oh yeah, on this camera you can definitely see it as they approach the finish line!
It's James with the win!
I did not expect that!
Emily beat James in that race two years ago. But not today!
I've got a camera at the finish line...
Looking at the replay in slow motion...
No doubt about it, it was James way out in front of Emily this time. Wow!
Great race!
Surprising finish.
And if you'll stick with me for a minute...
There's another big surprise coming up in our next race...
Right after this!
For our second race of the day...
I'm putting up Paxton against the bad boy, Devious Diesel.
I mentioned earlier that the burning question today...
Is whether either either of these two are faster than Toby...
Our winner of the race two years ago.
And before we can find that out...
We have to figure out which of these two to race against Toby.
So, this is like the playoff match before the championship matchup.
Good start! And it looked like a very close race!
Our next camera will show it better.
Oh yeah... very close.
OH MY GOSH! We've had a crash!
Look at that!
Let's take a look at the video from the GoPro mounted on Diesel...
To see what happened.
We better look at the final few seconds again, in slow motion.
It's hard to tell what happened from that view.
Let's look at the other camera, in slow motion.
Oh, OK, now...
Now I see what happened!
Here it is again.
The tracks were just a little too close to that post...
And the GoPro mounted on the right side of Diesel ran in to the post.
I think Diesel is going to need a few minutes to shake that one off...
So, let's get back to Diesel versus Paxton a few minutes from now...
And move on to our next race...
Thomas the Tank Engine, everyone's favorite...
Versus his pal, Percy.
Thomas beat Percy by just a little bit in that race two years ago.
They're lined up for the start...
Let's see if Thomas can out race Percy again this time.
It looks like a very tight race, so far.
We'll get a much closer look as soon as they're in front of that GoPro up ahead on the right.
Oh, yeah... Really, really close there at the split!
Heading for the finish line...
Oh, they are incredibly close!
It looks like Thomas might have had a very small lead.
We're going to have to look at a slow motion replay...
From that camera pointed right at the finish line.
Oh yeah. OK, that's very clear from this view.
Here it is again, slowed down even more.
Thomas definitely beat Percy...
But not by much!!!
Here's the view from a GoPro mounted on Thomas.
Thomas is ahead by just enough that Percy is out of view of the camera as we reach the finish line.
Thomas has beaten Percy...
The same results we had in that race two years ago.
I mentioned earlier that I have 25 locomotives in my model train collection right now.
And I would love to add a 26th locomotive to the collection...
But there's been a huge reduction in the amount of ad revenue that I'm getting from YouTube this year.
And G-scale locomotives are expensive. So...
I'm looking to crowdsource this next locomotive...
With money from Patreon...
A tool that allows YouTubers like me to receive funding directly from the fans of my videos.
You can become one of my patrons for as little as a dollar a month...
And there are perks for people that are willing to kick in $4 or more...
Like early access to my videos, before even my YouTube subscribers can see them.
The best perk, if you're willing to put in $10 a month...
Is that once a year, I'll record a personal video message just for you...
On your birthday... or any other special day you choose.
Head on over to Patreon.com/JimZim To find out more about becoming one of my patrons...
And with your help, and everyone kicking in whatever they can...
It's just a matter of time before there's enough to pay for a new train to be featured in my upcoming videos.
OK, good news...
The crash we had earlier...
With the GoPro mounted on Devious Diesel running in to that post...
It looked worse than it really was.
Diesel's OK.
The GoPro's OK...
So, let's get Diesel back on the tracks...
And get Paxton lined up with him.
And find out once and for all which one of these two is the fastest.
I'm pretty sure a lot of people are rooting for Paxton!
Devious Diesel is definitely the bad boy.
At the split, as they pass that post...
No crashes this time...
And it looks like they're neck and neck!
Heading to the finish line I think Paxton has a slight lead!
It was really hard to tell from this view.
Let's check that camera at the finish line...
In super slow motion...
Oh yeah! Paxton did it!
He beat the bad boy!
But, wow, it was really close!
Let's see the race from that GoPro mounted on Diesel.
Wow, they are just neck and neck as they come up to the split.
And now, as they approach the finish line...
Paxton is just barely pulling ahead.
That was a really great race!
And that means it will be Paxton going up against Toby in our championship race...
Coming up right after this!
OK, it's time for our final race of the day.
And this one's for all the marbles!
Our champion from the race two years ago, Toby...
Against Paxton...
The fastest of the six new locomotives that have joined my collection...
In the two years since that last race.
They're at the finish line, and ready to go.
Oh my! Looks like another close race...
But it's hard to tell from this camera.
Oh, from this camera it's much more clear!
Paxton is definitely in the lead!
Oh, yeah!
As they approach the finish line, no doubt about it.
It's Paxton for the win!
He's our new speed champion!
There's the replay from the finish line...
It's Paxton by several lengths.
And we'll look at it again from the GoPro mounted on Toby.
There's Paxton pulling out ahead...
I didn't expect to find a G-scale train that could beat Toby.
But Paxton has done it!
Great job, Paxton!
You're the big winner today!
A very convincing win over Toby has made it clear...
Paxton is the fastest train in my collection!
Well, as Carli heads for the exit...
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