Farewell 2019 and Hello 2020!

Farewell 2019 and hello 2020!

The 2019 Christmas card

2018 paved the way for 2019 with progress being made on the books, but how has 2019 differed from the rest?

2019 was in many ways a rollercoaster for the series' author, but was none the less a year where the books came a huge step closer to being completed.

Elias and the highspeed train, which began in 2012, was beyond all expectations completed and read through in 2019 and thereby the book came a step closer, as the rest of th

e work contains getting new eyes on the first draft, followed by the translation to english, so that english readers also can have a chance to discover the danish railway history.

The second book, The Story Of Dagmar, is also well underway. This book has become somewhat thicker than expected and certain parts may be left out of the finished product during the last bit of writing and correction of the book.

The Djursland Railway Museum, Ryomgård

2019 was also a year where the author visited places around the country, or at least a good portion of it. The light rail to Grenaa was opened and Father's day was celebrated at the Danish railway museum in Odense, with to My-class locomotives.

The summer holiday was held near the light rail of Århus, and therefore the lines to Lystrup, Grenaa

and Odder was visited and well documented. On the line to Grenaa the Djursland railway museum was visited and here the author was so impressed, that they naturally became the subject of 2019s christmas present.

But both the cards and presents were to be very delayed. Due to personal reasons, december became a somewhat chaotic time for the author who fought against time and therefore deliver the card, present and new years post in january 2020.

Despite the delay, i still wish you all a great 2020 and let's hope the year will bring fewer delays and enable me to reach my goal of bringing you all a children's book....again!

Regards.

Webmaster

Sebastian

Farewell 2018 and hello to a new and exciting 2019!

Another year has passed for The Danish Railway Series, which has been book less since the withdrawal of ”Fredrik & the high speed train” in 2014. But what has happened since then?

The christmas card 2018

A sketch of how the front
cover could look like on the
first book

Well firstly, the whole story had to be rewritten as i didn't believe it delivered what i wanted. It's taken its time and as we enter 2019 i think it's time for an update. 2017 was in many years where a lot of the writing was completed and in 2018 i attempted to complete a great deal of writing too.

Status at the beginning of 2019 is, that i'm still over halfway but not quite finished.

That being said, I still plan to focus a lot more on writing in the new year. Of the same reason a research process has started on other projects to ensure that 2019 will be a year of progress!

Y-type train at Lemvig station

2018 was in many ways a year of many experiences. It started in Gedser on Falster, where I got to see the progress on the H-class no. 783. The Railway museum of Odense was moving rolling stock, which meant that I could see their MZ-class in the beginning of 2018 twice hauling MO-class motorcars and other stuff around.

In June I was in Jutland to visit the Lemvig railway, a trip i shall not forget. I had many delightful trips on the Y-type train and the ”mountain line” to Lemvig harbor.

Mr-class DMU at Haderslev

It was an amazing experience being on board my childhood trains, and the seats and warning tone when the doors closed, brought back memories.

In September i was in Odense to see the launch of the replica of Denmark's first steam engine ”Odin” and on the 30^th of December I was in Haderslev to say goodbye to the 900 meter long line between Haderslev city and Haderslev west, together with the Danish railway society (DJK) which ran a farewell tour with a MR-class DMU.

I completed my Christmas art, although a little late, and both Christmas presents were handed over to two societies, both in Jutland and the Christmas card could be published on the New years eve. Drawings especially will be a common thing in 2019 as i'll be working on two documentary projects and a book project. On top of that i've been invited on board another book project that I look forward to tell you more about later!

Until next time....Happy new year!

Webmaster

Sebastian Berthelsen

The summer is approaching, but there's still a long way yet!

TDRS' new logo

Baby steps

It hasn't been since the start of the year that there last was an update from the project, and therefore it is time for exactly that. With the summer fast approaching and by that the vacation, it is time to asses how much has been done by now.

To tell the truth it isn't much. Both books are halfway but has been written on furiously at in different turns, but due to the exam period it has been decided to postpone the writing until after the last exam. 

How does the prospect look like for the release? 

In the rate that the current writing work has been completed, things are looking promising and therefore its assumed that the writing work can be completed within the span of 2 years. 

In the meantime it has also been decided to change out the logo, to show the outside world that at least some sort of progress is taking place, if not only in baby steps. 

And with that TDRS signs of for the summer. I'll be looking forward to update you on the other side of July, and who knows? maybe you'll see a new article on the blog during the vacation? 

Webmaster and Author

Sebastian 

Farewell 2017, hello 2018!

 A Farewell to 2017

and plans for 2018

2017 began as many others, with a wish to accomplish a goal within the next 365 days. The goal was to focus extra much on the writing and have as much as  finished before the end of that year. 

With the new year ahead and the old behind me, it begs the question: did i reach my goal? 

In many ways yes. A total of 2 chapters where finished for The Story Of Dagmar, and a lot of work done on Elias & The Highspeed train. This means that i'm officially halfway done with the writing at this point. 

Therefore my goal in 2018 is to write as much as possible so that the writing can be done by late 2018/early 2019. How long the following illustrations work will take to make, i don't know at this point.

Speaking of illustrations, i've been spending some time in 2017 on a new artstyle. 

This new artstyle has proven to be extra detailed compared to the old one, and by experimenting further i've come up with a result that i can be satisfied with.  

All it all, 2017 was in many ways the year where many goals were reached. 

On the other projects of mine in 2017 there was a few where i didn't reach my goals. Portrait of a Danish loco's first episode was due in the summer of 2017, but due to various reasons i didn't make it. I do however wish it to be possible to accomplish in 2018. 

A thing i've done for som time now, and which has proven to give joy to me and the reciever is gifts in the form of drawings. This year i made a portrait of two locomotives of the, Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway in southern England where the railway operates trains in 1/3 scale.  

The railway thanked me with a formal letter and if you're lucky, you might see it if you visit the railway.  

I'm currently working on a gift for a railway back home, but who it's for you'll have to wait in order to find out. 

Sadly the last half of 2017 meant that i was heavily delayed and even with this post feel like writing in the last minute.  

I hope however, that 2018 will be the year of many accomplishments, both for this series and my series called A year of trainspotting, where i show of the pictures i've taken along the danish railways throughout the year. 

With all that to look forward to and more, I wish you a happy new year and a happy 2018!

regards.

Author and Webmaster

Sebastian Berthelsen

Still going strong!

An example of the new artstyle

Apologies for a delayed update!

But non the less an update worth waiting for!

I want to firstly apologize for not having updated you guys sooner, as i've promised at the beginning of the year. On the other hand i feel like i've more to tell you now that i would have had earlier. 

Fírst and foremost, progress is clearly seen on the writing of my books. Elias and the highspeed train is already over half way done, and The story of Dagmar is not that far behind. I truly hope to have the latter over halfway done before the end of the autumn. This will make do everything i can to finnish the last bit of writing in 2018 and then my goal for a full publish in 2019, might be more realistic than ever before!

Then there's my new art style. For the past weeks, i've been experimenting with a new art style, and the illustration on the top of the page, is the result of my experimenting. I truly love the result myself and i'm looking forward to implementing it on my illustrations for the books. 

Furthermore, i've begun livestreaming again on my new facebook page: SJB Media 1996 art

With that, i'll be signing off again, i hope to be back before Christmas with more updates! 

Kind regards

Sebastian Berthelsen

Author and Webmaster

First update of the year

- And the books are well underway

Test illustration for Elias and the highspeed train

As 2016 was a very quiet year on the blog (with only 3 posts) I thought i'd try and make up for it by posting more frequent updates on the books in 2017.

We're only 2 months into the new year but already there's alot of progress. As of this moment another chapter has been finished, which narrows it down to 2 more chapters being needed for Elias and the highspeed train. 

As for the other book The story of Dagmar, Two chapters are coming along nicely, these were also worked on in 2016 but are expected to be finished this year, narrowing it down to three more chapters being needed for this one. . 

Other than that its pretty much the usual, drawings are progressing and as of this year something new, it's back in buisness for the series of SJB Media 1996: A year of trainspotting. At the moment the 2015 and 2016 editions are being worked on and is expected to release during march.

And with this first update i wish you all a nice year! 

Regards.

Sebastian

Goodbye 2016 and hello to 2017

The TDRS christmas card for 2015

Farewell to project 2016

- and other plans for the future. 

The year 2016 started out with alot of hopes and dreams for the 2014 started project, project 2016. 

Unfortunately the year proved difficult with alot of challenges, which resulted in the cancelling of project 2016. 

But even though this project was cancelled, alot of other succeeded. 

Two posters which were made for the DBJ society

The year started with the continued collaboration with the DBJ society. In april two drawings were delivered at their museum during a visit by the SHS .

This collaboration between both parties has proven to bring much joy to both, and according to the society itself, one of the TDRS' drawings have been used on many of their lectures. 

A new thing was tried out in 2016 and that was "livestreams"where i could draw live and at the same time tell you updates on my projects. The first streams were in english but were later changed to danish streams on the facebook page.

Even though the amount of viewers have changed from stream to stream, it is my plan to do more streams in 2017. The idea for this being at least one stream per week or month. 

Speaking og drawing earlier, much progress has been going on in the last year. Thanks to another year of practice it looks like 2017 is gonna be another great year full of art. 

On the writing side in 2016 however, writing has been in slow progress due to writers block, and mostly it was limited to a few pages written now and then. 

It was due to this reason that i halfway through the year, decided to cancel project 2016. 

It is due to this that i've decided that 2017 is gonna be focused around the writing. But making a book isn't exactly child's play, so lets wait and see if this will be possible in due time. 

Because 2017 is going to be a busy year in many ways, besides having this series going on for its 5th year, another project "portrait of a danish loco" is due to publish its first episode focusing on the K-class locomotive of 1894. 

and last but not least, i'd like to wish you all a happy new year! 

regards. 

Sebastian