Rails, Tales & Sales
Greetings from chilly, but virtually snowless Northern Vermont. Marilee, Percy and I wish you the best in 2025. We're witnessing a rail renaissance, of sorts, taking place along the former Maine Central Mountain Division between St. Johnsbury, Vermont, Whitefield and Groveton, New Hampshire. Our B&M AT TWILIGHT and ST. J & L.C. documentaries of 2017 tell rail tales past and present, as of that time. Who would have thought these tracks, sprouting large trees and multiple washouts, would ever be a candidate for revival? Stay tuned! Vermont Rail System has something up their sleeve, and their "track record" (pun intended!) has been impressive for sixty years and counting.
The year 2024 was interesting for us, as a decade of downward DVD sales trend was reversed thanks to companion books on the Rutland Railroad Island Line and Central Vermont's Richford Branch. It was also the year we were honored with Vermont Historical Society's request to digitize and archive our Northern New England and New York film documentaries for posterity. They believe our mix of interviews with contemporary and vintage images is an "essential" documentation of railroad, town, industrial and cultural history. Marilee and I have enjoyed visits from staffers who have interviewed us, gathered several decades worth of hard-drives and created a "Jim Jones Video Vault." Pretty cool!
The year 2025 looks to be busy with live presentations, appearances at a few regional train shows, and the release of CENTRAL VERMONT RAILWAY'S BURLINGTON BRANCH companion book to last year's colorful 232-pager on the Saint Albans-Richford line and its Canadian Pacific connection. Follow Tell-Tale Productions on Facebook for updates.
TELL-TALE ON THE ROAD:
TEMPORARY OUTAGES of certain DVD titles has necessitated us to post "OUT OF STOCK" and deactivate some shopping shopping carts on our website. Videosyncracies has duplicated our disks for more than twenty years. Paul and I have grown through middle-age together in our mission to provide quality media since 2003. His duplicators have been silent since early January, and it is probable new copies of at least six titles won't be available until he returns to Vermont in early March. We apologize for any inconvenience. We'll send our next Mailchimp newsletter when inventory returns.
THE END OF AN ERA. Tell-Tale Productions has offered downloads, for select titles for about ten years. We have been disappointed at consistently poor sales, which have never covered even the annual Vimeo fees. Thanks to the few who purchased our releases in the 24 hour $4.99 and download and keep $9.99 offerings. It was a trial run that probably went on longer than it should have.
Recent changes to Vimeo, such as increased fees and additional documentation requirements (I do this for FUN and hate "paperwork"!) have sealed the fate of what we believed could have been the answer to declining physical media sales.
DVDs and books, comfortable friends of many years, remain our staple. Thanks for your understanding and continued support.
With warm wishes,
Jim and Marilee Jones
(and our orange and white feline mascot Percy Lincoln)
The year 2024 was interesting for us, as a decade of downward DVD sales trend was reversed thanks to companion books on the Rutland Railroad Island Line and Central Vermont's Richford Branch. It was also the year we were honored with Vermont Historical Society's request to digitize and archive our Northern New England and New York film documentaries for posterity. They believe our mix of interviews with contemporary and vintage images is an "essential" documentation of railroad, town, industrial and cultural history. Marilee and I have enjoyed visits from staffers who have interviewed us, gathered several decades worth of hard-drives and created a "Jim Jones Video Vault." Pretty cool!
The year 2025 looks to be busy with live presentations, appearances at a few regional train shows, and the release of CENTRAL VERMONT RAILWAY'S BURLINGTON BRANCH companion book to last year's colorful 232-pager on the Saint Albans-Richford line and its Canadian Pacific connection. Follow Tell-Tale Productions on Facebook for updates.
TELL-TALE ON THE ROAD:
- March 8th, St. Albans, VT Train Show, Collins Perley Sports Center 10am-4pm We have our traditional table with discounted books, videos and bargain box.
- April 14th, Colchester, VT, Jim Jones presents "Trolley Wires to Rubber Tires" live program based on the book, with discounted copies at the show. Colchester Historical Society, Main Street, 7pm.
- April 30th, Jim Jones presents "Trolley Wires to April 30th, Rubber Tires" live program based on the book, with discounted copies after the show at Union Station, downtown Burlington, 7pm.
TEMPORARY OUTAGES of certain DVD titles has necessitated us to post "OUT OF STOCK" and deactivate some shopping shopping carts on our website. Videosyncracies has duplicated our disks for more than twenty years. Paul and I have grown through middle-age together in our mission to provide quality media since 2003. His duplicators have been silent since early January, and it is probable new copies of at least six titles won't be available until he returns to Vermont in early March. We apologize for any inconvenience. We'll send our next Mailchimp newsletter when inventory returns.
THE END OF AN ERA. Tell-Tale Productions has offered downloads, for select titles for about ten years. We have been disappointed at consistently poor sales, which have never covered even the annual Vimeo fees. Thanks to the few who purchased our releases in the 24 hour $4.99 and download and keep $9.99 offerings. It was a trial run that probably went on longer than it should have.
Recent changes to Vimeo, such as increased fees and additional documentation requirements (I do this for FUN and hate "paperwork"!) have sealed the fate of what we believed could have been the answer to declining physical media sales.
DVDs and books, comfortable friends of many years, remain our staple. Thanks for your understanding and continued support.
With warm wishes,
Jim and Marilee Jones
(and our orange and white feline mascot Percy Lincoln)