Tardis like boxes…
These small slate grey boxes litter my workshop, tardis like they each contain a magical world crafted with love, an escape to another place, a balm for today’s busy mind, solace within their boundaries but a heart bigger than they deserve, eager to share with me, with us…
Pont Dulas. Quiet Between Trains. One of my prouder moments and still here, despite the ‘For Sale’ efforts. That is something I am happy about, the longer it lives with me the more it is appreciated. It was of course carefully choreographed but even I hadn’t realised just how its juxtaposition of trees and embankment would allow you to close one eye, squint a little and feel completely there, lineside, looking along the railway waiting for one of the few trains still running on this sleepy back water.
Today, having placed my recently partially weathered Farish 101 on set I forgot just how big that space can become, both visually and metaphorically. As I mindfully move around and enjoy the static model I forget my worries, calm returns. I step back and it remains. I sit here writing about it with you and still, its memory lingers. Powerful stuff, yet this box, when you step back is just 60cm long and barely 20cm deep.
Depth.
You can still find scenes like this on today’s railways, even beyond the preserved sanctuary of many a DMU. The unit may be a 1980s Sprinter but the wonder and beauty of the British countryside hasn’t been spoilt even if tree growth and a change in how our railways maintain their boundaries since the end of steam has meant things are left to get a lot more natural! Wales, Scotland even many parts of an England forgotten by Westminster - but let’s not let politics creep in, only to say, finding these experiences in reality is still possible, outside of the box.
Inside the box though, we continue to distill memory, reality and feeling. I’m not modelling a place but a thought, an emotion. Trains just a conduit to ground it in reality, just as the famous landscape painters of the past may include a cow or gate, I find the man made railway, especially the train itself my muse, the connection back from imagination to the world we call home.
Until next time, more soon…
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Stunning work James. I think the rolling landscape and the backscene create such a realistic scene. It captures that elusive bucholic atmosphere. This is my favourite kind of railway. I remember something Neil Rushby wrote about the fascination of rusty rails disappearing off into the distance, possibly in his Shell Island article. Superb. Have a good Sunday. Take care. P.S. Shropshire was everything I imagined it to be. Stunning. We found some good cake and second hand bookshops too...
ReplyDeleteThank you Tom. Glad you enjoyed your trip to Shropshire as well… you could be right about Neil’s article, I’d have to check my RM back catalog!
DeleteHaving seen some of your work up close the TARDIS analogy seems very apt. I don't think the blog can ever convey just how small some of your work is. Something must be rubbing off on me because I now find the Gerald Rd baseboard massive
ReplyDeleteThank you James, you’re right about Gerald Road. It’s an 8ft layout I’min 4mm, I think that’s the reality it is easy to forget?
DeleteThat image is fantastic!
ReplyDeleteThank you, the image is how I see the models when getting into the headspace they offer… trying to capture and describe that here is a challenge but I enjoy that too…
DeleteThat first photo may well be the proverbial "straw that breaks the camel's back" for me. It sings to me. I had many a ride on a class 101 in my formative trainspotting years. I can put myself lineside in this picture so easily. I have long admired these Hi Fi cameos of yours, and tried to incorporate your lessons into some of my own work. But doing that with a 4' x 1'slab of US O scale is fraught with issues. Namely it's difficult to carry said layout upstairs and sit with it on the kitchen table (or coffee table) and escape into a little world. I think you may well have worn me down, and I will attempt something that is easily portable.
ReplyDeleteIan, I look forward to seeing how you get on, whilst other scales have their merits I’ve found N to be a rewarding rabbit hole.
DeleteThis layout is lovely. If it was OO I would be opening my wallet. Such a feeling of space in a tight scene.
ReplyDeleteThank you Phil, very kind.
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