Inside Out: Reprise…

The wet summer of 1988, whilst the rest of the family played cards before they braved the wind and rain at the beach I talked my Dad into exploring, hunting for those coal mines I’d read about in the Ian Allan albums diligently checked out of the library at home every Saturday…

I was too young to make a note of where we travelled, and now, years later, I can’t even find anything that looks quite right; I’m not sure where these photos were taken. We can see the 08 was 202. My research has identified that it spent the majority of its life in the south before the last few years being re-allocated in 1988 to Cardiff where it was loaned to the NCB and British Coal… that doesn’t really help us identify the scene, I already knew it was the summer of 1988 in South Wales!

I suppose that’s all part of the allure of these photos, a connection to a forgotten, maybe imagined memory, a warm day dream of a simpler time. The fact that I look back and the details are hazy gives me artistic licence in any art that flows from them - and more, perhaps reminds you too of simpler times. I see an industrial engine shed in South Wales, you might see your local goods yard or perhaps remember the energy of the station pilot at a seaside terminus…

The facts don’t seem relevant - but for the record:

Cwmbach shed, InsideOut project from the last holiday. Shed scratch-built, Ratio water tower, Graham Farish Class 08 in N, repainted and detailed as 08202. Modelu details and figure. British Finescale track.

Space is really no excuse for story telling. This whole scene is less than A5 paper in footprint and just 10cm tall. The shed is about 10cm long… turned off and stored on a shelf it’s nothing special, a tiny box, slightly untidy with its funny cut out. Sit it on the desk and turn the lights on though, crouch down and peer inside and it’s pure magic, a real Tardis if ever there was one, a portal, through that shed door, to another world, real or imagined. Until next time, more soon…

Until next time, more soon…

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