Where am I on books and magazines…

It is a few months now since the third Model Railway Companion arrived back from the printers. Another wonderful collection of modellers, creators, artists sharing their model railways and stories with us all…

I have enjoyed putting this series together - a coffee table book, deeply indulgent images that spread across the page and invite us to get lost exploring their contents. We enjoy the stories told by each modeller that go just a little way to helping us understand their motivation and the feelings and emotion captured in the work.

I had a rather lovely catch up with my good friend Simon of Wild Swan and Titfield fame yesterday afternoon. We’ve been friends since he worked with me to navigate ‘Small Layout Design Handbook’ from my imagination to print - and we found ourselves talking of the future in the light of finishing off the redesign of Iain Rice’s Cameos.

In the energetic and engaging conversation that followed it became clear that my ideas for Companion have morphed into Ribbons and that the trilogy really is just that, complete. Working on my own next title (The Art of Weathering) is all consuming and thoughts of the third Ribbons are a long way off at this stage. Talk also of Simon’s own book aspirations about encouraging and inspiring modelling in gauge one - all lovely stuff. We’ve also discussed a few other ideas and part finished works that could stand a second look at, and so, we’re pressing on, forwards…

He mentioned he is down to just 14 copies of Model Railway Companion 2, the first has sold out - and the third is getting on for half sold already. That means, dear reader, that if you’d like to pick up a copy than there is no better time. More, the old adage remains true, by purchasing this, by making space in Simon’s bookshop store room, you’re encouraging us to fill it with more new lovely things.

You can find copies at all good railway bookshops including Simon’s own ‘The Titfield Thunderbolt’, my own ‘Light Railway Stores’ and the omnipresent James Hudson’s emporium. You’ll also find them at Rails, Rail-books and Booklaw.

In the meantime, I’d better get back to producing the case-studies for my next title - more on that in the Friday update tomorrow. More soon…

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