Urban grit…
As the train slows and wheels screech the view changes from the back of houses and factories to flats, offices and transport infrastructure woven into the fabric of the city. Skirting the centre, constantly developing, a blend of old and new, of man made and nature fighting back, I love this part of a rail adventure… Perhaps only natural then that I would try and recreate this in miniature, to distill this into a model railway. The character becoming a blend of realism through art, inspired not recreated, the feel rather than a particular prototype. Rationalisation and evolution of the railway feels central to the story and is represented by the abandoned route behind diverging beyond the platform, and potentially a rationalised station with lifted tracks, this suits a longer and narrow composition and I had in mind something small, compact and achievable. With the railway on a viaduct it gives the surrounding buildings and industry a lower hierarchy, perhaps they could be rendered wit