Category Archives: Uncategorized

Here is a text I’ve been working on… How to Design a Railway Poster –  by combining Power, Economy and Sparkle Introduction The artist can be a law unto himself…Not so, the commercial artist Austin Cooper 1938 The question of how … Continue reading →

This is a just post-WW2 version of the French National Railways SNCF logo. These signs, made of inter-twined letters are usually associated with an earlier period of design. Traditionally, this type of sign is called a monogram. One of the … Continue reading →

Here is a great poster from the USA. It’s difficult to do anything really interesting with the classic three-qaurters view from the trackside. Here, there is just enough detail in the radiator, light, and window shapes, to convey the mass of … Continue reading →

I have just found these poster, advertising and cover designs by the American illustrator, Bern Hill. Turns out he’s a bit of a star…. The perspective effects are derived from the experience of looking at model railway layouts I’m sure. … Continue reading →

Here are two pieces from a Wedgwood Travel pattern dinner service, designed by the British artist Eric Ravilious. They were first made during the 1930s. Ravilious was an artist who worked in watercolour and as a wood engraver. These plates … Continue reading →

This fashion shoot for American Vogue by Annie Leibovitz is based on Brief Encounter. I think I know what they were trying for; an emotional intensity…but I’m not sure that worked. More a Film Noir style, I think.

One of the great railway films is David Lean and Noel Coward’s Brief Encounter (1945). Brief Encounter is a 1945 British film directed by David Lean about British suburban life, centering on Laura, a married woman with children whose conventional … Continue reading →

Here is a terrific painting by the 20C American artist, Thomas Hart Benton. The painting is called The Sources of Country Music and dates from 1975. It was part of a grand scheme of murals that Benton produced for the … Continue reading →

Luton Model Railway Club have made a display of the Great Train Robbery (1963). Brilliant. The model is on show at various events throughout the summer. Alan Baines, our BAGD course leader, recently saw it at Alexandra Palace in London. … Continue reading →