Category Archives: Uncategorized

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 →

Here are Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine in Alfred Hitchcock’s Suspicion (1941). A train, a suit and glamour. Perfect.

Here is a painting, by the British artist, Evelyn Dunbar, of a WW2 hospital train. I remember this painting from when I was very small, (it was illustrated in one of our books at home). I think I was fascinated … Continue reading →

Here’s a terrific advertising image from the early 1960s for the “hi-dome” observation car on the Santa Fe railway. This isn’t just a great advertising image though…it’s an image about a new kind of seeing! Of course, seeing and cognition … Continue reading →

We continue with our American theme…this is a terrific and dramatic photograph of a streamlined class 3460, 4-6-4 Hudson, by Henry Dreyfuss and Baldwin Loco, for the Santa Fe Railroad (1937). This was The Blue Goose. By virtue of size … Continue reading →

I have a great weakness for colour and scale; it’s what first drew me to posters and graphic design. Similarly with railway trains; I’m less interested in the machinery and most interested in the movement, scale, colour, and typography, of … Continue reading →

I just found this book from 1944. It’s a story about railways illustrated with colour photographs of model layouts. The photos are by Paul Henning, who must have been a contemporary of John Hinde. The book was designed by George … Continue reading →