BAGDContext CSM

Lovely.

19/11 We managed to buy this picture, and it arrived earlier this week. It’s better than I hoped and will scrub up very well in a new frame.

In 1963, the US pop artist, Ed Ruscha published his Twentysic Gasoline Stations…this was a kind of photographic road trip with associated art works in print form.

Someone should do the same with railroad stations and model railway layouts…

In fact, I have begun to see how the psychgeographical model railway could be amplified through reference to specific fine artists…in the US context; maybe Hopper, Sheeler and Benton…and brought up-to-date with Ruscha.

Perfect.

It’s October, and I visited the local model railway exhibition with my friend, Alan, at the weekend.

You can imagine how pleased I was to see this model of the Granary Building at King’s Cross, with the new CSM…except that it was part of the background to a US freight layout…but pretty close.

I’ve posted before about the local model railway show.

The Psychogeographical Model Railway…

Here’s a picture of the station platform at Rannoch Moor. The photo is included in a book of the 100 best railway stations in Britain, compiled by Simon Jenkins.

Rannoch is the high-point of the West Highland line between Glasgow and Mallaig…

The vernacular buildings of the 19C railway provide a very good way of discovering Victorian architecture…you sit on the train, get out, and look around…what could be better.

Here is a picture of the railway staion at Canfranc in Spain…nothing is as grand as ruins, and nothing is as disconcerting and anxious making as a derelict railway…

This station used to be one of the largest in Europe, with a platform 200 metres long! It’s grand and derelict…brilliant.

Here’s a terrific photograph of passengers on an Indian railway journey…they’re sitting on the roof!

My friend and colleague, Jaap, asked me for a list of favourite films…luckily I am the sort of person who  makes lists…and I had this to hand…I’ve added a note of any post that I’ve already made about the films.

The Thirty Nine Steps (1935)

http://bagdcontext.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2011/05/28/the-trains-of-alfred-hitchcock/

http://paulrennie.rennart.co.uk/post/105615335175/alfred-hitchcock-speeds-up-the-thirty-nine-steps

The Lady Vanishes (1938)

http://bagdcontext.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2014/12/23/the-lady-vanishes-alfred-hitchcock-1938/

The Lady Vanishes (Hitchcock on a Train)

Bringing up Baby (1938)

To have and Have Not (1944)

A Canterbury Tale (1944)

The Third Man (1949)

Once upon a Time in the West (1968)

http://bagdcontext.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2011/08/18/once-upon-a-train-track-in-the-west/

Life and Nothing But (1989)

Europa (1991)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The Usual Suspects (1995)

Casino (1995)

The Matrix (1999+)

Back in 2011, I bumped into Michael Portillo on the train at Folkestone…he was filming one of his journeys…they’re all on Box of Broadcasts…and also the later ones around Europe, and also the ones around the USA.

Actually, that’s me suitting behind him and wearing my beret!

I’ve posted before about these television films, here

Lewis and Clark, and Michael Portillo (BBC2TV)

Michael Portillo on BBCTV in Israel

Michael Portillo isn’t doing anything new…it was all done brilliantly in the 1950s and 1960s by John Betjeman…and subsequently by many others. I just noticed that, at the bottom of the post below, I describe Michael’s US train trip. Grr!

Trains and Television

John Betjeman was an important figure in the architectural conservation movement of the 1960s. He won the battle for St Pancras; but lost Euston…

Railway Propylaeum – The Euston Arch

The most interesting TV film made by Michael Portillo has been about his own family in Spain and the dramatic impact of the the bombing of Guernica, and the positive effect of Picasso’s great painting…all around the world.

I’ve posted about it, here

http://paulrennie.rennart.co.uk/post/47702448623/portillo-picasso

Michael’s mother, Cora, was instrumental in helping the Basque children refugees in Britain. That’s important.

BBCWalesTV made a special film about the Basque children who were found homes in wales. You can watch it on Box of Broadcasts.

Here are the details

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p64s4

I’ve posted elesewhere about the Spanish civil war, here

http://paulrennie.rennart.co.uk/post/159671468435/learning-from-history-the-spanish-civil-war

Old-school concert poster for Led Zeppelin, circa 1975. Quite a nice steam loco too…