A Merchant Navy Loco and a Table Tennis Table!?
It’s occurred to me that sometimes the story behind a painting can be a fun thing to share,
and I thought this one had a rather nice tale behind it...
and I thought this one had a rather nice tale behind it...
Those that know me will know that my dad and I share a lot of interests. Not least of which is a love of old steam locos. And whilst there’s the odd dispute on quite which of these might be the finest, there’s definitely common ground when it comes to Oliver Bulleid’s fine Southern Railway Pacifics.
It’s probably no surprise too that that we both harbour small collections of Hornby trains, and in one of our regular phone calls it happened to come to our attention that, between us, we had rather a nice collection of Hornby Bulleid Pacifics. And, well, it seemed to go without saying to us: What’s the point in having a collection like that and not seeing them all together?
At the next family gathering, the more eagle eyed observer might have noticed that certain guests arrived carrying some suspiciously Hornby shaped boxes with them. Later on, the same guests might have been observed commandeering the corner of a table tennis table in the garden for a quiet little photoshoot... our own little miniature ‘Strictly Bulleid’ gathering.
It was a fun thing to do, and it crossed my mind at the time that there were the bones of a painting there...To me the scene conjured a view of the last days of one of the great Southern Railway sheds, but the idea got parked for a while and time marched on.
It’s hard to keep a good idea down for long though (especially when that idea involves 100 odd tons of one of the most glamorous steam locos ever built.) So when a year or so later the idea of painting the iconic Atlantic Coast Express cruising up from West Country occurred to me, my mind drifted back to the scene on a table tennis table the previous summer...
So here’s the detail of the loco from the painting that resulted. I hope you can share the joy of that imaginative leap of conception with me...
It’s probably no surprise too that that we both harbour small collections of Hornby trains, and in one of our regular phone calls it happened to come to our attention that, between us, we had rather a nice collection of Hornby Bulleid Pacifics. And, well, it seemed to go without saying to us: What’s the point in having a collection like that and not seeing them all together?
At the next family gathering, the more eagle eyed observer might have noticed that certain guests arrived carrying some suspiciously Hornby shaped boxes with them. Later on, the same guests might have been observed commandeering the corner of a table tennis table in the garden for a quiet little photoshoot... our own little miniature ‘Strictly Bulleid’ gathering.
It was a fun thing to do, and it crossed my mind at the time that there were the bones of a painting there...To me the scene conjured a view of the last days of one of the great Southern Railway sheds, but the idea got parked for a while and time marched on.
It’s hard to keep a good idea down for long though (especially when that idea involves 100 odd tons of one of the most glamorous steam locos ever built.) So when a year or so later the idea of painting the iconic Atlantic Coast Express cruising up from West Country occurred to me, my mind drifted back to the scene on a table tennis table the previous summer...
So here’s the detail of the loco from the painting that resulted. I hope you can share the joy of that imaginative leap of conception with me...