Monday 5 July 2010

East Suffolk Light


Over the weekend we visited Snape Maltings, in search of antiques shops.  Whilst driving around the area, and seeing the maltings itself, it reminded me so much of Iain Rice's East Suffolk Light Railway.

Many people talk about the influence of Pendon or Heckmondwike on their modelling, but for me the key influence was the ESLR.  That combination of artistic observation, eclectic rolling stock, and a history that bound it all together was superb in setting a time and a place.  It wasn't just a model railway, but a model *of* a railway, even if that was an entire fiction :-)

It would be great to know "where is it now?" and whether it was ever going to appear on the exhibition circuit again, but it simply seems to have sunk without trace.  Ah well, I think that I'll be digging out my old magazines for a dose of nostalgia tonight...


2 comments:

  1. If I remember correctly were there three layout based upon the East Suffolk Light Railway and with the latest edition on show at Wells next month.

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  2. I did note that the latest layout was appearing at Scalefour SouthWest. The full details are in the exhibition guide in the latest edition of Scalefour News. Unfortunately I can't refer to my copy as it's in a different country at the moment!

    Someone on the Scalefour Society forum also pointed out that there is an update from Messrs Rice & Barlow in MRJ 150 as well.

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