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Nostalgia Junction |
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Memories of the Days of Steam (page 2) Featuring the Railway Art of David Weston |
| The following sections are featured in this second page of Nostalgia Junction: |
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[B17/6 Leicester City] [Railway Posters] [West Bridge] [ Northgates] [About the Artist David Weston] |
| If any of the images get hung up and won't reload or refresh: in Explorer, go to Tools (Internet Options) then press delete files and clear history - then try refresh again. |
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| Here's a view of Leicester City that I'll bet most "City" fans have never seen before: |
Click on image
for a larger view
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| B17/6 No. 1665, Leicester City, taken at Ely, Cambridgeshire, in 1947 by K.C. Footer. A football emblem and the Leicester City Colours are visible (see below) under the loco name plate. |
| Footnote: The LNER B17/6 locomotives were Gresley Class B17/4s (Footballers) with 4-6-0 wheel arrangements that had been rebuilt between 1943 and 1958 with 100A type boilers. |
Courtesy of Christopher Simmons, The Battlefield Line |
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| Holiday and Other Railway Posters |
 
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| Some of these posters are courtesy of the National Railway Museum located near York Station; the others are mine. The original ones for the centre row images (the 4 on the left) were purchased from the GCR in Loughborough (1997) |
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| Other Railway-Related Art by David Weston |
| Note: All art images below have been reproduced with the kind permission of David Weston c/o Lazy Acre Fine Arts Ltd. (Distributor of David Weston's prints) Hollingshead Yard, Nottingham Street, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, UK, LE13 1NW. Phone: 01664 812600 |
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West Bridge - Leicester The Great Central Railway crosses the West Bridge viaduct (Typical transportation scene from the late forties or early fifties).
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Artist's Notes by David Weston:
There can have been few places more popular with me than the West Bridge during the "forties" and early "fifties. As a boy it was for me just a bike ride away along the canal bank, and what a place, for here canal, railway and roadway all met to make a place that teemed with life. The canal in Leicester was never more interesting than in the mile either side of West Bridge. As boys we rode on our bikes along the very edge of the towpath � at the same time shouting with excitement as the steam locomotives thundered over the trellis bridges that crossed the water. What a dull uninteresting place that spot is now. All that remains in fact is the West Bridge itself. Like Northgates, West Bridge together with other interesting bits of Leicester�s City Centre has come under the demolition hammer in the quest for better homes, better roads, better traffic flow, better shops, better this and better that, but the one thing the planners can�t better is the character and individuality that was once there. The face of Leicester as it was - warts and all - was infinitely more preferable to this artists eye than the anonymity of the faceless mediocrity that is what we settle for today. |
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The Great Central Railway crosses North Gate Street (Typical transportation scene from the thirties or forties).
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Artist's Notes by David Weston:
It would be no use to walk along Northgates today looking for the scene as I have painted it, for nowhere has there been greater change. All the buildings have been demolished, as has the huge girder bridge that carried the lines of the Great Central Railway from Marylebone to Sheffield and Manchester. [If you were to stand in the same spot today that I stood to sketch the scene many years ago, you would see] just how much it has altered. The bustling activity of Northgates with its shops and complexity of small businesses, its bright red buses setting off on their journeys to the country and the rattle of the tramcars gave this busy thoroughfare an atmosphere that bristled with life and interest. One�s thoughts are bound to go back to those years when a journey on a bus or tram held a certain excitement, and the conductor issued his brightly coloured tickets from a clip-board which he then "punched" in his bell-punch with that familiar "Ting" that has long since gone from our way of life. Note: In this picture of a bustling Northgates scene, the writing on the tram is supposed to say "BOVRIL," and that on the front of the red double-decker bus, "Anstey." |
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About the Artist David Weston: As a painter, David Weston is well known for his wide variety of subjects. Among his most favorite themes are landscapes, seascapes, interiors and exteriors of great houses and transport subjects. He is perhaps best known for the latter; indeed, he is regarded by many as the foremost British painter in the transport art field. Not only has David a keen eye for detail and authenticity, but his grasp of historical context of his subjects has led to the production of two great, entirely unique, series of paintings, tracing the history of the British steam locomotive and the story of the British traction engine. Both series are available as beautifully produced fine art prints. Recent projects include a similar set of paintings depicting the story of the British motor car and, in contrast, another series of oil paintings and water colours portraying the history of the English country house. Aside from the historical interests shown in David's subjects, it is his portrayal of light and atmosphere that marks him out from other artists working in the same field. The magical light of the interior of a country house, the sun and shadow of a hot summer's day, or the grey drizzle of a wet engine yard, all provide inspiration for this exceptional artist. In 1989, David Weston was elected a Patron of the National Children's Homes Umbrella Project. The other Patrons included His Grace the Duke of Rutland, Engelbert Humperdinck, Larry Grayson, Gordon Banks, Peter Wheeler and Willie Thorn. To support the fund-raising appeal, David presented the superb watercolour "Autumn in the Park - Bradgate" to the project, and the sales of Fine Art prints of the painting also benefited the appeal. Following that outstanding success, David painted the complementary study of a Spring scene in the same historic Leicestershire Park. Now he has completed the cycle of seasons by painting views set in Summer and Winter. |
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Webring and Railyard visitors - please return to page one to exit Nostalgia Junction |
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