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If you wish to communicate with me about steam train jigsaws and/or related railway art, or to respond to requests for answers to my queries, please email David, at : platt.precology@gmail.com

Sunday, 13 February 2011

Steam and Alternative Transport

A steam train pictured with another mode of transport is a popular pairing with both artists and jigsaw manufacturers. The inclusion of any of the following - canal boats, veteran and vintage road vehicles, boats, bicycles/motorbikes or aeroplanes (occasionally) - within a steam train jigsaw picture - adds more pictorial interest. This post, 13th February 2011, includes two favourite examples from my collection.

Great Malvern, one of Gibsons' 636-piece panorama series, is reproduced from a fine painting by Eric Bottomley. An express headed by a Great Western Railway (GWR) 'Saint' class 4-6-0 of George Jackson Churchward waits in the station as a small branch line train approaches in the opposite direction. Two wonderful Morgan cars, a 1934 three-wheeled super sports beetleback, and a 1950 Plus-4 drophead coupe are parked in the adjoining station yard. The puzzle depicts two older examples of popular modes of transport gelled together into a wonderful image epitomising travel in early British Railways' days.

Another favourite of mine in this category is First of the Day, part of the Gibsons' Heritage series of both 500 and 1000 piece puzzles. This one is of 1000 pieces.  What a superb jigsaw from a Barry Freeman original canvas - a story book picture which is open to interpretation. A GWR 'Star' class 4-6-0 of George Jackson Churchward,  No.2902 Lady of the Lake, hauls a passenger express on a line adjacent to a canal where two, coal-bearing narrow boats are travelling in the opposite direction. A lone angler sits on the bank unhooking a fish. Has he just caught 'the first of the day', or is the train the 'first of the day' or are the boats the 'first of the day'.  My money is on the angler and his fish, but all three may qualify. They also appear to have been painted close to the first light of the day. The interpretation is open to the viewer.
At least two previous posts include puzzles which also show this classic pairing.