Two More from George Heiron and Victory

George Heiron was a superb railway photographer and artist and many of his paintings have been used by jigsaw manufacturers. Several previous posts have covered jigsaws replicating his artwork and this one, 29th May 2013, comprises two more.

 

The first picture shows a wooden Victory puzzle of 100 pieces titled Lemberg. George's painting depicts a London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) express of teak coaches headed by a Gresley class 'A3' 4-6-2 locomotive, No.2544 Lemberg. The Kings Cross - Newcastle express is pictured at Potters Bar in 1930.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second picture shows another wooden Victory puzzle of 100 pieces, in the same series of four, as Lemberg above. This jigsaw is titled Union Castle. The Bulleid 'Merchant Navy' class 4-6-2 No.21C2 Union Castle is pictured heading the 'Devon Belle' Pullman train. The 'Devon Belle' was a Southern Railway (SR) service that ran between 1947 and 1954 from Waterloo to Ilfracombe and  Plymouth. A special feature of the train was the observation car attached as the final coach. 

 

 

A Hand Cut Masterpiece

Wooden  jigsaw puzzles hand cut by a master of the craft have a great affinity with aficionados of our hobby, and in comparison with cardboard equivalents have a proven status as family heirlooms. For this post, 17th May 2013, I am using just one picture featuring a wooden jigsaw of over 1100pcs hand cut by a lady of great expertise, Sara White. Sara, who sadly passed away in 2012, was revered among jigsaw puzzle collectors and a keenly anticipated supplier to the British Jigsaw Puzzle Library. I am lucky enough to own three examples of her work, each featuring steam trains. For biographical details of Sara look up Tom Tyler's book British Jigsaw Puzzles of the Twentieth Century.

Steam Trains is the title of a 1160 piece jigsaw expertly cut by Sara c1998; many whimsies are included to increase interest. Eleven steam locomotives heading passenger and freight stock are integrated into a tapestry of railway landscapes including infastucture such as bridges, a viaduct, signal boxes, stations and halts. In the picture all human beings,  in terms of passengers and staff, are replaced with rabbits in the style of Beatrix Potter. The jigsaw thus appeals to steam railway enthusiasts and those who prefer children's stories. The artwork is illustrative in style but the artist is unknown to me. The steam train illustrations are more than acceptable as accurate representations.

For interest, a second puzzle cut by Sara can be found in the post of 21st March 2011.