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inspiration in surprising places...



lovely faded lettering on side of engine
Aln Valley Railway.. I'm not a railway buff in any sense of the word but my brother in law who was staying for the weekend is really badly into steam trains and engineering and he had found this little volunteer railway set up on an industrial estate near Alnwick.  He wanted to pop by just to have a look and so we traipsed off expecting to be much less interested than we were!!! The trains were kinda nice and almost interesting but the fixture and fittings, designs gloriously rusty bits - more gleaming wheels and tracks and the like were fascinating, very photogenic and full of design potential.  Having my new camera I took loads of photos of obscure bits of train, track and engine bits, all further complemented with images of rusty corroding metal bits, faded painted signs, and moss covered sidings.  Very beautiful in a kind of urban engineering landscape way...

texture and patina of slowly corroding metal

There were lots of textures, interesting patina and some beautiful deep rusting colours.  Also lots of really nice faded paint effect some which had weathered that way and others were being slowly cleaned up or scrubbed down for refurbishment.  I can imagine getting some nice quirky pattern designs from some of the pictures and inspiration for tones from others.  This has been a summer of steel and urban industrial - architectural inspiration, lots of iron work, bridges, piers, tall ships, monumental buildings, and a good mix of natural and manmade elements.  I guess there is a lingering influence from last years course when both myself and several of my fellow students did some really inspirational work based on Newcastles long industrial heritage.

fab colours.... and texture
Incidentally the Aln Valley Railway is now closed for the season.  It does Halloween and Christmas specials and might be worth visiting at these times.  While steam rail really isn't my thing I was very impressed with the friendliness and dedication of the volunteers who were welcoming and informative - I've no idea how its all funded but 4 years ago it was a barley field and now its quite a little enterprise - all staffed by volunteers - and its growing ... they hope to link to Alnmouth station by 2020.  I love these small community ventures which involve local enthusiasts but also give something interesting back both to residents and visitors - when its open its free to wander about and look at the model railway and small museum and about a fiver to ride on the train as many times as you like (doesn't go very far - yet). Nice cafe as well...

http://www.alnvalleyrailway.co.uk/
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