Beskrivning
This is a wonderful collection of railway paintings. I say this with complete confidence for, although I am no artist, the T railway was my working life for forty-two years. In my twenties, I worked for and suffered under a truly great Locomotive Superintendent who bred in us the need to use ’the seeing eye’. If LP Parker was alive today he would have appreciated Malcolm’s great work. He was a practical and severely critical perfectionist and he would have looked for and found, with inward satisfaction, the small but essential points of detail that play such an important part in the creation of the atmosphere of railway life. ’LP’ would have blown a couple of smoke rings from his pipe and said: ’Quite good, Root, but tell me why is the fireman of the A1 making smoke at High Dyke?’ Of course, Root knew why and said so, and got a very searching look for his pains which was followed by: ’Root, ride with that man and put him right for the future. But an artist can, to some extent, do as he pleases, and what is a bit of a trail of smoke amongst friends.
Such is the detail of Malcolm’s paintings that once again enthusiasts and railwaymen alike will be able to rekindle their memories of steam. But there is more than just accuracy here. Because of his understanding and love of railways, Malcolm’s paintings are imbued with the very atmosphere of railway life; the bustle and roar, the smell of hot oil and steam combined, and the sound of approaching exhaust beats on a clear calm day.
