brains Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dear PDX- Ahhh!, so much to enjoy here, from the
> understated pantheism in the book to the telling
> caricature of Victorian/Edwardian society in the
> characterizations by animals to a not-so-unreal
> nostalgia for a vanished England (or maybe a
> dormant one, with preserved railways abundant and
> disused canals being slowly rebuilt, including
> possibly, the one near Graeme's setting of the
> adventures). Alas, the illustrator took artistic
> license with the train, getting the locomotives
> (loosely)right, but sparing the difficulty of
> getting the "coaches" right by colouring them Toad
> Green instead of (horizontal) Brown and Cream,
> which was standard from 1842 to 1948 on the GWR,
> fondly known as the Great Way Round or God's
> Wonderful Railway, depending on your most recent
> trip. The 7ft. gauge locomotives in the Gwr Museum
> in Swindon are something to see.


:) And Swindon is the home of one of my favourite bands, XTC.