Thursday 31 July 2014

Saddletank Books

Regular readers of this blog know that many of the Swanage Coastguard Team have a guilty pleasure...they love trains! Eric has a train set, Ian has a train set layout in a shed, Nick has a railway in his garden ...and Gareth has a garden railway in his loft.

And then there is Roger.  Roger hates steam trains, he really hates them, he likes diggers instead - he's a bit odd like that.

Anyway I was off Coastguard duty this morning so I popped down to the Swanage engine shed to let my little girl wave at random strangers on the train.  The rules are simple, she waves and people wave back - unless they are on the 11:20 when they all look miserable and don't wave.


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At the engine shed we spotted a lady who was watercolour painting. I watched her paint out of the corner of my eye and it became quickly apparent that she was a very good artist indeed.  Within a couple of minutes the blue sky, trees, background of the engine shed had all been completed - and it was rather good. 

We had a chat with Pauline who explained she was artist who had started writing children's books about steam engines - Pauline Hazelwood - Saddletank Books

She had just been to the station shop to drop off an order of her books. There are two books in the series so far with a third due this autumn. The stories are engaging and based on the true history of an engine, and the illustration is delightful. 'Alice' is a real quarry Hunslet engine now based at Bala Lake Railway.

I think these books will be a bit hit!



Pauline showed us  a copy of 'Alice The Little Welsh Engine' which we promptly bought and she kindly wrote a little dedication for our little girl in the front cover.

Anyway, please have a look at Saddletank Books website the books are simply stunning, or pop along to the Facebook page for more information.


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