DAVID SHEPHERD

Artist David Shepherd was a regular sight in steam sheds on the Southern Region as he tried to capture and record as much of the atmosphere as possible. I remember chatting with David about his Nine Elms painting and was fascinated by his skill as an artist; the magic and romance his work imbued. Fortunately, he was filmed for a documentary, which is currently available under the misleading title of Black Five: The Last Days of Steam. It’s a collection of three films, one unimaginatively titled The Painter and the Engines, by Paul Barnes, to celebrate the end of steam. The original images were preserved by the British Film Institute and re-mastered for release in 2008. If you choose to model the 1967 period, modelling David Shepherd and Paul Barnes at work would make a wonderful cameo.