By Susanne Halipré and Sylvie Norris
Don’t panic! This is not a blow by blow account of the building of an etched brass kit of a Robert Stephenson and Hawthorne 16” saddle tank loco in EM gauge. Although Susanne may have written about such in another life! No, this is about an actual modelling assignment with a preserved railway as a backdrop.
Around Easter time Sylvie and Susanne were contacted by Emily, a young photography student, who was working on a project for her degree based on ‘Transgendered and Trains’. Emily had been befriended by a group of T girls whilst at college in London and it was through a mutual friend that we were introduced. Emily is very supportive of our community and keen to portray us in a positive light. The end product of her course was to be part of an exhibition in London culminating in a book containing photographs along with some text. The initial plan was to photograph Susanne amongst her many trains and layouts and conduct an interview. As she is well known in the model railway world having exhibited several layouts and written articles for the model press, Susanne was wary of the possible publicity which could result, and the connection of her to her male ego. Regretfully she initially felt she ought to decline, but was keen to help Emily in some other way. We then came up with the idea of visiting a preserved railway for a photoshoot featuring the two of us, with railway locomotives and coaches as background props.