This is a big project, and a trilogy at that.
The idea is to explore the psychic geography of the railways in and around Derby - a centre of the rail industry and one of the first heavy-engineering towns in the world.
In outline:
Part 1: Ruins
The first part explores the ruins around a former rail line, station and goods yard in the heart of the city - the marks left behind by industry. This part has been completed, and I remain fairly pleased with it.
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Part 2: Memory
The second part is about the ways in which steam railways appear in our rememberance. It focuses on a local steam railway, the people who visit it and the volunteers and staff who maintain it, the rusting infrastructure used to maintain it. This part is underway but incomplete.
The pandemic brought this one to a halt and hasn't yet been resumed. I have two projects that have developed and hope to return to this one when at least one of these is put to bed.
Part 3: Running
The final part is the one which will involve the most planning and is least likely to come off. The idea is to visit the Bombardier factory and capture the people who make the rolling stock that runs along today's railways, and those who work on and around the track at Derby station. A lot of permissions and time will be needed for this, so I hope it will be doable but I suspect its completion is years in the future.