Ramblings of a much published New Zealand author

25 July 2011

New Zealand Odyssey: Kaiapoi Rail Yards.

'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.



The only excuse I have for including this illustration from 'New Zealand Odyssey' is that the shapes appealed to me; oh - and, of course, it's a very New Zealand sort of scene. 

NZ railways have only ever been attractive when their forms have been dictated by their functions. Some of the most beautiful of forms have been the viaducts and spirals that have been forced upon the engineers by the landscape. At a more mundane level, railway sheds have a character all their own like this one at Kaiapoi - a concerto of corrugated iron and a money-spinner for manufacturers of ochrish paint!.

Kaiapoi took an awful battering in the 2010 and 2021 Canterbury earthquakes but I'll bet this shed, if it hadn't already been deliberately demolished, survived. My drawing dates to 1987.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
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Blurb

RANDOM SAMPLINGS F...
By Don Donovan