Nick Trudgian is a world renowned painter of aviation subjects - he is also a far from closet railway enthusiast, as this wonderful book on the building of his essentially G scale Southern Cross Railway shows. Intended to have a vaguely South African feel, on the basis of this book it absolutely reeks of South America, but it is clearly a wonderous thing, and Nick describes the railway’s evolution, and some of his techniques clearly, and with considerable humour. What intrigues is how, by using an artist’s eye, visually parts of the line seem miles from anywhere, whereas in reality there is another track a foot or two away. An absolute ‘must have’ for any garden railway enthusiast, active or armchair. 128 pages, bulging to bursting point with great colour photos, plus map and construction drawings. Hardbound. Atlantic Publishing