Industrial Cathedral

Industrial Cathedral
"Industrial Cathedral" charcoal on paper 131 x 131 cm Jane Bennett. Finalist in 1998 Dobell Drawing Prize Art Gallery of NSW Finalist 1998 Blake Prize Winner 1998 Hunter's Hill Open Art Prize

About Me

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Sydney, NSW, Australia
I'm an Industrial Heritage Artist who paints "en plein air".If it's damaged, derelict, doomed and about to disappear, I'll be there to paint it.
Showing posts with label locomotive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label locomotive. Show all posts

Tuesday 7 July 2020

Shadowboard

A shadow board is one of the most common options for tool storage found in amateur and professional workshops and sheds the world over. Its noble aim is to organize the workplace so that tools are near the work station where they are to be used.
plein air oil painting of still life of tools and machinery interior of the Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress on the easel
E135A 'Shadowboard - No Brake' 2017
oil on metal panel 51 x 51cm
Available

















Shadow boards have the outlines of a work station's tools marked on them, so operators can quickly identify which tools are in use or missing.
As well as providing easy access to tools,they are supposed to reduce time spent searching for the correct tool; to reduce losses due to carelessness, lack of proper maintenance or theft; to improve work station safety as tools are replaced safely after use, rather than becoming potential hazards; to reduce clutter; and to maximize the space available.

plein air oil painting of still life of tools and machinery interior of the Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress on the easel
E135A 'Shadowboard - No Brake' 2017
oil on metal panel 51 x 51cm
Available
















Well that was the Platonic ideal anyway.
The dream of imposing order on chaos is often cruelly exposed as exactly that - a dream, when reality kicks in.
How should a shadowboard be organized?
Sounds so easy and straightforward, but it reveals fundamental and often irreconcilable differences in temperament, age and level of expertise, and can be the source of perpetual bickering, even long-running feuds.

plein air oil painting of still life of tools and machinery interior of the Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress on the easel
E135A 'Shadowboard - No Brake' 2017
oil on metal panel 51 x 51cm
Available















Should it be organized by type of tool (all spanners, screwdrivers etc grouped together), by size (aesthetically pleasing to have a hierarchy of tools descending by size, but not necessarily the most practical), by frequency of use (commonly used tools in the middle where they are easily removed or replaced) by ease of removal /replacement (large, awkwardly sized or heavy tools placed where people don't have to reach up or down for them) or by what is required for common tasks (a particular size of wrench/saw/hammer/screwdriver etc are often needed together for a task that crops up frequently).
Sometimes it can even be a passive-aggressive wish list, like a recent commercial for a hardware line of products where empty outlines were left for needed or desired tools, either in hope of a future financial windfall or thoughtful gift.
Plein air oil painting of the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
E135B'Shadowboard with 44 class diesel
-(Do not pull all way out) '
2017 oil on metal panel 51 x 51cm
Available






















The usual result is a hotch potch of all the above.
Jumble of the useful, the once useful and now obsolete, the broken bits, the spare parts that 'may come in handy'; the lost, strayed and some frankly useless items that seem to breed unchecked in dark corners. When, if ever, were any of these used? Last week? Last century?
plein air oil painting of 44 class diesel with still life of tools and machinery interior of the Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress on the easel
E135B'Shadowboard with 44 class diesel
-(Do not pull all way out) '
2017 oil on metal panel 51 x 51cm
Available

















I used metal panels to paint on instead of my usual canvas, leaving the metal bare when the tool was shiny and well maintained, and only painting the non-metallic or rusty parts. The work above also includes a 44 class diesel lurking in the background.
The faded, naive lettering found on cryptic signs create abstract yet evocative grids of letters and word fragments, colour and text fading into meditative, elegiac compositions.
Other mysteries abound. As this is a workshop filled with tools and presumably people who know how to use them, why did someone bother to write "Do not pull all way out" on the drawers of the cabinet beneath, instead of fixing the drawer?
I'm no handyperson, but even I can fix drawers - it's fiddly but not that hard.
Plein air oil painting of the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
E135A 'Shadowboard - No Brake' 2017
oil on metal panel 51 x 51cm
Available























A massive Marie Kondo attack has been carried out in the Large Erecting Shop to tackle decades of clutter. Nothing to do with sparking joy.
Everything deemed not strictly necessary to the re-purposing of the Large Erecting Shop as a running shed is being given the old heave-ho - best case scenario sent to Thirlmere, worst case - the skip.
I was chased from one end of the shed to the other, as wherever I set up my easel, I seemed to get in the way. I was hunting for a quiet corner as the situation brought out crankiness in normally laid back people. I was incessantly asked "why I was painting this rubbish instead of the trains", but most of the trains will still exist somewhere, while this sort of subject, evoking the true spirit of the workshop, is ephemeral.
But fashions change as to what is deemed 'necessary' and unique and quirky items can be lost or destroyed in the rush to impose order on chaos..
In the Large Erecting Shop the shadowboards are no longer functional as no repair or maintenance will be carried out there.
Ghost boards with ghost signs for ghost trains.
They show the never to be filled outlines of lost tools for lost purposes.
Headstones of the workshop.

Wednesday 8 March 2017

Ghost train

Plein air oil painting of interior of the Large Erecting Shop in Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress - 'Engine shop,
Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
There has been a lot of uncertainty about the future of the 3801 Ltd, and even of the Large Erecting Shop itself. Many of the relics will probably be lost or put into storage if the site is to become a running shed. This would mean that trains would still run from the shed, but no repair or maintenance work could be carried out. Anything not required merely to run the trains would then be removed from the interior and either sent to Thirlmere, put in storage or even put in a skip bin.
Already a lot of items have been put in the skip or just disappeared.
Plein air oil painting of interior of the Large Erecting Shop in Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress - 'Engine shop,
Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
This old office in the Large Erecting shop of Eveleigh Railway Workshops, had been used to store stacks of windows and doors waiting to be repaired to refurbish a carriage.
In front of it are lathes, drills and boxes of rusting tools that obviously are many decades old.
Plein air oil painting of interior of the Large Erecting Shop in Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress - 'Engine shop,
Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
This old office is an example of the sort of item that may not be kept, despite its historical interest.
Before it was used to store windows, it had been the headquarters of the 51⁄2 year restoration of 3830, which was carried out by a team of about 12 volunteers from the Powerhouse Museum and 3801 Limited.
There are still ghost signs that haven't been erased from when the restoration of 3830 started in 1992.
Plein air oil painting of interior of the Large Erecting Shop in Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress - 'Engine shop,
Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
Enquiries
On the weathered sky blue boards are inscriptions in white chalk about its time of service.
"3830 18 years 11 months 4 days
Into service 27/9/49
Withdrawn 31/10/67 (Illegible) birthday 23 years
Cost £53,145/2/0 Basic Wage 4/8 11/20d/hour
Builders' No 170 40 hours £8/12/0 approx"

Plein air oil painting of interior of the Large Erecting Shop in Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress - 'Engine shop,
Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
The blackboard on the left hand side of the window of the old office has a mysterious list of the 38 class locos, split into 2 sections.
The left hand side of the blackboard starts with 3826, 3830, 3802, 3801, 3810, 3812, 3825, 3804, 3813, 3826, 3823, 3818, 3808, 3807, then there is a vertical line.
On the other side 3806 has been almost erased, then 3814, 3811, 3819, 3828, 3806, 3809, 3811, then a few illegible words with "38's are great mate" written over them.
Plein air oil painting of interior of the Large Erecting Shop in Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
'Engine shop, Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
I had wondered why the numbers had been written in such a haphazard order, and why some were missing and others repeated.
It was obviously not chronological, but there was obviously a reason behind it.
The secret was finally revealed by a veteran of the restoration.
The 3830 was a sort of 'Frankenstein's monster', composed of parts cannibalized from other 38 class locos.
The list of 38 class locos refers to the original source of particular items that finally ended up as part of 3830.
Ironically, the current (although now non-functioning) boiler of the 3830, was the original boiler of the 3801! The saga of the many attempts to fix /replace the current boiler of 3801 has been dragging on since 2007.
Now in 2020, ironically the boiler has been fixed and the loco is operational, but due to the Covid restrictions, the planned grand opening has had to be postponed.
Plein air oil painting of interior of the Large Erecting Shop in Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
'Engine shop, Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
Unfortunately restoration and maintenance may not be regarded as priorities in the proposed future of this building.
I think that this is a short sighted policy that shows an appalling lack of respect to all the hard work carried out over so many decades by so many volunteers. This attitude will lead to the loss of irreplaceable heritage items and skills.

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