The wheels on the bus go round and round - Painting the London Bus at the Sydney Bus Museum

Today's painting on the deck gallery is another canvas painted at the Bus Museum in September 2017.

BUS 7 London bus' 2017
oil on canvas 51 x 25.5cm
Available

The London bus is having its wheels checked.

On the easel at Sydney Bus Museum
BUS 7 London bus' 2017
oil on canvas 51 x 25.5cm
Available

After World War II, London Transport bought over 6,000 double deckers, all built to a standardized design, mostly the AEC Regent III RT type, similar to the pre-war AEC buses.
The first prototype, known as the AEC Routemaster, was completed in September 1954 and the last one was delivered in 1968.
The first Routemasters entered service with London Transport in February 1956 and the last withdrawn from regular service in December 2005, although one heritage route still operates in central London. The Routemaster outlasted several of its replacements in London, and even survived the privatization of the London Transport bus operators .

BUS 7A  Study for London Bus,

Sydney Bus Museum

2019 oil on canvas 23 x 13cm
Available
BUS 7 London bus' 2017
oil on canvas 51 x 25.5cm
Available
In front of my patient model
at Sydney Bus Museum

The Routemaster had a pioneering design using lightweight aluminium and techniques developed in aircraft production during World War II. It also introduced innovative design features such as independent front suspension, power steering, a fully automatic gearbox and power-hydraulic braking, for the first time ever on a bus. Drivers found the Routemaster surprisingly light and nimble compared with earlier designs.

One of their main advantages was that the body could be lifted off the chassis during overhaul.The London fleet contained more bodies than chassis, as overhauling the body took longer than the chassis. A bus could go in for overhaul in the morning, and come out that afternoon with a different body.
In 2006, the Routemaster was voted one of Britain's top 10 design icons which included Concorde, Mini, London tube map, World Wide Web and the K2 telephone box.

BUS 7A  Study for London Bus,

Sydney Bus Museum

2019 oil on canvas 23 x 13cm

Available

This was my first much smaller study of the London bus

The Museum's bus, AEC RT - 3708, was registered NLE-815, and started life in May 1953 with a 'green' Weymann 8545 body, the most common type.

I don't know what it is about the colour, but I can't imagine a London bus in any other colour than red. Must make it go faster!

It had 3 overhauls during its London Transport career - in 1956, 1961, and it didn't get fitted with the iconic 'red' body until its final overhaul in 1965.

It ended its days at Southall garage, then was sold in March 1977, imported to Australia in 1984 and purchased by the Museum in 1989.

BUS 7 London bus' 2017

oil on canvas 51 x 25.5cm

Available

All information is courtesy of the experts of the Sydney Bus Museum

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The Milky bar kid - old milkbar 74 Harris Street

Today's painting on the easel of my deck gallery is a 2009 plein air oil painting of a derelict abandoned old shop in Pyrmont, fondly, but wrongly known as the "old bakery".

P257A 'Old milkbar aka 'bakery'
corner of John and Harris St'
2009 oil on canvas 51 x 61cm
Available

As far as I can remember the actual bakery was a few doors down and the corner shop was a milkbar, but we're talking at least 3 decades ago.

My standout memory of it when it was in its last days of operation was how rubbish I was at playing their "Fussball" machine, which was lines of wooden footballers attached to a stick that you tried to manoeuver by a lever to kick the ball.
Not a single goal!

The legendary Terminus Hotel on the opposite side of Harris Street, and like its more famous counterpart, was part of the Wakil's real life Monopoly game. They had a landbanking empire of quirky, derelict buildings which were loathed by local residents as eyesores but cherished by artists like myself.

Aren't Artists a perverse bunch - we ignore all the shiny new developments and make straight for the 'shame of the neighbourhood' to immortalize it!

P257A 'Old milkbar aka 'bakery'
corner of John and Harris St'
2009 oil on canvas 51 x 61cm
Available

The continuous row of 19th century 2 storey terrace houses between Nos 74 and 80 Harris Street are still part of the Wakil collection of formerly derelict buildings, which once included the iconic Terminus Hotel opposite.

The row of  terraces have rendered brick shopfronts and skillion roofed wings at the rear. They are plainly detailed, with only a string course to the facades as decoration, and a Victorian/Georgian flavour in their design. Door openings are rectangular, and window openings are also rectangular as well as slightly segmentally arched. They are without parapet or verandahs and feature corrugated iron gable roofs with low corniced or corbelled chimneys.

P256A 'Old Milkbar (aka 'Bakery'),
corner of Harris and John St'
2009 acrylic on paper 21 x 28cm
Available

No 74 is similar to the rest, but was a corner shop and is faceted with a corner entrance. It  was a milkbar for a long time, although often and wrongly referred to as the 'old bakery'.
Number 82 was the actual site of the "old bakery", although now the entire block seems to have adopted this name.

P257 'Old bakery corner of John and Harris St'
2012 oil on board  35 x 28cm
Available

For many years the corner and north facing doorways were boarded up and featured an endless layering of illegal posters promoting long forgotten bands.

 

P256B 'Old Milkbar and 'Chicks on Harris''
2009 acrylic on paper 21 x 28cm
Available

Until about 2014, No 82 still partly kept up the milk bar tradition,traded as a "charcoal chicken" outlet called "Chicks on Harris".

Bearing in mind the seedy reputations of previous establishments at the north end of Harris St, I'm not sure that the owners had really thought through the implications of their name!

Milk bars are now imbued with mythical qualities they never possessed in life. In decline and death, they’re trendy and retro.


P256 'Black Dog (old milkbar -
aka 'bakery' from John St)'
2009 oil on board 31 x 25cm
Available

No 74 has now been recently and very sympathetically redeveloped by the current occupants - appropriately, 'Belle Property' real estate agents. And now it really is a 'belle' property indeed.

It's been painted a tasteful off-white shade, and the former layers of peeling posters have been replaced by large picture windows.

I couldn't resist having a sneaky peek inside.

The interior still has the original wall material visible, and the beautiful old hardwood stairs have been polished, but otherwise in their original state. The architraves are dark walnut stained hardwood, but the rotting floors had collapsed long ago and had to be replaced with polished concrete.

The huge tree outside is a relic from when both sides of John Street were edged with a row of trees whose branches would meet in the middle of the street to form a cathedral-like canopy. Lush and cool in summer, but most beautiful in winter when the feeble rays of the sun would pierce through the tracery of bare branches.

A lovely tree, but its roots went straight for the plumbing, and the pavement outside is cracked and humped by the twisting roots underneath. I know that a few years ago, several people had considered this old shop on as a renovation project, but weren't quite crazy-brave enough to take it on.

For more information about Harris and John Street in Pyrmont, including the Terminus and Pyrmont Point Hotels

see My Pyrmont page in this blog

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To the Point
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Pretty vacant

A Tale of two hotels - the Terminus and the Point

The bad twin of Pyrmont Street

Pyrmont Paintings past and present

Painting Spirit of Tasmania in drydock Garden Island

Today's painting on the deck shows a plein air painting of the Spirit of Tasmania 1 in Captain Cook drydock, Garden Island.


GI 5 'Spirit of Tasmania 1 in Captain Cook drydock'
2013 oil on canvas 45 x 92cm

It was an amazing experience to watch the whole operation of drydocking and I was so lucky to be able to paint it from the floor of the drydock, with the immense bulk of the ship looming up above me.

On this occasion the Spirit of Tasmania 1 was in drydock for about 3 weeks between July and August 2013.

Every sea-going vessel has to undergo this maintenance process twice within a period of 5 years.

GI 5 'Spirit of Tasmania 1 in Captain Cook drydock'
2013 oil on canvas 45 x 92cm

When the ship arrives at the dock, it has to be positioned accurately so that when the water is pumped out it will rest exactly on the blocks at the bottom of the dock.

Once the ship is in position, the entrance to the dock is closed using a watertight gate, known as a caisson, sealing the ship off from the rest of the harbour.

The time from when the stern of the ship first touches the blocks, to when the full weight of the ship is bourne by the blocks is the most crucial and potentially dangerous period in the entire operation.

The ship must rest on an even keel and not be lopsided or tilting down at one end.

Even 1 metre off the sender line could result in the ship toppling over.

Care also must be taken that the ship doesn't refloat after it is resting on the blocks.

When the ship is finally resting on the blocks it is called "Taking the blocks" and after all the water has been pumped out of the dock, then the inspection, cleaning and repairs can be carried out.

GI 11 'Captain Cook drydock Garden Island'

2013 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm

An awe-inspiring 280 million litres of water had to be pumped out of the Captain Cook graving dock before work on the ship can begin.

It is a hypnotic sight to watch the water slowly drain over a period of several hours.

This is a painting of the southern end of the dock, and inside the walls you can see the black depth indicators pointing like giant rulers into the bottom of the dock.

Plein air oil painting  of Spirit of Tasmania 1
in Garden Island Drydock

Dry dock walls are built on a heroic scale. They need to resist the enormous hydrostatic forces unleashed when the dock is being dewatered.

They reminded me of the monumental architecture of lost ancient civilizations such as the Egyptian, Mesopotamian or Aztec.

GI 5B 'Fabulous flying forklift in Captain Cook drydock'
2013 oil on canvas 10 x 10cm

Heavy machinery such as forklifts, cranes and scissor lifts were then lowered onto the dock floor by the two cranes on either side of the dock.
In my largest canvas you can see no fewer than 8 cranes, as well as 2 portaloos!
It was a very long walk up to the surface!

The first major job was to wash the slime off the outer shell plating with high pressure waterjets. Although this certainly does make the ship look much prettier, the real reason is that it helps reduce fuel consumption and emissions.

Then the outer shell plating is coated with anti- corrosive paint, as seawater takes an enormous toll on any surface exposed to it. Any parts of the ship that will be submerged are then painted with a coat of anti-fouling paint.

GI 5A 'Workmen on Spirit of Tasmania 3
in Captain Cook drydock'
2013 oil on canvas 10 x 10cm 

Propellor blades, rudders, underwater valves, cathodic protection systems, anchors and cables must be inspected for corrosion and cracks.

There was also extensive work on the interior and the stern doors.

GI 7 'Andre on bridge of Spirit of Tasmania 1
in Captain Cook drydock'
2013 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm

I included many of the contracters in my series of paintings. This, painted from the bridge of the ship also shows the soon to be demolished Hammerhead Crane set against the scenic backdrop of  the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Related Posts

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Royal Edward Victualling Yards (REVY), Darling Island, Pyrmont

Today's painting on the deck shows a small panorama of Sydney Harbour with a cargo ship berthed at the East Darling Harbour Wharves in the background. The strange looking building in the centre surrounded by piles of timber is the REVY C building on Darling Island. I painted it in the early 1990s from Ways Terrace.

 

 

 

P8'REVY C from Ways Terrace'

1992 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm

Available for sale

On Darling Island, nothing is now left of the timber and shipbuilding yards. Today the water’s edge bristles with new apartment blocks gazing over sheltered waters. Yet beneath the silvery surface lies a hidden history.

The Royal Edward Victualling Yard, ( REVY A,B & C), was built between 1890 and 1911, by the revered Government architect Walter Liberty Vernon in the Federation Free style.

They were some of the last working buildings on the Pyrmont waterfront and had rivettingly odd architecture. Revy A and B  consisted of a 5 storey and a 6 storey pair of large red brick warehouses set at right angles to each other and linked by a square central  water reservoir tower. They were built in a flamboyant neo-Gothic style which reminded me irresistibly of the Bargello in Florence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P8'REVY C from Ways Terrace'
1992 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm

Available for sale

Revy C is a narrow, skinny, rather ungainly eight-storey, red brick Federation Warehouse, and still the tallest structure on Darling Island.  It had a rusticated ashlar bluestone ground floor, and a riveted truss jib crane facing Jones Bay Wharf. Its 4 large lift towers on the roof always reminded me of the crenellations on top of medieval castles.
Early fire fighting relied on steam pumped water pressure which could only reach up to a maximum of 2 storeys. So the set of external steel fire stairs at either end were a very practical solution to this problem, even though I used to curse them for being a perspective nightmare to paint.

 

 

P12B REVY 3 from Jones Bay Wharf with 'Nederburg'
1990 oil on canvas 25 x 51 cm
SOLD
Enquiries about other paintings of Darling Island
Revy's original purpose became obsolete due to the increasing size of cargo ships and the introduction of container shipping.
The painting above shows the 'Nederburg' one of the last cargo ships docking at the Pier 19/20/21 (now known as Jones Bay Wharf) opposite Revy C.
During the 1980s REVY C was remodelled for the Defence Science and Technology Organization.















P12 REVY from Jones Bay Road
1990 oil on paper 25.5 x 31 cm
Available for sale

This small oil study shows the timber yard on the other side to the previous painting.

In 1994, REVY A and B were renovated for Naval Support Command , and I was commissioned to paint 3 huge paintings for their foyer.

They could be seen from Jones Bay Road until 2005 when Channel 7 moved in. Now these paintings are on Spectacle Island, where unfortunately they can't be seen by the public.

REVY C was vacant from 2005 until its recent redevelopment for apartments.

 

Related Posts 

 

My page of Pyrmont paintings 

 

Pyrmont Paintings past and present 

 

Uptown Festival 2011