38's are great, mate

This is the big brother of the small square painting that I created in "Ghost Train"

I liked the small painting so much that I decided to paint a much larger canvas that would really evoke the atmosphere of the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in pin sharp detail. All the apparent chaos and clutter of a true workshop in all its glory!

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. It has a couple of old signs on its roof "Engine Shop" and "The Professionals", which I was told had been pinched from a local real estate agent!

It's ironic in more ways than one, because, whilst experts in their field, the people working on the restoration of 3830 were mostly volunteers.

In front of it are lathes, drills and boxes of rusting tools that obviously are many decades old.

The 3830 was put back together with the help 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.

E129 '38s are great mate'
2017 oil on canvas 91 x 122cm
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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Withdrawn 31/10/67 (Illegible) birthday 23 years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"

I've read worse poetry!

The scarred and half rotten boards also bear the postscript  "38's are great mate" written on them.

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Work in progress - E125 ' '2 windows
 in the Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm

 

 

Available for sale

I painted while the interior of the Large Erecting Shop was being decluttered so it could be turned into a running shed.

There's the usual workshop detritus that's been lying around so long that everyone's forgotten who put it there and why.

Work in progress - E125 ' '2 windows
in the Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm

Available for sale 

In this area is an ancient trolley and a wooden pallet loaded with old lead acid batteries.

The lead acid battery, so familiar to motorists, was originally used to power the lights in train carriages while stopped at a station. It was invented in 1859 by French physicist Gaston Planté and is the oldest type of rechargeable battery.
Despite having a low energy-to-weight ratio and a low energy-to-volume ratio, the lead acid battery can supply high surge currents, so that the cells have a large power-to-weight ratio. This,as well as their low cost, made them an efficient way to provide the high current required by carstarter motors.

As electric cars take over the world, the lead acid battery will soon become obsolete.

So this still life is a fitting symbol of transience - an industrial memento mori.

Work in progress - E125 ' '2 windows
in the Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm

Available for sale 

Between the windows in the foreground is an old slatted pine heavy duty trolley.

It has cast iron, rather than rubber wheels, so probably dates from the late 19th century.

Work in progress - E125 ' '2 windows
in the Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm

Available for sale 

I see beauty in highlighting the truth, however random,awkward or clumsy it may be.. 

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Steady rest

I've been painting the machinery in the William Wallbank and Sons ex- foundry in Auburn, before it is all stripped out and sent to a scrap metal yard.

Work in progress -

AWW8 'Boys toys -Steady rest 1'

oil on steel press plate tondo 16 x 16cm 2017

Available 

I've been painting a series of still life studies on salvaged "press plates".

These leftover circles of mild steel were found lying on the machine shop floor, and were being gathered up to be thrown away.

AWW8 'Boys toys -Steady rest 1'

oil on steel press plate tondo 16 x 16cm 2017

Available 

It was fascinating painting the relics of industry on salvaged objects that were part of the waste product from that industry.

The lustre of the smooth metallic surface shows through every brushstroke, reproducing every sparkle, shine and glimmer of the knobs and finials.

Work in progress - AWW11

'Boys toys -Steady rest 2'

oil on steel press plate tondo 16 x 16cm 2017

Available

Although the William Wallbank foundry dated from 1932, some of the machinery was much older. I found a nameplate on one from "Russia", which meant that it must have dated from before the Soviet era, and probably from before World War I.

AWW11 'Boys toys -Steady rest 2'

oil on steel press plate tondo 16 x 16cm 2017

Available 

The steady rest on a lathe, has a frame and 3 adjustable jaws to support a workpiece such as an axle or a shaft while it is being turned, milled or drilled.

It prevents slender, flexible pieces springing back and forth, and also allows deep cuts, drilling, boring, or internal threading.

Work in progress on the easel -

AWW10 'Boys toys -Boring machine'

oil on steel press plate tondo 16 x 16cm 2017

Available 

The over arm with the top jaw can be unfastened and swung out of the way so that pieces can be removed and replaced without needing to adjust the jaws.

There should be 0.001 inch clearance between the jaws and the workpiece.

The bearing surface is usually machined directly on the work.

AWW10 'Boys toys -Boring machine'

oil on steel press plate tondo 16 x 16cm 2017

Available 

When the work is too small or awkwardly shaped to machine the bearing surface, a 'cathead' can provide the bearing surface.

The cathead has a bearing that is surfaced, a hole through which the work extends, and adjusting screws to fasten the cathead to the work.

Work in progress on the easel -

AWW9 'Boys toys -Control'

oil on steel press plate tondo 16 x 16cm 2017

Available 

When it isn't possible to hold the work in the chuck, one end can be supported by the headstock centre and the other by the steady rest.

A leather strap or rawhide thong is used to tie the work to the driveplate and to prevent it from moving off the headstock centre.

Work in progress on the easel -

AWW9 'Boys toys -Control'

oil on steel press plate tondo

16 x 16cm 2017

Available 

After the locking screws on the adjustable jaws are tightened, the bearing surface needs lubrication with heavy oil before turning on the lathe.

Work in progress on the easel -

AWW9 'Boys toys -Control'

oil on steel press plate tondo

16 x 16cm 2017

Available 

The bearing surface and adjustable jaws always need a heavy oil film between them, as when the workpiece heats up it will expand, closing the distance between it and the jaws.

AWW9 'Boys toys -Control' 2017

oil on steel press plate tondo 16 x 16cm

Available

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Scar Tissue

Exploring disused manufacturing can sometimes be a bit depressing – all that decay, all those jobs that no longer exist, all that busy industry that has gone.
I have been painting in the increasingly empty Large Erecting Shop of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops, as they are being slowly stripped of all but the barest essentials,
leaving desolate floors and abandoned walkways.
Echos follow your every move, mimicking and daring you to make your presence known.

'Release' 2017 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm

Enquiries 

Painting is less documentary, more subjective,definitely slower and more labour intensive than photography.

However these qualities can be assets as well.

The painter has to select one image showing a definitive moment and yet implying others, to reveal layers of meaning that reward further viewing.

A bit like an onion. And sometimes it can make you want to cry.

I value the quality of authenticity, of being a witness.
This practice of painting on site produces a more genuinely felt memory of my experience and an understanding of the location’s properties and mood, providing me with a truer record of the colour palette than photography.

'Release' 2017 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
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With the removal of so many items, I focus intensely on what remains. Instead of panoramas of the interior, I am working on a series of close ups of details I have previously overlooked, attempting to preserve what is left of the once chaotic jumble of relics of over 100 years of railway history.

The paint itself can give a feeling of the volume and presence of the scene being painted.
Texture such as rust, stains or water damage can be scraped back with a palette knife or engraved into the surface. The term for this is “sgraffito”.

'Release' 2017 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
Enquiries

 

The colours and textures, crumbling render, faded pigments, verdigris, scrapes and scratches – the scar tissue that stand witness to moments in time and history, may be lost in the rush towards the future.

More paintings of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops

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This is how the light gets in

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Painting in the paint shop - The Green Room

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