While Stathis is on the subject of cleaning engines – and I must admit that I quite enjoyed my brief stint of loco cleaning alongside the conservation team’s gang of volunteers – I thought it would be a good chance to highlight this painting from the NRM collection.
St Pancras, Cleaning Yard, by Cliff Rowe (1904-1989) is one of a series of cleaning yard paintings made between 1940 and 1945. They all depict a woman cleaning the inside of the locomotive, each one progressing a little further towards abstraction.
'St Pancras, Cleaning Yard' by Cliff Rowe, Pencil, oil and wash on board, 1940-1945
Very cool indeed. Having just done my first couple of cleaning turns down at Swanage I can certainly appreciate this painting. :)
That’s a very striking picture. Are any of the image collections available to view online?
Hello Steve – yes, much of our image collection is online at http://www.nrm.org.uk/OurCollection.aspx. We don’t have images for all of the posters, paintings, locos, etc – but we’re uploading them whenever possible.