Skip to content

By Lorna Hogger on

A quick engine-cleaning postscript

See engine cleaning from an artist's viewpoint with this beautiful painting from our art collection.

With Stathis’ recent post 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
Woman cleaning locomotive wearing protective goggles, St Pancras station. Pencil, oil and wash on board by Cliff Rowe. 1940- 1945.

 

You can catch up with Stathis’ original post here.

3 comments on “A quick engine-cleaning postscript

  1. Very cool indeed. Having just done my first couple of cleaning turns down at Swanage I can certainly appreciate this painting. 🙂

  2. That’s a very striking picture. Are any of the image collections available to view online?

Reply to Mark Green, NRM Web Producer Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *