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Flying Scotsman by Ian Scott Massie
Reduction Screen Print - Edition of 10
16" x 12" Mounted size - 9.5" x 7" Image size
Available: unframed @ £130
To shop, please click here
16" x 12" Mounted size - 9.5" x 7" Image size
Available: unframed @ £130
To shop, please click here
SIR NIGEL GRESLEY AND THE DUCK
Whenever we went to see family in Aberdeen when I was young, my Dad would take me to the head of the train to “meet the engine”. Once this was the record-breaking Mallard, though sadly soot-caked, grease-smeared and past her prime by then. Her designer was a remarkable man: Sir Nigel Gresley.
A steam locomotive is a simple machine: a self-propelled kettle on wheels, but in almost every part and process lies the potential for things to go very wrong. From the earliest machines designers sought refinement, safety and efficiency. Few achieved these goals as successfully as Nigel Gresley. He progressed rapidly in his career from an apprenticeship at the Crewe railway works to becoming Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Northern Railway at the age of 35. Then, in 1923, when the government passed the Railways Grouping Act and one hundred and twenty railways were merged into four huge companies, Gresley was offered the job of CME at the LNER.
In 1926 he created a star performer: The Flying Scotsman - the first engine to officially run at 100mph. In 1935 he unveiled his first streamlined locomotive, Silver Link, one of a class of engines which would include the above-mentioned Mallard.
In the 1930s Gresley lived at the moated Salisbury Hall near St Albans where he kept ducks, including mallards, and went on to name several engines after birds. Many years later it was proposed to erect a statue to Sir Nigel at Kings Cross. The sculptor Hazel Reeves, created a beautiful piece which included, rather charmingly, a duck. Unfortunately this element became the focus for a disagreement. Two of Gresley’s grandsons thought the duck demeaned the engineer, and the committee reluctantly bowed to their wishes and removed the bird. The duck-less statue was unveiled in 2016.
However, the duck lives on! There has developed a rather touching tradition in which people place a small yellow duck on or by the sculpture.
A steam locomotive is a simple machine: a self-propelled kettle on wheels, but in almost every part and process lies the potential for things to go very wrong. From the earliest machines designers sought refinement, safety and efficiency. Few achieved these goals as successfully as Nigel Gresley. He progressed rapidly in his career from an apprenticeship at the Crewe railway works to becoming Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Northern Railway at the age of 35. Then, in 1923, when the government passed the Railways Grouping Act and one hundred and twenty railways were merged into four huge companies, Gresley was offered the job of CME at the LNER.
In 1926 he created a star performer: The Flying Scotsman - the first engine to officially run at 100mph. In 1935 he unveiled his first streamlined locomotive, Silver Link, one of a class of engines which would include the above-mentioned Mallard.
In the 1930s Gresley lived at the moated Salisbury Hall near St Albans where he kept ducks, including mallards, and went on to name several engines after birds. Many years later it was proposed to erect a statue to Sir Nigel at Kings Cross. The sculptor Hazel Reeves, created a beautiful piece which included, rather charmingly, a duck. Unfortunately this element became the focus for a disagreement. Two of Gresley’s grandsons thought the duck demeaned the engineer, and the committee reluctantly bowed to their wishes and removed the bird. The duck-less statue was unveiled in 2016.
However, the duck lives on! There has developed a rather touching tradition in which people place a small yellow duck on or by the sculpture.
How it would look on your wall
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