71000 Duke of Gloucester has spent its entire life in preservation, painted in two pack acrylic spray paint. The first time this was done in the late 80s, the finish was very durable and looked superb. A repaint in 2004 was not such a success with the loco starting to look rather tatty, so we decided on a partial repaint to see us through to the end of the engine's ticket. This time it is being brush painted like it was in BR service - only better! The boiler, running boards, buffer planks, piano front and tender have all received attention.
The work has been entrusted to Ian Hewitt and his team at Heritage Painting who have battled the elements over the Christmas period to get the job done, with the deadline for completion being the January 21st/22nd Winter Steam Gala at the East Lancs Railway. The finish is superb, better than we could have ever hoped for and, whilst not quite finished as I write this, we are very exited at the prospect of seeing the finished article next week in the sunlight, as we prepare for a weekend's running.
See you there
Simon Holroyd, Deputy CME
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