Wildlife & Railway Art - Frédérique Lucas

In railway news, I just have to share my excitement over learning 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley the A4 steam locomotive is finally back in service. A4s are by far my favourite class, they were what got me truly hooked on steam, and of all the locos their shape reminds me most of an animal rather than a machine. They are well and truly alive. Such splendid beasts, and to have one back on track (Sir Nigel is currently the only operational A4) makes my heart sing. I saw her in 2019, still in a million bits and pieces at the National Railway Museum in York. It must feel good to stretch her legs again after 7 years. Can’t wait to go back sometime and see her again.

Unfortunately tumblr doesn’t allow me to share videos from a certain timestamp, but 3:45 is definitely the best bit if you ask me.

“Waiting for morning”

A VOSSLOH G2000 diesel locomotive slumbers, waiting for morning to be collected after maintenance. Colleagues from the Dutch Railways and Arriva rest their wheels in the background. Commissioned by Jacko Fijn Techniek, a Dutch company that gives maintenance to a whole range of locomotives, G2000s amongst them. The location is fictional, but loosely based off the yard in Zutphen.

I am rather overdue with posting this painting, it was completed over a year ago... My very first railway commission, which I was and am very grateful for. It was a huge challenge to paint though. Locomotives, and G2000s in particular, are much more angular than natural subjects, meaning they are far less forgiving of mistakes in perspective. I remember spending hours tweaking the loco’s precise position and proportions, thinking I finally nailed it only to overhaul everything the next day. It still doesn’t look 100% right to me, but hopefully it isn’t as noticeable to others. I am very happy happy with the loco’s details and background though. Early morning gives such a nice atmosphere to work with, with the lamps providing different hues and interesting lighting. Currently working on my second railway commission, which is an even bigger and tougher project - but an enjoyable one. Lots of thanks to Walter for commissioning this piece.

“Rolling thunder” Watercolour on hot-pressed paper, 18x24 cm

2530 is a loner amongst the Dutch Railway (NS) 2400 class. Sleek engines produced in France, she was the only one to bear a raised cab, improving visibility for the crew. And indeed, the 360 view is quite something to behold. Built as the last of the class in 1957, the improved design was meant to entice NS into ordering more locos. The story goes that the then-director’s wife was allowed to choose the engine’s colour. And so it happened that amongst the standard reddish brown, 2530 appeared in her lilac-gold-and-blue. Eventually she too had to conform to standards, but at the time she certainly made an impression.

Early 90′s the end came in sight. Many 2400′s were sent for scrap - but 50 saw a second lease of life in France. Bought by the SNCF, they helped build high speed lines in their country of birth. Eventually a couple were repatriated to the Netherlands for life on heritage railways. Our 2459 and 2412 are both such cases. 2530 was almost sold - all preparations made, the deal didn’t go through. One of our volunteers found her bound for the scrapyard while picking up some other goods. As the story goes, he paid for her right then and there in cash, got her out of the scrap train, coupled her onto ours and took her ‘home’. She’s been based at the VSM ever since, and after wearing a brown livery for many years we returned her to her rightful lilac colours in 2019. She’s in good shape, running regularly amongst her sisters - and so 2530′s story continues to this day.

Here she stands amongst fellow class 2400′s on a large loco yard, back in the good old days. Overhead lines already predict the rise of electric trains, but the diesels are still indispensable. Next to her stands 2412 - who knew they would later meet again in preservation. The sky behind them darkens with a storm rolling in. However the ‘thunder’ in the title refers not just to the weather: 2400′s can give a mighty roar when pulling up. Quite literally rolling thunder.

Nothing but steam these days in my posts! Ah well, can’t help myself. They’re wonderful machines. But there’s some wildlife art on the way as well for those who fancy that more.

In the mean time, have some hand-decorated steam engine shirts. One of a kind, since the illustrations are drawn directly onto the shirt with textile markers. They take an awful long time to make, but the end result is very much worth it! Guaranteed to give me something to wear.

Two of these engines reside at the heritage railway I volunteer at - obviously not Gadwall (not in the least because she was bombed to pieces in WWII). 23 071 is, together with her ‘sister’ 23 076, the fastest engine we have. Sporty engines those Baureihe 23s, the very last class to come out of Germany. 41 241 has been with us for about 3 years now, and is slowly being converted from oil-firing to coal-firing, so some day she can run again on our line. Unusually for a German engine, she carries a name: Polarstern, or Pole star in English. She was granted this name for travelling to Narvik, the most northern train station in Europe, and crossing the polar circle as she did so.

“Dutch steam engine No 3759 - NS 3700 class”

At long last, here she is, number 3759. Portrayed as she was in her ‘original’ state, before her shimmering copper and brass decorations were taken away, and brakes were added to the pilot wheels (as well as other alterations were made) during the second world war. The 3700s were express passenger locomotives, nicknamed ‘jumbos’ for their relatively large size and strength - even if they pale in comparison to big German engines, and have a very civilian speed compared to English express engines. Five went through a brief stint of streamlining; I guess their new nicknames of ‘sperm whale’ and ‘bathtub’ say just about enough. Without streamlined coaches it wasn’t much of a success, and the streamlined plating was soon removed.

Although the 3700s were Dutch engines, they were produced by five different companies in three different countries over the course of 18 years. Which meant that many batches - even coming from the same company - showed subtle differences between them. Most notably the English-made engines, which had a rather distinctly different smokebox. 3759 was built in the Netherlands, as part of the third batch. Along with her sisters, they roamed the Dutch railways for almost 50 years. Only one of this class (and in fact, a sole survivor of all large 4-6-0 express engines) has been preserved: 3737, which was the first Dutch-built 3700, and also the last steam engine to ever operate in the Netherlands. She’s currently maintained in the Dutch railway museum, lovingly nicknamed ‘the Old Lady’. 

I’ve worked on this drawing on and off over the past 2 months. I’m glad to finally have it finished. So many things learned, and I’m immensely pleased with the end result. My first ever proper steam engine artwork - hopefully many more will follow!

Say hello to the reason things have been so awfully quiet here (spare the regular backlog postings): Number 3759, of the Dutch 3700 class. This will be a companion or sister piece of sorts to the portrait of No 3912 I made a while back. The drawings are gifts for a steam engine driver who owns the numberplates of both engines. Originally I was going to draw only one, but since lack of time limited the 3912 to only lineworks, I wanted to make up for it by drawing 3759 fully shaded, as originally intended.

It’s taking ages though :’D There are so many details to take in, check, double check, implement correctly... All made harder by the fact this class was produced by 5 different companies in 3 different countries, which all had their different styles and methods. The engines were also slightly rebuilt after the Second World War - I intend to portray 3759 in her pre-war condition since she was prettier then, but it does leave rather fewer photos to reference from.

All in all, I’m having great fun though! Now that the linework is finally done, I’ve been able to start shading with pencil, and that’s really bringing her to life. It’s exciting to see progress slowly creep across the page! 

“No 3912 - NS 3900 class”

Well, I do proclaim to be a ‘wildlife and railway artist’, so perhaps it’s time to put some actual, you know, railway art online :’)

This was made as a gift for a steam engine driver who was kind enough to take me along to the sheds and on the footplate for a day. I wanted to draw something as thanks and  found out he is the proud owner of the numberplates of two Dutch locomotives, Nos 3912 and 3759, so what better subject than one of them? I intended to shade as well, but alas, no time. I digitally retouched it a bit to fix some of the mistakes I made, and details I forgot in my haste. 

As with many Dutch steam engine classes, none of the 3900s have been preserved. Though maybe that's understandable - static display, perhaps, but they'd be pretty shit to drive on heritage railways. For although they look beautiful and refined, and impressive with those smoke deflectors, being the fireman of one of these ladies was no walk in the park. Due to their large boilers, their fires burned with such a yearning for coal that it was near, or actually physically impossible for a fireman to satiate their hunger and keep steam pressure up. Their successors, the 6300 series, having the same boiler and the appetite to match, gained the apt nickname of 'The Executioner'. Only the best firemen and finest coal could coax the top performance out of these impressive engines.

I know it's something different than usual, but I hope you'll enjoy it either way! If only for the story of 'the executioners' :')