Mike Jeffries

Today Covent Garden in central London is an area of fashionable cafes, wine bars and high- end luxury goods shops but at one time it was the home of the wholesale fruit and vegetable trade serving the whole of London and very much a working environment.

By the late sixties growing traffic conjestion, parking problems and narrow streets unsuitable for the increasing size of lorries made a move from this increasingly valuable land more or less inevitable and the whole shooting match was moved to a new site at Nine Elms on the other side of the Thames, once the venue of the Southern region’s largest steam locomotive shed.

Today the trade is carried on in a huge modern complex, the vehicles are forty- ton juggernauts but the Cockey characters doing the wheeling and dealing are still very much the same probably the sons and grandsons of the people seen in my picture.

This painting in oils on a 20′′×30′′ board was commissioned by an exiled Londoner living in the West Country and based on contemporary photographs.

A painting like this of your favourite vehicle, British or American, in oils on canvas or board would cost about £2500.

E-mail mike@transportartist .co.uk to commission your own unique work of art by one of Britain’s leading transport artists.

The driver has a last minute check of the motion as the prototype 4.6.0 King class No 6000 “King George V” waits the right away at Paddington with a down express for the West Country.

The year is 1938 so the engine carries the old Great Western livery and above the buffer-beam is mounted the bell presented to the locomotive after its successful visit to the USA some years previously where its performance for an engine of its size astounded American observers.

Painted for a client in acylics about 5 years ago but now I would use oils to heighten the contrasts and smoke effects.

To commission an oil painting of your favourite loco, British, American or even French, at your favourite location please visit my web-site at www.transportartist.co.uk or e-mail me at mike@transportartist.co.uk. Prices about £2000.

Please remember this image is my property and protected by copyright law.

The crew of an AEC Regal single-decker of Devon General pause for a break in the sleepy village of Drewsteignton deep in the South Devon countryside. Little has changed in the village to this day, the pub and church are still there and the school hall in the background, even the bus is preserved in perfect working order by local farmer Ron Greet but a pint of beer in the Church House Inn behind the bus is today priced at over £2.50 and this was half a weeks wages in 1955!

I’ve had the pleasure of driving this bus a few years ago and I thought I’d died and gone to heaven I enjoyed it so much, I could have driven from Lands End to John’o Groats and more!

The original of this painting was in oils on a 20′′×30′′ board.

A painting like this of your favourite vehicle, British or American, in oils on canvas or board would cost about £1500.

E-mail mike@transportartist .co.uk or ring 07884462140 to commission your own unique work of art by one of Britain’s leading transport artists.

Please remember this image is my property and protected by copyright law.

In the dark days of the summer of 1940 and the mass evacuation of British and French troops from Dunkirk it is often forgotten that other British units stranded elsewhere by the collapse of their French allies had little choice but to make good their escape to England from other ports.

On 7th June1940 with the battle for France still in full swing and AFTER the Dunkirk evacuation the 52nd {Lowland} Infantry Division landed at Cherbourg to support our French allies. Soon part of the 52nd, troops of the 157th Infantry Brigrade,were clashing with forward units of advancing German forces at Le Mans, but the next day on hearing of the French plea for an armistice they had no choice except to disengage the enemy to avoid capture and the brigade withdrew back to Cherbourg where remnants of the retreating 51st {Highland} Infantry Division were already being evacuated.

The painting shows the scene at the dockside with the troops embarking in good order and even vehicles, among them Austin, Ford and Morris Commercial, awaiting loading for the return to England, unlike at Dunkirk where hundreds of vehicles and valuable equipment had to be abandoned on the beach to be captured by the German Army and used by them against Allied forces. A despatch rider waits to deliver a message to the two officers talking to the military policeman in the centre of the picture while in the right foreground a sergeant loads a Bren gun into its box.

Four years later the 51st and 52nd divisions returned to Europe and fought their way with bravery from the Normandy beaches to Germany and final victory in 1945.

This painting, in acrylics on a 36′′×48′′ canvas,now hangs in the officers mess at Colington barracks Edinburgh home of the 52nd Lowland.

Please remember this image is my property and protected by copyright law

The Scammell Explorer 6×6 was used mainly for recovery of soft-skin vehicles but was also used as a ballast tractor for the transport of tanks to and from REME workshops but as such was hard pressed with 50 tons of Centurion tank on its trailer. To get the 80+ tons of unit, trailer and load on the move usually required the lowest gear in six-wheel drive and thence a quick change to four-wheel drive once the mass was on the move, hills were to be rushed and down changes handled with great skill for to miss a gear and come to a standstill could mean that the whole outfit would be almost impossible to get on the move again with the power available. Downgrades were the opposite with every effort made to contain the load from pushing the outfit to a too greater
speed and running away.

The original painting in oils on canvas is in the ownership of Mr Norman Taylor, old soldier, ex-Shell tanker driver, aviator and English gentleman.

A painting like this of your favourite vehicle, British or American, in oils on canvas or board would cost about £1500.

E-mail mike@transportartist .co.uk or ring 07884462140 to commission your own unique work of art by one of Britain’s leading transport artists.

THIS PAINTING IN ACRYLICS ON A3 SIXE WATER-COLOUR PAPER IS FOR SALE AT £350. E-MAILmike@transportartist.co.uk FOR DETAILS.

Atkinson built lorries to last and used tried and tested components like Gardner oil engines, David Brown gearboxes and Eaton axles in a robust ladder frame chassis. They were plodders, you’d be lucky to get 40mph maximum from an Atki but they and many lorries like them were the mainstay of many a long-distance haulier’s fleet in the pre-motorway age. Atkins Heavy Haulage of Findern Derbyshire was one such company and they gave their lorries names, URB822 was named “Findern Pride”.

Please remember this image is my property and protected by International copyright law.

You may download any image for personal or non-commercial use only.

THIS PAINTING IN OILS ON A 18′′×24′′ CANVAS IS FOR SALE AT £850. E-MAILmike@transportartist.co.uk FOR DETAILS.

The Engineering and Supplies departments of the GPO, respectively the Green Fleet and the Red Fleet, comprised mostly of heavily modified ex-MOD vehicles. Their appearance was archaic even for their time but incredibly were still at work into the mid-sixties putting in a good days work despite their age. Here at a GPO depot an ex-Army Foden DG waits for its next load and in the background a post war AEC Matador one of 29 modified as 4×2 tractor units specially for the GPO is parked.

Please remember this image is protected by International copyright law..

You may download any image for personal or non-commercial use only.

The crew of an AEC Regal single-decker of Devon General pause for a break in the sleepy village of Drewsteignton deep in the South Devon countryside. Little has changed in the village to this day, the pub and church are still there and the school hall in the background, even the bus is preserved in perfect working order by local farmer Ron Greet but a pint of beer in the Church House Inn behind the bus is today priced at over £2.50 and this was half a weeks wages in 1955!

I’ve had the pleasure of driving this bus a few years ago and I thought I’d died and gone to heaven I enjoyed it so much, I could have driven from Lands End to John’o Groats and more!

The original of this painting was in oils on a 20′′×30′′ board.

A painting like this of your favourite vehicle, British or American, in oils on canvas or board would cost about £1500.

E-mail mike@transportartist .co.uk or ring 07884462140 to commission your own unique work of art by one of Britain’s leading transport artists.

Please remember this image is my property and protected by copyright law.

In steam days on British Railways the South Devon banks presented a formidable challange to any steam locomotive so that drivers whose trains were above a certain weight could request a pilot engine be attached to increase the power and prevent stalling on the gradient. If an engine stalled and came to a standstill it would probably not be able to restart and have to call for another engine to assist and this would cause delay to following trains, so a prudent driver would play safe and take a pilot anyway.

Here a Manor pilots a King at just past Aller Junction with the ascent of Dainton bank ahead of them and both engines are giving it all they’ve got to rush the bank and the hills are echoing to their efforts on a summers day in 1958.

Painted for a client based on his favourite photo about 6 years ago in oils on canvas.

An oil painting like this on board or canvas 20′′×30′′ of your favourite railway subject, British, American or even French, would cost about £2000.

E-mail me on mike@transportartist.co.uk or ring 07884462140.

Climbing to the summit at Churston ex-Great Western 4.6.0 Castle 4089"Donnington Castle" has just crossed Broadsands viaduct with a holiday train bound for Kingswear.
Most passengers would have left the train at the resort of Paignton and many more will detrain at Churston for the branch line to the little fishing town of Brixham and a few, most likely in First Class, will carry on to Kingswear for the up-market town of Dartmouth.

An oil painting like this on board or canvas 16′′×30′′ of your favourite railway subject, British, American or even French, would cost from £1500.
Available now from Wentworth Wooden Jigsaws at www.jigsaws.co.uk

One of the many hazards on the roads of Britain that the long-suffering lorry driver had to face was the dreaded Ministry of Transport’s roadside inspections at check points set up at random in lay-byes on trunk roads.

Once stopped the men from the Ministry would go over the victim’s vehicle with a fine tooth comb looking for overloading,bald tyres, faulty lights, smokey engines etc. the list is endless and many a lorry was immediately taken off the road for being in a dangerous condition.

Here a Leyland artic of Smiths of Eccles is directed by a policeman into the waiting arms of the Ministry men, what his fate will be we don’t know but you can bet they’ll find something if only it’s a frayed rope!

The original of this painting was in oils on a 20′′×30′′ board.

A painting like this of your favourite vehicle, British or American, in oils on canvas or board would cost about £1500.

E-mail mike@transportartist .co.uk or ring 07884462140 to commission your own unique work of art by one of Britain’s leading transport artists.

Please remember this image is my property and protected by copyright law.

THIS PAINTING IN OILS ON A 20′′×30′′ CANVAS BOARD IS FOR SALE AT £850. E-MAILmike@transportartist.co.uk FOR DETAILS.

When the Birmingham -London section of the M1, one of Britain’s first motorways, opened in 1959 the forward looking, dynamic Midland Red company lost no time in introducing the country’s first motorway express coach service with specially built vehicles based on their existing C5 design.

These handsome machines were fitted with turbo-chargers and capable of 100 mph (this is long before the blanket 70 mph maximum) which they needed to be in view of the tight schedule. The motorway proper in those days didn’t start until just outside Coventry and finished at Watford Gap so drivers had to fight their way at both ends of the journey though normal roads beset by roadworks and other traffic to keep to time.

The C5 class in their dotage were later converted for bus duties so had their turbo-chargers removed to avoid the temptation of 100 mph service buses!

Please remember this image is my property and protected by copyright law.

William Pollock started as an owner-driver in the haulage business in 1935 and, despite the hiccup of Nationalisation in 1949, the fleet had grown to 23 vehicles by 1960. The colour scheme of torquoise,blue and red became a regular sight on the Great North Road as the backbone of Pollock’s work was the night trunk from their Musselbburgh depot at Edinburgh to London.

The credit for naming individual vehicles goes to one of William’s sons,Ian,who joined the business in 1963, and this Atkinson artic of 1964 was named after the American series shown on British television in the early sixties and is fighting its way along the old A1 with a load of paper for London. The fleet grew during the sixties to 60 plus and the names included “Day Tripper”,“Thunderbird”,“Early Bird”, Grand Slam" and “French Connection”.

This painting, originally done for a transport calendar was purchased for the company boardroom of Pollocks where it now hangs.

A painting like this of your favourite vehicle, British or American, in oils on canvas or board would cost about £1500.

E-mail mike@transportartist .co.uk or ring 07884462140 to commission your own unique work of art by one of Britain’s leading transport artists.

Please remember this image is my property and protected by copyright law.

THIS PAINTING IN OILS ON A 20′′×30′′ CANVAS IS FOR SALE AT £950. E-MAILmike@transportartist.co.uk FOR DETAILS.

Speeding through Brookwood on the Southern region’s West of England main line rebuilt Merchant Navy 4.6.2 No 35022 “Holland America Line” is at the head of a Waterloo -Bournemouth express.

The thirty strong Merchant Navy class was introduced during the Second World War on the Southern Railway by O V S Bullied and originally carried an overall air smoothed casing with chain driven valve gear, which earned them the nickname “Spamcans” by footplatemen unimpressed by these innovations.
Due to various problems it was decided to rebuild the entire class to the handsome form seen here in the 1950s, doing away with the air-smoothed casing, fitting coventional Walschaerts valve gear, relocating the lubricators and fitting efficent smoke deflectors and in this form they lasted to the end of steam on the Southern Region in 1967.Go to my web-site www.transportartist.co.uk for my contact details or to commission your painting and own a piece of art that can only increase in value over the years.

Please remember this image is my property and protected by copyright law.

THIS PAINTING IN OILS ON A 18′′×26′′ CANVAS BOARD IS FOR SALE AT £850. E-MAILmike@transportartist.co.uk FOR DETAILS.

Knowles can trace their origins in transport back to 1932 when 17 year old Gerald scraped together £75 to buy a second-hand Ford model T. A year later he traded it in for his first Bedford, a make which were to stay a firm favourite for the next 40 years.

The S type introduced in 1950 as the “Big Bedford”, despite its cramped cab by modern standards, was a most successful range of models and was in production for ten years and this tractor unit of Knowles Transport loaded with a good ten tons or more of flake maize is typical of the firms 1950s road haulage fleet.

Please remember this image is my property and protected by copyright law.

THIS PAINTING IN OILS ON A 20′′×30′′ CANVAS BOARD IS FOR SALE AT £850. E-MAILmike@transportartist.co.uk FOR DETAILS.

Loading at King’s Statue, Weymouth these two Bristol K types of Southern National might appear to be the same because the bodies are both by Eastern Coach Works but the bus aficionado would know that the bus on the left, fleet No 1250, is a 1952 KSW6B lowbridge and its sister on the right, fleet No 822, a 1939 K5G highbridge.

Both, of course, are K types but 822 was the standard K being 26ft long and 7ft 6ins wide with a Gardner 5 cylinder engine and 14ft 6ins high body, hence 5G, whereas 1250 was 27ft long, (curiously classified S) 8ft wide, with a Bristol six-cylinder engine and 13ft 6ins high body, so quite simple really.

Please remember this image is my property and protected by copyright law.

Nowadays, it is difficult to convey how strange a bus with no radiator or indication of an engine at the front looked in the early 1930’s to a public more used to a stately upright radiator and a half-cab in which the driver sat in solitary splendour.

Such was the Q type developed by Arthur Rackham at AEC whose inspiration for the concept of a side-mounted engine came from his time in the USA as chief engineer at the Yellow Coach Manufacturing Co. Ltd. The engine of a Q was mounted OUTSIDE the chassis on the offside behind the driver with a propellor shaft running in a straight line to the gearbox thence to the unde-rslung differential offset to the extreme offside of the rear axle.

Here a Q type of London Transport threads its way though Clarence Street, Kingston-on Thames followed closely by the more conventional looking AEC Regal T type of Green Line sometime in the mid-fifties.

A painting like this of your favourite vehicle, British or American, in oils on canvas or board would cost about £1500.

E-mail mike@transportartist .co.uk to commission your own unique work of art by one of Britain’s leading transport artists.

Please remember this image is protected by copyright law.

When Jaguar cars introduced their XK120 range of sports cars in 1948 the effect was electric, all previous cars immediately looked very dated and it set new standards for the industry. It performed even better than it looked thanks to it’s brilliant ohc engine and superb, for its day, road-holding.

It was also relatively inexpensive costing under a £1000 new when most comparable cars were three or even four times as much, truly one of the all time classics but at one time in the 1960s one could be picked up for a few hundred pounds. The XK140 was its updated replacement in1954.

Please remember this image is my property and protected by copyright law.

Coasting gently into Paddington station 4-6-0 Castle No 7017
“G.J.Churchward” at the head of the Up “Torbay Express” in the late 1950s. Even though this scene is some ten years after Nationalisation every thing here is pure Great Western except the Scammell mechanical horse in the background in British Railways livery.

On Britain’s railways “Up” was always towards London so even, for instance, when a train left Kings Cross, London for Waverley,Edinburgh it took the “Down” line even though on the map it was North-bound and the train leaving Waverley would take the “Up” line South-bound to Kings Cross.

An oil painting like this on board or canvas 20′′×30′′ of your favourite railway subject, British, American or even French, would cost from £2000.

E-mail me on mike@transportartist.co.uk or ring 07884462140.

Please remember this image is my property and protected by copyright law.