“And now on BBC One, "Kong and Kinkerer”

Or perhaps one of the ubiquitous 0-6-0 J15s (this book even notes this side window was added for use on the Colne Valley line)

If Ravilious was using artistic licence with his engine, it does mean he might have omitted a tender to make the locomotive closer to the carriages, but that does open up other candidates - could it have been a lovely T26 “Intermediate”, as preserved at Bressingham? Note the open cab

If you say Great Eastern 4-4-0, the main contender would be one of the beautiful Claud Hamilton locos…but despite the wheel arrangement being correct, the rest isn’t quite right - it has a tender and these engines were also probably a bit too much of an express to be on a secondary branch line

Which brings me on to my next question - we know the “where” now, but what about the “what locomotive is it going over the bridge (at night)”?

In the meantime I’ll have to look at the card version from @rathergoodart Helen got me for
my birthday, which was kind of what prompted this thread.

Happily, the old station building from Sible and Castle
Hedingham was relocated brick-by-brick to the lovely Colne Valley heritage railway just down the road.

I wonder if this concrete footpath sign is the same as 1935 though?

But what of the railway? Well, predictably the Colne Valley and Halstead Railway branch line closed in 1965 and the track lifted shortly after that - I don’t know when the bridge was removed, but you can still see the abutments and embankment either side of the road - it’s the red hue he depicts

And here it is, the closest matching position I could get for where Ravilious was looking - the railing is still there, and note that concrete footpath sign on the right! Wonder if that small tree is the larger specimen too?

But it turns out that discernible hump in the road in the painting isn’t the large humpback bridge over the River Colne - but a much smaller bump in the road just beyond the bridge, so the descriptions that he painted it *from* the bridge turn out to be correct

Here’s the humpback bridge on Queen Street between the two villages is- I was initially a bit worried as it looks nothing like the painting, and also had some fairly major looking roadworks…

Ravilious was living in Castle Hedingham, Essex, at the time with his wife Tirzah Garwood, and painted several scenes of the local area, such as “Village Street” of 1936.

This is “Train Going Over a Bridge at Night” by Eric Ravilious (1935). Despite being a perfect combination of my interests, until the other day I’d never really thought about *where* the bridge is, and *what* the train is. A 🧵

Fun vintage shop find - a GWR jig-saw puzzle of King George V from the 1930s, only two missing pieces, but really like the cut out design. Haven’t seen many puzzles that do that but it really brings the shape out. Also bonus GWR system map hidden in the box!

BBC Symphony Orchestra are on stage and the Hall’s pretty packed, great to see a full house. Catch it on Radio 3 at 7:30

Well hello, thought I’d try Bluesky - and what a place to start at Prom 33: Elgar, Holst, Stanford and Vaughan Williams. Have wanted to hear A London Symphony live for years.