Springburn Virtual Museum

Railway industry

Writers in the painting department, Cowlairs works, c 1890s

After locomotives and carriages were completed, it was necessary to paint them, not only to protect the metal and woodwork but also to signify the company which owned and ran them. Engines for export, such as those produced by the North British Locomotive Company, were transported in plain grey paintwork, but engines for domestic railways such as those produced at Cowlairs were painted at the works.

Engines and carriages were painted in the company's livery by skilled painters, and writers would add any lettering or emblems as required. The men in this picture were skilled artists and are seen posing with the tools of their trade such as easels, palettes and mahl-sticks, on which the painter would lean his wrist while painting on vertical surfaces.

The North British Railway employed a sizeable number of ex-servicemen in their Cowlairs painting department. The older man third from left could even have been a veteran of the Crimean War.

Source: Glasgow City Archives