Three Weeks to Turn Back Time
No.1 by the water tower at Bo'ness in her new livery
With the clocks due to go forward, the Steam Department painting crew set out to turn them back for No.1
With the news that ‘Day Out with Thomas’ would not feature in this year’s events calendar, we decided to take the opportunity to allow No.1, familiar to visitors as Thomas for many years, to tell something of her own railway story.
Our painting squad was armed with brushes, paint, and approximately 300 miles of masking tape and were sent to turn the clock back for No.1 to her days at the Coltness Ironworks. An intensive and exhausting three weeks later, No.1 has been beautifully restored to the livery she carried during her working life in Lanarkshire. Visitors now have the opportunity to see one of our most important collection items back in traffic and presented authentically as she would have appeared in the early part of the century.
Everyone who was part of this express repaint should be giving themselves a huge pat on the back (and a few days off!) Well done and thank you to all who contributed and worked hard to achieve a superb end result.
Learn more about No.1 here.
