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  A Series of over 75 Paintings depicting the Closing Years of Woodhams' Scrapyard, Barry, South Wales 1986-1988 Over the following pages, the artist Brian Sefton recounts his initial discovery of Woodham's Yard, his first attempts at capturing the experience and, ultimately, his decision to preserve the entire decaying fleet of locomotives on canvas.
My first visit to Woodham's yard in February, 1982 occurred late in the history of its occupation by the remains of BR's steam locomotive fleet - 23 years after the first arrivals. The visual and emotional impact was immediate and intensely exciting, re-kindling memories of Sunday shed tours in the early fifties and a sense of awe inspired by the sheer scale and monumentality of the machines and the vast number and variety of types. There was, however, a sadness too. No warmth; no hiss of steam; none of the wonderful smells of smoke, steam and hot oil; no purposeful mechanical sounds. Instead, a stiff and chilling wind off the sea; a sense of slow but inexorable decay; hollow sounds of wind blowing through empty cabs and smokebox cavities, and a persistent, ghostly rattle and smack of corroded plates and brakevan doors.
No locomotive at that time was in any sense complete. Most had lost their tenders. With only a small number of exceptions coupling rods and running gear were missing. Only a few still had their chimneys or dome covers. Smokebox doors had been crudely cut away. 30825 had even lost its boiler and most of 73156 had been insistently claimed for use in the restoration of, or as spares for, 73082 Camelot. Most distressing of all, the driving wheels of 6023 King Edward II had been cut in half. Only 35006 Peninsular and Oriental S.N. Co. seemed to be secure as, detached from the main body, it awaited its imminent removal to Toddington wearing a fresh coat of paint and an air of confidence in the future.
In spite of the decay, however, the romantic and monumental appeal of the locomotives was undiminished. Their forms and proportions, like those of the ruins of the ancient world, were still elegant and expressive of the different roles and characters of each type. Even boilers stripped of their cladding managed to retain their dignity and strength of form. The 6'2" wheels of Bullied's pacifics still spoke of express power and speed, and the strength and stamina of the 9Fs was evident in the long, loping sequence of their five coupled axles. There were racehorses and workhorses. Black fives, 8Fs and GWR 2-8-0s seemed to be almost as common as ever. The Great Western, Southern, LMS and BR were all represented, but, alas, there were no LNER types - no A1s, no forgotten and overlooked J39, no V1 or V3.
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