RED GAUNTLET
Across two winters - 2018/2019 and 2020/2021 - I played a part in the restoration of the Burrell Agricultural traction engine, 'Red Gauntlet'. In the first stint this involved the undertaking of all the lining, by hand no tape, with the second stint involving the signwriting on the canopy before the engine made its debut at a local Cornish rally.
Traditional Signwriting
Lining
background & research
Working with the Burrell manufacturing works drawings – which referenced black, bright red and 'burrell' straw – the first stint was focused on me traditionally lining out the traction engine. Here, three-colour lining was added to the tender, lagging, horn and spectacle plates, gear guards and splash-back - with the spokes of the wheels utilising a two-colour lining scheme.
the process
The second stint of work involved my skills of traditional signwriting. Here, the style and layout of the lettering was informed by old archival photographs of the engine in its working day - working from this photographs allowed me to recreate the lettering on the canopy, combining a block typeface with a script.
I would strongly recommend Amy to anyone that is looking to have an engine lined out. Her knowledge and research into the correct colours and style of lining for our engine was very helpful, because our aim was to get it as close to how it left the factory as we could. Her attention to detail was excellent: we have only had praise about the lining since the engine has been out. Everything about Amy and her work is professional and we would recommend her to anyone. She was always five minutes early on arrival each day and was happy to work on into the evening to get parts finished if we needed her too... just make sure you have plenty of tea to hand!
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