Originally painted in September 2003, this mural on the rear of the cottage at 19 Gilbert Road in Swanage had been quite badly stripped of paint by the steam from the passing trains.
It almost appeared as if the walls had been sandblasted, as a lot of the paint had been worn away. I have never known this to happen to any other murals that I have painted in the past, we could only contribute it to the steam from the engines as the trains pass very close to this house so many times a day throughout the peak season and the steam is quite acidic.
I had to hire a scaffolding tower from Sydenhams for the day, which was fun as they do not include construction or dismantling of the tower in their delivery, so I had to go beg for help from some of the railway workers.
The weather held out and I managed to get the mural repainted and scaffolding dismantled by late afternoon.
This was how it looked at the end of the day after a new coat of paint……
Nina Camplin 