Terence Cuneo (1907-1996)

With its brooding sky, and incredible surface, Night Freight (Condor) is a particularly dramatic composition. Occupying the centre of the composition, a BR Class 28 diesel hauls ‘Condor’, framed by a passing steam locomotive and a signal gantry. Here, Cuneo shows off British Rail’s newly introduced diesel locomotives, Class 28 (Metro-Vick Type 2), 'Metrovicks' as they were popularly known, which were built as part of the British Railway's 1955 Modernisation Plan.

Aside from the small face of the driver peering through the window of his mighty steed, the lack of human presence emphasises the idea of the engine as a living creature, with a will of its own. Although Cuneo’s first love was the steam locomotive, the artist's treatment of the present work instils the diesel locomotive with just as much power and strength (see N. Chakra, The Railway Painter of the Century, London, 1990, p. 44).