On Early Shift

For this post, April 26 2021, I am describing a recent Gibsons' 500-piece jigsaw titled On Early Shift. The jigsaw replicates a cropped version of a poster picture.

The 1948 British Railways’ poster, On Early Shift, was painted by Terence Cuneo. It depicts the interior of the Greenwood signal box, New Barnet, London, with a signalman operating a lever. At the same time he is looking through the windows watching an express passenger train, hauled by an ‘A4’ class 4-6-2 locomotive of Sir Nigel Gresley, approaching at speed. The text at the base below reads "Greenwood Signal Box, New Barnet" with the poster title. The British Railways 'totem' logo is included on both sides. The original poster, one of the first for the newly formed British Railways, was sold for £2,500 in 2014. When viewing the jigsaw, it is obvious that the picture has been cropped, but don’t look for the famous mouse. Only Cuneo’s paintings from 1953, feature a hidden mouse in his compositions. His cat entered his studio one day and ‘gifted’ a dead field mouse to him, leading to the famous added rodent. For more Cuneo jigsaws, just input his name in the search bar above. A picture of the original poster is shown below.