SRman's Workbench Blog

Ref the darkening of the red. There’s a very real reason for this. In a photo caption on p.37 of the Red Panniers book it states:

At Neasden an old oil drum full of a ‘patent’ mix, possibly oil, paraffin and a silicone wax, was kept stirred and this was applied by the cleaners. The problem was that the dirt was not cleaned off first and so became covered by the mix. The silicone set and at the next cleaning was polished and the dirt was encapsulated. Apparently it then took a wire brush to get back to the original red.

Thanks for that info; very useful to know when I get to weathering both of the Bachmann panniers ... and the old Hornby one I tarted up a long time ago but have to reline now. The Hornby one has separate handrails and Romford/Markits wheels fitted, and will eventually go onto DCC with a refurbished X04 motor with a neo-magnet fitted.

It does make some sense of the various close-up photos of the LT pannier tanks in several of the colour albums I have on my bookshelves.