W h smiths kiosk / shop colours

[wagonbasher]

i am modelling a timber branch of w h smiths for the layout Tackeroo.. WW1 UK training camp railway based on a real location in Brocton near Stafford. the camp had a branch of smiths amongst the rows of austere huts and I am using photographs of booksellers / newsagents and stores on other uk trying camps along with photographs of timber built w h smiths branches.

 

My question is about the companies colours.

 

There is a restored kiosk on the bluebelle railway and one on the station at Pickering..

 

Does anyone know if that green with white lettering is appropriate for the ww1 period?

 

Andy

[joppyuk1]

Back in the 1970's, when Smiths were modernising all their branches, ripping out all the old oak shelving and replacing it with modern stuff. the board decided to restore one of its shops to original state. They chose the one in Newtown, Powys; and took it back to 1929. Upstairs is a museum of the firms artifacts, free entry when it's open. I'm sure a polite letter to the manager would get you the information needed.

[Edwardian]

Back in the 1970's, when Smiths were modernising all their branches, ripping out all the old oak shelving and replacing it with modern stuff. the board decided to restore one of its shops to original state. They chose the one in Newtown, Powys; and took it back to 1929. Upstairs is a museum of the firms artifacts, free entry when it's open. I'm sure a polite letter to the manager would get you the information needed.

 

Image search on the restored shop:  https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=w+h+smith+Newtown,+Powys&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjCnKTFvtjTAhXGAcAKHaAaBeQQ_AUICSgE&biw=1920&bih=934#spf=1

 

I note most of the steam-age station kiosks I have seen modelled show WH Smiths in this brown get-up.

 

Perhaps the more interesting question is what did the building look like, for a newsagents set up amidst temporary army hutted accommodation?

 

That might suggest the extent to which the company colour was likely to be applied, if at all.  For instance, if it was just A N Other army-type hut, it might have no more than a painted sign-board in the company's colour.

[hayfield]

My memories from the 60's is for brown buildings, look at link to photo's attached. All old ones seem dark and the NRM one seems brown with gold lettering

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=WH+Smith+station+kiosks&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiPor74wNjTAhUlOsAKHSDrAfkQ_AUIDCgD&biw=1280&bih=894#imgdii=G_E4sIiboYMLWM:&imgrc=qLB4-iwrAM79rM:

 

There are some colour photos with bright green ones, these look new, do they follow a regional theme or just a modern livery ?

[Edwardian]

Interesting questions.

 

Here is a WW1-period kiosk - so at least it confirms the font: https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rSFAoJdy6pw/TmeaOeRl4oI/AAAAAAAAAg8/Xg0iBq9wWos/s1600/WH+Smith%2527s+Stall.jpg

 

If no better information comes up, I think the dour brown with this sort of lettering would be a reasonably safe bet.

 

This is 1915, different font, but this is tiled, so I don't think this would be a good prototype for your hut: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwi8sqvyxNjTAhUCOBoKHXvYBCwQjBwIBA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fs-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2F736x%2Fcb%2Fd4%2F3d%2Fcbd43d210e2915d263e7a95f3e05adb2.jpg&psig=AFQjCNE4IlGZexxPsqCWLMLj3kLslVIiDg&ust=1494066006461905&cad=rjt

 

1906: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/6f/96/b4/6f96b4748970a3c2e7015abd6cd045f8.jpg

 

This, also 1906, may be more your thing; a corrugated iron hut: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/14/3e/72/143e72a6902d74944931c5b15f3c3073.jpg

 

Judging from the events reported, the green scheme is much later (Pickering): http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C11nfkka9JI/UimnOaCRzaI/AAAAAAAANLU/gtSuyKJ-LKA/s1600/SAM_1749.JPG

 

There is some law of railway modelling that says that, despite the most exhaustive research, you will only get the right answer when someone turns up at an exhibition and explains how you got it wrong.

Edited May 5, 2017 by Edwardian

[wagonbasher]

Interesting questions.

 

Here is a WW1-period kiosk - so at least it confirms the font: <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rSFAoJdy6pw/TmeaOeRl4oI/AAAAAAAAAg8/Xg0iBq9wWos/s1600/WH+Smith"data-ipb="nomediaparse" data-cke-saved-href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rSFAoJdy6pw/TmeaOeRl4oI/AAAAAAAAAg8/Xg0iBq9wWos/s1600/WH+Smith" s+stall.jpg"="">https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rSFAoJdy6pw/TmeaOeRl4oI/AAAAAAAAAg8/Xg0iBq9wWos/s1600/WH+Smith's+Stall.jpg

 

If no better information comes up, I think the dour brown with this sort of lettering would be a reasonably safe bet.

 

This is 1915, different font, but this is tiled, so I don't think this would be a good prototype for your hut: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwi8sqvyxNjTAhUCOBoKHXvYBCwQjBwIBA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fs-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2F736x%2Fcb%2Fd4%2F3d%2Fcbd43d210e2915d263e7a95f3e05adb2.jpg&psig=AFQjCNE4IlGZexxPsqCWLMLj3kLslVIiDg&ust=1494066006461905&cad=rjt

 

1906: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/6f/96/b4/6f96b4748970a3c2e7015abd6cd045f8.jpg

 

This, also 1906, may be more your thing; a corrugated iron hut: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/14/3e/72/143e72a6902d74944931c5b15f3c3073.jpg

 

Judging from the events reported, the green scheme is much later (Pickering): http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C11nfkka9JI/UimnOaCRzaI/AAAAAAAANLU/gtSuyKJ-LKA/s1600/SAM_1749.JPG

 

There is some law of railway modelling that says that, despite the most exhaustive research, you will only get the right answer when someone turns up at an exhibition and explains how you got it wrong.

 

 

NEW TEXT WAGONBASHER RESPONSE AFTER MESSING UP THE REPLY

 

So a few things are known from the plans of the site, the foot print of the building was 30 foot (frontage) x 40 foot. So more than a kiosk. Most huts on the camp were 20 foot wide. Although I could stand on chase road and point to where it stood a few feet off the road, the land has gone consumed as part of a now disused quarry.

 

Given that 30 foot wide is big and uncommon, I have chosen to model it as a 20 foot hut with a 10 foot lean to.

 

These are from different camps and are the main inspiration:

 

Kinmel camp after the riots of 1919http://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/wp-content/mcme-uploads/2014/08/e-20020051-007_2.jpg

 

Witley Camp Bramshott

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HKG7vT3AZD4/VPy5-jvcArI/AAAAAAAAC4s/w9Pd8YHgRLI/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-03-08%2Bat%2B21.06.31.png

 

I cant post a picture as to where I am in the project, its at Andy York's being fitted with windows

 

It is very much like the two above.

 

So colours... Timber planking would be creosote, I have a choice of windows door and sign in W H Smiths colours or just the sign. ( that might depend on the final colour)

 

Andy

[Andy Y]

 

 

I'll look at windows and bits this weekend.

[bécasse]

There was, pre-WWII, a WHS bookstall on Bembridge station platform. Despite serving as the newsagent for the whole village, it was removed at some stage of the war and consequently proved the most difficult thing to research in 1969 when we commenced the P4 model. One of our group worked close to WHS's then HQ in London and spent considerable time going through their archives, the fact that he was a professional librarian probably facilitating the level of access he was given.

 

While there were no photographs of stall at Bembridge, there were thousands of photographs of other outlets, and we reckoned that we made a pretty good model at the end of the day. Obviously one of the questions to be addressed was colour and we came to the conclusion from the available evidence that the dark green, still used in places at that time, was almost certainly correct for a model set in 1937.

 

Looking at the b/w photos linked to in earlier posts, I would say that the corrugated iron building is almost certainly dark green, not least because that was the most common contemporary colour for such structures, and the "hut" appears to be painted rather than varnished and that too suggests dark green as the brown paint used at that period tended to be a fairly light "milk chocolate" colour - remember that colours would not have come ready mixed but would have been mixed by the paint foreman on site and the range of available pigments was actually quite small.