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A basic GWR paint question.


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Did the GWR mix their own paint ? How consistent was the green colour on their locomotives ?

Swindon mixed their own paint, there is a tale that when BR ordered Swindon to stop mixing Green paint for locos from a certain Monday that they mixed as much as possible that weekend.  The BR livery looks different to the GWR even when the same colour is used as the footplate edge is green on the BR and it makes the whole ensemble look lighter.

Swindon painters painted locos in the erecting shop working round the fitters who were trying to re assemble the locos and Swindon was notorious for not using much paint, but as GW locos were booked for works visits every 80K miles or so say 15 months, it was not the issue it would have been where locos were run till they stopped, bodged up and run till they couldn't be bodged any more before being accepted for works like the London Muddle and Scottish. 

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Swindon mixed their own paint, there is a tale that when BR ordered Swindon to stop mixing Green paint for locos from a certain Monday that they mixed as much as possible that weekend.  The BR livery looks different to the GWR even when the same colour is used as the footplate edge is green on the BR and it makes the whole ensemble look lighter.

Swindon painters painted locos in the erecting shop working round the fitters who were trying to re assemble the locos and Swindon was notorious for not using much paint, but as GW locos were booked for works visits every 80K miles or so say 15 months, it was not the issue it would have been where locos were run till they stopped, bodged up and run till they couldn't be bodged any more before being accepted for works like the London Muddle and Scottish. 

 

Even as a child, living next the the GWR/MR Avonmouth branch. (fifties). I noticed that the Midland 3Fs and 4Fs used to clank whereas the GWR panniers and prairies* never did.. It also explains my passion for trains and preference for the GWR.

 

*Waffle alert!

5525 was a favourite, but always rather scruffy. I can remember a GWR 3 unit railcar still in GWR livery (with shirtbutton on the nose), but the finish was rather tired by then. so I can't claim any authority on the exact tints of chocolate and cream. I recall Clifton Down station getting a repaint for the Queen's visit (1954 IIRC) in BR chocolate and cream, but have no recollection of the colour it was before (dirt probably - it was before the Clean Air Act)). It was a proper station then with a goods yard - no supermarket and pub! I often used to walk along the platform on the way to and from school.

Edited by Il Grifone
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  • 3 months later...

Hello, all.  I'm reviving this topic to pose another question--also prompted by the general unavailability of some paints in the U.S.A.  Has anyone a recommendation for an equivalent in Vallejo or Humbrol acrylic to approximate the maroon lake or crimson lake coach livery of the immediate pre-WWI period?  Thanks.

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I mentioned Badger Modelflex acrylic paints earlier. I use this one for Metropolitan red/maroon. Some sources say the the Met just used Midland crimson lake.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Modelflex-Railroad-Milwaukee-Maroon-Bottle/dp/B079VRPX5Y/ref=sr_1_28?ie=UTF8&qid=1546462710&sr=8-28&keywords=modelflex+paint+railroad+colors

 

Modelflex are meant for spraying but brush paint well. The full range is shown on the Badger website.

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