SR loco lining 1930s

[Dorsetmike]

I've always thought that passenger loco lining was a black border with a thin white line inside it, boiler bands were white/black/white yet Fox supply N gauge sets for the N15/King Arthur class which have yellow in place of white.

Carter's  "Britains railway liveries" tends to support the Black/white pre Bulleid then Black/yellow, whereas Bradley says that black/yellow started to appear in 1936  - 2 years pre Bullied.

I have 3 sets of the Fox ones and intend to use them on H15, S15, N15 or a Nelson but do the rest in black/white unless I find some more definite information. The Fox ones don't include boiler bands so they may have to be white/black/white anyway.

 

The main advantage of the Fox ones is that the  cab and tender  sides are supplied as single pieces, so curves "should" be that much easier for my 84 year old eyesight.

[bécasse]

The lining paint as applied was definitely white. However, contemporary reports, backed up by experience on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, suggest that the white rapidly turned a "beige" colour in use, so that was the normal colour seen - it is definitely far more subdued than white.

[N15class]

I know it went to yellow with the change of green. I also remember reading somewhere that yellow was used just for a year or so at grouping. But for the rest would of been white. Even with dirt and oil, I am sure it would of looked more whittthan yellow.

[bécasse]

I know it went to yellow with the change of green. I also remember reading somewhere that yellow was used just for a year or so at grouping. But for the rest would of been white. Even with dirt and oil, I am sure it would of looked more whittthan yellow.

 

While I reckon "yellow" would be going a bit far, there seems no doubt that only the lining on newly painted locos looked white and then only briefly. There exist contemporary reports that the lining was beige (but don't ask me to quote the sources, I have long forgotten the details) and, more importantly, experience on the IoWSR shows that the lining rapidly changes colour, probably as a result of cleaning with an oily rag.