W1 Hush-Hush Battleship Grey

[geoedlegg]

 

I cannot find any information about this livery anywhere, does someone have some knowledge they could share about this strange yet quite attractive livery.

[Edge]

Battleship grey was to my knowledge unique to this loco. The only other LNER locos to wear grey in service were the A4s which had a much lighter grey livery.

 

as I understand it, 10000 was ultimately expected to carry apple green, but would wear the grey through her testing. When the rebuild was ultimately decided upon, her A4 outline made the sky blue of their livery a better fit

Edited September 18, 2020 by Edge

[geoedlegg]

Thanks for your reply, very interesting, so was the livery ever used in actual service? 

[Dungrange]

Yes - that's the livery that it carried in service for several years from its introduction in about 1929 until it was withdrawn around 1936 and rebuilt in 1937.

 

There is already a whole thread on the Hornby W1 that discusses all of the details, livery differences etc - 

 

[Steamport Southport]

I always assumed that green was an afterthought or even a mistake on a cigarette card.

 

If it was intended to paint it green why wasn't it green when on display for the Liverpool & Manchester Centenary? Where it was in direct view of the world media. The LNER weren't exactly amateurs when it came to publicity and this was the biggest railway event in the world.

 

Instead it was polished to an inch of its life. If they were prepared to put that much amount of effort in, surely they could have found a bit of green paint.

 

 

 

Jason

[Bernard Lamb]

19 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

I always assumed that green was an afterthought or even a mistake on a cigarette card.

 

If it was intended to paint it green why wasn't it green when on display for the Liverpool & Manchester Centenary? Where it was in direct view of the world media. The LNER weren't exactly amateurs when it came to publicity and this was the biggest railway event in the world.

 

Instead it was polished to an inch of its life. If they were prepared to put that much amount of effort in, surely they could have found a bit of green paint.

 

 

 

Jason

As it used a marine boiler it might have been thought appropriate to paint it in a colour more in keeping with a ship than a locomotive. As a publicity move it certainly worked as people are still talking about it.

Bernard

[Steamport Southport]

15 minutes ago, Bernard Lamb said:

As it used a marine boiler it might have been thought appropriate to paint it in a colour more in keeping with a ship than a locomotive. As a publicity move it certainly worked as people are still talking about it.

Bernard

 

It was always mentioned in books I was reading as a kid in the 1970s. So must have been seen as significantly important by writers such as OS Nock and HC Casserley.

 

The ironic thing was the boiler outlived it and wasn't scrapped until 1965. Pity it wasn't kept. Surely had some historical value even as a curiosity.

 

 

Jason

Edited September 19, 2020 by Steamport Southport

[crackedmember]

Being Pedantic, but Slightly Off topic. 

 

Mr Edge is wrong in stating that only Hush-Hush and some A4's were the only grey painted locomotives to have been in normal service on the LNER.

 

The Great Eastern used Grey as a "Utility Livery" during WW1 and for some years after.  This included the B12's.   Some were lined out, others had a single red line at the edge of cabs, tanks etc.  The most humble had none.  Some of these ex GER engines retained this livery until withdrawal in  the 1930's.

 

Clive

 

 

 

 

[Nearholmer]

Can we have a link to the other thread?

 

I find the reference to “battleship grey” intriguing, because that colour (actually two colours: light admiralty grey; and, dark admiralty grey) is very distinctive, with a significant amount of blue in it, quite unlike, say, photographic grey, which is simply black (18%) and white.

 

I spent years ordering electrical switchgear painted in the two admiralty greys, and really do wonder if the loco was painted in either of them.

 

 

[Dungrange]

31 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Can we have a link to the other thread?

 

There is - fourth post.

[Michael Hodgson]

Is there any reason to suppose this wasn't just outshopped in grey rather than the usual company colours for photographic reasons?  If it was still regarded as an experimental engine even when it was earning revenue, would they have been happy not to bother repainting it?  Did its high pressure boiler need specially trained footplatemen or was any experienced driver considered qualified?  If it needed specialist staff, the distinctive colour would have made it instantly obvious to all concerned.

[stewartingram]

As in my avatar - GER 564 ar Sheringham in 1978. Preserved I know, but gives the idea.