Southern 2BIL’s and 2HAL’s in the 50’s

[Fredo]

Hi, does anyone know how I can find out when 2BIL’s and 2HAL’s got repainted from Southern Green to BR Green in the 50’s.  Thanks Fred 

[Stevebr]

The Blood and Custard site has good info which should help

https://www.bloodandcustard.com/SR-2BIL.html

[Wickham Green too]

Blood an' Custard looks to be good for yellow panels but not much earlier ( as you'd expect ) ............ I was enquiring elsewhere about early post-war HAL units and it seems that the majority survived to Nationalisation in the original Maunsell green though a handful received malachite from '46 onwards 'til eight of the second batch ( at least ) were still to be repainted in '52. A couple are recorded as 'BRG' in'50 or '51 and this is assumed to be British Railways Green - though how different this was from malachite at that date is open to - lots of - conjecture : B.R. insignia would have appeared on any sets that required shopping whether they got a full repaint or not.

[Nearholmer]

2 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

though how different this was from malachite at that date is open to - lots of - conjecture

 

Which, I think could well undermine your attempts to answer the question you've set. Its not even clear to me that the colour used by the southern region ever changed in an identifiable step, although it does seem to be the case that freshly-applied late-1940s/early-1950s SR/BR(S) green was lighter and brighter than c1960 freshly-applied BR(S) green. However, re-varnished "early" seems to have been pretty much like "late".

 

The Reading/Aldershot HALs were virtually brand new when war broke out, and the M&G ones only a year older, so many retaining their original livery into the early 50s makes sense. There was also a small batch built in 1948, which would almost certainly have been painted in the lighter/brighter green when new(*). 

 

The "BRG" note may not refer to the colour, but the insignia, not forgetting that sunshine lettering persisted for a while under BR - quite a few newly built 4-SUBS had "British Railways" in sunshine lettering over the cab windows.

 

Maybe mix a pot of "malachite" and a pot of the later green together and paint it with that!

 

* Yes, B&C says they were, with sunshine "british railways" over the cab windows, like SUBS that they resembled.

Edited January 31, 2021 by Nearholmer

[Fredo]

Thanks for the replies really helpful and much appreciated. . Any ideas which are likely to have been the 2BIL’s used on the Horsted Keynes service (37 I think) and in which years. Thanks again Fred