Livery - O13 Milk Vans

[The Fatadder]

My Blacksmith O13 is nearly finished, just waiting on the detail painting and transfers.  however I am a little confused as to what colour the ends should be.

 

My expectation as a full brake is that it should be finished all over brown with black ends, MILK TRAIN TO / FROM LONDON in yellow lettering on the side and Great Crest Western squeezed onto the panel between the two large doors (it looks like it will only just fit based on the photo in Russell.)

 

This matches up with the preserved example at the SVR (brown with black ends), though outside of Didcot I am reluctant to trust preserved painting.

 

However the instructions for the kit describe it as having brown sides and  ends, as per Siphons etc.  Looking at the two prototype photos in Russell its hard to tell if the end is black or brown in shadow, (though I do find it hard to tell on a black and white photo).  I was hoping that someone may know for certain?

[corneliuslundie]

Great Western Way on page 100 states "The practice of painting the ends the same colour as the sides was one that continued with brown vehicles to the end of the GWR". And it states on page 102 in the section headed "1922 - brown again" that "Lake livery for 'brown' vehicles was abandoned at the same time as the passenger coaches changed back to two colours and once more 'brown vehicles' had brown sides and ends", So it looks as if except for any painted lake between 1912 and 1922, which would have been lake all over, the O13s would have had brown ends. An interesting and quirky prototype.

Jonathan

[The Fatadder]

Thanks, will stick with the brown ends then. Solebar /steps were painted black at lunch, so just need to add transfers now (and eventually once they are finished the roof)