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PRA wagons - What colours?


gatesy
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What colours scheme did the Pony Mill to Scotland PRA wagons carry? I only have reference photos in black & white. Any colour photos out there or just a description would be helpful. I am scratchbuilding a PRA and would really like to get the colour scheme right.

 

Steve

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From the photos on Huw Millington's site, a yellow-tinted grey would appear to be the scheme:-

http://www.flickr.co...157603195747980

There are another couple on the site as well- this ties in from what I remember of their 'cousins' on the Ferryhill- Scotland dolomite traffic.

Just looked on Paul Bartlett's site- his photos appear to confirm my recollections:-

http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/chinaclaypra

Brian

Edited by Fat Controller
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From the photos on Huw Millington's site, a yellow-tinted grey would appear to be the scheme:-

http://www.flickr.co...157603195747980

There are another couple on the site as well- this ties in from what I remember of their 'cousins' on the Ferryhill- Scotland dolomite traffic.

Just looked on Paul Bartlett's site- his photos appear to confirm my recollections:-

http://paulbartlett....om/chinaclaypra

Brian

I must admit I thought they were unpainted galvanised steel. They then get a mix of china clay and brake/road dust. Look at Huw's photograph and remember the hood is red!

 

Paul Bartlett

Edited by hmrspaul
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Well this one, RLS 6303, at Warrington in 1983, and its neighbour 6307 are a pale green...

 

post-6971-0-23560900-1317555099.jpg

Yes, I agree I was incorrect and they were almost certainly painted. When newly converted as a box open they were grey http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/rlsaggregatepma/h158bf06a#h158bf06a (this is the same wagon 6303) but what the top coat was once as PRA I don't know. Greys of all types are nearly as elusive as reds and browns. I agree that http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/chinaclaypra/h9eb7eda#h9eb7eda does not appear grey, but most of mine do, and colours are influenced by the time of day of the sunshine.

 

Paul Bartlett

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Looking at hmrspaul's, especially those taken in 1984, a year after mine, green wouldn't be your first guess!

 

Just found another in the background of something else, that same day at Warrington. Could be one the same ones shunted into the yard I suppose. But at least the lighting's OK, and the rest of the colours on things look more or less OK.

post-6971-0-61654200-1317567534.jpg

Edited by eastwestdivide
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Well this one, RLS 6303, at Warrington in 1983, and its neighbour 6307 are a pale green...

 

Granted, it certainly appears to have a greenish tint in that image, and in Working Wagons Vol 3, David Larkin reckons they were pale green. However, when I was researching these wagons for my own scratch-build, I could only ever find shades of grey, tinted with either clay dust or traffic dust.So that's how I finished these....

 

post-9877-0-99412300-1317597713_thumb.jpg

post-9877-0-23333500-1317597771_thumb.jpg

 

By the way, there's a scale drawing of the PRA in 'Modelling the British Rail Era' by Santona.

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Just a thought - if they were relatively new in 1983 when I photographed them, maybe the paint didn't take kindly to the china clay (or was poorly applied initially), and the pale green only lasted a very short while before a repaint was needed?

 

Nice models!

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  • 1 year later...
  • 7 years later...
On 03/10/2011 at 00:26, Boscarne said:

 

Granted, it certainly appears to have a greenish tint in that image, and in Working Wagons Vol 3, David Larkin reckons they were pale green. However, when I was researching these wagons for my own scratch-build, I could only ever find shades of grey, tinted with either clay dust or traffic dust.So that's how I finished these....

 

post-9877-0-99412300-1317597713_thumb.jpg

post-9877-0-23333500-1317597771_thumb.jpg

 

By the way, there's a scale drawing of the PRA in 'Modelling the British Rail Era' by Santona.

Hi there I have just bought a 7mm kit for the PRA China clay wagon. I have just seen your 4 mm thread 

just wondering if you could advise me on paint colours you used

what red did you for the hood 

What greys did you use for the main body 

weathering what did you do 

Many thanks Garry 

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Hi there I have just bought a 7mm kit for the PRA China clay wagon. I have just seen your 4 mm thread 

just wondering if you could advise me on paint colours you used

what red did you for the hood 

What greys did you use for the main body 

weathering what did you do 

Many thanks Garry 

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Hi Gazza, this thread was rather overtaken by the news of Kernow PRA release. Chris at Kernow did extensive research into the colours on the wagons and the resulting release certainly looks right. Maybe he can shed some light on the colour specs for you. 
By the way who makes a 7mm PRA kit please?

i am thinking of an excuse for a Dapol 08 and clays.

regards

Steve

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  • 4 months later...

The PRAs were definitely pale green with red hoods when introduced in 1982/3; one or two were regularly in the consist of the afternoon St Blazey-Severn Tunnel Junction which passed Plymouth around 1630.    Paul Bartlett's photos show RLS6315 and one behind it looking green on 28 May 84, but 6315 is in a yellow shade by July 84.    They appear to have become grey by 1988.

 

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14 hours ago, D1072 said:

The PRAs were definitely pale green with red hoods when introduced in 1982/3; one or two were regularly in the consist of the afternoon St Blazey-Severn Tunnel Junction which passed Plymouth around 1630.    Paul Bartlett's photos show RLS6315 and one behind it looking green on 28 May 84, but 6315 is in a yellow shade by July 84.    They appear to have become grey by 1988.

 

Well it is my photos you are quoting and I cannot see any in green! They are sort of steel bronzy grey. Its an odd colour, but not green is it? https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/chinaclaypra/ec183913e 

IT is against a thin sun - see the shadow - and is therefore not lit my sunlight. Fortunately when seen a few months later they were beautifully lit. 

 

https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/chinaclaypra/e112b2992 

https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/chinaclaypra/e17d6538 

https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/chinaclaypra/e9eb7eda

 

I doubt very much they ever got repainted in their short lives.

 

Paul

Edited by hmrspaul
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  • 2 weeks later...

Unfortunately none of the few photos I took of the afternoon St Blazey-STJ train include a PRA (film was relatively expensive to a teenager!). None of the images found searching "Pont's Mill china clay PRA" show a PRA in colour, apart from the photo of the 08 with two in tow, taken on 16/4/85 which appears in a Rail Photoprints calendar; it is indistinct; the wagons are dirty.    Helpfullly, Rivercider has posted a photo of 45 127 heading the morning train, 6C43 0915 St Blazey to Severn Tunnel Junction on 8/3/83.   It is entering platform 5 at Plymouth.   This must have been soon after the wagons entered traffic - it is clear that the underframes are painted the same colour of the sides.   It appears to be a sort of light green / duck egg green, similar to the sort of undercoat occasionally seen on a loco buffer which had been replaced in a hurry.   Did the wagons get a repaint, or did they rapidly weather?

scan0001a.jpg

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Further thought - it's a light avocado green (lighter than many 1980's bathroom suites !)   If the wagons were previously grey underneath and it began to wear off, this plus brake dust and china clay could have produced a grey result.    Paul Bartlett's valuable photos (thanks !) show several wagons from May 1984 onwards when they would have been in traffic for 15 months or more and in various stages of weathering.   I do not remember seeing them after I went to university in October 86 so the yellow one is a surprise.   

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