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LB&SCR freight grey


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I'm building up a Cambrian kit of an LBSC 5 plank open wagon and have decided for a bit of fun and variation not to paint it in SR livery, but go with a 1920's LB&SCR livery. One thing I can't seem to find is what shade the grey used at this time was. I found references to the light lavender grey used earlier on and then statements saying the grey got darker and darker. But how dark and what tints if any?  Can anyone point me in the direction of the correct shade? I'll be mixing it up from existing paints but would like to get it close-ish.

 

TIA

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The Illustrated History of Southern Wagons, Vol. 2,   I'm sure will have some livery details (I only have Vol. 1.),
Somebody should be along soon with a suitable extract... 

 

All the Google images I could find seemed to be of restored or models of LBSC stock, not definative.

 

However this view of 1906 seems seems to show a light'ish grey...

post-6979-0-55998800-1431027089.jpg

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Ooops, Edubs seems to have found a reference.... Perhaps it was left over Royal Navy paint !!!

So I'm tempted to say mix a grey you haven't got on the layout and use that. Sorted. 

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That was one of the references I had come across, but didn't really make it any clearer for me.

In the absence of any other info coming to light, I'll be mixing up a random dark shade.

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Fair comment. Either way round, my point is, it's not worth worrying too much about the exact shade of grey on a wagon unless it's supposed to be ex works. even then, many modellers might use a slightly lighter shade to create the illusion of distance.

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I chose a mid-grey from the standard Humbrol range. I can't remember which one in particular now, but I figured that very few, if any, colour prints exist of these things, so as long as it looks reasonable compared to the monochrome photos available, that would have to suffice. Remember too that wagons would not have been a high priority for cleaning or repainting, so the colours could darken or lighten according to the weathering conditions they were exposed to.

There are some colour images on Cambrian's own website that may give a guide also.

CambrianLBSCandLSWRWagonKits10cropped_zp


Mine still needs weathering! I had a similar issue with the LSWR brown, ending up using a dark red/maroon undercoat then brushing a standard Humbrol brown over the top. It may not be accurate but who is really going to look that hard at a wagon in a train of wagons?

One other thought: check out various websites for preserved railways and the NRM, as there may be examples of such rolling stock on those to give clues as to more correct colours.

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Not necessarily: MR wagons became darker with age.

 

I am sure I read somewhere that the MR wagon shop had a big tub where all the leftover paints got dumped. It all came out some shade of grey but probably never the same shade twice. That's why some photos show MR wagons in a very light shade while others show very dark (and lots of in-between shades).

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MR 'Smudge' This was a left over WW1 battleship grey (not sure what shade!) mixed with left over pain of any hue. Was used only on repaired wagons....

 

Andy G

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My Smudge came from the same place, but if you read on it appears that the new stock weathered down to the darker smudge colour over time, due to atmospheric conditions.........

 

Andy G

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