BR wagon liveries

[Il Grifone]

From 'Trains Illustrated' 03/50. This may be of interest. (slightly condensed)

 

"The Railway Executive has announced a standard colour scheme for wagon stock as follows:-

 

All unfitted wooden wagons Not to be painted (subject to review)

All unfitted wagons with steel underframes and wooden bodies Wooden bodies not to be painted. Steel underframes finished grey*

 

All unfitted steel wagons and unfitted covered vans To be painted grey. Roofs grey.

 

All fitted stock To be painted bauxite red. Roofs grey.

 

Service vehicles Steel black, wood unpainted. Lettering yellow. Steel underframes black.

 

Containers Insulated white, all others red. Roofs grey.

 

Lettering on unfitted wagons to be white on grey panel, service vehicles yellow on black panel."

 

* I can not recollect ever seeing a grey underframe or lettering panel. White on grey would not be all that legible, though the MR and LMS didn't seem to have problems. I don't know whether the body and roof greys were to be the same. In practice the roof was darker (even before the fallout from the locomotives got to them).

 

I would assume this means that company colours were used up to 1950.