Banger Blue diesels - 'White edge wheels' question.

[F-UnitMad]

Dumb question time... back in the good ol' days of BR Blue, some diesels got "tarted up" at times; either ex-works or for Royal Train duties etc, and one thing that was done was that the edges of the wheels were painted, as visible (just!!) in this photo of 31 415, probably taken some time after this treatment, but anyway; the subject of my model...

 

 

The dumb question is this:- as  I can't tell from the photo - does anyone know if, when they painted the white edge to the wheel, they painted the rest of the wheel as well, maybe black? Or just leave the wheel unpainted? I assume that unpainted was/is the usual practice, so that any potential defects could be more readily seen?

Thanks for looking, anyway.

[seraphim]

Put simply, it's because it looks nice and is reasonably easy to do.

 

Also sometimes seen are wheels with white lines painted radially at 120 degree separation. These are painted if there is a suspicion that the tyres may be shifting. Not seen these days as virtually all locos have monobloc wheels.

[F-UnitMad]

Yes I know the white edge looks good & is easy to do, my question is about the rest of the wheel face when the white edge is done.

I think the three white lines are also used to measure wheel slip, as they are painted at identical points on each wheel of a bogie to start with.

[37038]

Whether the wheel face is painted black would depend on how clean they were when the 'white-walls' were needed, or how much time the depot staff had to prepare the loco.

 

So - basically - if you want to model the loco as 'ex-works', paint the faces black. If you want to weather it, leave them

[Davexoc]

The wheels are painted black, the tyres are painted white. You wouldn't necessarily see defects through crud or paint, that was checked ultrasonically.

The white line across wheel and tyre are used to monitor tyres for shifting if suspect, outer face on locos, inner face on stock because passengers don't want to see the coach they are getting on has suspected tyre movement.

 

Dave

[F-UnitMad]

Whether the wheel face is painted black would depend on how clean they were when the 'white-walls' were needed, or how much time the depot staff had to prepare the loco.

So - basically - if you want to model the loco as 'ex-works', paint the faces black. If you want to weather it, leave them

Thanks, I'm going for "a few months after Ex-works", so might try 'German grey' on the wheels as it works well as a 'faded black'.

[rodent279]

I always did like this livery. Wish more blue locos had it applied. I think one or two 27's did, can anyone confirm?