Provendor store

[Ben Alder]

These concrete stores were very widespread in the post war period and I am in the middle of  adapting a Ratio kit to suit my needs for my layout. Having various  shots of the shed I'm working  on over the years it appears to have been painted at times in existence  and memories of Snowcem come back to me from my childhood at the family builders merchants business. Would I be correct in assuming that these structures were painted from their beginning?

 

[The Bigbee Line]

I’m inclined to think that unpainted was the norm. Às a Southern Railway product, the extra cost of painting would have been frowned upon.

[The Johnster]

Depends on your period I'd say; supplied unpainted prefab from Exmouth Junction, and probably painted years later when the damp started to get into them to prevent further deterioration.  Snowcem (didn't they advertise this by painting a lighthouse in it, or am I thinking of something else?) would have been ideal for this job.

[Ben Alder]

Thanks - the store I'm interested in couldn't be further from the SR if it tried - Thurso - and I know it was painted later in its career. I was working on the assumption that in the Fifties it would have been bare concrete but I was given a photo taken in 1959 showing part of the shed with what looks like worn paint on the end -north facing, so getting the brunt of the weather - which has led me to think that it was treated so early on in its career. Here is the pic -thoughts appreciated....

 

[The Johnster]

Thurso's climate is not typical of most of the British Isles, though most of the wet stuff still comes from between south and west.  The northeasterlies are vicious when they do strike, but more often dry and associated with high pressure systems.  It gets very cold up there in winter and if damp gets into the concrete and freezes, it expands and plays havoc with it.  So a concrete store here may well be painted earlier in it's life than was typical.  But I interpret the photo as showing dirt, perhaps coal dust if there are coal cells handy, rather than worn paintwork; there is no reason it can't be both of course!

 

These buildings originated at the Southern's pre-cast concrete depot at Exmouth Junction, but were used all over BR after nationalisation, usually delivered in a 5-plank open wagon.  A local Civil Engineer's Dept. team would turn up in a van to put them up, and they lasted for years; many still exist.  Some may well have been painted when they were built, but I would expect this to have been the exception rather than the rule.

Edited September 30, 2018 by The Johnster

[Fat Controller]

I think it was Sandtex, rather than Snowcem, that was used in the lighthouse advert.

I have seen examples of these buildings which have been painted, but only after leaving BR ownership; fortunately, none seem to have used the special Welsh range of exterior stone paints, which you need to wear sunglasses when applying. 

[Nearholmer]

Are you sure the 'worn paint' isn't simply a weathering affect, where dirt has collected in the troughs of the ripples in the surface of the concrete?

 

Cast concrete often has small corrugations on the surface, from where a batten is ganged up and down and moved progressively along by two guys, one on either side to 'knock the fat out' (cause free water to rise the surface) while it is in the formwork/mould. Even a mechanical vibrator used on the mould can create sort of 'standing waves'.

[Oldddudders]

The first of these emerged from Exmouth Junction in April 1951, according to Irwell Press’s Southern Nouveau, but they were also then manufactured at Newton Heath and Lowestoft. Considerable detail and original drawings, including options offered, are provided in the book - but no mention of any external painting.

[Ben Alder]

Thanks all - I have done some research - quick Google...- and they do seem to have been generally "raw" in their BR days. Certainly the surface of the Thurso store was rough and weatherbeaten esp. in its later years, but what led me to think it might have been painted was that the gutters are the same shade as the store.

[Poor Old Bruce]

The gutters could well be a grey asbestos-based concoction.

Edited October 1, 2018 by Poor Old Bruce