Insul-Fish roof colour - white or grey?

[Penfold]

Hi,  

 

I'm kitbashing some Peco vans into Insul-Fish units.   Looking at most images online they have grey roofs.  My friend has lent me a photo he took of a preserved unit (E87929), which has a white roof.

 

The white roof makes sense for an insulated van, even if not the most practical in the steam era but..... before I paint any more  should they be grey, white or dependent on usage?

If dependant on usage, any pointers on source material would be welcomed.

 

Thanks,

Penfold

[watfordtmc]

Some thoughts on this – delayed by Christmas I’m afraid.

 

Firstly, was there any information about an official specification?  Whilst I’m sure there are more up to date sources, I was able to find a small amount of detail in an old copy of Model Railway News (May 1950) which, quoting information from the then Railway Executive, noted that (Freight Stock) Van Roofs were to be painted “Grey”.

 

This note didn’t discuss Insulated Vans at all, but it did note that the roofs of Insulated Containers were also to be painted “Grey”, and I think it reasonable to assume that what applied to Insulated Containers also applied to Insulated Vans.

 

Many years ago I acquired a selection of Trains Illustrated/Modern Railways magazines covering the period 1959 to 1964.  So I had a look through these to see if there was any contemporary evidence of the colour of Insulated Van roofs, other than grime of course…

 

I found about six references from around 60 odd magazines.  However, these highlighted that some vans at least were running with very light coloured roofs at the time.

It’s difficult to make a fully formed judgement from black and white photographs, reproduced in 1950’s/1960’s technology, but I’m satisfied that there is sufficient tonal difference between the roof and the body of these vans, for the roof to be a pale shade of grey.

 

In the 1950’s Fish Vans, other than the Insulated types, seemed to have been painted in coaching stock colours.  An earlier note from Model Railway News (August 1949) covered coaching stock and described coaching stock roofs as being painted “Light Grey”.

 

So the choices seem to be:

 

Grey – Yes, officially.

Light Grey – Yes, on some Insulated Vans.

White – No, preservationist’s license.

 

What I can’t say however, is what colour the ’Grey’ was!

 

For what it’s worth, Modern Railways for January 1962 carries an advert for Hornby-Dublo (the original Hornby) freight wagons, which included their version of the Insulfish, and the roof of that was finished in Grey.  Hornby would have been able to copy contemporary practice at the time.

 

TMc

 

 

 

[melmerby]

 

 

Unfortunately Paul Bartlett's excellent site doesn't include and pictures of the roof on these vans.

 

The Dapol 2mm one is thus:

 

And an 00 one:

 

And Hornby:

 

All have grey roofs

 

EDIT musn't forget HD:

Edited January 10, 2020 by melmerby

[Wickham Green]

54 minutes ago, watfordtmc said:

...................... What I can’t say however, is what colour the ’Grey’ was! .................

Fifty shades   -  I understand !