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LNER black livery pre-1928 - coupling rod colour


Alex TM
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Hi folks,

 

Were the coupling rods of lined black tank locos left in their natural steel finish or were they painted red?

 

The questions is based on having recently seen a number of models so finished but finding no reference to it in my books or magazine articles.

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Regards,

 

Alex.

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5 hours ago, Alex TM said:

 

Were the coupling rods of lined black tank locos left in their natural steel finish or were they painted red?

They were normally left unpainted.

 

So far as I'm aware the only colour photo that unequivocally shows an LNER engine with red-painted external motion is in 'The Big Four in Colour' (Jenkinson, Edgington & Smart, Atlantic) and is of No 7230, the 'Coffee Pot' at an exhibition.  Stratford was known to occasionally paint coupling rods red when it wanted to push the boat out, a tradition continued into BR days, and other works may have done the same, but it was clearly not normal practice.

 

D

Edited by Darryl Tooley
for clarity
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3 hours ago, Darryl Tooley said:

They were normally left unpainted.

 

So far as I'm aware the only colour photo that unequivocally shows an LNER engine with red-painted external motion is in 'The Big Four in Colour' (Jenkinson, Edgington & Smart, Atlantic) and is of No 7230, the 'Coffee Pot' at an exhibition.  Stratford was known to occasionally paint coupling rods red when it wanted to push the boat out, a tradition continued into BR days, and other works may have done the same, but it was clearly not normal practice.

 

D

I believe it was standard Great Eastern Railway practice to paint the rods red, the intention being that any cracks would show up more readily. It is only an extension of the standard practice of painting everything else between the frames a bright colour, usually red, for the same reason.

 

Jim

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4 hours ago, Paul Cram said:

There are pictures of an A8 and J26 in LNER Locos in colour that appear tp have rods painted red. I believe it was the practice on NER  locos.

I have been told that they are not Red, but rusty ??. Bachmann think the Black J72 had Red rods in LNER days !!

Edited by micklner
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Hi again,

 

Thanks for all the input.  From what's been written here, and what I have read elsewhere, it looks like the rods were normally in a natural finish but could sometimes be painted red.

 

As for the current Bachmann release, wasn't the prototype one of two of the Newcastle pilots that were vacuum fitted and given a makeover in 1937 (I don't have the RCTS book to hand to check).

 

Again, many thanks for your help.

 

Regards,

 

Alex.

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6 hours ago, micklner said:

I have been told that they are not Red, but rusty ??. Bachmann think the Black J72 had Red rods in LNER days !!

The colour of the rods appears to be the same colour as the end of the buffer beam which is a wood sandwich. )On the A8 again the colour seems to be the same as the buffer beam but both are covered in grime. There is also a picture of an A7 which again the rods look to be red.

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