Great Western Coaches In colour

[The Stationmaster]

One (just one, there were more) of the advantages of visiting Railex was the availability direct from Kevin Robertson of his new book 'Great western Coaches In Colour'. Most pics are BR period but a good variety which ChrisF will no doubt explain in much greater detail once he's aboard this group. A good 18 quid's worth from initial contact with it and the colour rendition generally looks pretty good although a few pics are of poorer original quality but still more than worth having them in the book.

[chrisf]

You were expecting me then Mike! I'm suitably flattened.

 

I bought a copy too, having hoped that it would be on sale today when I spotted an advance copy at Expo-EM two weeks ago. It is a useful complement to other works but must have been difficult to assemble given the overwhelming preference of photographers to record locos and trains rather than mundane things like coaches.

 

The first major section deals with Hawksworth main line stock, including a list of all vehicles ordered and, importantly, stock ordered but cancelled and vehicles in preservation [more than I realised]. Liveries depicted are lined maroon and BR chocolate and cream, with one shot of a BG in blue. I was particularly taken with a shot at Barnstaple Junction, not dated biut I'd guess 1961/62, of a train formed Hawksworth slip in chocolate and cream, Collett C77 in lined maroon and BR long underframe suburban brake second in crimson! Forget about matching rakes, people!

 

Next the book deals with a selection of Collett's corridor coaches ranging from the Super Saloons and Centenary stock to humble workaday brake seconds. I would have liked to see an analysis of the wide range of body profiles that Collett used but accept that the subject is a source of great confusion to all. The shot by Dick Riley of a train leaving Patchway in 1955 complete with guard brandishing flag shows how quickly blood and custard livery showed the dirt.

 

At this point the logic of the book's arrangement becomes dificult to follow. A page headed "Suburban Interlude" shows a 5-coach local set in which the first vehicle is a Hawksworth suburban, the second a BR standard and the third a composite which might be of diagram E156. Even allowing for the limitations of colour reproduction those coaches show three different shades of red! Like I said, forget uniform rakes. Then follows two pages on parcels stock, an area often neglected, with very informative captions, and two pages of "Collett stock in service" comprisin that rare animal, a matching set of suburban stock, at Aylesbury in 1938 and a 4-coach train comprising an M set [bSK, SK, CK, BSK] all in blood and custard leaving Box Tunnel. The coach on the back of the train is in shadow. The caption suggests that it is another brake second but I would suggest it more likely to be a van.

 

If you like camping coaches, the next eight pages are for you. They show that not all coaches were cut up after condemnation. Read this bit in conjunction with Chris Leigh's recent article in Model Rail. Then comnes a short section on "specialist vehicles" majoring on the Whiteash Coach and the Churchward 9-wheeled [yres, really] dynamometer car. A whole book could cover restaurant cars as there were so many varieties but six pages have to suffice. I would be interested to see the supporting evidence to the claim that a buffet car was repainted chocolate and cream in 1954 for the Bristolian: 1956 I'd buy. It is undoubtedly the case that catering vehicles were longer-lived than their ordinary counterparts - they had to be as no BR standard restaurant cars had been made when named trains were re-equipped with Mk 1s in choc-cream from mid 1956. Indeed, the Red Dragon had to wait till late1961 for its standard restaurant first. The special and inspection saloons, all proudly sporting chocolate and cream until well after that livery had been abandoned for named trains from Easter 1962, grace the next six pages. Paradoxically these exotic beasts merit much fuller captions than the workaday stock, probably because their activities were recorded more fully.

 

It is a pity that more space could not be allocated to the auto trailer, which to many epitomises the GW branch line. Some very sad and decomposing older examples are shown [sorry, shewn - this is the GWR after all] alongside the sprucer Hawksworth design. The cuckoo in the nest is the shot of one of the notorious gas-lit Barry Railway coaches which worked the Hemyock branch for 10 years which never were auto trailers. At least they feature - one will search in vain for the so=called ubiquitous B set! Finally, several pages are devoted to "relics from an earlier age", principally showing coaches converted to departmental use.

 

Kevin Robertson should be commended for producing a colour album on this under-emphasised area of interest. He must have faced difficulty in sourcing material but has made good use of what he was able to obtain. The captions are intelligent and comprehensive. It may be that areas of disgreement arise once the book has been subjected to closer study but it would have to be pretty rank to be as error-strewn as at least one of Mr Russell's tomes.

 

Chris

[Mike G]

 

Kevin Robertson should be commended for producing a colour album on this under-emphasised area of interest. He must have faced difficulty in sourcing material but has made good use of what he was able to obtain. The captions are intelligent and comprehensive. It may be that areas of disgreement arise once the book has been subjected to closer study but it would have to be pretty rank to be as error-strewn as at least one of Mr Russell's tomes.

 

Chris

 

Chris

 

This book can answer more questions to the BR/GWR modeller than pose new problems then and would be a worthy addition to the library? I'm specifically thinking about the GWR coaches that made it to late 50's and the way in which the lining and B&C colours were applied...your thoughts on this would be appreciated.

 

regards

 

Mike

[coachmann]

There was nothing particularly complicated about the way the Western Region applied blood & custard to its coaches......... The colours basically went where the GWR choc & cream had previous been. Things were certainly a lot more straightforward than on the London Midland.

 

It was the ex GW coaches themselves that showed no real orderly design with high waist, low waist, sometimes both on the same chassis(!), large 'sunshine' windows mixed with the odd old fashioned compartment with exterior doors. Interiors too varied from varnished wood to Holoplast, a cream painted cheap composite board.

[chrisf]

I agree with Larry that the way in which blood and custard was applied to ex GW stock was straightforward, given the wide range of contours and body designs that Collett produced. Swindon tended not to apply lining in the midle of panels, a fate that befell both LMS Period I stock and some of Gresley's finest.

 

Mike G - I'm not sure that the book answers more questions but in my reading of it so far it doesn't seem to pose any new problems. Above all it demonstrates clearly that a nice tidy set was by no means the order of the day in the 1950s - although the cover photo shows exactly that! Where one might be wise to have the sodium chloride handy is in respect of some of the colour reproduction, especially where crimson is involved, though there are some funny shades of chocolate too.

 

Chris

[gwrrob]

Does this book have coaches in it from the Great Western period or is it more BR orientated.The title could be misleading if you don't see it before buying.

[Taz]

It's very much BR era Rob.

 

Just had a flick through and can only find one GWR era photo inside and one on the back cover

[scanman]

It's very much BR era Rob.

 

Just had a flick through and can only find one GWR era photo inside and one on the back cover

 

Ahh - I did wonder from Chrisf's posting. Sadly I will remove it from my 'wishlist'....

 

However, as an added point, is this the place (perhaps linking to a gallery) to add images of preserved stock? I have several taken at Didcot, and doubtless others have images from SVR etc. Perhaps an open gallery to which all can post? Is that possible?

 

Regs

 

Ian B

[Mike G]

Mike G - I'm not sure that the book answers more questions but in my reading of it so far it doesn't seem to pose any new problems. Above all it demonstrates clearly that a nice tidy set was by no means the order of the day in the 1950s - although the cover photo shows exactly that! Where one might be wise to have the sodium chloride handy is in respect of some of the colour reproduction, especially where crimson is involved, though there are some funny shades of chocolate too.

 

Chris

 

Thanks Chris, that answers just what I wanted to read...now placed on buying list for next month! - Gotta get my 25th wedding anni out of the way first.

 

MIke

[Captain Kernow]

Ahh - I did wonder from Chrisf's posting. Sadly I will remove it from my 'wishlist'....

 

However, as an added point, is this the place (perhaps linking to a gallery) to add images of preserved stock? I have several taken at Didcot, and doubtless others have images from SVR etc. Perhaps an open gallery to which all can post? Is that possible?

 

Regs

 

Ian B

But surely this is a function of the rareity of colour photography in the pre-nationalisation era, nothing more?

[The Stationmaster]

I agree with Larry that the way in which blood and custard was applied to ex GW stock was straightforward, given the wide range of contours and body designs that Collett produced. Swindon tended not to apply lining in the midle of panels, a fate that befell both LMS Period I stock and some of Gresley's finest.

 

Mike G - I'm not sure that the book answers more questions but in my reading of it so far it doesn't seem to pose any new problems. Above all it demonstrates clearly that a nice tidy set was by no means the order of the day in the 1950s - although the cover photo shows exactly that! Where one might be wise to have the sodium chloride handy is in respect of some of the colour reproduction, especially where crimson is involved, though there are some funny shades of chocolate too.

 

Chris

 

Certainly a goodly mix of crimson in there Chris but then remembering back it was a colour that weathered to all sorts of different shades in real life and what it looked like could be heavily influenced by the light in which it was seen/photographed. I certainly get teh impression that modern versions of it from 'preservationists' start off far too dark.

[coachmann]

The LMS lake we older types remember was often a dark brownish shade. What David Jenkinson and Bob Essery discovered after they published their initial LMS livery books was the LMS could not obtain the crimson lake it had used before the war and had settled for a darker shade for postwar painting. No doubt many public transport undertakings were similarly affected.

 

The BR maroon adopted in 1956 was effectively prewar LMS crimson lake. One only has to look at steam-era videos to see how rich it looked in sunlight and how much darker it looked in overcast conditions. Add to that under or over-exposure on film and the vagaries of printing and you end up with all sorts of lakes.

 

To prove this, paint a block of wood with Howes Railmatch GWR coach brown. Then photograph it in bright sunlight, overcast conditions, under-expose and over-expose. I'll bet none of the shots will match the enamel paint.