Dave777 Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Have tried www.stationcolours.info but can't seem to find the exact answer. I've got some Ratio GWR trackside fencing to line the back of my platform with, but what colour should they be for an ex-GWR South Wales line in 1960 under BR? As far as I can make out there's no definite answer as local stations appeared to paint them in whatever paint they had to hand (within reason), so is there at least a choice of colours I could use? Thanks in advance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bizmad Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Hi Dave I don't know about South Wales but I used to go train spotting at Taplow around this time. I used to sit on my bike saddle and lean up against the platform railings which were the spear type, so I remember them as definitely being matt black (possibly were originally gloss but all the gloss paints used to end up matt). Hope it helps Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Il Grifone Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Western Region building colours in the fifties were chocolate and cream (similar to the BR coach colours and not quite the GWR shades). From what I remember, usually the railings would have been cream. It would be possible for the GWR paint to still be present, albeit heavily weathered (possibly to a cream shade). My local station (Clifton Down) was repainted for a royal visit to Bristol (in 1954 IIRC). It is possible for railings to be black (again IIRC). Local interpretation of the rules always took place. (And black covers better than cream!) Rust is always an option! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hughes Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 My own personal recollection is that they were generally brown, at least in the West Wales area. However, I suspect I think that black, cream and brown are all possibilities, and this seems to be borne out by a colour picture I've seen somewhere of South Leigh station on the Witney line in 1957, where the gate is clearly in cream and the rest of the railings are in what looks to be two different darker colours. Nothing like standardisation! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalo Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 My personal recollection is of the Bristol, Bath and North Somerset area, late 50s and 60s. Most lineside metal (spear-top) fencing was, I think, black though sometimes cream where it ran along platforms. Wooden fencing might be brown or cream. A quick flick through a few books seems to confirm this. I have a very vague memory of seeing one platform fence (Saltford, I think) being repainted in cream, though can't be certain when, or what its previous colour had been. Incidentally, as mentioned recently in another thread, when BR(W) took over the running of the northern part of the Somerset and Dorset in 1958, the stations were very quickly repainted in brown and cream. In this case, photos show the station fencing to be mostly cream. Of course, none of this may help with South Wales... Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted December 3, 2009 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 3, 2009 At stations - cream; at lineside (including where retained at closed station sites) black, gloss when newly painted but quickly weathering to matt. The gloss cream did weather down to matt as well but more slowly than the black. Now the above is usual London Division practice and what I can remember in the West of England but in the mid-late 1960s some changes took place and there was a lot more use made of black & white on remaining GWR running-in boards and of black on unclimbable fencing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigwelsh Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 They were and still are black on a station i've taken an interest in on the Neath and Brecon. This is also true for other sites on that line I have looked at. Further up the valley the fencing is not best described as rather rusty however! Unless BR were fiddling the books i'd imagine most sites would be quite dirty by this point too ready for demolition in the following few years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisf Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 I recall them being cream at Barry Island station and black at Barry! Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted December 3, 2009 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 3, 2009 At stations - cream; at lineside (including where retained at closed station sites) black, gloss when newly painted but quickly weathering to matt. The gloss cream did weather down to matt as well but more slowly than the black. Now the above is usual London Division practice and what I can remember in the West of England but in the mid-late 1960s some changes took place and there was a lot more use made of black & white on remaining GWR running-in boards and of black on unclimbable fencing. This is exactly what I would have said. 'Iron railings' dirty, matt/weathered black unless on a station platform, in which case weathered cream with hints of rust streaks coming through. Wooden palings on the station would more often than not have been the same cream colour. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackRat Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Bearing in mind I was fairly small in the 60's I always remember getting told off for coming home dirty when I had been hanging on the railway fence (GWR or TV) so I could see the trains. Always a rusty dirty blacky brown! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave777 Posted December 4, 2009 Author Share Posted December 4, 2009 Okay, great answers people, with a number of options to choose from. Many thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 If I remember well, dark muddy grey with copious oily rust. They might once have been black. That was by Laira Shed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Bigcheeseplant Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Another vote for black, I have a colour photo in 1938 that shows black and also I remember in the 1980 simular railings at Risborough being black. David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Prism Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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