Tin Vans in Green

[Mol_PMB]

This is another of my random threads spawned from spending too much time on Flickr, posted here in the hope that some nuggets of information might be useful to others in future.

Looking at a lot of photos from the late 1950s and early 1960s, it became apparent that filthey silver tin vans were ubiquitous, but green ones were really quite rare. I did find a few photos of green ones though, so I'll collate them in this thread.

Initially I'm focusing on the luggage van variant, numbers 2700 to 2765, built in 1957 and outshopped in silver (unpainted aluminium for the body). The vast majority seem to have been allowed to get more and more filthy until the mid 1960s when they were repainted in black and tan. Most skipped the green livery phase which had been reintroduced in 1958/9 and lasted until the introduction of black and tan in 1961/2.

Here are some photos of green ones I've found.

 

1959, definitely 2717 at Heuston:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54253237378/

 

1962, one was used in a special train to Ardnacrusha power station. There are lots of photos of this trip but it's always the same van, of course. I'm fairly confident it's 271# where the last digit may be 7.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53454103743/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53454390475

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53468557251/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54419891970/

 

1962, number not visible:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53570940700/

 

1963, number not visible:

1965, number not legible:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54251543369/

 

So, there was definitely 2717 in green and there may have been a few more. They were scarce though. Has anyone got any more examples?

 

 

In due course I'll look at the heating van variants 3101-3152 - they were more common in green and the last batch were painted green from new.

[jhb171achill]

On 17/4/2025 at 7:34 PM, Mol_PMB said:

This is another of my random threads spawned from spending too much time on Flickr, posted here in the hope that some nuggets of information might be useful to others in future.

Looking at a lot of photos from the late 1950s and early 1960s, it became apparent that filthey silver tin vans were ubiquitous, but green ones were really quite rare. I did find a few photos of green ones though, so I'll collate them in this thread.

Initially I'm focusing on the luggage van variant, numbers 2700 to 2765, built in 1957 and outshopped in silver (unpainted aluminium for the body). The vast majority seem to have been allowed to get more and more filthy until the mid 1960s when they were repainted in black and tan. Most skipped the green livery phase which had been reintroduced in 1958/9 and lasted until the introduction of black and tan in 1961/2.

Here are some photos of green ones I've found.

 

1959, definitely 2717 at Heuston:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54253237378/

 

1962, one was used in a special train to Ardnacrusha power station. There are lots of photos of this trip but it's always the same van, of course. I'm fairly confident it's 271# where the last digit may be 7.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53454103743/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53454390475

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53468557251/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54419891970/

 

1962, number not visible:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53570940700/

 

1963, number not visible:

1965, number not legible:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54251543369/

 

So, there was definitely 2717 in green and there may have been a few more. They were scarce though. Has anyone got any more examples?

 

 

In due course I'll look at the heating van variants 3101-3152 - they were more common in green and the last batch were painted green from new.

You’re right, many went from silver straight to black’n’tan.

Worth pointing out that any that became green would have been in the later, lighter shade, as shown in your illustrations. The dark green was discontinued as far as passenger coaches went, several years earlier.

[Mol_PMB]

I'm still trawling Flickr for green tin van illustrations, there will be a follow-up post here in due course. But I have come across another unusual variation that I just thought I'd show here.

This photo is from Brian Flannigan on Flickr, and it shows tin luggage van 2737 in black and tan livery. The unusual bit is the horizontal beading along the waist, which is not normally present on a tin van.

Now, I knew I'd seen this once before, and here's that other photo, which is a print I bought on eBay mainly for the E class it features. We can't see the number on this silver tin van; it also has a horizontal bead but it's a few inches lower down than on 2737.

My best guess at the moment is that this was associated with a collision repair, and probably only on one side of the vehicles. But I'd be open to correction if anyone knows more!

 

Just as a reminder of what normal ones looks like, here's a photo from Ernie on Flickr:

Also available in green, to stick with the thread theme:

 

[jhb171achill]

I'd be inclined to agree re accident repair. As you say, and as can be seen in zillions of photos, none of them had these waistline beadings when new.