AEC Railcars - where were they painted when new?

[Mol_PMB]

The 60 AEC / Park Royal railcars were supplied to CIE in 1952-1953.

At the same time that Inchicore were busy building carriages to run with them.

I know that some outsourced rolling stock was supplied complete and painted, whilst others were supplied complete but just in primer for Inchicore to paint. Some other orders had the first few supplied complete and the rest were supplied as 'kits' which were assembled and painted at Inchicore.

What happened with the AEC railcars? Were they built and painted by AEC / Park Royal in the UK and shipped complete? Or did Inchicore contribute to the assembly and/or painting?

[Westcorkrailway]

On 26/7/2025 at 8:10 AM, Mol_PMB said:

The 60 AEC / Park Royal railcars were supplied to CIE in 1952-1953.

At the same time that Inchicore were busy building carriages to run with them.

I know that some outsourced rolling stock was supplied complete and painted, whilst others were supplied complete but just in primer for Inchicore to paint. Some other orders had the first few supplied complete and the rest were supplied as 'kits' which were assembled and painted at Inchicore.

What happened with the AEC railcars? Were they built and painted by AEC / Park Royal in the UK and shipped complete? Or did Inchicore contribute to the assembly and/or painting?

These photos hopefully provide a simple answer 

[Westcorkrailway]

And if it wasn’t already clear. AEC Built the 1953 stuff whereas the later wedge heads were Icore built

[Mol_PMB]

Excellent - many thanks. I thought that was the case. 

There are some aspects of the livery that are non-standard compared to what Inchicore was doing at the time (e.g. number 3 on the doors) which made me think they had arrived fully painted. At the time they were ordered, Inchicore wasn't even painting a waist line on their carriages.

I was also wondering whether AEC/Park Royal used the same paint as Inchicore did - photos suggest that the railcars seem to have a slightly brownish tint in their green (like brunswick green) whereas the original CIE dark green can look more bluish. Having said that, lighting conditions have a huge influence on shades of green.

The original Wedgehead livery looks more consistent with how Inchicore were painting carriages in 1951 (dark green, no waist line) which is odd considering they were built in 1957! They did have both class indications 1 and 2 on the doors though. 

 

Also of note on your photos (which I hadn't seen before) is the original headlight configuration, which I think was used on the first 20 cars? There were at least 3 different arrangements, 4 if you include their later life as push-pull cabs.

[exciecoachbuilder]

5 hours ago, Westcorkrailway said:

These photos hopefully provide a simple answer 

Great photos.

[Blaine]

4 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

I was also wondering whether AEC/Park Royal used the same paint as Inchicore did - photos suggest that the railcars seem to have a slightly brownish tint in their green (like brunswick green) whereas the original CIE dark green can look more bluish. Having said that, lighting conditions have a huge influence on shades of green.

40 shades of green, paint liberated/stolen for use elsewhere and some thinners thrown in... No such thing as RAL codes back then

[Galteemore]

5 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

 

I was also wondering whether AEC/Park Royal used the same paint as Inchicore did - photos suggest that the railcars seem to have a slightly brownish tint in their green (like brunswick green) whereas the original CIE dark green can look more bluish. Having said that, lighting conditions have a huge influence on shades of green.

 

Also factor in the vagaries of early colour film and its subsequent reproduction