Tin van livery.

[Metrovik]

I've been trying to get a clear picture of what way the silver livery was applied to tin vans from new but I can't seem to find a consistent view. Could anyone shed light on the subject?

[Mol_PMB]

Which sort? Luggage, heating or TPO?

And can you give a bit more info on the details you’re looking for? Presumably the bits that weren’t silver? 
 

There are quite a few monochrome images of these when brand new. 

[Metrovik]

Sorry, should have been more specific, I'd be looking at the heating or luggage vans. Mainly I'm trying to figure out was the roof silver and as you said, which bits were not silver. Many thanks.

[Mol_PMB]

I can answer thoroughly when I’m home next week as I don’t have my laptop or library with me here in Downpatrick. 

There are certainly photos showing entirely silver roofs. A bit later, many photos show the edges of the roofs silver and the middle portion dark/black. Not always clear if this is a consequence of painting or cleaning. I can share a selection of photos to help you decide. Some are fairly convincing for the middle painted black theory, others are not. The same applies for contemporary mid-50s green coaches.

Vehicle numbers and ‘GUARD’ on the appropriate doors were EdN (not red, though red was used on some other silver coaches). 
‘NOT TO BE ROUGH SHUNTED’ on the ends of heating vans only was red. 

I think there were a few black bits but will need to check photos. Do you have access to the IRRS Flickr archive? 

[Metrovik]

Unfortunately Im yet to get around to IRRS membership however it is on my to do list. Many thanks for your help though. Your selection of photos may not be possible without the IRRS flicker but I appreciate the effort nonetheless. 

Thanks for details about what type of transfers are required. Am I right in saying the chassis was originally silver as well?

[jhb171achill]

No black bits on tin vans of any type; plain silver all over. However, grime and weathering made many look as if they had black roofs (especially), ends, or other bits. All of Fry's models of carriages too, have silver roofs. Grey steam engines looked black, but weren't. Donegal* and GNR locos, being respectively geranium red and blue, looked as if they had black domes, black boilers sometimes, black fronts and backs of cabs, but they weren't.

The railways in the past were dirty!

As a result, tin vans, like the above, often looked (at worst) as if little more than the sides were silver - but they weren't. My own "silver" tin van has been weathered to the point that it just looks dirty all over bar the sides, which as per prototype ended up looking like a nondescript silvery grey.... probably the single most impractical "livery" ever devised by man - small wonder it didn't last.

(*  Drives me mad to see an actually black-painted dome on the Donegal engines in Cultra, Derry and Donegal! WRONG!)

[Metrovik]

Many thanks for your help gents, very much appreciated.

[Mol_PMB]

When brand new, the bodysides, ends and roof were unpainted aluminium. Almost all the other external parts were painted silver, including the underframe and its tanks, battery boxes, etc.

For the luggage vans, external parts that were not silver were as follows:

Black: wheelsets, buffers (entire assembly), flexible rubber/canvas parts of gangway, window rubbers.

Eau-de-Nil: running numbers, 'GUARD' lettering, 

Chrome: door and grab handles

 

Much the same for the heating vans, but some seem to have had silver buffer bodies, but black on the gangway support brackets and angles. 

They had 'NOT TO BE ROUGH SHUNTED' lettering in red on each end, and there were a couple of small red plates on the lower bodyside.

 

[jhb171achill]

On 28/8/2026 at 4:33 PM, Metrovik said:

I've been trying to get a clear picture of what way the silver livery was applied to tin vans from new but I can't seem to find a consistent view. Could anyone shed light on the subject?

All over silver, full stop; but often coated with so much dirt the thing could be painted tartan underneath for all anyone knew! 

I’ve a picture of a new one somewhere, will try to find it. 
 

 

[jhb171achill]

Some vans were silver, then green, then black’n’tan. 

Others skipped the green. There was a filthy “silver” one seen in photos on the North Wexford in early 1963, as well as similar in other places (even 1964) - these would have gone straight into BnT.

”Dugort Harbour”  has dirty silver, plus BnT. 

I got a green one somewhere, but the green was catastrophically wrong - and, had white lining - so it got repainted “silver & muck”!

Now I need a green one! 

Edited 18 hours ago by jhb171achill

[jhb171achill]

Some silver things; all photos copyright & courtesy of Patricia Dillon collection. 

Some interesting six-wheelers too, with not long to go before withdrawal. 

[Mol_PMB]

Those nicely show examples of both types of buffers used on the tin vans - and that they were black.

I'll add a couple of cleanish views from my folder of tin van images; many of these are crops from Ernie's images on Flickr but the first one is in my collection.

This is a zoom in on one of Ernie's photos showing the EdN number:

Although this is a bit grubby, it shows that the heating vans also had EdN numbers, and the small red plates on the lower bodyside. On the heating vans, the GUARD lettering was on a door at one end only (here the left-hand end) which is the door with a droplight. On the other side it would be the inner door at the right-hand end.

And a heavily cropped Ernie shot also showing the lettering and the red plates, albeit in monochrome:

Again a couple of zoom ins on Ernie's photos showing the red lettering NOT TO BE ROUGH SHUNTED on the ends of the heating vans only:

 

Hope this helps...