Actual "flying snail"

[jhb171achill]

This is a good enough quality photo of an ACTUAL transfer, as used on steam locomotives whether green, black or normal grey; on buses, road vehicles and passenger carriages. The green paint is actual CIE green paint. Having seen the original daily for forty years hung on Senior's wall, I can confirm that this photo reproduces the colours accurately. Note the gold lining.

For those modelling steam, it's important to note that the "snail" on tenders was this colour, and gold lined, always - never white, as Lima implied on their early and crude models by today's standards. Nor yellow as incorrectly applied by the RPSI to 184 and 461 in the 1990s.

This darker shade of green, while seen on steam locos and buses to the end, was replaced on passenger stock and diesel locomotives by the lighter shade seen on RPSI heritage stock, and at Downpatrick on some stock, from 1955 onwards.

The original may be seen in Headhunters Railway Museum in Enniskillen. Many of the other mounted coats of arms there (but not all) are mounted also on boards with original paint - Clogher Valley, CDRJC, NCC, GSR (but not GSWR), and Cork, Blackrock & Passage are original paint. So are DNGR, BCDR, and DSER (loco black). One of the GNR ones is, and one is in "works grey" as it was mount on its board in the 1940s when paint was either expensive or unavailable!

Feel free to copy and use as you see fit.

Edited January 19, 2018 by jhb171achill

[DiveController]

@jhb171achillSo just too clarify this is the post '55 lighter green?

 

[jhb171achill]

No, that's the 1945-55 one as far as carriages are concerned; see RPSI wooden heritage set or the C class at Downpatrick for the later version.

Any green steam engines, plus all CIE buses, retained the above until the end of the green era in 1963.

[jhb171achill]

Shortly after the abolition of the time-honoured CIE green liveries, the "flying snail" was replaced by "roundels" or "broken wheels".

I include this to show precise proportions for this device, as modern imitations are often wide of the mark.

There were but two exceptions.

When the 071s were first delivered, they had a non-standard browny tan instead of the orange-tan that was normal; this had been applied in the USA and along with it an all-white roundel of wrong design.

Also, if you look at the IRM bubbles, you'll see a roundel which is not like this. The wheel is too large and the sections too far apart. But, as yet another way of showing how truly accurate IRM's products are, this is absolutely prototypical - the real things had a non-standard logo EXACTLY like IRM have produced....!