UTA and NIR colour schemes

[sayhall27]

As ever I'm still very inquisitive and planning for future work. I am curious what paints/colours are available to recreate the early NIR red and cream livery or the maroon and blue. 

For UTA livery is older coaches in southern region green or BR green be sufficient with railtec transfers applied.

[jhb171achill]

Important one there, Sam - the early NIR livery was maroon and a very light grey, never red and cream. The grey was not unlike what BR had on upper parts of coaches in the "BR Blue" era. For the maroon, it was a pretty standard one - a shade darker than LMS "red".

The UTA green was a good deal darker than BR loco green,or closer to home CIE green of either shade. It was a totally different shade to anything the (British) Southern Railway ever used. The closest you'll get to UTA green is the shade applied to the RPSI's Whitehead set - this is actually based on UTA green.

In terms of the posy-1970 NIR livery, the maroon remained the same as on railcars and steam-hauled stock, but the blue was a completely new shade. It has been accurately reproduced on the restored NIR 80 class set at Downpatrick. Incidentally, for the info of the world in general, this superb restoration job at Downpatrick  has exactly the right shades of maroon and blue for the NIR "1970 Enterprise" livery, lining and all. The only error is on the roofs. At the ends, the roof curved parts are painted maroon. This is only correct for the front of a driving cab, not the gangway ends of either the power car, intermediates, or driving trailers. These bits should be roof grey.

[Robert Shrives]

Hi 

In the tomb "BR MK2 coaches " by  Micheal Harris , on page 98 if refers to the maroon as Morocco maroon and the blue as Caribbean blue, with a white waistband.  Yes the class 80 looks super- I wonder if the RAL or similar could be obtained from  the staff at York Road paint shops. 

Robert    

[jhb171achill]

DCDR should have details; the 80 class yoke stands out, as apart from it, the sugar puff locos, the pair of E class, and ITG stock (excluding G611), every single thing there is in the wrong livery. Often hopelessly wrong.

i just don’t get this; preservation?

A similar majority of inaccuracies exists, unfortunately, at every single preservation site in this island.

Anyway; try DCDR for proper RAL numbers.

[Robert Shrives]

Try this side of the water ! With retro liveries with a modern take and coaches in own railway liveries and mainline locos in fictitious colours . The most striking fun were the Fairburn tanks on the  Lakeside and Haverthwaite railway in CR blue.  When Bachmann did a limited edition it to their surprise and relief flew off the shelves. 

Another view is that paint is there to stop rot and rust - function over form.  On the Ffestiniog and Welsh highland loco repaints have been sponsored and done for fun- Purple  Moose beer tanker as an example.  But what we found was that despite having    historic items and information many of the public were just travelling for enjoyment whilst on Holiday, not for enlightenment and education on history and development.  As long as ride was good and it had a "steam train" on the front all were happy.  Just proving you can take a horse to water ....  

If the DCDR can keep head above water while being custodian of historical artifacts as long as the history is told correctly having stock in good order  then perhaps livery details can slide or be an improvement on  plain black or green.   I too had noticed the 80 class but to have it at all is a great bonus and when repainted say in 10 years time it can be tweaked or perhaps changed to  celebrate another part of its long life.

Each to their own ?   

  

[jhb171achill]

 

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Edited August 14, 2018 by jhb171achill