GSR carriage colours

[jhb171achill]

Our friend Cyril Fry had his models display all three GSR liveries.

1.  Dark “crimson lake”, which was a Guinness-like very dark crimsony maroon, so dark it looked almost like a dark brown with a reddish tint. This is very well reproduced on Downpatrick’s ex-GSWR coach 836 (though ignore the cream panels!)

After 1925, all carriages both broad and narrow gauge were gradually repainted thus, though Senior recalled a passenger brake to be found around Inchicore bearing an older GSWR livery well into the ‘30s.

This was essentially the old GSWR colour applied to everything but without the GSR’s sometime upper cream panels.

 

2.  From the late 1920s, SOME stock was repainted brown and cream, with panels painted and lined as shown below. Most coaches, however, had the upper panels completely cream up to roof level. A thin black line below the windows separated the two. Two thin black lines were just above window level and just below roof level, against the cream background.

Despite Fry’s model in this livery being a six-wheeler, I have found no evidence to show anything other than main line bogie stock plus a single example of a six-wheel passenger brake (used in main line trains!) ever carrying this.

Anecdotal evidence is that it was a “main line livery” with the majority of all stock (including 6-wheelers, secondary vehicles and narrow gauge) all remaining the dark “lake” colour.

 

Edited July 6, 2020 by jhb171achill

[jhb171achill]

3.  From 1933 a new livery appeared which would eventually cover all stock - a much lighter maroon actually the same as (British) LMS maroon. The Belfast & Co Down seemed to use the same shade, or one virtually indistinguishable.

 

[David Holman]

Just SO useful!

[DiveController]

Really love the maroon GSR (crimson lake too) with the bilingual destination boards. Pure Irish class!

[Magpie1951]

I remember reading an IRRS article or it could have been New Irish Lines with a picture of a GSWR 1st class 3 wheeler painted in chocolate and cream. The article said two 1st 3 wheelers were painted in the livery for mainline use if I remeber correctly.

[jhb171achill]

On 7/8/2020 at 11:03 PM, Magpie1951 said:

I remember reading an IRRS article or it could have been New Irish Lines with a picture of a GSWR 1st class 3 wheeler painted in chocolate and cream. The article said two 1st 3 wheelers were painted in the livery for mainline use if I remeber correctly.

I’d be interested to see a three-wheeler....!    

Fry’s model is a 1st class coach, indeed.

It must be remembered, of course, that some six-wheelers - usually firsts, mail vans or full passenger brake vans, were often on main line trains mixed in with bogies ancient and modern, right up to the early 1960s....