first world war ROD khaki liveries

i have heard that our P class is due to go into shops for re painting in khaki this has got me wondering ,i cant find any pictures of the engine from this era , so what was the livery.

the GW 2-6-0 seems to be black from the running plate down and khaki above so would the tank engine be the same and what would have been the shade of khaki used, there is almost as many tints and shades as any other colour.
for instance is the colour from the second world war the same, and is there a paint code to match it up
If anyone can point me in the right direction, it would help

i've got the job of doing the preparation ,rubbing down the paintwork and will most likely do the frames and wheels so its important i get it right , after all don't want to paint wheels black if their meant to be brown

and once i've done this, i understand via the GM'S blog that Bodiam is also having a repaint into plain black at some stage for next season something tells me i might be a tad busy over the next few months

 

I've had a look but haven't been able to find any photos of P class with the ROD. It wouldn't necessarilly have been painted khaki; black seems to be quite common, or it may have been just given a basic coat of the owning company's standard colour, which I'm guessing was green. From the size of the engine, I'd say as a guess that it would've just had 'ROD' on the tanks, but it really would be a good idea to try and get hold of a photo, if possible. There's a new book out which might prove helpful (though I haven't got a copy yet!)

http://www.billhudsontransportbooks...rating+division+on+the+western+front&pid=1969

Another useful source might be the RCTS, I believe they may have done a book or two on SECR engines.

As for shades of khaki, I wouldn't worry too much about it, we're talking about something that happened over 90 years ago. All we had to go on with 5322 was 'a sandy shade of khaki'! This was what was still in use at the start of WW2, although later on they changed to olive drab. All I'd add is that the paint on the 53xx turned out a bit lighter than we were aiming for.

 

I have had a quick look at the RCTS book and it says that 27 and 753 were sent to Boulogne on the 24th April 1915 and were painted unvarnished olive green with large yellow numbers on the tank sides beneath the letters ROD. They were renumbered in Boulogne and became 5027 and 5753, returning on 30th October 1916. It seems that both were painted SECR grey on their return.

 

thanks for that info, one of the guys here at Rolvendon has been doing some checking and it seems that it is going into olive green with black wheels and frames , i would guess simular to the livery that no 323 carried just before the end of her last ticket and talking to the manager it looks like 753 will see out its current ticket in this livery

 

The R.O.D. Book by W.Aves (see link) published in 2009 does not give any details of the livery carried by the two 'P' class locomotives that went to France, Nos. 27 and 753, other than the general comment that by 1918, black with ROD and the locomotives number in white had been adopted. However both 'P' class locomotives were in France a lot earlier in the war than most locomotives, being used to shunt the docks at Boulogne from May 1915 to October 1916. It is assumed that they were then sent home as not powerfull enough for job. By this time may more locomotives were 'called up' including 9 of the 10 South Eastern & Chatham Railways 'T' class 0-6-0T's, which were also used for shunting Boulogne docks until 1919.

The book does state that when 753 was returned to the SE&CR in October 1916 it had damage to the cab, bunker and left hand tank.

Any one who is interested in the railways of the First World War, should read the R.O.D. book. It contains a lot of information that has not been published for many years, and includes a superb collection of photographs. It has done for the standard gauge ROD lines, what the Plateway Press books have done for the narrow gauge WDLR lines.