850 Lord Nelson

No, the rake is Maroon - Carmine & Cream x 3 - Maroon - Green - Carmine & Cream, so it's a rake that a Southern loco would probably have hauled along the GCML in the 1950/60s; completely prototypical, but it'll no doubt offend some photographers.

 

Southern locos on the GC main line in the 50s/60s? I don't think so, except on specials in the 60s. Motive power was changed at Oxford. A few GWR locos worked as far as Leicester on a regular basis though.

 

I think Nelson's livery is more offensive than the coaches!

Hopefully we'll see it in BR livery fairly soon. Would look very nice alongside Lamiel.....

 

:smt076 :smt078

 

lol... Not keen on the idea Stepney? ;-)

 

In a break between mainline trips it should be packed off down the bluebell and put behind there southern rake just once to keep Stepney and the other good people at the Bluebell happy since the number of big SR engines in sunshine green can be counted on one hand as can the number that are operational.

 

They got up to Leicester quite regularly, and on occasion Nottingham Victoria.

 

I am really astonished that anyone could find SR livery 'offensive'. Why? Do you have some kind of mental block? Do you honestly believe that the history of railways began in 1948?

I suppose you would have been quite happy to see Black Fives and Brits turned out in BR Blue, complete with double arrow, just as the Stoke Division of BR disfigured the Rheidol locomotives.

Meic

 

Malachite Green is not offensive in any way. Having the loco in this livery shows that the pre-nationalisation companies had imagination when it came to liveries. BR green is ok, but we need to have variety on locos, to show the public what railways were like. Lots of locomotives have to wear BR livery, lets have the pre-grouping and grouping locos in liveries that reflect railway history pre 1948.
Daniel

 

I thought the VOR loco's were quite fetching in blue.

The Melter

 

But it is only paint... it's not like they were actually disfigured in the same way as for example Mountaineer, Blanche and Linda?.... is it?

 

[quote="Gwenllian2001]I am really astonished that anyone could find SR livery 'offensive'. Why? Do you have some kind of mental block? Do you honestly believe that the history of railways began in 1948?

I suppose you would have been quite happy to see Black Fives and Brits turned out in BR Blue, complete with double arrow, just as the Stoke Division of BR disfigured the Rheidol locomotives.[/quote]

Agree entirely - Sir Lamiel's livery for example is about as bland as one can be, just does not suit the loco one iota.

Chris

 

I much, much prefer to see SR locos as I remember them. i.e in late 1950s/early 1960s BR livery. And wish more of them were kept like that.

But I don't own the locos and so I accept whatever livery the owners/custodians decide is appropriate. I can then make the decision to go out and photo them, or not. In the case of Lord Nelson I will make the effort! Such a historic class of loco, and a loco I did photo in normal service all those years ago. My notes and web site reports will always refer to her as 30850, as I refer to the Bluebell pacific as 34023.

 

Now that IS a good idea (though I'd put the coaches behind 850, not the other way round ;-) )! "Giants Of Steam 2009" perhaps? I'm very pleased to see 850 in Southern green, but I'm conscious that there aren't any suitable mainline coaches to match (though the WCRC olive green set is not bad, if you don't look too closely). In the mean time, GCR, please run her with your cleanest, least-faded rake of coaches, and if the sun shines, they'll look good together, regardless of the actual liveries.

BTW which other loco(s) are likely to run this weekend? I suppose 70013 passing 850 is too much to hope for...

 

With respect, isnt it just as important, if not more so, to appeal to the enthusiasts of the future? There's a good reason Thomas and his friends are bright colours - they are more attractive to look at. If Gordon, Thomas, James etc were all Brunswick Green and lined black i highly doubt that we'd have so many young people in the various loco departments aound the country! And the same goes for the general public - a bright coloured engine (im not talking flourescent here, just brighter than dark green or black) will always have a much bigger impression on a person than something dark and dull looking.

We want, need to even, accentuate the energy and the wonder of steam engines, not the dark, dirty, polluting image they have (especially during the later BR period). Of course, it should be done in a historically appropriate way, as the history and tradition is the most important selling aspect of steam locos, but i think more should be done to get away from the BR period. Its great for those that remember it, but that number is only going to go down and if we dont want to see volunteer numbers go the same way we have to appeal to a significantly wider number of people.

Chris (sorry for the paint frothing lol!)

 

You were just a teansy bit selective with selecting your quote from my posting!

I accept any colour scheme, although my own preference is a rather blinkered view. And for those selfish reasons I'll only spend time and money on photographing and travelling behind the ones I like.

And if bright "Thomas" colours are the future I'm just glad of my mortality, (but please Lord, not yet!).

 

Any chance you could learn how to quote people properly? I think you'll find if you took an iota of a second you'll realise I made no such comment...it was PhotoMatt that made that comment! Numpty!


As for the rest of you grumbling about paint, get a life, the paint is there to protect the engine, it also just happens to look pretty, it's not essential for it to be in any livery so be thankful that skilled painters like Alan and Alex Pakes (plus many others) give their free time to paint and line out such locomotives as 70013, 30777 and 45305.

 

lol Bryan, my reference to Thomas colours is just that they're brighter - Thomas liveries are fine for thomas events, though i'd rather not have to suffer them the rest of the year!

While i sometimes prefer Big 4/Pre-grouping liveries, there are plenty of exceptions. I cant help but think it would be better if livery decisions were more based on their historical accuracy, their attractiveness to the public, and trying to have some variety - changing the livery after overhauls, or trying to paint it in a different livery to the other preserved members of its class. And i'd contend that liveries are very important - great lengths are taken to make the railway infrastructure look right, and the other rolling stock too, so i cant agree that steam engines are the exception and it doesnt matter what they look like so long as they are working - especially on the mainline where the general public only see an engine for 10 or 20 seconds. But thats just my personal opinion...

Chris

 

Me too.... I'm going for the BR period! ;-)

 

Glad I got the predicted Nat Pres response to my post! Some people are so predicatable.

I am only suprised we didn't get the usual comments about photographers not contributing anything... blah blah blah. That said, Jamie did attempt a quick dig at photographers in the response to my initial question, so well done for that.

My comments where a little tongue in cheek.

The problem is unless the loco is at the Bluebell there isn't any coaching stock that goes with it. The same as when the Dukedog is at the Bluebell etc etc.