What colour were GWR employee coveralls and working clothesetc

[GWR_Modeller]

Hi.

I have looked on this site for previous threads on a similar topic and also consulted GWW and the Company Servants books.

 

Station staff certainly wore a well made dark blue uniform and the consensus seems to be that loco crew wore dark blue as well.  In some photos loco crew appear to be wearing coveralls or dungarees instead of the trousers and jacket style of working clothes and they seem a bit lighter in colour, were these the same colour?  In b/w photos of goods staff, both checkers and porters, almost all the outer clothes are a similar dark colour I presume this is dark blue, with a pale shirt.  The goods porters are often in shirt sleeves and wear an apron or have a light coat.  I these were guess tan brown.  Is this correct?

 

What about coaling stage workers and line side crew?  I dont see alot of coveralls in photos and there seems to be some variation in the shade of grey in the photos for jackets and trousers.  Were they all wearing dark blue or something else?

 

As an aside from the main question I was amazed in the company servants book to see that the biggest concession made by labourers was to remove their jacket and role up their sleeves.  They all still wear caps and often waist coats.

 

Regards Paul

[Steamport Southport]

Dark blue? I always thought station staff, guards, etc. wore black. They may have called it "blue" in a similar way that policemen called their black uniforms "blue".

 

People like goods clerks, etc. would just wear normal office clothes of the era.

 

Most labourers would just wear the same sort of clothes as general labourers did. No uniforms. Things like tweed trousers, shirt, hobnail boots and cloth cap.

 

Have a look here for station staff uniforms.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=gwr+station+master+uniform&tbm=isch&source=hp&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjYmZyNi9XiAhVltnEKHcpYD2cQsAR6BAgGEAE&biw=1366&bih=655#imgrc=_

 

 

Jason

[gwrrob]

http://www.gwr.org.uk/liveriesuniforms.html

[GWR_Modeller]

Gwr.org, GWW both refer to station staff and say dark blue which I interpreted as like navy blue officers or dress uniforms ie almost black.  They are almost silent on other workers.

 

Steamport may be right about labourers (on construction projects) and clerical staff (esp head offices) but that leaves the subject of goods shed workers (imho definately a uniform) and coaling stage workers and lineside gangs.  I believe these were employees not casual workers or perhaps a combination?

Paul

[The Stationmaster]

8 hours ago, GWR_Modeller said:

Gwr.org, GWW both refer to station staff and say dark blue which I interpreted as like navy blue officers or dress uniforms ie almost black.  They are almost silent on other workers.

 

Steamport may be right about labourers (on construction projects) and clerical staff (esp head offices) but that leaves the subject of goods shed workers (imho definately a uniform) and coaling stage workers and lineside gangs.  I believe these were employees not casual workers or perhaps a combination?

Paul

There is a picture in Vaughan's book about the Faringdon branch which includes a picture of the local Perway gang in the earlier part of the 20th century and none of them - including my great grandfather -  are wearing any items of uniform clothing.

 

Loco shed labourers in BR days days were issued with what were called jean jackets and trousers (just don't think jeans in the usual clothing sense) similar to the stuff issued to footplate men and Cleaners but I don't know what they got in earlier years although photos suggest they had a similar clothing to Engine Cleaners.

[Steamport Southport]

Does anyone remember the programme God's Wonderful Railway?

 

It's now available on DVD and there are a few clips on YouTube. They seemed pretty accurate for uniforms of the different eras. Funnily enough plenty in this short clip.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOBWLVcoDvU

 

Worth picking up just for the loco action. About £12 on Amazon.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gods-Wonderful-Railway-BBC-DVD/dp/B06XHMCVYQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=M0OEAUASVCH9&keywords=gods+wonderful+railway+dvd&qid=1559866609&s=gateway&sprefix=gods+wonder%2Caps%2C186&sr=8-1

 

 

 

Jason

[GWR_Modeller]

19 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Loco shed labourers in BR days days were issued with what were called jean jackets and trousers (just don't think jeans in the usual clothing sense)

 Actually I think it might mean almost exactly that after allowing for seventy years of fashion evolution.  The definition of jeans is a strong hard wearing blue denim or cotton fabric so good for work clothes.   Denim and cotton fades easily. So the various shades of clothing in photos from darker shades to paler makes alot of sense.

[GWR_Modeller]

I have also found a book called the big four in colour and it happens to have four or five colour shots of loco crew posing in their cabs or near engines, all except one wearing pale clothing so in general definately not dark blue.  I feel alot better about my painting of figures in paler blues or blue greys but I will avoid using the brighter blue clothing colours that I have seen some modern crews wearing on preservation railways.

[GWR_Modeller]

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-along-the-line-1947-online

 

I found this in BFI.  Part of free.

[Steamport Southport]

18 hours ago, GWR_Modeller said:

I have also found a book called the big four in colour and it happens to have four or five colour shots of loco crew posing in their cabs or near engines, all except one wearing pale clothing so in general definately not dark blue.  I feel alot better about my painting of figures in paler blues or blue greys but I will avoid using the brighter blue clothing colours that I have seen some modern crews wearing on preservation railways.

 

I always think many people paint them "too bright" and the ready painted model crews look worse when they are like that. They definitely need to be toned down a bit. As an example.

 

https://www.hattons.co.uk/22245/bachmann_branchline_36_047_locomotive_staff_x_6/stockdetail.aspx

 

 

 

Jason

[The Stationmaster]

12 hours ago, GWR_Modeller said:

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-along-the-line-1947-online

 

I found this in BFI.  Part of free.

The Western men are wearing jean trousers, and the Driver a jean jacket and they're not in the original issue colour which was quite a strong darkish blue (there is a colour photo published somewhere) but nowhere near as dark as the serge jackets which looked black in some light.  The jean material faded when washed and faded out to a pale grey, almost white sometimes, when subjected to repeated washing on the footplate which many men did with their other set when at work.  This involved putting  hot boiler water from the pep pipe into a bucket and adding plenty of washing soda to get the grease out - but that also took the colour out.

[TheSignalEngineer]

From personal experience of seeing them in the 1950s and wearing them in the 1960s, overalls worn by on-track workers were dark blue when new then rapidly faded to very pale blue, blue-grey or almost white with repeated washing. 

Signal Linemen usually had bib and brace overalls and what was often called a 'Slop' jacket which was like those worn by Ronnie Barker in Porridge. Indeed in the 1960s our overalls were delivered from Winchester Prison workshop.

 

These photos in this post were LMR but show various stages of distress in working clothes.