Leicester Thumper Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 As it says on the tin, What colours were the wooden boxes of the GW painted in BR years? I just wondered as I picked up an old ratio kit and of course, I don't want to paint it in typical GW colours as I plan to do a Joint Modern and Preservation era project. I know that there are signal boxes out there which were painted white with light blue/grey on the wooden beams. Any ideas would be useful, I had a look at signalbox.org but didn't really find any scheme that fitted the bill. cheers. Bruce Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailWest Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I think part of the problem is what exactly you are trying to represent with your model. The extant and speed to which the 'corporate image' was - or was not - applied varied a lot, and there might well be local variations, plus of course the trend subsequently for a more 'in keeping' sympathetic approach. If you just want a "typical corporate image' box, then you won't go far wrong, but if you're more interested in a specific box and/or area, then you might need to study a few photos first. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leicester Thumper Posted March 15, 2013 Author Share Posted March 15, 2013 the location isn't modelled on anywhere specific, which will allow me to run whatever rolling stock I wish which is part of the brief I gave myself. I wish to go for the typical corporate look so The White with Blue/grey probably won't be a bad idea (and will look awesome with some weathering too!) thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leicester Thumper Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 Cheers guys, Meant to check back the other night but have been busy. those pictures are very useful, thanks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivercider Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Here is Hallen Marsh Signal Box in 1981, there were 5 surviving mechanical boxes in the Avonmouth area at the time, Hallen Marsh Signal Box 5/2/81 cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted March 18, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 18, 2013 Here is Hallen Marsh Signal Box in 1981, there were 5 surviving mechanical boxes in the Avonmouth area at the time, scan0089.jpg Hallen Marsh Signal Box 5/2/81 cheers Very nice - immediately after its closure some 'associates' and I removed quite a lot of 'odds & ends' from the Hallen Marsh area including some stuff from that 'box. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivercider Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Well you mentioned you might want a weathering project, here is Holesmouth Junction Signal Box in 1983! By this time it was only open as required, on this day a special from Ince and Elton ran with fertilizer for Chitttening (on the PBA system) which had to run via Holesmouth and reverse. Checking on Flickr confirms the faded paint scheme to be the same colours as Hallen Marsh Holesmouth Junction Signal Box 5/10/83. And for completeness here is the one surviving box in the Avonmouth area, when the other four were abolished St Andrews Junction Signal Box was fitted with a mini-panel. It controls part of the Severn Beach branch as well as the Bristol Bulk Handling Terninal. Photographed some time in 1993 when I went to take pictures of the BBHT which was then under construction St Andrews Junction Signal Box 1993. cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted March 18, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 18, 2013 St Andrews was fitted with a mini (MES as the WR called it) panel when the Hallen Marsh rationalisation scheme was implemented in the 1980s - the panel just sat on a n ordinary messroom type table! A new and much larger panel was provided for my BBHT (Bristol Bulk Handling Terminal) scheme in the first half of the 1990s and I have a number of pics of both panels - the latter one when being fitted out in the 'box as the tiles were added after it was put in there. Holesmouth Jcn 'box lives on - hope fully in a much better state still and definitely on a far better foundation - at the Birmingham Railway Museum at Tyseley having been dismantled and taken north on a lorry and re-receted on a substantial concrete slab instead of the original timber bearers, I re-planned the locking to suit its new role and the frame was basically rebuilt and re-locked from the ground up while the signals it now works were in several cases assembled from 'kits' we created out of material recovered from both Holesmouth and Hallen Marsh. Unfortunately one of the main longitudinal castings in the frame broke into two pieces when the frame was being taken down but it was 'stitched' back together by a specialist firm in the Balck Country to the correct dimensions. We thought at the time the weakness was possibly something to do with either the way Holesmouth 'box and been extended it, much more likely, a result of a wartime near miss by the Luftwaffe. Anyway as reassembled it turned out to be a lovely smooth frame hardly betraying teh fact taht it was 70 years old. The locking components came from the two boxes although the channels were all from Holesmouth Jcn. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eggesford box Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Another scheme, post chocolate and cream, that seemed to be fairly common was an overall light to mid grey with blue doors and white window frames. Crediton (ex LSWR but by then WR) and Abergavenny where two such examples. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted March 19, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 19, 2013 If it's the 'corporate BR blue/grey' era you're going for, then it might be wise to find a prototype photo that you like the look of, even if your layout is not set in any particular place, and stick with that. The colour scheme went from 'freshly painted' to 'drab' pretty quickly IIRC. However, beware taking this colour scheme too far into the privatisation era, as boxes then started to get repainted in various colours, such as 'Railtrack green and cream' - OK for a Southern box, I suppose, but never looked right on a GW box, in my view. Not long after that, we locals started to exert our influence in some locations, resulting in post-privatisation heritage colour schemes getting adopted, choc & cream has made a come back in some West Country locations, and I even managed to get Crediton repainted in L&SWR colours a few years ago, to match the recently-repainted station! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailWest Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Yes, Crediton was nice - just a shame that the inside wasn't refurbished at the same time (or at least, it certainly wasn't in 2010) and the weeds weren't kept further way - ah well, can't have it all :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach bogie Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 For a time there was a grey colour - I assumed it was primer, but it lasted for many years. Here is Wrexham Croes Newydd in 1986 in grey and 1996 in brown / cream Mike Wiltshire Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach bogie Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Same grey colour being used on others Mike Wiltshire Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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