The LNER Encyclopedia

G'day,

I'm painting the 7mm LNER Period Toad D I built a while ago. I'm struggling with the colour for the top of the steel veranda plates at each end. Peter Tatlow's book covers livery instructions but the veranda could be considered to be the top of the underframe (therefore painted black) or the base of the body layer (therefore painted red). Photos of the real thing were usually taken from alongside and the deck top shows at very low angle if at all and I'm unable to decide on the colour.

Any help that throws light on this would be most gratefully recieved.

Regards,

Vernon

I take it that the area of interest is that immediately above the underframe between the verandah of the van body and the buffers. In this area, the ballast weight was exposed (of course it extended the length of the van) and, certainly in the case of the BR ones built to a modification of the LNER design, this was concrete and self coloured. Perhaps the LNER ones were the same; other railways used items of scrap iron or steel such as short lengths of old rail, but this was concealed beneath the body either between the underframe side rails (the SR design had noticeably deeper underframe side rails) or, in the case of the LMS design in boxes below. I don't think the thrifty LNER would have used new steel plate!

Hi 1H was 2E,

The van I've built is one of the original LNER ones to that wheelbase. It did indeed have steel end decks - the steel ballast was contained within the underframe. The concrete end verandas came later!

I think I'm still looking.

Cheers,

Vernon

I am fairly certain that the top of the verandas on the original Toads were black since they formed part of the underframe. Certainly I have painted them so on my 4mm models and nobody had commented otherwise in the last 50 years!

That's what I was hoping someone would say!

Cheers,
Vernon

notascoobie wrote:Hi 1H was 2E,

The van I've built is one of the original LNER ones to that wheelbase. It did indeed have steel end decks - the steel ballast was contained within the underframe. The concrete end verandas came later!

I think I'm still looking.

Cheers,

Vernon

The underfloor area inside the covered area outside the cabin (I think that's right)
Under the floor boards scrap steel and brake blocks is concreted in.
We had to replace the concrete on our example, due to rust on the scrap expanding and splitting the concrete, thus lifting the floorboards and making it impossible to open the door. I think that there were 20 plus blocks and scrap in one end.
As said before the concrete box additions came later.

I've not been able to find anything definitive, and with most photographs in monochrome that makes it much harder to differentiate colours. My best suggestion is that they should be black as part of the underframe but, given they are flat and exposed to the air and rain and soot and grime, and with all those rivets and stuff, would have acquired a sort of mucky, rusty, bauxitish colour in no time at all... lets face it the black-painted rolling stock underframes go that colour quite quickly.

Thanks for the help chaps. I've settled on black - to be weathered later.

Regards,

Vernon