The LNER Encyclopedia

Does anyone know when the last ones were withdrawn? I did read once that one lasted until 1964, but cannot find any reference. Also does anyone know any information on any liveries carried post 1948?
Thanks for any help.

Ian Sadler's North Eastern Railway Brake Vans, Irwell Press, p45 photograph caption: number 69295, March 1964.

As a Departmental Vehicle body would be black with yellow lettering, underframe black with white lettering, running gear black.

Many thanks.

Although I am interested in the NER ones which were slightly different to the LNER built ones, and the only photos Paul Bartlett shows of these are the LNER built ones, there are ones there painted in what looks like red livery with black ends.
I wonder if any of the NER built ones that lasted into BR days retained their LNER livery for a while?

Just about everything built before BR livery schemes were finalised would retain their previous livery for some time, but then you are into the game of having to know details of specific vehicles and repaint dates. Even though coaches were typically supposed to be on a 3-year cycle certain pre-Grouping stock continued carrying the teak brown paint into the 1960s, as proven by photographs and much discussion in threads on this and other forums.

LNER livery was always blue for Departmental stock, as previously stated; if non-Departmental then Red Oxide. 'Red' with black ends was a coaching stock combination. Perhaps a link to one or more of Paul's photographs will aid discussion?

But then it could be that certain really old stock was perhaps given a slap of paint on places where new lettering/data was to be applied merely so that it had a firm base to adhere to.

This path can lead to madness...

I remember seeing the Woodhead overhead maintenance train some time in the mid 70s. By then the livery had weather to a strange purplish pink.

I`m not very good at links, but if you Google `Paul Bartlett` and `LNER ballast brake vans` you can see a selection. What I took to be red does look very much like bauxite, but with the black ends it seems odd.

OK found it - last in that selection but taken at Grosmont so almost certainly under restoration - no lettering on van sides so probably in pink primer, whilst the black end is not yet being worked on which confirms it would have been in BR Departmental Black livery.

Any other vans that appear to have black ends don't; they are simply in shadow and hence darker in contrast to the side.

I don`t think you are looking at the same batch of photos - there are several photos of DE301559 taken at different locations in different years, and the van appears to have been painted black, but then the sides painted over later with red? paint in some of the photos, all black in others, and even blue in a couple.

I replied to your original question with the post-1948 livery, which lasted until the 1960s. The photographs you are looking at were taken in the 1980s-90s and none of them are of a van to NE type V6. Once sectorisation arrived liveries became anybody's guess and are certainly well beyond my periods of interest and information, but it is evident that the post-1948 black lasted a long time. Why ask questions if you are already referring to photographs and on a page that clearly states in the heading that some liveries are unusual???

I`m sorry you think I`m asking questions unnecessarily, but I did say earlier that my interest was in the NER V6, but I could only find colour photos of the LNER version, hence the reference to the photos on the Bartlett site. My interest is in the immediate post 1948 ex NER vans, and what I was asking were there any photos of them in this period still in LNER livery. In fact, I don`t know how many survived, but I believe there were a few - would the new BR have rushed pout with the black paint
Thanks for all your contributions.