The LNER Encyclopedia

In the movie 'Geordie', released in 1955 with filming most likely taking place in 1954, our hero (Bill Travers) boards a train formed of GNoSR coaches hauled by a NBR 4-4-2T. One coach is camine red and the other in LNER brown, and both carry Gil Sans BR insignia as one would expect..... As can be seen, the carmine coach is soot-weathered as is the roof..... However, the other coach is clearly freshly repainted including the roof. The gutter can be seen in brown..... The ensemble is the opposite to what one would expect, so I wondered if any member knows the background on this. The livery at that time was carmine red for non-vestibuled stock. Why was a coach repainted in pre-Nationalization LNER brown in 1954?

Probably for the same reason that ex-GER coaches were also painted the 'Teak Brown' during the 1950s, whatever it might be. Perhaps the correct question might be 'why was the first coach painted Crimson?'.

BTW the correct colour for the early BR period, up to 1956, was BS381C:540 Crimson, which BR for some reason renamed as Crimson Lake.

I can't throw any light on the livery, but this link https://www.reelstreets.com/films/geordie/ reveals that the scenes were filmed at Gartmore Station and that the line had been closed to normal traffic since 1951.

Just for a bonus point there's also a stock picture of Tilbury Riverside [the other end of his journey]

From 1949 pre-grouping coaches that were expected to be withdrawn before their next major shopping were to be painted in coach brown. This would have been their pre nationalisation livery. The most likely explanation for the appearance of the coaches was that they were two withdrawn coaches that were make available to the film company and the brown one looked so shabby that it had been given a quick coat of varnish before filming, possibly by the film company.

Thanks Bill. That sounds very plausible.