GCR 40ft 12T Bogie Brake Van: what was the GC livery?

[mick b]

Look at the Bedford photo as it is posted , not enlarged .

It clearly shows a different darker shade on the bottom panel , the rest of the sides are lighter.

[Chas Levin]

Thank you for the info Richard, very interesting. No pressure of course, but if you do find the photo with the grey livery it would certainly be very interesting to see it please. I'm sure I could live with the brown and cream livery and it wouldn't look out of place with other GNR and ECJS parcels vehicles, so that might well be the answer. And I'm coming around to the duotone view, especially in light of Mick's latest post:

Look at the Bedford photo as it is posted , not enlarged .

It clearly shows a different darker shade on the bottom panel , the rest of the sides are lighter.

Mick, that's a nice point: I had been looking at it enlarged and you're right that looking at it as posted, it does look more like it's duotone. I think that's quite odd effect which I don't quite understand, but it must be to do with scale and context - the difference between focussing too much on small areas, and taking in the whole coach side plus the other coaches in one view perhaps?

One other point though: why does Brassmasters describe it as a 'Newspaper Brake Van'? Is there any evidence for that, as most of the sources quoted here so far seem to favour fish, veg, fruit and excursions...

[Hatfield Shed]

...As to the photo here. I would say it is two colours. I would have said French grey rather than cream to account for the difference to the other stock, but it was built too late so gut instinct says dirt...

Was it a flat sided vehicle, or is the side profile curved? Different reflection of ambient light can produce this effect if the side is not plane.

[exile]

It is flat sided to below the waist panel. If it were just the light falling at different angles you would expect the change of shade to be part way down the lower panels and not at the lower waist beading.

[Richard i]

Sorry I can not find the picture of the carriage in grey. It was shown to me on the yahoo group which has now been shut down and yahoo did not archive the site but just deleted it. If anyone else was on it and remembers who was kind enough to post up the picture in the first place then perhaps they they might be encouraged to post it up here too.
Richard

[Bedders]

Sorry I can not find the picture of the carriage in grey. It was shown to me on the yahoo group which has now been shut down and yahoo did not archive the site but just deleted it. If anyone else was on it and remembers who was kind enough to post up the picture in the first place then perhaps they they might be encouraged to post it up here too.
Richard

I've been looking at my old emails and Brian Slater posted the photo, Nigel Yule chipped in as well in a thread entitled "non passenger coaching stock colours" in 2014. Unfortunately if I took a copy, it was lost in the great memory stick disaster of 2019.

[Chas Levin]

I've been looking at my old emails and Brian Slater posted the photo, Nigel Yule chipped in as well in a thread entitled "non passenger coaching stock colours" in 2014. Unfortunately if I took a copy, it was lost in the great memory stick disaster of 2019.

Thank you for looking and for the info about the NPCS colours thread; I tried searching for various combinations of that title and those authors but haven't turned up anything yet, though that may be due to my lack of experience with the forum Advanced Search system, so I'll have a further look this evening.
Sorry to hear about the Great Memory Stick Disaster of 2019 - I know the feeling...

[scratcher]

Did anybody complete their kit of the GCR brake van? I have one, thought lost but found again today, and I'd love to see any finished ones.

Earlier Mick remarked that the photo supplied by Bill had more vents / gas lights on the roof than the kit. The photo also shows a gas tank, which is not in the photo of the finished van on the Brassmasters site. Did anybody add the gas tank when making their kit? Could it have been removed in LNER days?

Steve

[Chas Levin]

Hello Steve, I'm embarrassed to admit that mine's still in the to-do pile! I build quite slowly - I often do a lot of research as I go along which slows things down too - and I have this thread bookmarked for when I get to the build.

Do you have an original kit or the more modern Brassmasters reissue?
Chas

[scratcher]

Hi Chas. I have the original R&E Models kit. I’ve just taken a look at the white metal castings, they aren’t great so I might see if I can buy the updated ones from Brassmasters.

I too take a while to build things, but I might have a go at this van soon, as it would make a good partner for a 51’ van I’m part way through (bought from eBay and very nicely part-built but to S4) and a GCR bogie fish van (3D print bought from Alan Rose).

[Chas Levin]

Oh, I didn't know Alan Rose had done the bogie fish van! And I couldn't remember the brand of the original - of course, it's R&E. I'd imagine BM would sell you the castings and that might be a good idea as they do add a certain something. I built the Brassmasters kit a while back - wow, just looked at the date of the pics and it was 2017: doesn't time fly! The paint's a bit heavily applied - I'd be spraying these days - but it's a nice vehicle I think, nonetheless:

[scratcher]

Very nice end result. I hope mine looks as good when finished.

My plan is to include the various vans in a formation modelled on either the 10pm or 2.32am ex-Marylebone. I believe those formations are in the public domain but I've not been able to track them down. Any assistance gratefully received.

[Chas Levin]

I can't help with that info I'm afraid, but if it was coming out of Marylebone the Great Central Railway Society might have some info...