Which locos in which liveries? (Maroon A4!)
Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:13 pm
Okay, here's one to waste a bit of time on. The basic question is this: Which liveries suit which locos? I ask, because I find that I have quite strong views on this, and I find this a little odd. Why should certain colours/lining suit certain locos better than others? Now, there is a kind of 'prior' here, which is that we might expect the big 4 colours to influence what we might find acceptable in BR days. But I don't think it is that simple. For example, there is no prior for the BR express blue. I find this looks magnificient on A3s and A4s and air-smoothed Merchant Navies, but totally rediculous on Kings and Duchesses. I'm undecided about rebuilt Merchant Navies (I think only in preservation!) and A1s in that livery. Anyway, I just wonder how much agreement there is on this. I'm interested in aesthetics here, not politcal/regional/expectational biases - though they can all be difficult to suppress.
So here's what I like, in order for each class (I omit what I don't like!):
A4s - Look good in most things. In order: Wartime black, LNER blue, LNER grey/silver, BR express blue; LNER green, BR green. Which leaves, I think, only that experimental BR blue/purple, which I don't think suited anything! Now try and imagine one in Maroon - it seems absurd at first, but is that bias? Let it take root. It starts to work for me.
A3s - Wartime black, BR green, LNER green, BR express blue. My head spins when I try and imagine this in Maroon - a dab hand at photo shop could knock one of these up for us to judge! Rebuilt Merchant Navies and Halls both look very nice in Maroon - a la Harry Potter. I saw the Maroon rebuilt Merchant Navy in the flesh - I had no idea why it was Maroon when I saw it, but it looked great. I can't say that I think much of the Hornby Castle in Maroon though...
V2s - LNER green, Black - though I have too say, I've never been very fond of the BR mixed traffic lining - looks good on a standard 5, and possibly 4MT-tank but that's about it. To my mind, lining always looks too fussy on anything less than a 4-6-0; and the V2 tenders were just too shallow to support this jazzy lining.
Duchess/Princess LMS post-war black with straw & maroon lining. I prefer this by a substantial margin. But maroon also looks great. Nothing else (including BR green) really suits these locos. This is probably the most interesting/puzzling one for me, because the Stanier taper boiler is not unlike the GWR outline, which looks good in BR (GWR) green. I think maybe there is a bias there. Maybe its that many of the GWR locos would just look better in Maroon (hmm), and that the length of the LMS pacifics demands something more assertive than BR green.
LMS 4-6-Os - Maroon; LMS post-war black.
Anything from the GWR - Black (particularly pannier tanks and Halls or similar), and green are both fine - but definitely not express blue.
The pattern seems to be that I like black on the larger locos. I've never seen a Bullied pacific in wartime black, but I bet it would suit. Come to think of it, were any A1s painted in wartime black? That would also be impressive. Strangely though, I'm not sure about a King in black.
All this kind of thinking must have done the rounds many times before, but I'm interested to know what people think...
Sorry to ramble;
Best
So here's what I like, in order for each class (I omit what I don't like!):
A4s - Look good in most things. In order: Wartime black, LNER blue, LNER grey/silver, BR express blue; LNER green, BR green. Which leaves, I think, only that experimental BR blue/purple, which I don't think suited anything! Now try and imagine one in Maroon - it seems absurd at first, but is that bias? Let it take root. It starts to work for me.
A3s - Wartime black, BR green, LNER green, BR express blue. My head spins when I try and imagine this in Maroon - a dab hand at photo shop could knock one of these up for us to judge! Rebuilt Merchant Navies and Halls both look very nice in Maroon - a la Harry Potter. I saw the Maroon rebuilt Merchant Navy in the flesh - I had no idea why it was Maroon when I saw it, but it looked great. I can't say that I think much of the Hornby Castle in Maroon though...
V2s - LNER green, Black - though I have too say, I've never been very fond of the BR mixed traffic lining - looks good on a standard 5, and possibly 4MT-tank but that's about it. To my mind, lining always looks too fussy on anything less than a 4-6-0; and the V2 tenders were just too shallow to support this jazzy lining.
Duchess/Princess LMS post-war black with straw & maroon lining. I prefer this by a substantial margin. But maroon also looks great. Nothing else (including BR green) really suits these locos. This is probably the most interesting/puzzling one for me, because the Stanier taper boiler is not unlike the GWR outline, which looks good in BR (GWR) green. I think maybe there is a bias there. Maybe its that many of the GWR locos would just look better in Maroon (hmm), and that the length of the LMS pacifics demands something more assertive than BR green.
LMS 4-6-Os - Maroon; LMS post-war black.
Anything from the GWR - Black (particularly pannier tanks and Halls or similar), and green are both fine - but definitely not express blue.
The pattern seems to be that I like black on the larger locos. I've never seen a Bullied pacific in wartime black, but I bet it would suit. Come to think of it, were any A1s painted in wartime black? That would also be impressive. Strangely though, I'm not sure about a King in black.
All this kind of thinking must have done the rounds many times before, but I'm interested to know what people think...
Sorry to ramble;
Best
