Computer Coloured Monochrome

[strang steel]

Another excellent result, thanks very much.

When looking at the colour version, I get the distinct impression of looking through a window (my computer screen) at the real thing.

[Darwin4975]

This thread has been going for a year and receives more than 1000 visits each month. My thanks to all of you who have shown an interest.

I know that A4s have a host of followers and I thought one might be suitable for the occasion. Colour pictures of single chimney A4s in BR days are very rare. In fact I know of none taken in the period 1950-57. (If anyone knows of any please comment).

Here's a cracking view of the Queen of Scots Pullman on Cowlairs Bank in July 1955 courtesy of the Transport Treasury. 60031 Golden Plover in immaculate BR brunswick green is in charge and would take the train to Edinburgh Waverley and onwards to Newcastle (or possibly to Leeds).

Being a 9x6cm format negative the detail is all there in the background which would not be the case for 35mm. This picture would enlarge to a magnificent colour print size A2 or larger.

(PS Please have a look at my ad in the Classifieds Section)

[cambois]

That is a really fantastic shot - great location, fantastic loco and coaches.
I still pass there most days, but it does not look like that now! Not sure anything much is left - Some of the bridges and perhaps the stone wall

[61070]

By way of background (quite literally!) the large building was Glasgow Corporation Transport's Pinkston Power Station which generated electricity for the city's trams, subway and trolleybuses. It had a distinctive pair of tall chimneys - they are hidden by the loco's exhaust. When colouring the image you may have noticed that the building's brickwork bears the remains of a 'camouflage' paint scheme, an attempt to confuse the Luftwaffe (if the station, quite a prominent target, had been put out of action much of Glasgow's and the Clyde Valley's public transport would have ground to a halt). Just as well the paint had weathered a bit by 1955, or you may have been fooled into painting it in with the sky(!).
http://www.theglasgowstory.com/imagevie ... =TGSE00212 - the exit of the tunel from Queen Steet is just below the cooling tower.

[Albergman]

I hope this topic hasn't ended!! I really enjoy your work.

Frank

[Darwin4975]

Sorry for the long delay but numerous issues have been preventing continuation. I hope to be able to return to periodic posts.
This one shows the heavy combined Mallaig/Fort William late afternoon working to Glasgow leaving Crianlarich sometime in the late 1950s. Another dull day as normal for these parts but the crew of the K2 provide a nice human element. Like all the others of its class that received the BR crest the lion is pointing the wrong way and so remained to withdrawal. I believe that this engine's nameplate was white painted over brass and that is why it has not been given a tinge of yellow.

[65447]

E F Carter's Britain's Railway Liveries (1952) is a trusted resource of information.

Whilst useful it still contains errors or the information provided is too brief to be meaningful; more recent research and a greater availability of official records can address several of those errors and omissions.

As to the original A4 photograph and cast shadow I believe that the sun is on the rear quarter, see the deep shadow inside the rear of the coal space, and so the shadow cast by the smokebox will be apparently short. Given a clear sky and low winter sun, a particularly bright side-on effect is most feasible.

In the photograph above, the crimson on the coach has burnt umber tint that is not at like the original colour nor the eventual faded slightly pinkish hue. The lichen on the foreground wood post would also be more evident in a pale green-grey - if you have ever lived there (and I did for 6 years) these minor details become noticeable.

[Darwin4975]

Thanks. I welcome critical comment so long as it addresses specific issues.
First to deal with Carter, I agree. The book has been a disappointment on reflection, and not worth the cost of buying. The best source of reference for earlier scenes has been The Big Four in Colour but this cannot help for anything which predates colour photography. Colour Rail slides have also been useful especially for the BR period. The red of ‘blood and custard’ coaches is very variable if you look at some examples shown by the latter. Colour films did vary quite a lot and the conditions at the time of the picture (sunny or dull) not to mention time of year would affect the outcome. I remember these coaches from my childhood but don’t ever recall a pinkish tinge. It just goes to show how subjective this subject is.

I have never offered any guarantees.

When my work is looked at by others flaws may be obvious which I just haven’t seen. That is why I am posting as the desire is to get it right and the more eyes the better. It was easy and no great tedium to revisit this picture to make some adjustments so the lichens on the post have been given attention and the coach red tweaked a little. I hope the result will go some way to satisfy 65447. If not, he could always have a go himself...

[mick b]

Looks good to me I prefer the latest version . Lichen !!

[65447]

I hope the result will go some way to satisfy 65447. If not, he could always have a go himself...

It certainly does and thank you. As to 'having a go' I only wish that I had the skills, knowledge, time and software!

[Darwin4975]

It is said that the perimeter of a GN Atlantics driving wheels were only a cigarette paper apart at their closest, -not that you could tell from this photo.

4411 (later allocated 2841) rests on shed in company with a K3 and O4, sometime in the 1930s.

Negative from the Transport Treasury Archive.

[Darwin4975]

BR blue livery didn't last very long before being replaced by brunswick green. I remember seeing the A3 'Harvester' in BR blue as a young lad. (Seems a long time ago now.) Here is A4 'Merlin' at Haymarket shed in that same livery circa 1952.
A John Robertson negative courtesy of the Transport Treasury.

[Darwin4975]

Looking as if it was a spur of the moment photograph, it would be fascinating to know what messages were going on between the people pictured here. The C7 was moving up the yard at York in 1937. Negative courtesy of the Transport Treasury. Any comments on the buffer stocks?

[mick b]

The Loco should have Red lining of the Footplate, Truck and Frames of the Tender. Wheels lined in white with Black rims. How much would be visible would depend on how clean she was at the time of the photo.
The Horsebox and Coach would have been in Teak coloured paint.
Nice photo.

[Darwin4975]

The red lining below the footplate level on engine and tender just doesn't show on the original negative so can't be included here. It was obviously too grimy to be visible, though I daresay the photographer may have been able to make it out in places to the naked eye. Likewise the white lining of the wheels.

Teak coloured paint -is that more yellow or more red than the colour shown here? The problem of course is that paint colours and shades tend to alter over time with weathering and grime accumulation.

The pixel density of buffer stocks and buffer beam on the original negative is the same, which suggests that they were the same colour. Green liveried locomotives tended to have black painted stocks (and this can show up very clearly in the b/w pixel density) but I have seen at least one colour photo of a green NE Atlantic with red buffer stocks so black was not a universal rule. Were there differences between Darlington and Doncaster in this regard, -as there were for example with cylinder casings?