.

[Jordan or Plymouth Mad]

.

 

[mickoo]

Looks like Bristol to me and if so then it'll be a late evening West departure given the low sun angle, that could explain the darker areas are shadows cast by either station canopies or structures to the right of the cameraman.

 

[Kier Hardy]

Exactly - picture quality isn't great..... Low sunlight and a weathered lower bodyside is all I can see

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Hmmm..... given that there appears to be a continuation of the upper colour bleeding down onto the lower panel either side of the nameplate, I'd go for once colour all over with some 'professional weathering' thrown in

 

[Osgood]

If nothing else it is difficult to believe that a two-tone could possibly have escaped the attention of the Class's countless followers, however short-lived the livery.

 

[Osgood]

Which is why I find this clip so intriguing. ......
Maybe I'm being slightly misunderstood. I'm not being pedantic & saying it definitely is two-tone green - it isn't even the same way round as the Hymeks and Deltics wore two tone. I just find it fascinating that it looks very close to two tone as worn by 47s. But as there has been discission around green or grey on the HJ Falcon thread, maybe it is just me....

Absolutely. If I had to decide solely on the strength of the images you posted, I'd have to come down on the side of it being two-tone, and that is after a while perusing photos of 52s to try to find evidence against the idea.

One thing I noticed in several pics of various coloured Locos was a distinct line on the lower curved body side, caused by low-level light from adjacent platform surfaces reflecting at around the level of the where the base of the light green should be.

But that only explains away one aspect, the rest seems almost to much of a coincidence. Nobody has mentioned the vertical border just behind the nose - how is that explained?

I've learned over the years to keep an open mind over anything which cannot be explained fully in a scientific way.

 

[Phill Dyson]

Complete nonsense. ...all green.

 

[Dan Randall]

Perhaps somewhere in the Hornby archives, there are pictures of prototype locos/wagons/coaches fitted with tension-lock couplings?


Regards

Dan

 

[Neil]

It's intriguing at the least. I seem to remember seeing somewhere that the Westerns were designed with the same cross-sectional profile as Mk 1 carriages. It seems unlikely when looking at the following Mk 1s that the effect is reflections of sunlight or shadows.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

I didn't even realise some Westerns were painted green. Most of the photographic evidence I've seen points to sand, ochre, maroon and blue.

 

[Osgood]

Well maybe it was repainted for a short while to haul a Special - no, The Specials - around the country on tour?

.

 

[AJC]

So that's May '66. So a bit of Flickr searching shows that by July the following year it was blue: D1037

This one, in '65 shows a green loco (or at least, a single colour one):
D1037

Now there could have been a repaint between times, but I really doubt that this would be the first anyone had heard about it especially as the Westerns have a somewhat obsessive/devoted following and know far, far too much about them. Anyhow, a line in the reflection on the panelwork at about this level looks to be fairly common from a variety of different angles. Perhaps it's a function of certain wash plants reaching to about that height or a panel join?

Last Few Days In Traffic - D1037
Empress at Totnes

Adam

 

[Pugsley]

Looks like plain green and filth to me!

 

[Phill Dyson]

I've got a pic of a real maroon Hymek with full size tension locks

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Green was an early livery for the Westerns, & by May '66 only 3 were left in green, this being one.

Thanks for the insight Jordan. I must broaden my knowledge but.......

........I don't usually look at Great Western or it's successors unless it has Chicago in front of it .

 

[Dog Star]

If I understand what Jordan is suggesting - a question about how / why Empress looks like being the recipient of two-tone-green livery. One of AJC's links is to the same engine in blue, on a Devon bank, and that image suggests that the engine has a lighter colour band in the same (-ish) location as the light band in the video screen-shot that was posted by Jordan.

Might the explanation be found in the way in which these engines weathered? Or the effect of the carriage cleaning plants on the Western Region?

 

[oldravendale]

Green Western herewith........or maybe with my colour vision it's another of those Swindon grey ones.......


D1002. Swindon. 23 May 1965. My copyright.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Thanks for the evidence of a green western Brian. Bit of a mixed carriage rake judging by the profiles.

 

[Toffee]

I support Jordan, I'm old enough to remember the effects of the early cleaning plants on filthy locos especially freight locos which didn't go through washers all that often. Maybe the green Western had been on S Wales freight diagrams for a while and then went through a semi working cleaning plant ?
Does anyone else remember the state the OC 31/4 s ( and to a lesser extent their 47s) got into going through the OC carriage wash 10 times a day ? Was it 31414 ? 419. ? The disc one anyway That in the late 70 s was virtually white from chemical attack ?