GWR coach livery 1912–1922

A 7mm diagram T34 Brake Third, from Roger Bailey's collection, and built from a Slater's kit. Image courtesy Roger Bailey

There was a feeling the all-brown livery introduced in 1908 had been a little too austere, so in 1912 the body colour was changed to a slightly warmer crimson lake colour, which was carried until July 1922. The official name for this colour was 'Lake 1912'. The war years meant repaints were often postponed, or in some cases replaced with whatever brown paint was at hand. These austerity measures do not however seem to have been as widely applied as was the case during WWII.

The crimson lake colour covered the entire sides, including the window bolections, droplights and mouldings. Lining was in gold. Ends were all black, but the handrails to the roof were in crimson lake. As illustrated in the photo above, the 7/16" gold lining continued much as before – as did the garter crest and separate crests on the sides. Lettering included a single 'G W R' in the side panel above the garter crest.

Roofs were white, with a 2" black border at the roof ends. Destination board brackets were red.

Underframes were black. Wheel centres were red oxide.

Steam Railmotor 93 is watered at Llangollen in March 2011. Photo copyright and permission of Chris Foren.

General smoke pollution was considerably greater in the early part of the 20th century, but this interesting shot shows the weathering pattern developing on 93's roof after a few seasons. Old Oak Common open day, 2 September 2017. Image courtesy of Nick Gough.