Great Western Locomotive Liveries from 1946 (Revised 18.02.17)
The lining styles and colour distribution are explained in the 1923 livery section.
The first 4-6-0 County Class engine was completed in August 1945 and went into traffic in the pre-war fully lined livery (ie. with black and red areas lined) but with the ‘Hawksworth’ G (crest) W on the tender This was the only County so treated as the remainder appeared with simplified lining and, from that point, the other lined classes were also turned out in the simplified style.
What I do not know is whether any other classes received the full lining in 1945.
During this final GWR period many engines continued to carry their war time black paintwork until repainted in BR livery. The only other locomotives to receive the 1946 style lined livery were Kings, Stars, Castles and new build Modified Halls.
The principal differences between the 1946 style and the pre-war style was that Lining Styles 3 (except number plates) & 5 ceased to be, as hanging bars, tender frames, cylinders, buffer plates and cases, were no longer lined. Lining Style 2 was restricted to splasher sides and nameplate supports only, so weatherboard lining was reduced to just Lining Style 4 on the firebox/cab angle. Fire box lining over the splashers was omitted and also lining within the cab.
There was a further alleged colour change in 1946, but I have seen no evidence of it. Anyone wish to comment?
The County Class Locomotives
These had a continuous splasher over the driving wheels, similar to the two pre-war ‘streamlined’ locomotives. On the right hand side there was a recessed portion, to allow for the reversing rods, which was unlined. On the leading and rear parts the lining along the top and bottom of the splasher face simply stopped at the edge of the recess. Where the splasher abutted the weather board the lining was closed off, with vertical lining joining top and bottom lines (square cornered). The right hand name plate was fixed to a rectangular support which was lined in Style 2, with square corners.
There was a slight change to the cab side lining in that the base line was 6" from the bottom in order to line through with the tender lining. This did not apply to other classes and it was abandoned during the BR period.
On the left hand side there was no recess in the splasher but the fire iron tunnel was integral with the splasher and this too was lined in Style 2, also closed off at the weather board. On this side the name plate was fixed to the top of the splasher without a separate support.
Unlike other GWR locomotives the top of the splashers was painted Green, possibly because it was a ‘no standing’ area.
Hawksworth tenders
The era introduced a new flat sided welded tender, with no rivets; therefore Lining Rule 1 was no longer relevant. The lining, in Style 1, was inset 6” from the edge and followed the curves on the top edge. There is a good photograph of the rear lining in Russell’s GWR Locomotives.
GWR Identity
Hawksworth reintroduced the twin shields, set between the letters G W, in the traditional style, for lined engines and those that had been lined pre-war (Saints and Halls). Other locomotives carried GWR on tenders and tank sides.
Power Classification
The traditional power class letter continued as before but with a new intermediate level between D & E denoted by a 2 1/2” high letter X in white between the route disc and number plate. This was a war time measure to allow certain classes to haul more than their official limits. It was applied to Modified Halls, Halls with a three row superheater, Granges, 2800s, 2884s and RODs. It was applied to Countys from new. The scheme was extended to cover 4700s, but the only photographs I have show them in BR Green livery, so the date of introduction needs to be confirmed.
Tender changes between engines
I have seen a number of photographs where the tender and locomotive livery differs. The locomotives took longer through the works so there were fewer tenders built than locos. This meant that occasionally there were lined/unlined loco/tender and vice versa, green/black ditto and sometimes a G(crest)W tender running with an engine that should have had a GWR tender.