70014IronDuke
Established Member
- Joined
- 13 Jun 2015
- Messages
- 3,686
Excuse me starting a new thread - this is an extension of the discussion on the "Blue King" thread - but I fear it will not attract much readership under that title, and it has quickly broadened into a more general thread on blue liveries and railway use, which I think deserves the chance of a larger audience.
That's a very good question. I presume the CR only painted its premier locos blue, but they still had to retain it and look good. Needs a CR historian buff - anyone out there?
Blue never really seems to have taken off for steam locomotive livery, has it? The only continental company that I know of that tried it was the Czechoslovaks - their flagship 3 cylinder 4-8-2s were a deep blue - at least, one is that way in preservation, IIRC.
My guess is that solving the difficulties in finding a stable blue for loco or rolling stock use more or less coincided with the need for a 'new image' in the BR modernisation era.
Since blue had been so little used, it was the obvious choice for the new 25 kV electrics, the DMU pullmans and then corporate BR post 1965.
Having said that, the all plain BR blue suburban livery looked pretty drab once it had lost its sheen, so perhaps they never really solved the longetivity problem vis-a-vis maroon or green.
Thanks for clearing that up. I wonder how the Caledonian railway coped with its locomotives which were painted blue.
That's a very good question. I presume the CR only painted its premier locos blue, but they still had to retain it and look good. Needs a CR historian buff - anyone out there?
Blue never really seems to have taken off for steam locomotive livery, has it? The only continental company that I know of that tried it was the Czechoslovaks - their flagship 3 cylinder 4-8-2s were a deep blue - at least, one is that way in preservation, IIRC.
My guess is that solving the difficulties in finding a stable blue for loco or rolling stock use more or less coincided with the need for a 'new image' in the BR modernisation era.
Since blue had been so little used, it was the obvious choice for the new 25 kV electrics, the DMU pullmans and then corporate BR post 1965.
Having said that, the all plain BR blue suburban livery looked pretty drab once it had lost its sheen, so perhaps they never really solved the longetivity problem vis-a-vis maroon or green.