Longest lasting liveries.

[Peter Mugridge]

I thought the GWR prior to World War 2 used Deep Bronze Green and that Brunswick only came about after BR was formed and adopted it?

Admittedly there is not a lot of difference between the two shades.

 

[Taunton]

This all goes back to before there were even BS numbers for paint colours, and beyond being "green" was probably just down to the whim of the Swindon paint shop foremen over the years. Apparently an economy drive in the 1930s used the same paint but applied it with more thinners.

 

[gg1]

This all goes back to before there were even BS numbers for paint colours, and beyond being "green" was probably just down to the whim of the Swindon paint shop foremen over the years. Apparently an economy drive in the 1930s used the same paint but applied it with more thinners.

Sounds not unlike chromatic blue, a 60s variant of rail blue where opinions seems to be divided on whether it was indeed a slightly different paint formula or merely an urban myth derived from a combination of hazy enthusiast memories and the varying quality of 1960s colour camera film.

 

[Taunton]

Blue was an unusual colour in liveries until the 1960s as paint technology until then found it harder to crack a blue pigment that did not fade under sunlight than other colours. This becomes significant where you cannot touch up the paintwork without it being obvious, which may mean having to repaint the whole vehicle. The same, notably, was true about camera colour film as well, Kodak managed it much better with their patented Kodachrome, but others (including the cheaper Kodacolor) lost blue more than other colours. Old family snaps under blue skies that now look white are a classic example.

The original Network SouthEast blue was very prone to fading, and in the end both shade and paint manufacturer were changed.