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The Livery Question by William Proudfoot First published in issue 72 of The
Tenterden Terrier Summer 1998 Sir – I am a relatively new member of the K&ESR and I cannot remember the early days of preservation, and I tend to find the ‘Lineside News’ section of “The Tenterden Terrier” of most interest. It is marvellous to see the great progress that has been made on the restoration of No.8 “Knowle” recently. While it is of course not my decision, I have slight reservations about the choice of livery. I have presumed that ‘black’ means British Railways black. There are those who choose to say that liveries are only a coat of paint to stop the loco from going rusty, but this is not true, as the livery is one of the few things the general public is going to notice. BR liveries must be the most uninspiring of all time, not to mention their association with downfall of the great days of steam, and I fail to see any desire to reproduce them. I believe that at least up to World War One, the RVR, [and] then the K&ESR painted engines blue. I think this would be the most suitable livery for No.3 “Bodiam” when it finally returns, as it would reflect back to the line’s opening, the centenary of which will be celebrated in the year 2000. This livery would also prove popular with the young children who visit the line due to the similarity of the engine to (dare I say it) “Thomas the Tank Engine”. A wide range of the early liveries must be applied to the engines to reflect the increasing use of the magnificent vintage carriages seen on the line. I hope those in charge give it some thought. - E N D - |
Charity
No. 1050480 |
Footnotes: “Knowle” actually first appeared in unlined Southern black, the livery it would have worn as 2678 when it first can to the line in 1940 and was then later converted to lined BR black as 32678. It was also loosely disguised as RVR No.3 for the centenary celebrations of the extension from Rolvenden to Tenterden Town in 2003. “Bodiam” of course returned to service in 2006 in RVR blue as K&ESR No.3 but due to limited time in service at the time of writing, has yet to be seen much as yet with the vintage train It would be imprudent for the Terrier Trust to make any hard and fast statement on the question of liveries in the future for its engines, let alone those owned by other groups. But as a general rule it is probably best if liveries are fairly genuine to those worn in the past, but there will always be good reasons for exception. It would be difficult, however, to imagine No.55 ever being presented for any length of time other than as “Stepney” and as a general rule “Fenchurch” would be preferable in Newhaven Docks black, a livery it has worn in preservation in the past. The present feeling is as No.3 comes up for repainting, it should acquire liveries worn in the past as part of our fulfilment as an educational charity HN-03/12/2006
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