LNER Green A4's

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NZRedBaron
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LNER Green A4's

Post by NZRedBaron »

I've been pondering this on and off for a long while now, so I decided to ask now.

I remember reading in various books about how a batch of A4's were initially turned out in the standard lined green, before later being repainted into Garter Blue- does anyone know which they were?

I know that Golden Eagle was one, and I think Wild Swan was another, but does anyone else know for sure?
mick b
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Re: LNER Green A4's

Post by mick b »

The info is all in RCTS part 2a.

Wild Swan was a Blue Loco.
Hatfield Shed
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Re: LNER Green A4's

Post by Hatfield Shed »

A quick look here is a good start:
https://www.lner.info/locos/A/a4.php.
I believe the eight A4's originally turned out in standard LNER green had the running numbers 4482-4487 inclusive and 4493, 4494. There is the complication mentioned in the loco section that the first five had a straight vertical demarcation between the smokebox black and the green livery, which was later revised to the parabolic curve seen on the silver and garter blue A4s. It was quickly realised that the green livery was an operational inconvenience, and the green locos were repainted blue from late 1937.

And if as suggested above you want the best information there's this:
viewtopic.php?f=2&p=146980#p146980
Seagull
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Re: LNER Green A4's

Post by Seagull »

4495 was also turned out in green and initially named Great Snipe but after about 11 days in service was called back to Doncaster to be repainted blue and renamed Golden Fleece.

Yeadons Vol.2 page 36 has the only picture I have seen of it in green.

Alan
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kimballthurlow
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Re: LNER Green A4's

Post by kimballthurlow »

Hello,

From my accessible lists there seemed to be 9 green A4s.
Of these there were 6 (not 5 - the #4482-4487 numbers pointed out by Hatfield Shed) with the black smokebox painted as far back as the first boiler casing band, ie. with a vertical separation between black and green.
These 6 were built in the period December 1936 to March 1937.

If that accounts for 6 of the 9, what about the other 3?
There were 3 built in late 1937 turned out with the parabolic separation between black and green.
These were:
Woodcock 07/1937 #4493
Andrew K McCosh 08/1937 #4494.
Great Snipe (aka Golden Fleece) 08/1937 #4495 for the extremely limited time as pointed out by Seagull.

The 8 were repainted to Garter Blue from December 1937, the last being Woodcock and Andrew K McCosh in July and October 1938 respectively.

Kimball
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