SCOTLAND - C.R.  H.R.  N.B.R.  G&S.W.R.  G.N.o.S.R.  B.R.(Sc)

CALEDONIAN RAILWAY.

The bulk of the woodwork on CR buildings was painted in a brownish yellow shade known rather fetchingly as 'Duck's Foot'.....this was used for the planking, canopy valencing etc. The framing, doors, metalwork etc. were painted in purple brown, which was much more of a brown shade than a purple and in fact seems to have been very similar to LMS buildings brown. Window frames were white.  The inside & underside of station canopies was painted cream, no doubt to give as much light as possible.  Station nameboards & other notice boards were blue with white lettering, while poster boards were painted black with white lettering showing 'CALEDONIAN RAILWAY' in full....an unrestored board recently came up at auction which finally confirms this colour scheme.  Some enamel signs were white with blue lettering; happily this should be clear from a B&W photograph.

Jim MacIntosh of the CR Association has given me a copy of the letter reproduced below which refers to the colours as 'Cinnamon' & 'Burnt Umber', but presumably these are alternative names for Ducks Foot & Purple Brown and might well give a better description of the actual colour.

Station interiors are thought to have been light stone with a brown dado, brown doors & white ceilings.

BS matches:  Cinnamon/ Ducks foot   BSI 2660   3-044       BS 381C  320     RAL  8001    BS4800  06C37

                      Purple Brown/Burnt Umber  BSI 2660 3-039   BS 381C 412   RAL  8016  

                      Cream      BSI 2660  3-040    BS 381C  367    RAL  1015     BS 4800    08B15

PAINTS FOR MODELLERS:  Ducks Foot/Cinnmaon  Precision P89 SR buildings dark stone   Purple brown/Burnt Umber - Precision P43 LMS buildings brown with a touch of blue added.  Precision CR coach purple brown could be used, but would need a coat of Matt varnish.   Cream - Precision P95  SR buildings cream.

Stonehouse new station seems to be in Purple Brown all over apart from the canopy valencing; this may have happened more often than is thought, and black & white photographs should show when this was the case.

Strathaven Central station.

Photo's from the John Alsop collection, with thanks to Jim MacIntosh

The restored signal box at Bo'ness came from Garnqueen South junction on the CR/NBR joint line, and is a Caley design. I am assuming that the livery it carries is Caledonian.

The station building at Birkhill on the Bo'ness line came originally from Monifeith on the Dundee & Arbroath Junction Railway, which was again a joint CR & NBR line. The station carries a similar colour scheme to the signal box and looks to be a good reproduction of Caledonian colours.

HIGHLAND RAILWAY

The Highland used a colour described as 'Burnt Sienna'; the nearest colour match I can find for this is LSWR csalmon! This colour was used on all public buildings including signal boxes, and on stations was complemented by a purple brown used for doors, framing, metalwork etc. Window frames could be white or purple brown. The purple brown was achieved by mixing black with the Burnt Sienna.

An article by H. S. Orbach in the March 1976 Railway Modeller suggests that after 1912 the lower three feet of wooden walls was painted in purple brown, with the upper parts in 'stone', a pale buff colour. The only parts remaining in Burnt Sienna were the brackets & beams supporting a canopy.

Goods sheds, loco sheds & the like were not painted but creosoted, while any corrugated iron roofs were painted red oxide. 

Station signs were painted cream with the lettering & beading in chocolate brown & this included signal box nameboards. Poster and timetable boards, however, were painted bright red with the beading & the lettering in black.

There has been mention of a two tone stone/purple brown livery, but it seems that this was actually the LMS colour scheme being introduced after 1923, not a Highland livery.

PAINTS FOR THE MODELLER: Burnt Sienna - Precision LSWR coach salmon.  Purple brown - Tamiya Hull Red.

Many thanks to Ray Nolton for providing this information.

For further details, see 'HIGHLAND RAILWAY LIVERIES'  HMRS.

NOTE:  It is frustrating that the HR is the only large company on this website for which I can find no illustrations..........no postcards and no preserved buildings to photograph. If you know of any illustrations I would be delighted to hear from you.

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NORTH BRITISH RAILWAY.

The NBR had two colour schemes for buildings; they could be painted in two shades of green, the lighter for planking, valencing, etc, and a darker shade for metalwork, doors etc. As an alternative cream and brown were used together; in both cases, window frames were white.  Ironwork is recorded as being black, but I am nor sure to which Ironwork this refers. I have a feeling that the two tone green was the later livery used for instance on the West Highland line, but I have no written evidence for this.

Station seats were black, grey or white with gold or yellow lettering identifying the station.  Platform barrows were vermillion with black ironwork.

Presumably poster boards were painted either brown or in the darker green shade.

PAINTS FOR MODELLERS:  Cream - Precision SR buildings cream.  Brown - Precision LMS buildings brown.  Light green -  Tamiya Yellow Green   Dark green - Tamiya Park Green.

Many thanks to Archie Noble for much of this information.

Garelochead station in 1982, restored to the two tone green NBR colour scheme.

LENZIE STATION

LANGHOLM N.B.R. STATION, terminus of the line from Riddings Junction.

The station building at Bo'ness came from Wormit on the NBR, and is restored in green & cream colours. It may be that this is LNER livery, but it could equally be another scheme used by the NBR. I am seeking clarfication, as all the other buildings on the site are in pre group colours.

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The whole of the woodwork was painted in a reddish brown colour; on some stations window frames were also brown, on others they seem to have been white. Drainpipes & guttering were painted dark brown. The reddish brownn faded with time & exposure.  The light railways built in 1906 had a pale cream & brown colour scheme for the station building itself, though the signal boxes & other buildings remained in all over brown; Mauchline station (1904) may have introduced this alteration. This lasted until 1920 when some stations were painted green & cream.  Corruagted iron roofs were painted red oxide.

Poster boards were black with the beading in red & the lettering in white.  Station nameboards were white with black lettering and station signs were white lettering on dark blue. 

PAINTS FOR THE MODELLER:  Reddish brown - Tamiya red brown. Cream - Precision SR buildings cream.

Many thanks to Stuart Rankin  and John Stewart Clinton for the information.

Greenock Princes's Pier, GSWR & CR, circa 1895.

St Enoch Hotel, Glasgow.

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GREAT NORTH OF SCOTLAND RAILWAY.

All the information on the GNoSR has been gleaned from black & white photographs and a paint sample taken from a pillar at Ballatar station; no official written specification is known to exist.

A light colour was used for planking, etc, which is thought to be a cream, with a darker colour thought to be brown for doors, ironwork etc...... the paint sample taken from the pillar was brown. However, there is increasingly an indication that the lighter shade was a dark buff, almost a brown similar to the Caledonian 'Duck's foot'.....see the Photocrom of Banff Bridge station below.

PAINTS FOR THE MODELLER: Precision SR buildings cream & LMS buildings brown would seem to be as good as anything.

Many thanks to Keith Fenwick for providing the above information.

This handpainted sign dating from 1909 may give an indication of the GNS colours, though it was photographed some 55 years later.

Banff bridge in the 1890's with the GNS station in the foreground; the station building is a brown shade all over (see the picture of Dufftown station below).

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A POSTCARD OF CRUDEN BAY STATION, c1095.

Aberdeen in the 1890's.

The restored station at Boat of Garten; it is restored to BR condition but gives an excellent impression of GNS colours which seem to have been pretty much identical. The station was a junction between the HR & GNS, so might well have carried HR colours in pre-grouping days.

The restored Dufftown station is in a very different colour scheme with much darker planking which I assume is a GNS scheme; I am trying to get clarification about this.

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BRITISH RAILWAYS SCOTTISH REGION.

The official regional colour to be used with the cream was an attractive sky blue, not unlike the blue used on some Caley locomotives. However, for some reason this does not seem to have been applied to any buildings, only to the signs & notices. Most buildings seem to have been painted in a brown & cream livery more like the Western Region was using, though in some cases this may have been the LMS paintwork still surviving.  Some buildings were certainly repainted during the BR period, but the brown & cream scheme still seems to have been followed throughout Scotland - perhaps being a long way from London helped!  Fairlie station on the Largs branch is recorded as having been in green & cream livery in BR days.

The BS381C reference for the regional blue was shade 175 Light French blue.

North Queensferry station in BR brown & cream colours with the light blue regional signs. Photograph taken in 1982.

Boat of Garten station, Strathspey railway.

Broomhill station, Strathspey railway.

7mm scale layout showing an ex GSWR building in cream & brown & signs, seats, etc. in the regional light blue.

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