London Midland & Scottish Railway
Observers had spotted ‘Jubilees’ Newfoundland and Bhopal and ‘Duchess’ No. 6234 Duchess of Abercorn in bluey greys and maroons during 1946, so it was a bit of a surprise, that September, when the LMS announced that its new colour scheme would be… black. There had been red and black factions within the LMS’ hierarchy since 1923; those in the red corner were former Midland Railway men, while those in favour of black were from the London & North Western Railway. The pre-war years had been dominated by Midland men, so was it the emergence of LNWR alumni, such as Robert Riddles, that made the LMS take the black? Regardless of who was responsible, there were two key differences to the gloomy wartime days: firstly, the black would be gloss and, secondly, it would be lined, at least on ‘Pacifics’, ‘Royal Scots’, ‘Jubilees’ and ‘Patriots’. The lining took the form of a straw-coloured line and maroon panels (edges of tender and cab, boiler bands and along the running plate valance). The LMS adopted the fashionable sans serif block style, which was used in a similar style to the Southern Railway, with a line inside the letters/ numerals. In this case, the line was maroon, and it was a break from the monotony for the non-express passenger machines, which were left in black without lining.