Visitors long for pre-BR liveries – not just a day out

PAGE 19 of issue 296 illustrates the Keighley & Worth Valley proudly displaying its Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stock of two six-wheel and two-bogie stock carriages, but what a let-down: the L&YR 0-6-0 Green Dragon is now in black, but instead of the red lining and the full name on the tender completing the 1890s train, it carries a BR label.

Just take a look at the original Victorian livery shown on the models in issue 294, page 81. It must be remembered that those who enjoy a day out on heritage railways don’t just come for a ride – they are here for a trip back in time and it’s why we put on a Victorian gala, a 1940s gala that requires the ‘Big Four’ liveries of the LNER, LMS, GWR, and Southern, not BR. BR comes into its own with a Giants of Steam gala, i.e., the 9Fs and so forth.

Derrick Martin, Hornchurch, Essex