LONDON & NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY

Given that the North British, NER, Great Central and Great Central had employed various shades of green it was perhaps inevitable that a version of the colour would be adopted by their successor. Unfortunately for Great Eastern blue die-hards, the LNER’S new board of directors opted for GNR Grass Green in May 1923.

The picture is slightly complicated, in that Darlington Works mixed its own paint, akin to that which its former NER output were previously adorned.

Goods locomotives received a version of the NER black with red lining, although Stratford ignored this edict for some of its new locomotives by continuing to use GER wartime grey.

Elsewhere, early liveries sported the short-lived ‘L. & N. E. R.’ before being simplified to ‘L N E R’.

The grouping of the three members of the East Coast Joint Stock (GNR, NER and NBR) gave rise to its now unified King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley service being rebranded as the ‘Flying Scotsman’ in 1924. February 1923-built ‘A1’ No. 1472/4472 was named Flying Scotsman in honour of the ‘new’ service, and in 1928 it was one of the class fitted with a corridor tender for the inauguration of non-stop Anglo-scottish services.

The carriages for such expresses were Gresley’s teak-bodied stock, made distinctive in the Grouping era by being varnished and not painted.

Other than electrified services on Tyneside, suburban services relied on tightly timed steam-hauled schedules, handled by 0-6-2Ts. These included the GER ‘N7s’. Gresley showed faith in them by building 112 more from 1925. These services employed high-capacity compartment articulated trains formed in ‘Bi’, ‘Quad’ and ‘Quint’ sets.

The LNER inherited a decent range of heavy goods engines and the company supplemented these with more GNR ‘O2’ 2-8-0s and a new range of ‘J39’ 0-6-0s, plus a couple of ‘P1’ 2-8-2s.

Some of Gresley’s new ‘D49’ 4-4-0s found their way north of the border and were regularly used on lengthy fish trains, as well as secondary passenger services.

One of the still recognisable legacies of the 1920s LNER was its adoption of Gill Sans lettering for publicity material (and later rolling stock), which stood out as one of the longest-lived railway fonts ever.

Brown and stone/light cream were the company’s select station colours.

The author is grateful for the kind help and advice provided by Frank Dumbleton and Graham ‘Muz’ Muspratt in the preparation of this article.

Top: One of William Worsdell’s trusty GER ‘Y14’ 0‑6‑0s, No. 627, shows off its early L&NER lined black paintwork at Stratford in August 1923. Showcasing a dished smokebox door, stovepipe chimney, safety valve shroud and low tender ‘raves’, this is a variant that Hornby has yet to produce as part of its ‘J15’ range in ‘OO’, making it ripe for a workbench conversion project. A.W. CROUGHTON/RAIL ARCHIVE STEPHENSON

F.R. HEBRON/RAIL ARCHIVE STEPHENSON Left: Beautifully presented ‘N2’ No. 2586 shows off its LNER black near Murrayfield while hauling an Edinburgh inner circle train from Leith Central circa 1927. Note the curving ‘SUBURBAN’ headboard.

Above: A scene crammed with detail is captured in February 1925 as Ivatt ‘C1’ 4‑4‑2 No. 4401 (still carrying its large 1905 worksplates) makes its way from King’s Cross with the 1.40pm Leeds & Harrogate express, formed of Gresley stock. To the right, station pilot ‘N1’ 0‑6‑2T is held at the fine array of somersault signals, while a ‘J52’ 0‑6‑0ST is just visible in the distance. F.R. HEBRON/RAIL ARCHIVE STEPHENSON

F.R. HEBRON/ RAIL ARCHIVE STEPHENSON Right: A spring 1925 scene of LNER ‘A1’ No. 2552 as it hurries away from Finsbury Park with the 4.15pm King’s Cross-doncaster, paired with a 5,000-gallon GNR tender. It was named Sansovino that December. The three leading vehicles are an LBSCR special cattle van, followed by an LSWR luggage van and an LBSCR horsebox, it is believed for an agricultural fair. Note the 12-wheel Pullmans in the Up yard.