Great Western Railway Company Insignia
companies were in competition with each other for passengers, their company logo was an
important factor in what today would be termed ‘brand recognition’. This was especially true
where two companies shared a geographical area, or had running rights on each other’s
permanent way. In fact after 1923 and the creation of the ‘Big Four’ - especially the LMS and
the LNER who competed for the Scottish holiday traffic and had done for many years - relied
very heavily on this brand recognition.
During the course of their histories, the companies often changed their
‘corporate’ colours,
sometimes because a new CME decided that it should be so. (Yes, they had
that much power.) For example, prior to 1903, the North Staffordshire
Railway (NSR) painted its locomotives and coaching stock Victorian Chocolate
and cream. After that date, the company colour was madder lake - the same
as the LMS that absorbed the NSR twenty years later. Other variations
were the size of the lettering in the company’s initials (e.g. GWR
or LMS) and even the positioning of those letters on the rolling stock.
(See my article on LMS insignia.)
In the days before the mass production of oil-based paint, the railway
companies mixed their
own shades using oil and pigments. The quantities of these ingredients
were specified for both carriages and locomotive and provided a standard
to achieve the desired company colour. For example, in 1876, William Barton
Wright took office on the Lancashire and Yorkshire as Locomotive Superintendent.
The standard coach livery introduced by Wright for L&Y was tan on
the upper half and carmine lake on the lower. His specification for the
tan was: 56 pounds of orange chrome, 14 pounds of lemon chrome; 7 pounds
of burnt umber. For the carmine lake, they were oxide (Indian red) 56
pounds and black 4 pounds. Additionally, the finished paint job required
three coats of varnish with carmine lake mixed in with it. However, in
spite of company standards and specifications, there were large variations
in colours actually applied. In LMS days (after 1923) there was even variation
with that company in the way that number and lettering was positioned
on cab-sides and tenders which varied from works to works, e.g. Crewe,
Derby, Horwich and St. Rollox.
On the Great Western, GWR was used as the company logo between 1880 and
1904 . From
1903-4, the large 25inch letters “GW” were used where they would
fit. In 1920, these letters
were reduced in size to 16 inches. Crocodile wagons carried 12 inch “GW”
and for carriage
trucks the size was 3 inch. Other low-sided vehicles carried 4.5 inch
and 8 inch. Brown vehicles (not low sided) had the round monogram from
1934 and a smaller one (4 inch) from around 1943. Grey rolling stock (also
not low sided) kept the 16-inch “GW” until 1937, then went to
the 4 inch size. Low-sided stock kept the intermediate size throughout.
Brown vehicles had yellow lettering and grey vehicles had white insignia.
White painted meat vans had red insignia.
Numbering on rolling stock was usually on the bottom left hand corner
of the van, but bottom
right on brown vehicles after 1937. Where vans carried “XP”,
it was at the bottom right above
the tare designation. Some large vans had a number to the left of a code
centred at the bottom. On some vans before about 1937 and other vehicles
before 1920, numbers were repeated on their ends as well as sides. Tare
and load designations until 1937 were in script i.e. “10 tons. Tare
5-16 (5 tons
15 hundredweights), usually at the bottom right hand side of the van.
From 1937, the load was in block figures at bottom left below the “GW”
and above the number, i.e 10-T. The word Tare was omitted and the tare
weight was given in figures.
Where the depot was given on a brake van, it was placed on the third plank
down. On wagons, it was on the bottom left hand side above the wagon number.
However, low-sided vehicles had this information midway along the solebar.
Below: 2 examples of GWR corporate insignia and colours. (The insignia
on the tender directly below is know as the “shirt button” logo
