Stuart Firth
The loco has now received a coat of Halfords’ satin black and is up and running very well. The pipework is not as good as I would have liked but I couldn’t face doing it again! Next step lettering – I do have a photo of the loco concerned at the right time but in black and white and with a heavily weathered loco it is not possible to determine the exact nature of the lettering. I’m therefore going with ‘Crewe Straw’ as the most likely on such a loco at this period. Other options would be gold, either plain or shaded black. There’s an interesting colour photo of one of the others on the C&HP post war, and it looks much the same, though both Brian Haresnape, in ‘Railway Liveries – LMS’ and David Jenkinson in ‘The Big Four in Colour’ have interpreted the lettering in this photo as gilt (Gold). I can’t see it myself – I also have the Crewe Straw already in stock on an HMRS sheet !
