Paul Willis
And a further response with more details:
“I grew up in the 1950s at Haverhill on the Stour Valley and Colne Valley lines. My initial reaction was “of course they were lined black”, but as that was just my memory from many years ago I’ve just spent a very enjoyable morning looking through various books in my collection that could have useful photos. As has been mentioned earlier the majority of photos are inconclusive because the loco is dirty, the photo is taken from the wrong angle (virtually front on) or just poor reproduction.
However I have found the following showing clearly lined black livery:
46469 – 30 July 1951, earlier emblem – Colchester Steam – J D Mann.
46468 – undated, earlier emblem – 55 years of East Anglian Steam – Dr Ian Allen.
46469 – Spring 1958, later emblem – Stour Valley Album – E W Laurence.
46469 – March 1959, later emblem – Doctor on the Line – Dr Ian Allen.”