LNER Dynamometer Car
This is taken from the topic about LNER teak liveries, which I added after a RTR model of the Worsdell dynamometer car in LNER livery attracted debate and somebody from Rapido defended the lack of lining with this:
"Vintage colour photos on Steve Banks' web site - [link] (scroll down about half way) seem to support a lack of lining".
That's not true. What I was actually describing and illustrating was the LNER's decision in 1927 to stop lining secondary carriages and this selective quotation is misleading.
Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of photographic evidence - clear and clear as mud, and it's normal to focus on the former and discard the latter. Using the latter to muddy the waters is not a good practice and there are enough clear pictures of this vehicle to show that the LNER's dynamometer car livery included lining. Here is the well-known view as photographed in 1938 behind Mallard at Barkston with some detail enlargements.
A general view. Photo: Author's collectiom.
Click on the image for an enlargement
The first enlargement shows about a quarter of the vehicle and how the lining had been applied. These are not "reflections" as some have claimed. Note that the large windows were fitted with bolections which were not lined and whose corners have caught the light. Where beading had been fitted, it was lined in the normal way, inside and out.
Click on the image for an enlargement
The second enlargement is helpful for if you look at the top right hand corner of the body you can see that when the ducket was added, the panelling above it retained lining along the outer edge. That lining had continued along the outside edge as far as the horizontal lining under the beading along the waist. The other end is too far away to show it.
Click on the image for an enlargement
This picture of the dynamometer car in service shows little of the livery but says much about how it was used. It's a copy from an album given to Dick Tarpey of the GNRS by a kind old lady at a show in Nottingham some years ago and I copied for him. Nowadays, modern scanning eliminates the need to pass an image through two more glass lenses so my apologies for a slight loss of sharpness. The rear of the print was blank although the location is recognisably Greenwood and presence of an ex-GNR twin at the head suggests a West Riding express. P2 No 2001 Cock o' the North was completed in May 1934 and the dynamometer car log shows a series of workings on the GNML in early summer with two on the 2nd and 3rd July to Doncaster, which is where KX Pacifics normally came off and handed over to a Copley Hill loco so either date is possible. Steve Banks collection
Click on the image for an enlargement
A scene at King's Cross in 1948 and the loco exchanges with LMS "Royal Scot" No 46162 Queen's Westminster Rifleman about to depart. The sun was behind the train and the image is not all that sharp either, but it's possible to see the Thompson number 902502 had been applied and that, for the sake of consistency, all the panels along the waist were revarnished. A detail view would be unkind but the lining was visibly still in place, including the outer line on the non-ducket end. Photo: Author's collection.
All told, the LNER livery was a work of art and its subsequent simplification by BR was a little disappointing, likewise its continuation at the NRM where LNER lettering was retro-applied, but not the lining. Decisions made during preservation are subject to many factors and not every item is completely correct; that's just the way it is. It's unfortunate that research carried out by model makers occasionally cuts corners by copying something in its preserved state.
Click on the image for an enlargement
BR liveries
The ex-NER Worsdell Dynamometer Car passing through Banbury on 10th August 1950 after being used by the Southern Region for locomotive trials. It was at the head of a cross-country express with A3 60054 Prince of Wales in charge. The livery is simulated teak as before but the lining has been dropped as on other ex-LNER passenger carriages at the time. The number E902502 was being carried and the single word "DYNAMOMETER" which appears to be cream with a black outline. Photo: J. Batts
Click on the image for an enlargement
This picture (the Doncaster Drawing Office original) shows the Thompson version in 1953 in full passenger livery and number DB999500. The ends of the picture, and around the underframe, were whited out to make the carriage stand out from the background. Photo: author's collection.
Click on the image for an enlargement
A close up of the lettering at the far end.
These technical vehicles, whether Worsdell or Thompson, the companies were proud of and gave them a good passenger livery. Indeed, it looks like the Southern Region felt the same way and gave the ex-LNER car to the carriage cleaners before returning it to Doncaster between trials.
Links mentioned in text: