I want to paint one of my old BR sub coaches in SR green to compliment the Adams Radial (when it arrives!).Am I right that most SR coaches were in Malachite Green please?? Cheers Ron
No. Depending on what period you wish to model (the Adams Radials had very long lives), coaches could be in Southern Railway fully lined olive green, unlined olive green, Bulleid pre-war malachite green, post-war malachite green, BR crimson or crimson and cream ("blood and custard") or BR(S) green (darker than SR malachite green). That's the simplified answer! You say the coaches are BR suburban coaches: the Southern Region would have had only 64' versions, in either unlined BR crimson (I'm not sure on this - the coaches may have been delivered after the 1956 change of liveries, in which case they would have missed out the crimson phase) or in the BR(S) green (also unlined).
I've ordered Malacite Green AND SR Light Olive so covered both bases!! It's just a token coach for the loco, the rest of my sub stock is BR Red and LMS Red (+LNERTeaks). I'm running a preserved set up so Rule 1 and 2 apply! CheersRon
Preserved items give we modellers a lot of excuses to mix and match freely! I have an LNER P2 2-8-2 which doesn't belong at all on my predominantly SR/BR(S) layout: Pullman coaches look good behind it but I have also run it with the 'raspberry ripple' rake of BR Mark 1 coaches as an enthusiast special (with the premise that the P2 was never rebuilt, or that a replica was built in modern times ... that's not too far from the truth). http://www.click
I know they are building a replica of the P2 now, should be worth seeing when it's finished!! Thanks for your advice on SR colours by the way!! CheersRon