stevedenver said:
is the grey used by LGB for the vans correct?
i know the longer red and green french coach is very loosely based on a very different looking coach-wich was red and green. I know too that the raw wood short version french coach is loosely based on something similar; were there other colours used?
did they use the lovely forest green and light grey liveries which LGB offered?
were the liveries/colors specific to different NG lines-as i presume is the case
was a black ever used for a protpotype corpet? it seems most of the french loco s i have seen sport color -but perhaps this is for tourist trains
did the french ever use german like or german rolling stock?
did the french have a particular style of rear red lantern?
Lots of questions - I'll try and provide some answers and hope others can amplify. If in doubt, try asking someone from the SNCF Society.
Locomotive colours - could be green (different lines seem to have had differbnt shades if current preservation repainting is accurate), or red (Cote du Nord - scarlet as LGB, while tthe Aisne sytem was a darker shade. Some were grey (suspect only a few) or black. The boiler would usually be black with the other colour applied to tanks and cab. Here's a selection of liveries - not all Corpets, I'm afraid
Diesels - Dark green (Baie de Somme), pale grey or medium green with edges of cabs picked out with a yellow line (Blanc-Argent)
Wagon colours - some as you say were varnished wood (again, not many, I suspect). Lines built privately and worked as concessions (Interet Locale) often had light grey wagons with black ironwork/strapping. Lines built by mainline companies (Interet Generale) which came under SNCF control, latterly has SNCF red-brown or dark brown goods stock livery.
Coaches - the preserved vehicles I've seen are usually a dark green (again like SNCF coaches from the inter-war years) or varnished wood. The Baie de Somme line went red and cream after WW2. Some of their Swiss coaches now have other liveries which may relate to their lines of origin eg dark green upper panels, red-brown lower panles). Correze Tramway coaches had been a brick red but by the end were in a very sorry weathered state with bare wood showing in places.
