Talk:William Stroudley

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Improved Engine Green

Why no reference or cross reference to his introduction of improved engine green? cf. London, Brighton and South Coast Railway #Liveries. It may be perverse that this is what Stroudley is best remembered for, but it's still relevant. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Graham.Fountain (talk • contribs) 11:35, 25 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

WP's coverage of historic railway liveries is somewhat patchy, and depends on whether an interested editor has taken it on. Please feel free to add a suitable link, as I know it is mentioned on other pages. -- EdJogg (talk) 12:11, 25 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The following was added recently:

The finish of these engines which is a distinct yellow colour to most viewers, was regarded by Stroudley as green, leading to a view that he was colour blind.[ref]http://www.lbscr.demon.co.uk/livery/index.html[/ref]

I have removed it again, since the source is somewhat speculative about whether this was the reason for the strange name.

Perhaps someone with appropriate references can enlighten us?

EdJogg (talk) 13:32, 23 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

D.L. Bradley 'Locomotives of the L.B.& S.C.R.' part 1 (1969) goes into great detail regarding Stroudley liveries but avoids mention of 'Improved Engine Green'.

C. Hamilton Ellis 'The London Brighton and South Coast Railway' 3rd ed 1971 p.105 has the following puzzling entry

'Stroudley's Improved Engine Green (its official title) has often been described, and a rather irreverent, but not knowingly untruthful, suggestion about its origin and variation was contained in the present author's 'North British Railway'. It was in fact a golden ochre - almost an orange ochre - with oddly variable tone values according to light and shade.

Unfortunately I do not have a copy of Ellis' 'North British Railway', but this may be the origin of the rumour.--Das48 (talk) 18:27, 23 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

@Das48: I do have this book:

Ellis, Cuthbert Hamilton (September 1959) [1955]. The North British Railway (2nd ed.). Shepperton: Ian Allan. pp. 98–99.

which says I suggest that both Stroudley's and Lockyer's eyes were somewhat unreceptive of yellow tones. I suggest that Stroudley thought his yellow engines really were green. His eyes were myopic and possibly had other defects. These "other defects" may of course have included deuteranomaly or a similar condition. The "Lockyer" referred to is A.E. Lockyer, who wrote an article on North British Railway locomotives that was published in The Railway World of May 1894. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 19:09, 28 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]