Raven (LNER) Q6: Colour Pictures, British Railways

Finally we arrive at the last livery version of  the Raven Q6 (NER T3), under British Railways from 1948 until the last Q6 withdrawals in September 1967.

Still in the familiar black from NER and LNER days (as all non-express engines under BR) the red lining is gone and the numbers replaced with the standard BR lettering of the day, a plate on the smoke box door announcing the engine number (now with a 6 preceding the previous LNER numbering to create a series from 63340 to 63459) and a shed code plate below.

The simple "British Railways" lettering was the first livery under BR and is shown here on a reasonably clean engine.

Around 1950 this text was changed to the iconic "Cycling Lion" crest.

And in 1956 this then changed to the "Ferret with a Dartboard" crest, although in reality many engines still carried the older "Cycling Lion" for many more years and some were even withdrawn still carrying it in the late 1960's.

Finally we have the preserved version of the BR livery, now fitted with a train vacuum brake and steam heating.

Jumping back to the BR era:
The Q6 was a mineral freight engine. There was no glamour as with the express services of the day and these engines would frequently have gone for long periods of time without being painted or even cleaned beyond the necessary maintenance to keep them safe for use. Consequently they are best remembered by most people alive now in a livery we like to refer to as "BR filth". This worn down state is a popular subject in model railways as well as in Train Simulator and we think we have created our best "lived in" livery to date using some new texturing techniques.

All 120 members of the Q6 class will be available in all liveries we have shown over the past three weeks and as always with the option to change the numbering and certain components via the scenario engine number.
Next week we will step inside the cab under the NER, LNER and BR and take a look at the controls of this class which include a steam powered reverser.

Raven (LNER) Q6: Colour Pictures, LNER

This week we take a look at the Raven Q6 under the London and North Eastern Railway. The  LNER was the second largest of the Big Four railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948 and we start with the livery used from 1923 until the early war years.

Being black already the Q6 was not subject to change to Wartime black as many engines were during this period however from 1941 the tender emblem was simplified to just N E (presumably to save time for the sign writers?) and the buffers were changed from red to black.

Following WW2 the Q6 was given the new Gill Sans style numbering and lettering and this was used officially for the short period from 1946 until 1948 when all of the Big Four companies were nationalised into British Railways. However it took many years to repaint everything into BR liveries and as the Q6 was not a passenger engine it is quite possible that members of the class could still be carrying this livery as late as 1955.

Next week we will be looking at the final set of liveries, as seen under British Railways; the clean and the not so clean!

Raven (LNER) Q6: Colour Pictures, NER

Happy New Year everyone!
After a very nice break over Christmas we are now back in full swing and over the next 3 weeks we will be bringing you pictures of all of the Q6 liveries and today we are starting with the birth of the class under the North Eastern Railway.

120 Q6's (at this time referred to as NER T2's) were built from 1913 until 1921 for hauling the rapidly expanding mineral traffic of the early 20th Century, and all members will be available in our add-on with the correct numbering and liveries. Despite being solely for pulling freight the NER still took the effort to make their engines look well turned out and this is where we begin with the livery used from 1913 until 1917.

The cab was similar to other Raven designed engines of the period, featuring an engine brake - a train brake being superfluous due to mineral traffic being unfitted - and also steam powered reverser.

The livery was slightly changed in 1917 when the numberplate on the cab side was drastically reduced in size and the engine number was added to the tender between the traditional NE lettering. It retained the red lining and also the NER crest on the rear sand box.

In 1923 the NER became part of one of the new "big four" companies, the LNER, and it was time for a new appearance however the NER livery made another showing from 1975 until 1982 as the North Yorkshire Moors' newly preserved Q6 No. 63395 was numbered as No. 2238 and repainted, in the livery it had as an NER T2, for the celebrations at Shildon. She continued to run at the NYMR in this livery until 1982.
In this preserved livery the Q6 is fitted with a vacuum brake so she can be used on passenger services.

Next week we are off to the LNER to see what they did with the Q6 over their 25 year ownership.