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On Malachite Green

Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2010-02-06 20:41:40 - Graham Ellis

"Malachite" - Copper Carbonate. But know to me as a rather rich, bright, exotic green colour that's so bright and rich it's rarely seen. I moved to the south east of London in 1959, at a very young age - with no car for our day to day family life (and that was no great hardship), we used the southern region of British Railways and the bus (and Shank's Pony) to get around. Malachite was the livery that had been used on the trains a few years earlier - but I remember the darker green, and "Malachite" had a sort of exotic mystery when it was mentioned.



So there I was on the communter trains of the new "Southern" from Balham to Norbury for the latter part of this week - and what is probably a drudge of the commute to most people had a certain old wow factor for me even on that short journey

And then, in Oxford today, we walked up the canal ...



8th Feb 2010 ... Paul Clark writes ...

You mention Southern Railway 'green'. I was told that senior officers met in Ryde, Isle of Wight to discuss the development of Southern Railways. Officers could not agree on a livery colour and the Chairman thought the debate when on far too long. Breaking for lunch the group walked along Ryde high street. Passing a hardware store the Chairman popped in and came out with a length of green string. Cutting the string in half, he turned to the Chief Engineer and said this will be the livery colour. This half for you to match with a paint supplier and this for me to monitor your achievement.

That's an interesting anecdote, Paul ... and it's 'way out' enough to be true. - Graham