Orange undercoat

[Jared Archibald]

G'day Matt,

I am in northern Australia and have a project Local Pattern No.1 (LP1) carrier that was built in 1940 at the Victorian Railway Workshops.

This carrier has no original paint left, but whenever you remove a panel or bracket from the position it has been in for 70 years you find a orangy-red layer that has been applied before the pieces were bolted together at the factory. I have been told that this is "red lead" but I don't really know much about it. Any one out there know - I assume it was used when putting steam locomotives together also as an anti seize/anti corrosion layer between metal parts.

I assume from your post that yours has the orange coating everywhere, not just underneath/between parts so it is probably not the same stuff, but I thought I would mention it anyway.

Jared