GWR City of Truro No. 3440
Great Western elegance and a famous speed claim.
Bring the engine
to life.
Start with the suggested palette or choose your own colours. Build gentle layers around the engine's distinctive shapes.
Suggested pencil shades and approximate screen swatches. These are not historical paint specifications.
Start lightly and build the darker surfaces gradually. Preserve the printed details.
Leave fine white highlights to separate the moving parts.
Keep the surroundings quieter than the locomotive. Retain light sky areas.
Look a little closer.
City of Truro in green with a black smokebox and red buffer beam, carrying its later number 3717. Read each caption before using it as a colour or configuration reference.
City of Truro in green with a black smokebox and red buffer beam, carrying its later number 3717. City of Truro, later renumbered 3717. Photographs may show either 3440 or 3717 and differing preserved liveries.
Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK · CC BY 2.0 · Source photograph. Resized and converted to WebP.
Green preserved City of Truro at Lydney Junction, with the tender and driving wheels visible. City of Truro, later renumbered 3717. Photographs may show either 3440 or 3717 and differing preserved liveries.
mattbuck (category) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source photograph. Resized and converted to WebP.
Period colour photograph of City of Truro in service on a heritage railway, showing its dark green finish and red buffer beam. City of Truro, later renumbered 3717. Photographs may show either 3440 or 3717 and differing preserved liveries.
The Basingstoker · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source photograph. Resized and converted to WebP.
City of Truro carrying number 3440 in a lined green preserved livery, with brass-coloured chimney fittings and a red buffer beam. City of Truro, later renumbered 3717. Photographs may show either 3440 or 3717 and differing preserved liveries.
Hugh Llewelyn · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source photograph. Resized and converted to WebP.
City of Truro at Didcot in green and black with a red buffer beam, carrying number 3717. City of Truro, later renumbered 3717. Photographs may show either 3440 or 3717 and differing preserved liveries.
Fzz85 · CC BY 3.0 · Source photograph. Resized and converted to WebP.
Know the version.
The source below supports the locomotive identity and history. The photographs record the finish visible when each image was taken. A preserved or replica finish does not establish the original paint specification. Exact original paint shades and all period marking details have not been established for this guide.
The pencil example uses deep green and copper. Its palette is interpretive. The gallery records the particular appearances described in its captions; preserved engines, replicas and monochrome photographs cannot establish every original shade or marking.
STEAM Museum: locomotive collection, City of TruroDid you know?
City of Truro was renumbered from 3440 to 3717 in 1912, helping place engines of the same class in a consecutive number sequence.
Make the details count.
Give the copper-coloured chimney cap a different tone from its dark base.
Keep the outside frames and rods visibly separate.