British Rail corporate liveries
Encyclopedia
The history of British Rail
's corporate liveries is quite complex. Although from the mid 1960s to the 1980s the company was associated with "Rail Blue", a number of other schemes were also used, especially when the company was sectorised in the 1980s.
After the formation of British Railways in 1948, early BR diesel and electric locos and the gas turbine locomotives 18000
and 18100
were painted black with aluminium trim, but by the mid-1950s this had been superseded by a shade of green similar to that used on express passenger steam locomotives, although some locomotives were painted in a two-tone green livery. Multiple unit
s were also generally green.
Coaching stock was originally painted in two-tone crimson and cream livery across the network.
In the mid 1950s an all-over darker maroon, which more closely resembled one of the pre-nationalisation liveries, was re-introduced, except for the Southern Region
, where stock was generally painted malachite green, and a small number of express carriages on the Western Region
which were in traditional GWR-style chocolate and cream.
With the reorganisation of British Railways in the mid 1960s, a complete break with the past was signalled by the introduction of a dark blue-based livery which dominated all passenger rolling stock until the later 1980s, when a new red-banded Intercity livery was introduced along with a number of regional colour schemes.
The standard livery for most British Railway steam locomotives was black, often with a thin red and grey "lining" (trim), while express passenger locomotives were painted Brunswick Green, with orange and black lining. This had been the livery of the old Great Western Railway, and the Western Region, which now covered the same area, managed to paint far more of their locomotives in these traditional colours than elsewhere. A few other colours were used.
As part of a plan to find a suitable corporate livery for the then new diesel and electric locomotive fleet, coaching stock, and multiple units, a number of experiments were tried;
Discussions on the livery for British Railways coaching stock in 1948 eventually settled on a network-wide two-tone livery of crimson and cream for corridor coach
es, with all-over crimson being used for local, non-corridor stock. The colours were chosen to be different to those of any of the "Big Four" pre-nationalisation railway companies while retaining a traditional aspect. However many people were not happy with the loss of the traditional "historic" regional colour schemes as used by the former private companies.
From 1956 there was a move toward the return of regional colour schemes. Most regions adopted a maroon livery which strongly resembled that of the former London Midland and Scottish Railway. The Western Region started to repaint some coaches in a GWR
chocolate and cream livery, while Southern Region reverted to malachite green for all vehicles. For cost reasons, liveries were usually changed piecemeal, when coaches came in for scheduled maintenance. Coaches from different regions could also often find themselves coupled together. Due to the consequent muddle of liveries, many trains began to get an untidy if not tatty appearance which added to the run-down image of the railway. The rebranding of British Railways to British Rail on 1 January 1965 was used as an opportunity to introduce an entirely new national livery.
prototype train was used to test technology and carriage arrangements for the planned BR Mark 2
coaches. The coaches for the XP64 were painted in a slightly lighter version of what would eventually become Rail Blue, with a 44 inches (1,117.6 mm) Pale Ivory stripe centred on the passenger windows, and brown underframe. One locomotive, Class 47
No.D1733, was painted to match the coaching stock. In 2001, as passenger work for diesel locomotives came to an end on the rail system, a number of Virgin Trains
Class 47s were painted in "heritage" liveries that they had carried in the past, including the former D1733, now 47853, which once again carried a near-correct version of the XP64 livery.
Eventually, it was decided to standardise on a colour which became known as Rail Blue. Introduced in 1965, and also known as "Monastral Blue", the colour was defined by British Standards BR28/6001 (Airless spray finish) and BR28/5321 (Brush finish). It was a dark, greyish blue tone which hid the effects of dirt well. The colour often appears inaccurately in photographs, generally appearing brighter and bluer than the real colour. In the early years the colour faded quite badly, becoming lighter and paler with time although this problem had been overcome by the late 1970s. United Kingdom
paint code RAL5020 ("Ocean Blue") is a good match to Rail Blue. The new British Rail "double arrow" symbol on locomotives (or leading vehicle as was the case on multiple unit stock) and the vehicle number and other ancillary markings written in the Rail Alphabet
typeface were other integral parts of the livery.
D838 Rapid which left Swindon Works in August 1968 in the maroon livery.
The Vale of Rheidol Railway remained steam operated past the general end of steam traction in 1968, and accordingly the three remaining Vale of Rheidol Railway locomotives
received the Rail Blue colour scheme, being all blue with black smokebox and red bufferbeam, and no yellow warning panel.
Coaching stock was to be painted in Rail Blue with a 44-inch Pearl Grey (BS 2660-9-095) horizontal panel centred vertically on the main windows, this being outlined by a narrow white line. This grey panel finished just short of the end of the coach leaving a small amount of Rail Blue which then continued round onto the end of the coach. Roofs were Dark Grey and underframes originally brown, but later black.
Originally, multiple units were also painted in all over Rail Blue, however the blue and grey coaching stock livery was eventually also applied to all gangwayed DMUs
, EMUs
and DEMU
s. Non-gangwayed coaches and some other vehicles such as vans dedicated to newspaper traffic remained in all-over Rail Blue livery without the Pearl Grey band.
From 1974, some DMU sets, after being refurbished, were painted in a different reversed version of the official BR coach livery, with the blue and grey sections reversed. Often these units were reported as being painted white, such was the lightness of the grey used.
From 1966 until withdrawal, Pullman Coaches
were also painted in the reverse livery, although a deeper grey shade than Pearl Grey was used. The Blue Pullman
sets retained their livery of Nanking Blue until 1969 when they were repainted in the same livery.
In 1977 two Class 47
locomotives, 47163 and 47164, were painted by Stratford TMD
with silver roofs and other decorations including a full body height Union Flag
on each side, in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's silver jubilee
. Several other Class 47 locomotives, some Class 31s
, and even some DMU cabs, were subsequently also painted by Stratford with grey roofs, the variation becoming something of a trademark for the depot.
After this time small variations in the Rail Blue livery became much more common. Several Class 31 locomotives received blue waist stripes, these being
particularly associated with the depots at Old Oak Common
and
Finsbury Park
. Also on the Eastern Region
, Class 55 Deltic
locomotives based as Finsbury Park
acquired white surrounds to their cab windows.
Eastfield TMD staff near Glasgow also embellished a few examples of the class 37/0's allocated to the depot with a lower bodyside white stripe in the mid-80s but were told to stop doing it and repaint the ones they'd already done back to the standard blue livery by the BR hierarchy.
The first break in the uniformity of Rail Blue came in 1976 with the introduction of the first InterCity 125
(HST). The distinctive angular shape of the HST power cars
did not lend itself to applying yellow on the leading face, so the yellow was wrapped around and extended along the side of each power car, although the coaches retained the usual Rail Blue coaching stock livery.
In 1978 the British Railways Board
began planning a new livery for the future, and in that August Class 56
diesel locomotive 56036 was painted to test a modified livery of all-over Rail Blue with the entire loco front in bright yellow to improve visibility, this extending down the sides of the loco to the rear of the cab windows which were, in turn, outlined in black. This livery was known as Large Logo livery as each side of the locomotive was dominated by a full body height BR double arrow symbol, and had the loco number prominently displayed at twice the previous size. This livery was well received by enthusiasts but as the Class 56s only hauled freight, it was decided to extend the experiment to a passenger loco. Thus Class 47
47170 County of Norfolk, allocated to Stratford
and a regular performer on trains between Liverpool Street and Norwich, was painted in Large Logo livery. Initially new locos were still painted in the traditional Rail Blue livery, but starting with Class 56
number 56084 the new Large Logo version was standard on new locos delivered to BR. After this date, the passenger versions of Class 37 and 47, as well as Class 50, were routinely outshopped in this livery.
in 1983, a similar livery to the APT's (dark grey on the upper body, and light grey on the lower, with two stripes of red and white separating them) was experimentally applied to two HST
sets and the coaches operating the Gatwick Express
service between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport. This was referred to as the InterCity Executive livery as the sets used were dedicated to operating morning/evening services operated for businessmen. Despite the InterCity
brand having been introduced in 1966, in 1985 the word 'Executive' was dropped and the livery was applied to all coaches and many locomotives used on InterCity services.
On 10 June 1986, British Rail launched Network SouthEast, an organisation designed to cut across the traditional regional boundaries and deliver a co-ordinated train service for London
and the surrounding region. For this new venture a new livery - a paler shade of blue than Rail Blue, with three stripes of white, red and grey - was created with Class 47
No.47573 The London Standard painted in the new livery specifically for the launch ceremony. As well as rolling stock and multiple units, a number of Class 47 and Class 50 locomotives dedicated to Network SouthEast passenger services were painted in this livery. A later version made minor changes to the livery, the main one of which was to darken the main shade of blue used.
ScotRail was the brand name under which British Rail operated InterCity passenger rail services in Scotland and cross border services to Northern England and London. A corporate livery was created for major express services in Scotland, which effectively consisted of the InterCity livery with the red stripe replaced by a saltire blue one.
Upon sectorisation, most secondary passenger routes which did not fall under the InterCity or Network SouthEast banner were re-designated as Regional Railways (originally Provincial). A livery, similar to ScotRail but with the upper dark grey bodyside replaced with a dark blue, was created. A number of sets of coaching stock and a handful of locomotives received the livery, as well as all new multiple units and some existing ones.
Scottish rolling stock not covered by the ScotRail livery (generally those on secondary services) received the Regional Railways livery, but with "ScotRail" branding.
The livery was carried on the rolling stock, but also on a number of locomotives which were dedicated to mail and parcels traffic, mainly of Classes 47 and 90.
Railfreight livery, a colour scheme specifically for freight locomotives, was unveiled when Class 58
58001 drove through a plastic screen at Doncaster Works
on 9 December 1982. While this livery had much in common with the "Large Logo" version of Rail Blue livery, including the yellow cabs and larger logo and numbers on the bodyside, the main colour was grey rather than blue. A later version added a red stripe along the lower edge of the locomotive bodyside.
When British Rail operations were divided into sectors in the late 1980s, prior to privatisation, a new version of the Railfreight livery emerged giving the sectors individual identities
. Consisting of three shades of grey and thus known as "triple grey Railfreight", the livery included logos on the sides and cabs of locomotives indicating which sector they belonged to. For locomotives used on internal British Rail duties, a separate livery of a plain darker grey was created. This was later modified for locomotives allocated to the Civil Engineer's department to include a yellow stripe on the upper bodyside, the resulting livery being known as "Dutch" due to its similarity to the corporate colours of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen
.
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
's corporate liveries is quite complex. Although from the mid 1960s to the 1980s the company was associated with "Rail Blue", a number of other schemes were also used, especially when the company was sectorised in the 1980s.
After the formation of British Railways in 1948, early BR diesel and electric locos and the gas turbine locomotives 18000
British Rail 18000
British Rail 18000 was a prototype mainline gas turbine-electric locomotive built for British Railways in 1949 by Brown, Boveri & Cie. It had, however, been ordered by the Great Western Railway in 1946, but construction was delayed due to World War II...
and 18100
British Rail 18100
British Rail 18100 was a prototype main line gas turbine-electric locomotive built for British Railways in 1951 by Metropolitan-Vickers, Manchester. It had, however, been ordered by the Great Western Railway in the 1940s, but construction was delayed due to World War II...
were painted black with aluminium trim, but by the mid-1950s this had been superseded by a shade of green similar to that used on express passenger steam locomotives, although some locomotives were painted in a two-tone green livery. Multiple unit
Multiple unit
The term multiple unit or MU is used to describe a self-propelled carriages capable of coupling with other units of the same or similar type and still being controlled from one driving cab. The term is commonly used to denote passenger trainsets consisting of more than one carriage...
s were also generally green.
Coaching stock was originally painted in two-tone crimson and cream livery across the network.
In the mid 1950s an all-over darker maroon, which more closely resembled one of the pre-nationalisation liveries, was re-introduced, except for the Southern Region
Southern Region of British Railways
The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992. The region covered south London, southern England and the south coast, including the busy commuter belt areas of Kent, Sussex...
, where stock was generally painted malachite green, and a small number of express carriages on the Western Region
Western Region of British Railways
The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992...
which were in traditional GWR-style chocolate and cream.
With the reorganisation of British Railways in the mid 1960s, a complete break with the past was signalled by the introduction of a dark blue-based livery which dominated all passenger rolling stock until the later 1980s, when a new red-banded Intercity livery was introduced along with a number of regional colour schemes.
Early liveries
As part of a plan to find a suitable corporate livery for the then new diesel and electric locomotive fleet, coaching stock, and multiple units, a number of experiments were tried;
- Two Class 31British Rail Class 31The British Rail Class 31 diesel locomotives, also known as the Brush Type 2 and originally as Class 30, were built by Brush Traction from 1957-62.- Description :...
diesels were painted in trial liveries. No.D5578 was painted in an unlined 'Light Electric blue', and No.D5579 was painted in a colour variously described as 'Bronze Gold' and 'Golden Ochre'. - The first Class 52 "Western" classBritish Rail Class 52British Rail assigned Class 52 to the class of 74 large Type 4 diesel-hydraulic locomotives built for the Western Region of British Railways between 1961 and 1964...
, No.D1000 Western Enterprise was painted in a pale brown livery known as 'Desert Sand' livery when first delivered in 1961. - Another Class 52, No.D1015 Western Champion was delivered in another, darker yellow/brown colour described as 'Golden Ochre', though somewhat different from that applied to D5579.
- A number of Class 42 "Warship" classBritish Rail Class 42British Railways' Type 4 Warship class diesel-hydraulic locomotives were introduced in 1958. It was apparent at that time that the largest centre of expertise on diesel-hydraulic locomotives was in Germany...
diesels and some Class 52s were delivered in all over maroon to match the then-standard coaching stock livery. This livery suited these diesel hydraulic classes, and allowed the Western RegionWestern Region of British RailwaysThe Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992...
to once again show an amount of independence; it was not applied to any other diesel or electric classes. - The 25kv electric locomotives were painted in a paler, brighter shade of blue which became known as "Electric Blue". They retained this livery for some years, before being painted in Rail Blue when that became the norm.
Coaching stock from 1948
Corridor coach
A corridor coach is a type of railway passenger coach divided into compartments and having a corridor down one side of the coach to allow free movement along the train and between compartments....
es, with all-over crimson being used for local, non-corridor stock. The colours were chosen to be different to those of any of the "Big Four" pre-nationalisation railway companies while retaining a traditional aspect. However many people were not happy with the loss of the traditional "historic" regional colour schemes as used by the former private companies.
The second phase
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
chocolate and cream livery, while Southern Region reverted to malachite green for all vehicles. For cost reasons, liveries were usually changed piecemeal, when coaches came in for scheduled maintenance. Coaches from different regions could also often find themselves coupled together. Due to the consequent muddle of liveries, many trains began to get an untidy if not tatty appearance which added to the run-down image of the railway. The rebranding of British Railways to British Rail on 1 January 1965 was used as an opportunity to introduce an entirely new national livery.
XP64
The predecessor of the Rail Blue livery was an experimental train referred to as XP64. Thisprototype train was used to test technology and carriage arrangements for the planned BR Mark 2
British Rail Mark 2
The Mark 2 family of railway carriages were British Rail's second design of carriages. They were built by British Rail workshops between 1964 and 1975...
coaches. The coaches for the XP64 were painted in a slightly lighter version of what would eventually become Rail Blue, with a 44 inches (1,117.6 mm) Pale Ivory stripe centred on the passenger windows, and brown underframe. One locomotive, Class 47
British Rail Class 47
The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...
No.D1733, was painted to match the coaching stock. In 2001, as passenger work for diesel locomotives came to an end on the rail system, a number of Virgin Trains
Virgin Trains
Virgin Trains is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates long-distance passenger services on the West Coast Main Line between London, the West Midlands, North West England, North Wales and Scotland...
Class 47s were painted in "heritage" liveries that they had carried in the past, including the former D1733, now 47853, which once again carried a near-correct version of the XP64 livery.
Rail Blue
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
paint code RAL5020 ("Ocean Blue") is a good match to Rail Blue. The new British Rail "double arrow" symbol on locomotives (or leading vehicle as was the case on multiple unit stock) and the vehicle number and other ancillary markings written in the Rail Alphabet
Rail Alphabet
Rail Alphabet is a typeface designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert for British Railways. First used by them in signing tests at London's Liverpool Street Station, it was then adopted by the Design Research Unit as part of their comprehensive 1965 rebranding of the company.Rail Alphabet is...
typeface were other integral parts of the livery.
Locomotives
This colour was applied to all diesel and electric locomotives, with the exception of the ends, which were painted yellow to improve visibility, and the underframes and buffer beams which were painted black; the paints being to BSS 2660-0.003 and BSS 2660-9.103 respectively. As Rail Blue was introduced, the last locomotive recorded as being outshopped in a previous livery was Class 43British Rail Class 43 (Warship Class)
The British Rail Class 43 diesel-hydraulic locomotives were built by the North British Locomotive Company from 1960–1962.-Classification:...
D838 Rapid which left Swindon Works in August 1968 in the maroon livery.
The Vale of Rheidol Railway remained steam operated past the general end of steam traction in 1968, and accordingly the three remaining Vale of Rheidol Railway locomotives
Vale of Rheidol Railway locomotives
thumb|No 7 Owain Glyndŵr taking water and oil at Aberystwyth depot.thumb|No 8 Llewellyn at Devil's Bridge - at this time all three steam locomotives were allocated a TOPS code, and painted in [[rail blue]] livery....
received the Rail Blue colour scheme, being all blue with black smokebox and red bufferbeam, and no yellow warning panel.
Coaches and multiple units
Originally, multiple units were also painted in all over Rail Blue, however the blue and grey coaching stock livery was eventually also applied to all gangwayed DMUs
Diesel multiple unit
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board diesel engines. They may also be referred to as a railcar or railmotor, depending on country.-Design:...
, EMUs
Electric multiple unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages...
and DEMU
Demu
Demu may refer to:*Dému, a village in France*Diesel-electric Multiple Unit *DEMU, Diesel and Electric Modellers United, a UK railway modelling group*The alien antagonists of The Demu Trilogy by F.M. Busby...
s. Non-gangwayed coaches and some other vehicles such as vans dedicated to newspaper traffic remained in all-over Rail Blue livery without the Pearl Grey band.
From 1974, some DMU sets, after being refurbished, were painted in a different reversed version of the official BR coach livery, with the blue and grey sections reversed. Often these units were reported as being painted white, such was the lightness of the grey used.
From 1966 until withdrawal, Pullman Coaches
Pullman train (UK)
Pullman trains in Great Britain were mainline luxury railway services that operated with first-class coaches and a steward service, provided by the British Pullman Car Company.-Origins:...
were also painted in the reverse livery, although a deeper grey shade than Pearl Grey was used. The Blue Pullman
Blue Pullman
Blue Pullman may refer to:* British Rail Classes 251 and 261, a type of diesel-electric multiple unit built by Metro Cammell in 1960** Blue Pullman , a 1960 film about the train of the same name...
sets retained their livery of Nanking Blue until 1969 when they were repainted in the same livery.
Local variations
British Rail Class 47
The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...
locomotives, 47163 and 47164, were painted by Stratford TMD
Stratford TMD
Stratford TMD was a railway Traction Maintenance Depot situated in Stratford, London, England, and was also the site of a Railway Works. Originally built in 1847 for the...
with silver roofs and other decorations including a full body height Union Flag
Union Flag
The Union Flag, also known as the Union Jack, is the flag of the United Kingdom. It retains an official or semi-official status in some Commonwealth Realms; for example, it is known as the Royal Union Flag in Canada. It is also used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas...
on each side, in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's silver jubilee
Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II marked the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other Commonwealth realms...
. Several other Class 47 locomotives, some Class 31s
British Rail Class 31
The British Rail Class 31 diesel locomotives, also known as the Brush Type 2 and originally as Class 30, were built by Brush Traction from 1957-62.- Description :...
, and even some DMU cabs, were subsequently also painted by Stratford with grey roofs, the variation becoming something of a trademark for the depot.
After this time small variations in the Rail Blue livery became much more common. Several Class 31 locomotives received blue waist stripes, these being
particularly associated with the depots at Old Oak Common
Old Oak Common TMD
Old Oak Common TMD is situated to the west of London, in Old Oak Common. The Traction Maintenance Depot is the main facility for the storage and servicing of locomotives and multiple-units which utilise Paddington Station. The depot codes are 'OC' for the diesel depot, and 'OO' for the carriage shed...
and
Finsbury Park
Finsbury Park TMD
Finsbury Park TMD was a railway Traction Maintenance Depot situated in London, England. It was the first purpose built main line diesel locomotive depot opened in this country and it was fully commissioned in April 1960 . It was downgraded in June 1981 and closed in October 1983...
. Also on the Eastern Region
Eastern Region of British Railways
The Eastern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992...
, Class 55 Deltic
British Rail Class 55
The British Rail Class 55 is a class of diesel locomotive built in 1961 and 1962 by English Electric. They were designed for the high-speed express passenger services on the East Coast Main Line between and Edinburgh. They gained the name "Deltic" from the prototype locomotive, DP1 Deltic, which...
locomotives based as Finsbury Park
Finsbury Park TMD
Finsbury Park TMD was a railway Traction Maintenance Depot situated in London, England. It was the first purpose built main line diesel locomotive depot opened in this country and it was fully commissioned in April 1960 . It was downgraded in June 1981 and closed in October 1983...
acquired white surrounds to their cab windows.
Eastfield TMD staff near Glasgow also embellished a few examples of the class 37/0's allocated to the depot with a lower bodyside white stripe in the mid-80s but were told to stop doing it and repaint the ones they'd already done back to the standard blue livery by the BR hierarchy.
Moving away from Rail Blue
InterCity 125
The InterCity 125 was the brand name of British Rail's High Speed Train fleet. The InterCity 125 train is made up of two power cars, one at each end of a fixed formation of Mark 3 carriages, and is capable of , making the train the fastest diesel-powered locomotive in regular service in the...
(HST). The distinctive angular shape of the HST power cars
British Rail Class 43 (HST)
The British Rail Class 43 is the TOPS classification used for the InterCity 125 High Speed Train power cars, built by BREL from 1975 to 1982....
did not lend itself to applying yellow on the leading face, so the yellow was wrapped around and extended along the side of each power car, although the coaches retained the usual Rail Blue coaching stock livery.
In 1978 the British Railways Board
British Railways Board
The British Railways Board was a nationalised industry in the United Kingdom that existed from 1962 to 2001. From its foundation until 1997, it was responsible for most railway services in Great Britain, trading under the brand names British Railways and, from 1965, British Rail...
began planning a new livery for the future, and in that August Class 56
British Rail Class 56
The British Rail Class 56 is a type of diesel locomotive designed for heavy freight work. It is a Type 5 locomotive, with a Ruston-Paxman power unit developing 3,250 bhp , and has a Co-Co wheel arrangement...
diesel locomotive 56036 was painted to test a modified livery of all-over Rail Blue with the entire loco front in bright yellow to improve visibility, this extending down the sides of the loco to the rear of the cab windows which were, in turn, outlined in black. This livery was known as Large Logo livery as each side of the locomotive was dominated by a full body height BR double arrow symbol, and had the loco number prominently displayed at twice the previous size. This livery was well received by enthusiasts but as the Class 56s only hauled freight, it was decided to extend the experiment to a passenger loco. Thus Class 47
British Rail Class 47
The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...
47170 County of Norfolk, allocated to Stratford
Stratford TMD
Stratford TMD was a railway Traction Maintenance Depot situated in Stratford, London, England, and was also the site of a Railway Works. Originally built in 1847 for the...
and a regular performer on trains between Liverpool Street and Norwich, was painted in Large Logo livery. Initially new locos were still painted in the traditional Rail Blue livery, but starting with Class 56
British Rail Class 56
The British Rail Class 56 is a type of diesel locomotive designed for heavy freight work. It is a Type 5 locomotive, with a Ruston-Paxman power unit developing 3,250 bhp , and has a Co-Co wheel arrangement...
number 56084 the new Large Logo version was standard on new locos delivered to BR. After this date, the passenger versions of Class 37 and 47, as well as Class 50, were routinely outshopped in this livery.
InterCity
Following the introduction of the Advanced Passenger TrainBritish Rail Class 370
British Rail's Class 370 tilting trains, also referred to as APT-P , were the pre-production Advanced Passenger Train units...
in 1983, a similar livery to the APT's (dark grey on the upper body, and light grey on the lower, with two stripes of red and white separating them) was experimentally applied to two HST
InterCity 125
The InterCity 125 was the brand name of British Rail's High Speed Train fleet. The InterCity 125 train is made up of two power cars, one at each end of a fixed formation of Mark 3 carriages, and is capable of , making the train the fastest diesel-powered locomotive in regular service in the...
sets and the coaches operating the Gatwick Express
Gatwick Express
Gatwick Express is the name given to the frequent rail shuttle service between Victoria station in London and Gatwick Airport in South East England, operated by the Southern franchise...
service between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport. This was referred to as the InterCity Executive livery as the sets used were dedicated to operating morning/evening services operated for businessmen. Despite the InterCity
InterCity (British Rail)
InterCity was introduced by British Rail in 1966 as a brand-name for its long-haul express passenger services ....
brand having been introduced in 1966, in 1985 the word 'Executive' was dropped and the livery was applied to all coaches and many locomotives used on InterCity services.
Network SouthEast
On 10 June 1986, British Rail launched Network SouthEast, an organisation designed to cut across the traditional regional boundaries and deliver a co-ordinated train service for London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and the surrounding region. For this new venture a new livery - a paler shade of blue than Rail Blue, with three stripes of white, red and grey - was created with Class 47
British Rail Class 47
The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...
No.47573 The London Standard painted in the new livery specifically for the launch ceremony. As well as rolling stock and multiple units, a number of Class 47 and Class 50 locomotives dedicated to Network SouthEast passenger services were painted in this livery. A later version made minor changes to the livery, the main one of which was to darken the main shade of blue used.
ScotRail
Regional Railways
Scottish rolling stock not covered by the ScotRail livery (generally those on secondary services) received the Regional Railways livery, but with "ScotRail" branding.
Rail Express Systems
Rail Express Systems was the sector of British Rail responsible for transport of mail and parcels traffic. Its rolling stock carried the standard Rail Blue (or blue and grey) livery but in 1992, it introduced a new livery of red and grey, with pale blue and grey flashes.The livery was carried on the rolling stock, but also on a number of locomotives which were dedicated to mail and parcels traffic, mainly of Classes 47 and 90.
Railfreight and associated liveries
British Rail Class 58
The British Rail Class 58 is a class of Co-Co diesel locomotive designed for heavy freight. Introduced in 1983, they followed American practice of modularisation. From new they were painted in grey Railfreight Sector livery, instead of BR blue...
58001 drove through a plastic screen at Doncaster Works
Doncaster Works
Doncaster railway works is in the town of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England.Always referred to as "the Plant", it was established by the Great Northern Railway in 1853, replacing the previous works in Boston and Peterborough...
on 9 December 1982. While this livery had much in common with the "Large Logo" version of Rail Blue livery, including the yellow cabs and larger logo and numbers on the bodyside, the main colour was grey rather than blue. A later version added a red stripe along the lower edge of the locomotive bodyside.
When British Rail operations were divided into sectors in the late 1980s, prior to privatisation, a new version of the Railfreight livery emerged giving the sectors individual identities
Trainload Freight
Trainload Freight was the sector of British Rail responsible for trainload freight services. It was formed in 1987 as a further development of the single Railfreight division created by BR in 1982, and existed until the onset of privatisation in 1994. The sector was subdivided according to the...
. Consisting of three shades of grey and thus known as "triple grey Railfreight", the livery included logos on the sides and cabs of locomotives indicating which sector they belonged to. For locomotives used on internal British Rail duties, a separate livery of a plain darker grey was created. This was later modified for locomotives allocated to the Civil Engineer's department to include a yellow stripe on the upper bodyside, the resulting livery being known as "Dutch" due to its similarity to the corporate colours of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Nederlandse Spoorwegen , or NS, is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands.Its trains operate over the tracks of the Dutch national railinfrastructure, operated by ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003...
.