Preferred Mark 1 livery

Yes, that swallow logo was a stroke of genius by whoever created it. I remember 71000 carried a brass version above the buffer beam on main line tours in the early 90s when the Intercity Special Trains Unit were doing essentially what WCR and DBS do now. Looked both sleek and smart, : )

 

Rail blue does have its appeal... but not hauled by a steam loco, that's for sure.

 

Ahh but do we include 1T57?

 

Maroon any day from that list as I always liked the colour when I remember seeing the last few before that horrible blue and gray took over and some of the later ones were worse.

 

Gonna disagree with you there Corbs. You could say people like Chris Green with what he did for Scotrail and NSE started to turn BR round. I woundn't say that by 1992 that BR was a laughing stock complete opposite actually. Apart from if you were a red top editor that is, and we all know they never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

 

I was referring to my perception growing up and why I do not like the liveries I saw when I was a kid, as a counter point to the generally accepted idea that 'people prefer what they saw in their youth'.
The world I liked had vanished long before I entered it.

When I was young, anything I saw or heard of the modern day railways was negative, apart from the Intercity 125. From looking over the (disused) platforms at Temple Meads to the overgrown Bristol Bath Road depot, to seeing reports of delays laid upon delays on the news.

In fact I do need to do a bit of reversal here as I probably shouldn't have included NSE in my first list, for they were indeed a welcome splash of colour, especially on the new-looking 158s. Likewise the 125s were an incredible sight and sound for a young lad (all in Swallow livery by then).

 

Matts makes a good point that steam with blue grey is prototypical. It was just before my time sadly, so I don't know how common it was to have blue grey coaches in the rake, indeed MkII blue grey coaches would have been around also for 4 years before the end of steam.

 

Whilst not stictly Mk1, i grew up with that dreaded plain rail blue, that was hidious,at least when the EMU's some of which were based on the Mk1 recieved the blue and grey livery it at least gave some colour, NSE looked ok also,

 

Whys that? Ive said before that why do all railways have to run in transition period era. You could have a rake of Blue and Grey and regional railways for early 90s. Diesels in sector colours. A rake of stock in a traditional livery such as maroon or blood and custard - and still run steam too as it had returned to the network by then. Stations could be clean, tidy, have some nice flowers like the few that survived with the right signage. Joe Public would still have a nice day out on the railway and be none the wiser.

That all stock needs to be transition era, as does all locos makes railways start to look the same. Yes theres the obvious reason for it, but such a period is given a nice rose tinted look on preserved lines now as much as anything else you could do for an other period.

So Id go for

Blood and Custard,
Regional Railways,
Intercity Swallow
Maroon,
Brown and Cream

 

Wasn't the Mid-Norfolk kind of going for this with its diesel fleet?

 

In a single word............Teak! Be it with in this case painted on beading in the case of some of the "classic" Gresleys' that were steel skinned, or, without the beading as per the post war Thompson steel skinned stock.

 

Like the met150 coaches?

 

I suppose so having seen the odd photo of them. Having said that and I'm not 100% sure, but, I've heard/read that when the various British Railways Regions were allowed an amount of autonomy and painted their coaches. They decided on; Green on Southern Region, Maroon on Midland Region and Chocolate & Cream on Western, as successors to the old companies. Eastern/North Eastern Regions were offered the chance to turn ot their fleet Teak. As it turned out they turned theirs' out in the "old" North Eastern Maroon, skipping a generation so to speak. Scottish Region who'd been formed from the Scottish sections of the old LNER and LMS followed the lead of it's English counterparts with Maroon colouring of it's stock.

 

Any more details? Are they going for "standard chocolate & cream?

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/calum...Jsq-fjLmJF-jUb1sn-gseoYM-nBGegk-pDSEzA-nBGfyF

 

Or like the SVR have done with E3083 the experimental Mk1 in the past. Bear with and I'll try find a photo

 

Can't believe there wasn't an option on here for the Pilkington Special K livery! (Who remembers that set?)

 

Me! And it looked bloody awful!

 

Yes indeed, I remember the coach. There was a feature in an early edition of Heritage Railways with it. Story goes that when the various British Railways regions were allowed to go their own way, to a degree, Eastern/North Eastern Regions were given the Teak option. But decided to skip a generation opting for the old North Eastern Maroon instead. Southern went Green, Western Chocolate & Cream, Midland Maroon. Scottish Region being an amalgamation of the former LMS and LNER companies North of the Border followed it's Southern counterparts with Maroon stock, rather than going Teak for the former LNER half of the Region.

 

Disagree, it gave a welcome splash of colour.

If the coaches had been named such as Sharon and Tracey etc it would have been a near perfect family livery.

Brian