Preferred Mark 1 livery

And that could be said of every train journey.

 

The irony that a 'Livery debate' becomes a rolling stock debate lol . Personally I prefer consistency throughout the whole train even if that means the loco wears a BR black coat! Like many, I have a soft spot for Mk I's as a good all-round compromise for balancing heritage with practicality...

Will

 

That had occurred to me as well!

 

I will let you have the last word which you normally strive for!!

PH

 

I still find it a shame that after all the excellent effort that the carriage and wagon people put in to make them look good as they do, they still put the tacky GWSR logo on it. A BR logo would look far better.

 

I don't mind a logo like that, the WSR do it as well I'm told. Better than the DSR's personalised coaches anyway. It's not really that intrusive I find anyway.

 

An intemperate comment. Had the C&W side received more attention at an earlier stage, enabling a wider range of coaching stock to be secured in time, then the whole heritage railway picture would be more interesting (and probably more authentic).

I have to argue with that comment. Heritage standard gauge railways didn't really get into their stride until after steam on BR ended (with one or two honourable exceptions). Relatively few locos were bought for preservation in that time, it took the finality of August 1968 to really kick start mass preservation. Then there was a lag of 2-3 years before Barry rescues really got going. Imagine what most of our present railways would look like without Barry. The need for coaches for heritage railways followed as a result of the need to carry passengers, interest in carriages has always been far less than in locos, , but there wasn't a lot of pre-BR passenger stock around by 1968, and very few complete coaches were there to be had, most survivors having moved into departmental stock even by then (for example, LNER stock numbers were decimated as early as 1963). There were some lucky exceptions (the Swindon & Derby test trains contributing greatly in this respect, but Mk 1s were already being withdrawn by the late 1960s and could be had complete, with plentiful spares from scrapyards. I think economic reality prevailed from that time on. Because most heritage railways post-date the late 1960s there never was any likelihood of C &W receiving more attention at an earlier stage. Wishing it had been the case is wishing for a hopeless cause!

 

Hello,
Mk1 with non BR logos are a bit tacky.
Carriages & wagons are still the Cinderellas of the heritage world. Only know are such essentials as covered accommodation are being considered. I really do not mind what colour they are painted. Will always prefer pre BR stock.

Nick

 

Guilty as charged! Although my preference would be for Maroon, or maybe Blood and Custard, or maybe Green or even, at a push, Chocolate and Cream, my real dislike is the Blue and Gray era. But then I went to Epping Ongar. I still don't like it as a livery, but I was impressed by the finish on the blue and gray coaches there, and the obvious efforts being made to present neat and clean interiors. Very commendable, and it occurred to me that preservation needs to cover that era as well. The Network South East liveried Thumper looked wonderful.

When the Bluebell started, British Railways was 12 years old. Now the Blue/Gray era was in it's heyday some 40 years ago! The preservation movement is big enough to cover a huge range of styles and periods.

Steve B

 

Definitely not blue grey! I think Southern green can end up looking quite dull quite quickly, perhaps the fact it has no lining plays a part. I like chocolate and cream best, I think it works very well.

 

Far from it old chap. 61624 has responded further as will others in due course no doubt. You can't make contentious posts and expect others not to comment and continue the debate.

 

Here you go again! Just as I said.

PH

 

I note you felt the need to reply. Physician heal thyself.

 

30-all!

Tom

 

Reggie Rail blue for me, always looked nice especially with a nice red 37 on the front, takes me back to my 'good old days'! Going back to the stock at Epping I'll reiterate my point about the right loco right stock 20048 looked superb on the blue greys there last year. As did 4566 on the carmine and cream set at SVR spring gala last year. I know its a bit more difficult to keep clean but carmine and cream does look good behind almost anything.

 

Don't like Blue/Gray, but Blue/Grey is OK

 

Growing up in the 1970s, rail blue / grey is my first remembered livery, followed by Intercity and the various sector liveries in the 1980s. I do remember thinking the Intercity livery looked a lot better than blue / grey, especially on HSTs when they adopted the INTERCITY font with swallow logo. Seemed to promote the sense of speed a lot better, though did look tatty after a few years sadly.

 

The P&D have started to repaint their coaches to a more authentic livery, do look the business, still got names but we have come to live with that.

 

Depends on what you grow up with I suppose I vaguely remember the odd
loco in Blue and Railfreight red stripe as a very young kid. I always liked the subsectors and the shadow freight companies (triple grey or dutch with a big T was my favorite) because thats what I grew up with. I should imagine that theres some youngster out there who's favorites are Freightliner or DRS, because thats what they've known.

 

People always say this, but I would rank blue/grey, rail blue, RfD, trainload freight, NSE, etc as some of my least favourite liveries. They remind me of a time when the railway network was a laughing stock, a shadow (especially blue and grey, to me it's a depressing livery).
On the other hand, intercity swallow....